Tag Archives: Revolution

Events

Wednesday 24th September 2025: Burn Out – The Emotional Experience of Political Defeat

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On Wednesday 24th September 2025, from 7.30-9.30pm, Stroud Radical Reading Group will host a discussion of Burnout: The Emotional Experience of Political Defeat at The Exchange, Brick Row, Stroud, GL5 1DF (free entry). Anyone is welcome. The session will be introduced by regular attendee, Helen.

An unending stream of grim news from our own country and around the world, on top of the struggles of living under capitalism and an increasingly authoritarian state can feel overwhelming. Our political ancestors have faced similar circumstances – how did organisers and activists of the past keep going? In Burnout, Hannah Proctor answers that question through historical examples, exploring “how revolutionary movements have balanced the grief of political defeat and lost hope, with the imminent needs of organising and continued resistance”.

Below in our resources section you can find a link to buy the book at a discount, and free audio/visual resources including a free excerpt from the book. There is also more information about the book and Stroud Radical Reading Group events.

Entry to the reading group session is free and everyone is welcome – you do not need to have attended previous sessions, and we do our best to make the sessions welcoming to people who have not been to reading groups or similar settings like university seminars before. The whole point is to help each other not only understand the book but relate it to our own lives and the actions we take – to read and discuss the book not only to change our minds, but to change the world.

We encourage people to read the whole book, but you are welcome to attend to listen to the discussion without reading any of it. An excerpt, podcast interview, and youtube video are available for those who do not have the time or money for the whole book.

About the book:

In the struggle for a better world, setbacks are inevitable. Defeat can feel overwhelming at times, but it has to be endured. How then do the people on the front line keep going? To answer that question, Hannah Proctor draws on historical resources to find out how revolutionaries and activists of the past kept a grip on hope.

Burnout considers despairing former Communards exiled to a penal colony in the South Pacific; exhausted Bolsheviks recuperating in sanatoria in the aftermath of the October Revolution; an ex-militant on the analyst’s couch relating dreams of ruined landscapes; Chinese peasants engaging in self-criticism sessions; a political organiser seeking advice from a spiritual healer; civil rights movement activists battling weariness; and a group of feminists padding a room with mattresses to scream about the patriarchy. Jettisoning self-help narratives and individualizing therapy talk, Proctor offers a different way forward – neither denial nor despair. Her cogent exploration of the ways militants have made sense of their own burnout demonstrates that it is possible to mourn and organise at once, and to do both without compromise.

About the author

Hannah Proctor is a historian of the human sciences interested in intersections between left-wing politics and the psy’ disciplines, Communist and anti-Communist theories of the mind, histories and theories of radical psychiatry, theories and practices of Freudo-Marxism, and emotional histories of the left.

She has written for both academic and non-academic publications on topics including rayon stockings, gender and the death drive, utopian pedagogy, Communist motherhood, wrinkles, the aesthetics of fMRI, Soviet babies, revolutionary commemoration, British antipsychiatry, mourning, Carl Jung’s influence on Jordan Peterson, depression, perfume and Ulrike Meinhof’s brain.

Resources

  • Buy Burn Out from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop – RRP £14.99, £12.74 with discount (saving £2.25). To get a 15% discount: Look at your “basket”, and enter the “couponcode” 25stroudradical. Pick up book from Nailsworth, Tetbury or Chalford shops, or get books delivered to your door for £3.50 postage. If posting books, you may wish to buy other books we are reading this year.
  • Read “Beyond Left Melancholy“, a 4,500 word excerpt from the book – approximately 30 minute read.
  • Listen to an 80 minute interview (embedded below) with host, Eleanor Penny, author Hannah Proctor and Ajay Singh Chaudhary (author of a different book – The Exhausted of the Earth: Politics in a Burning World) discussing how revolutionary movements have balanced the grief of political defeat and lost hope, with the imminent needs of organising and continued resistance.
  • Watch a 90 minute interview with the author hosted by Haymarket Books (embedded below), discussing how to maintain hope in the face of despair, with Hannah Proctor and Sarah Jaffe.
  • Explore Hannah Proctor’s website with further links to her work and reviews.

