On Wednesday 29th March, from 7.30-9.30pm at The Exchange, Brick Row, Stroud (GL5 1DF), Stroud Radical Reading Group will discuss “Fractured, Race, Class, Gender and the Hatred of Identity Politics” by Michael Richmond and Alex Charnley”. This discussion will be the third of a series looking at antifascism, both historically and in the present.

You don’t have to read the other books in the series or attend all the events to come along to this one (though of course we recommend you do!). And you don’t have to even read this book to come along. We like to ensure everyone can attendee our sessions and get something out of them even if they can’t afford to buy a copy of the book or the time to read it. We would encourage people to read/listen to as much as possible, but you are welcome to attend and listen along even if you are unable to engage with any of the free resources below.

You can buy copies of the book from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop using this link (use the code “StroudRadical23” to reduce the price from the RRP of £16.99 to £14.95 – saving £2.04 or 12%).

Freely available resources related to the book are available below. We particularly recomment reading the section of Chapter 4 – which we use as a focus for our discussion during part of the session (this means everyone has the opportunity to share thoughts on a common text).

• Read a 2,200 word excerpt from Chapter 4 of the book: “The Loom of Racism”, published by independent Jewish media organisation, Vashti.
• Watch authors Michael Richmond and Alex Charnley in conversation online with Miles, Dominic and others from education collective Books Against Borders (embedded below)
• Listen to the authors on the 12 Rules for What podcast (1 hour, 20 minutes), hosted by Sam Moore and Alex Roberts – themselves authors of books we will discuss later in the year
• Listen to Lola Olafemi (whose “Feminism Interrupted” we discussed in June 2021) interview the authors on the Surviving Society podcast (1 hour)
• Listen to the authors on the Anarchist Book Club podcast, with Danny Evans and Jim Yeoman (1 hour)
• Listen to the authors in conversation with Josh from the Millennials are Killing Capitalism podcast, joined by anti-racist teacher and writer Alana Lentin (2 episodes totalling 2 hours 40 minutes). Link above is to part one, this is the link for part 2 of the Millennials are Killing Capitalism pocast

Our events are free to attend, though we will collect donations to cover the costs of venue hire on a donate-what-you-can-afford basis. We try to ensure the discussions are welcoming to new people, including people who have never been to a reading group before – and you don’t have to have been to university.

The Exchange has step-free access. We will keep windows open for ventilation, hand sanitiser is provided, and we ask people who are ill to stay away (whether they are ill with covid or something else). Attendees do not generally wear masks but we will be respectful to anyone who chooses to and other members may wear masks at request of other attendees – let us know your preferences in advance. Please contact us if you have any accessibility requirements, or other questions about how the events work.

“Identity politics has been a smear for decades. The right use it to lament the loss of free speech, while many on the left bemoan it as the end of class politics. It has been used to dismiss movements such as Black Lives Matter and brought seemingly progressive people into the path of fascism. It has emboldened the march of the transphobes.

In Fractured, the authors move away from the ahistorical temper of the identity politics debate. Instead of crudely categorising race, gender and sexuality as fixed and immutable identities, or forcing them under the banner of ‘diversity’, they argue that these categories are inseparable from the history of class struggle under British and US capitalism.

Through an appraisal of pivotal historical moments in Britain and the US, including Black feminist and anticolonial traditions on both sides of the Atlantic, the authors question the assumptions of the culture war, offering a refreshing and reasoned way to understand how historical class struggles were formed and continue to determine the possibilities for new forms of solidarity in an increasingly dangerous world.”

– information from the publishers Pluto Press

On Wednesday 22nd February, from 7.30-9.30pm at The Exchange, Brick Row, Stroud (GL5 1DF), Stroud Radical Reading Group will discuss “¡No Pasarán! Antifascist Dispatches from a World in Crisis”, a book of essays edited by Shane Burley. This discussion will be the second of a series looking at antifascism, both historically and in the present. You are welcome to attend this session alone, though we of course recommend reading all the books in the series and coming to all the events for the full experience!