About our events

Stroud Radical Reading Group events are free to attend, though we will make a collection to cover venue hire costs – please bring some cash.

We try to create a comfortable discussion space for everyone, including people who have not been part of a reading group or been to university. We do not want the sessions to feel like school – the idea is that everyone has something to contribute, even if primarily through finding the discussion texts difficult and having questions with other attendees can attempt to answer.

To ensure marginalised people feel welcome, we encourage care and thoughtful contributions that respect people’s identities and lives. We are an LGBTQ+ inclusive and anti-racist space.

Anyone is welcome to listen to the discussion, though we encourage contributions only from those who have read at least some of the book we are discussing.

There is an opportunity for more informal discussion after the session in the Ale House pub for anyone who wants to continue their evening.

About the venue

We will meet in the Robert Owen Room at The Exchange, Brick Row, Stroud. This is the smaller of two meeting rooms at The Exchange, at the end of the covered walkway, which provides step-free access. There is a small kitchen next door – which we’ll use to provide people with water. There are two toilets, including an accessible toilet. The Exchange is a short walk (10 minutes) from Stroud Bus Station or Train Station. There is a small amount of parking at the venue, and more parking in the nearby Church St car park. The room is clean and bright. We pay for the room, so will collect donations at the end of the session – please bring a little cash if you can – approimately £3 would be great.

Get in touch
Facebook event – invite friends/receive reminders
Join the Stroud Radical Reading Facebook Group for online discussion with others who attend the discussions

Events

Wednesday 27th August 2025: Toussaint Louverture, The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History

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On Wednesday 27th August 2025, from 7.30-9.30pm, Stroud Radical Reading Group will host a discussion of Toussaint Louverture, The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History (free entry). We will meet at Redz Youth Hub, 6 Threadneedle St, GL5 1AF. See below for more information on the venue.

The session will be introduced by long-time regular attendee, Asha.

In 1791, the enslaved people of the most prized French sugar plantation colony, San Domingo, revolted against their masters. For over twelve years, against a backdrop of the French Revolution, they fought an epic black liberation struggle for control of the island.

Theirs was the first and only successful slave revolution. It was the creation of Haiti as a nation, the first independent black republic outside of Africa, and an international inspiration to the persecuted and enslaved. This month’s book is the impassioned and beautifully drawn story of the Haitian Revolution and its incredible leader: Toussaint Louverture, based on a play by C.L.R. James – whose book The Black Jacobins is highly revered, and which we discussed as a group in October 2020.

Below in our resources section you can find a link to buy the book at a discount, content notes, and free audio/visual resources including a 20 page excerpt from the book. There is also more information about the book and Stroud Radical Reading Group events.

Entry to the reading group session is free and everyone is welcome – you do not need to have attended previous sessions, and we do our best to make the sessions welcoming to people who have not been to reading groups or similar settings like university seminars before.

We encourage people to read the whole book, but you are welcome to attend to listen to the discussion without reading any of it. An excerpt, podcast interview, and youtube video are available for those who do not have the time or money for the whole book.

Content notes:

Discussions of slavery, non-graphic portrayals of scars from beatings, period depictions of racism and classism, depictions of slave ships and drowning, non-graphic portrayal of armed conflict.

About the book:

The end of slavery started in what was then San Domingo. In 1791, the enslaved people of the most prized French sugar plantation colony revolted against their masters. For over twelve years, against a backdrop of the French Revolution, they fought an epic black liberation struggle for control of the island.

Theirs was the first and only successful slave revolution. It was the creation of Haiti as a nation, the first independent black republic outside of Africa, and an international inspiration to the persecuted and enslaved. This is the impassioned and beautifully drawn story of the Haitian Revolution and its incredible leader: Toussaint Louverture.

Further background

The text of this graphic novel is a play by C. L. R. James that opened in London in 1936 with Paul Robeson in the title role. For the first time, black actors appeared on the British stage in a work by a black playwright. The script had been lost for almost seventy years when a draft copy was discovered among James’s archives.

Toussaint Louverture is an indispensable companion work to The Black Jacobins (1938), James’s classic account of Haiti’s revolutionary struggle for liberation.

The extraordinary drama has been reimagined by artists Nic Watts and Sakina Karimjee.

Nic Watts is a freelance illustrator who has illustrated a range of works including newspapers, booklets and comics. This is his first graphic novel.

Sakina Karimjee is a theatre designer and draughtsperson. She co-produced the book with Watts.

Resources

About our events

Stroud Radical Reading Group events are free to attend, though we will make a collection to cover venue hire costs – please bring some cash.

We try to create a comfortable discussion space for everyone, including people who have not been part of a reading group or been to university. We do not want the sessions to feel like school – the idea is that everyone has something to contribute, even if primarily through finding the discussion texts difficult and having questions with other attendees can attempt to answer.

To ensure marginalised people feel welcome, we encourage care and thoughtful contributions that respect people’s identities and lives. We are an LGBTQ+ inclusive and anti-racist space.

Anyone is welcome to listen to the discussion, though we encourage contributions only from those who have read at least some of the book we are discussing.

There is an opportunity for more informal discussion after the session in the Ale House pub for anyone who wants to continue their evening.

About the venue

The venue for this session is Redz Youth Hub, a hub for organising, creativity, and community building. It’s a free space for young people to host their own events, workshops, and meetups. They’ve been hosting sessions by Mutiny: Stroud’s Youth Assembly and The RYSE – the Radical Youth Space for Educations – see their schedule for the rest of the year here, including sessions on the Peace Movement, Stroud Water riots, and decolonial action.

Redz is in central Stroud, close to the train station and bus station, with nearby stands to lock bikes, and parking for cars nearby at Fawkes Place or Church St car park. It is one street over from John St – for those who have joined recent sessions at Creative Sustainability. Please get in touch if you’d like to get more of an idea of what the sessions are like or if you have any accessibility needs.

Get in touch
Facebook event – invite friends/receive reminders
Join the Stroud Radical Reading Facebook Group for online discussion with others who attend the discussions
Events

Wednesday 23rd July 2025: Syria Speaks

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On Wednesday 23rd July 2025, from 7.30-9.30pm, Stroud Radical Reading Group will host a discussion of Syria Speaks Art and Culture from the Frontline (free entry). We will meet at Coco Caravan (a short distance from the town centre train or bus station, with a limited amount of parking available nearby at Fawkes Place). Coco Caravan are hosting an exhibition of work by Cammy Leon, “Hope & Imagining – Syria’s past and future”, which will run from 10th July to 9th August. Before the reading group session, there will be an event at the exhibition from 5.30-7pm, for people to gather, explore the artwork, buy hot chocolate and hopefully poetry from a Syrian living locally (entry with a donation to the White Helmets).

Syria Speaks is not a conventional book—it’s a kaleidoscopic collection of art, stories, essays, poems, cartoons, photography, and graffiti that documents the Syrian people’s creative resistance during the early years of the revolution that began in 2011 (written in 2012 and 2013). Compiled by Syrian and international editors, it gives voice to those who dared to challenge repression with words, images, and dreams.

The book is diverse in medium and voice—from tragic personal narratives to bold graphic art, from lyrical poetry to bitter satire—and it is united by a deep commitment to freedom of expression and the courage to imagine something beyond dictatorship and violence.

Below in our resources section you can find a link to buy the book at a discount, content notes, free audio/visual resources, and a recently published short article about the current situation in Syria. There is also more information about the book and its editors.