We suggest reading the Foreword, Introduction and Afterword (pdf) if you can (which we attach as a free download below) You can buy a full e-book for $12.50 from US-based publishers AK Press. If you have bought a copy of the book/ebook, you may like to pick one further chapter to read carefully and be prepared to tell the rest of the group about at the session. Alternatively, additional freely available resources related to the book are available below. We like to ensure everyone can attendee our sessions and get something out of them even if they can’t afford to buy a copy of the book or the time to read it. We would encourage people to read/listen to as much as possible, but you are welcome to attend and listen along even if you are unable to engage with any of the below.

• Download the intro and afterword from No Pasaran!
• Read a 4,300 word excerpt (Chapter 2) from the book for free online: “Building Communities for a Fascist-Free Future“
• Read a 1,200 word excerpt from the book for free online: “Past Year of White Nationalism Has Shown Ongoing Need for Anti-Fascist Movements“
• Read a 900 word, excerpt from the book for free online: “We Must Unlearn the Lie That State Violence Is Inherently Legitimate“, part of an interview with abolitionist organizer Kelly Hayes — who is the host of Truthout’s podcast “Movement Memos”
• Listen to editor of the book Shane Burley in conversation about the book on the Last Born in the Wilderness podcast (1 hour, 7 minutes)
• Watch a 1 hour 23 minute video recording of a virtual event celebrating the release of the book. Editor Shane Burley hosts a discussion with contributors Hilary Moore (a political educator, writer, and organizer based in Kentucky, USA) and Ryan Smith (an anti-fascist Heathen organizer, teacher, and writer based in California). The video is embedded at the bottom of this page.

Our events are free to attend, though we will collect donations to cover the costs of venue hire on a donate-what-you-can-afford basis. We try to ensure the discussions are welcoming to new people, including people who have never been to a reading group before – and you don’t have to have been to university. You don’t even have to have read any of the book – you can just come along and listen to the discussion. Some free resources including a sample chapter we’ll focus our discussion on are included below though, and we’d encourage people to read/listen to as much as they can ahead of the session.

The Exchange has step-free access. We will keep windows open for ventilation, hand sanitiser is provided, and we ask people who are ill to stay away (whether they are ill with covid or something else). Attendees do not generally wear masks but we will be respectful to anyone who chooses to and other members may wear masks at request of other attendees – let us know your preferences in advance. Please contact us if you have any accessibility requirements, or other questions about how the events work.

“¡No Pasarán! is an anthology of antifascist writing that takes up the fight against white supremacy and the far-right from multiple angles. From the history of antifascism to today’s movement to identify, deplatform, and confront the right, and the ways an insurgent fascism is growing within capitalist democracies, a myriad of voices come together to shape the new face of antifascism in a moment of social and political flux.”

Contributors include: Kim Kelly, Geo Maher, Hilary A. Moore, Daryle Lamont Jenkins, Emily Gorcenski, Maia Ramnath, Alexander Reid Ross, Matthew N. Lyons, Abner Häuge, Margaret Killjoy, Michael Novick, Jeanelle K. Hope, Maxililian Alvarez, Emmi Bevensee, Frank Miroslav, Ryan Smith, Leila al-Shami, Shon Meckfessel, Patrick Strickland, Mike Bento, Mirna Wabi-Sabi, Benjamin S. Case, Joan Braune, and Margaret Rex. Editor Shane Burley is an author based in Portland, Oregon. He is the author of Why We Fight: Essays on Fascism, Resistance, and Surviving the Apocalypse (AK Press, 2021) and Fascism Today: What It Is and How to End It (AK Press, 2017). Author of the afterword David Renton is a barrister, historian, and antifascist activist. His previous books include The New Authoritarians  and Fascism: History and Theory. Author of the foreword Tal Lavin, is also author of Culture Warlords.”
– information from the publishers AK Press