Entry to the reading group session is free and everyone is welcome – you do not need to have attended previous sessions, and we do our best to make the sessions welcoming to people who have not been to reading groups or similar settings like university seminars before.

We encourage people to read the whole book, but you are welcome to attend to listen to the discussion without reading any of it. We have collated some short sections, audio-visual material and an article for those who do not have the time or money for the whole book (these are available as previews on Google Books):

  • Introduction and Hama ’82 (pages vii-1)
  • Between the cultures of sectarianism & citizenship by Hassan Abbas (pages 48-59)
  • The Art of Persuasion by Anonymous Artists Collective (pages 66-77)

This event follows our event on Burning Country in June last year, and the fall of the Assad regime since.

Content notes:

The book deals with repression, war and genocide – involving specifically violence, murder, death, torture, police brutality, rape and sexual violence, injury, grief, death of parents, blood and gore.

About the book:

In Syria, culture became the critical line of defence against tyranny. Villagers have joined the cultural frontline alongside urban intellectuals, artists, writers and filmmakers and to create art and literature that challenge official narratives. With contributions by over fifty artists and writers, both established and emerging, Syria Speaks explores the explosion of creativity and free expression by the Syrian people.

They have become their own publishers on the Internet and formed anonymous artists collectives which are actively working in their country’s war zones. The art and writing featured in this book, including literature, poems and songs as well as cartoons, political posters and photographs, document and interpret the momentous changes that have shifted the frame of reality so drastically in Syria.

About the editors:

Malu Halasa is a London-based writer, journalist, and editor with a focus on Palestine, Iran, and Syria. She is Literary Editor at The Markaz Review, and was the curator of Art of the Palestinian Poster at the P21 Gallery, as part the Shubbak: A Window on Contemporary Arab Culture Festival, from 23 May to 14 June 2025.

Zaher Omareen is a Syrian writer and researcher based in London. He has worked on independent cultural initiatives in Syria and Europe, and co-curated exhibitions on the art of the Syrian uprising. He is currently working on a collection of short stories drawn from the collective memories of the 1982 Hama massacre.

Nawara Mahfoud is a Syrian journalist and documentary producer who has worked for the New York Times. She blogs for the New Yorker, among other publications.

About the Exhibition 

A bold collection of four digital art prints centres the courage and defiance of the Syrian revolution. Through striking visual storytelling, two of the series honours key figures who embodied the spirit of resistance: Mazen Hamada, Razan Zaitouneh, Samira Khalil, and May Skaf—each a symbol of unwavering dignity in the face of repression.

Two of the works evoke collective liberation: one captures the moment Aleppo was liberated, Syrian and Palestinian flags raised in solidarity; the other shows a quiet revolution—people cycling freely through Damascus, reclaiming joy where it was once forbidden by the brutal Assad regime. This is a tribute to memory, movement, humanity and a future that refuses to die.

The exhibition is a fundraiser for the White Helmets. There will be an auction for the artworks, and donations collected on entry to the exhibition event and during the exhibition.

Resources

  • Buy Syria Speaks from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop – RRP £14.99, £12.74 with discount (saving £2.25). To get a 15% discount: Look at your “basket”, and enter the “couponcode” 25stroudradical. Pick up book from Nailsworth, Tetbury or Chalford shops, or get books delivered to your door for £3.50 postage. If posting books, you may wish to buy other books we are reading this year
  • This short article gives a vivid snapshot of early post-Assad Syria—where grassroots activists of all ages are reclaiming political space, pushing back against HTS’s religious conservatism, and building the beginnings of a pluralistic, left alternative rooted in social and economic justice.
  • Listen to this 6 month old podcast episode dedicated to Omar Aziz, Razan Zeituneh and Alan Kurdi “Long Live the Syrian Revolution” (30 minutes, Politically Depressed podcast, embedded below).
  • 8 month old podcast “Roundtable on Syria” (90 minutes, The Fire These Times podcast). “For episode 178, From the Periphery collective members Leila Al-Shami, Elia Ayoub, Karena Avedissian, and Ayman Makarem gathered together for a roundtable to discuss the latest developments in Syria and to provide a historical and political background to help understand the current moment.”
  • Cartoon by Anarchist activist Omar Aziz, “Revolution in Every Country Comic Series: Episode 1 – Syria: Erasing an Inconvenient Revolution“
  • Video recording of panel discussion from the “Discover Syria in Stroud” event held on Saturday 11th January 2025, marking the fall of the Assad regime. After a screening of For Sama, Emma from CSSD and Stroud Against Racism hosted a panel discussion, featuring Leila Al-Shami, British-Syrian activist and writer. She is co-author of ‘Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War’ and is co-founder of From The Periphery media collective; Robin Yassin-Kassab, a regular media commentator on Syria and the Middle East. He is the author of the novel The Road from Damascus (Penguin, 2009), contributor to Syria Speaks (Saqi, 2014), and – with Leila Al-Shami – the co-author of ‘Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War’; Rami Emad, a Syrian Refugee living locally (embedded below)

About our events

Stroud Radical Reading Group events are free to attend, though we will make a collection to cover venue hire costs – please bring some cash.

We try to create a comfortable discussion space for everyone, including people who have not been part of a reading group or been to university. We do not want the sessions to feel like school – the idea is that everyone has something to contribute, even if primarily through finding the discussion texts difficult and having questions with other attendees can attempt to answer.

To ensure marginalised people feel welcome, we encourage care and thoughtful contributions that respect people’s identities and lives. We are an LGBTQ+ inclusive and anti-racist space.

Anyone is welcome to listen to the discussion, though we encourage contributions only from those who have read at least some of the book we are discussing.

There is an opportunity for more informal discussion after the session in the Ale House pub for anyone who wants to continue their evening.

About the venue

We will meet at the Coco Caravan Cacao House (2 Bedford St, GL5 1AY). This is a venue connected to a chocolate studio which brings together people to share different cacao knowledges, specially selected chocolate varieties, and experience chocolate as a plant food of immense cultural, historical, and spiritual value.

This is close to the train station and not far from the bus station. There are stands to lock bikes to on the High St nearby, and parking for cars nearby at Fawkes Place or Church St car park. There are no toilets at the venue. There step free access the building. The room is well lit. Please get in touch if you’d like to get more of an idea of what the sessions are like or if you have any accessibility needs.

Get in touch
Facebook event – invite friends/receive reminders
Join the Stroud Radical Reading Facebook Group for online discussion with others who attend the discussions
Events

Wednesday 26th March 2025- Revolutionary and Enemy Feminisms

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On Wednesday 26th March 2025, from 7.30-9.30pm, Stroud Radical Reading Group will host a discussion of two books looking at feminisms. The discussion will follow International Women’s Day, which is held annually on the 8th March. We suggest people pick one or other of the books to read in full, or read excerpts from both – see below for links to buy the books at a discount from the local Yellow Lighted Bookshop and a variety of free text, audio, and visual resources relevant to the books.

  • Revolutionary Feminisms: Conversations on Collective Action and Radical Thought, Edited by Brenna Bhandar and Rafeef Ziadah
  • Enemy Feminisms: TERFs, Policewomen, and Girlbosses Against Liberation, by Sophie Lewis

We will meet at Creative Sustainability’s shopfront space at 10 John St, GL5 2HA (a short distance from the town centre train or bus station, with parking available nearby at Church St).

Entry is free and everyone is welcome – you do not need to have attended previous sessions, and we do our best to make the sessions welcoming to people who have not been to reading groups or similar settings like university seminars before.

More information about the books, venue and how sessions work is below.

About the books:

Revolutionary Feminisms – “Black, anti-colonial, anti-racist feminist thought is often sidelined in mainstream discourses that transform feminism into simplistic calculations of how many women are in positions of power.

This book sets the record straight. Through interviews with key scholars, including Angela Y. Davis and Silvia Federici, [Editors of Revolutionary Feminisms, Brenna] Bhandar and [Rafeef] Ziadah present a serious and thorough discussion of race, class, gender, and sexuality not merely as intersections to be noted or additives to be mixed in, but as co-constitutive factors that must be reckoned with if we are to build effective coalitions.”

Enemy Feminisms – “In a time of rising fascism, ceaseless attacks on reproductive justice, and violent transphobia, we need to reckon with what Western feminism has wrought if we have any hope of building the feminist world we need. Sophie Lewis offers an unflinching tour of enemy feminisms, from 19th century imperial feminists and police officers to 20th century KKK feminists and pornophobes to today’s anti-abortion and TERF feminists.

Enemy feminisms exist. Feminism is not an inherent political good. Only when we acknowledge that can we finally reckon with the ways these feminisms have pushed us toward counterproductive and even violent ends. And only then can we finally engage in feminist strategizing that is truly antifascist.

At once a left transfeminist battlecry against cisness, a decolonial takedown of nationalist womanhoods, and a sex-radical retort to femmephobia in all its guises, Enemy Feminisms is above all a fierce, brilliant love letter to feminism.”

Buy the books

When looking at your “basket” enter the “couponcode” 25stroudradical for a 15% discount. Pick up book from Nailsworth, Tetbury or Chalford shops, or get books delivered to your door for £3.50 postage. If posting books, you may wish to buy other books we are reading this year.

Free Resources

Text Resources

  1. TERF Island – There Have Always Been Enemies Inside the Feminist Camp | lux-magazine.com [5,000 words]
  2. How the Girlboss Lost: Sophie Lewis on the Rise and Fall of a Feminist Moment – Leaning Into the Death of Lean-In Feminism and Its Many Resurrections in Our Conflicted Zeitgeist | lithub.com [3,150 words]
  3. Lipstick on the Pigs​ | Kamala Harris and the Lineage of the Female Cop | thedriftmag.com [4,600 words]
EnemyFeminismsExcerptsDownload

Audio/visual resources

About our events and the venue

Stroud Radical Reading Group events are free to attend, though we will make a collection to cover venue hire costs – please bring some cash. We try to create a comfortable discussion space for everyone, including people who have not been part of a reading group or been to university. Anyone is welcome to listen to the discussion, though we encourage contributions only from those who have read at least some of the book we are discussing. There is an opportunity for more informal discussion after the session in the Ale House pub for anyone who wants to continue their evening.

About the venue

We will meet at the Creative Sustainability shopfront space at 10 John St, GL5 2HA (round the corner from Iceland and next to the Ale House pub). This is close to the train station and not far from the bus station. There are stands to lock bikes to outside, and parking for cars nearby at Church St car park. There are no toilets at the venue. There is a small step to access the building, which is then step free). The room is well lit. Please get in touch if you’d like to get more of an idea of what the sessions are like or if you have any accessibility needs.

Get in touch
Facebook event – invite friends/receive reminders
Join the Stroud Radical Reading Facebook Group for online discussion with others who attend the discussions

Events

August 28th 2024 – Anarcho-Indigenism: Conversations on Land and Freedom

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On Wednesday 28th August 2024, from 7.30-9.30pm, Stroud Radical Reading Group will host a discussion of Anarcho-Indigenism: Conversations on Land and Freedom – edited by Edited by Francis Dupuis-Déri and Benjamin Pillet. We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. Below you can find links to free resources related to the book, to buy a physical copy of the book at a discount, information about the event and venue.

Anarcho-Indigenism is a dialogue between anarchism and indigenous politics. In their interviews, contributors Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Véronique Hébert, Gord Hill, Freda Huson, J. Kēhaulani Kauanui, Clifton Ariwakehte Nicholas and Toghestiy reveal what indigenous thought and traditions and anarchism have in common, without denying the scars left by colonialism even within this anti-authoritarian movement. They ultimately offer a vision of the world that combines anti-colonialism, feminism, ecology, anti-capitalism and anti-statism.

You can buy the book from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop (Nailsworth, Tetbury or Chalford pick up or delivery at £3.50) via the previous link – RRP £14.99. When looking at your “basket” enter the “couponcode” stroudradical24 for a 12% discount – final book price £13.19, a saving of £1.80). The ebook is £9.99 from publishers Pluto Press.

Free resources

About our events and the venue

Stroud Radical Reading Group events are free to attend, though we will make a collection to cover costs – please bring some cash. We try to create a comfortable discussion space for everyone, including people who have not been part of a reading group or been to university. Anyone is welcome to listen to the discussion, though we encourage contributions only from those who have read at least some of the book we are discussing.

We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. This is near the centre of town, a short walk from Stroud Railway Station and a slightly longer walk from the Merrywalks Bus Station. There are stands to lock bikes to outside, and parking for cars nearby in either Brunel Mall, Fawkes Place, or Church St car park. There is a low step to enter the building, which is flat. There are no toilet facilities. Please get in touch if you’d like to get more of an idea of what the sessions are like or if you have any accessibility needs.

About the book, editors and contributors

“As early as the end of the 19th century, anarchists such as Peter Kropotkin and Élisée Reclus became interested in indigenous peoples, many of whom they saw as societies without a state or private property, living a form of communism. Contemporary thinkers such as David Graeber and John Holloway have continued this tradition of engagement with the practices of indigenous societies and their politics, while indigenous activists and intellectuals coined the term ‘anarcho-indigenism’, in reference to a long history of (often imperfect) collaboration between anarchists and indigenous activists, over land rights and environmental issues, including recent high profile anti-pipeline campaigns.”

Publishers description (Pluto Press)

Francis Dupuis-Déri is a Professor of Political Science and a member of the Institut de Recherches et d’études Féministes at the Université du Québec à Montréal.

Benjamin Pillet is a translator and community organizer.

Gord Hill is an Indigenous writer, artist and activist from the Kwakwaka’wakw nation.

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz is Professor Emerita of Ethnic Studies at California State University. She is author of An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States.

Clifton Ariwakehte Nicholas is a Kanienkeha’ka activist, film-maker and entrepreneur from Kanesatake. He made a number of independent documentaries such as ‘Elsipogtog: No Fracking Way!‘ and ‘Karistatsi Onienre: The Iron Snake‘ on the pipeline project called Énergie Est (embedded below)

Véronique Hébert is an actor, theatre director and writer from the Atikamekw First Nation of Wemotaci.

Freda Huson is a Wet’suwet’en land defender and representative of the Wet’suwet’en Camp in North West British Columbia, blocking various tar sands and fracked gas pipelines.

Toghestiy is a Wet’suwet’en land defender and representative of the Wet’suwet’en Camp in North West British Columbia blocking various tar sands and fracked gas pipelines. Toghestiy is a hereditary chief of the Likhts’amisyu Clan.

J. Kēhaulani Kauanui is a diasporic Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) born in southern California on traditional homeland of the Tongva people. She is the co-producer for Anarchy on Air, a majority POC radio show co-produced with a group of students.

Longer biographies are available on the Pluto Press website, or via the links above)

Events

July 31st 2024: Means and Ends – The Revolutionary Practice of Anarchism in Europe and the United States

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On Wednesday 31st July 2024, from 7.30-9.30pm, Stroud Radical Reading Group will host a discussion of Means and Ends: The Revolutionary Practice of Anarchism in Europe and the United States by Zoe Baker. We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. Below you can find links to free resources related to the book, to buy a physical copy of the book at a discount, information about the event and venue.

Means and Ends is a new overview of the revolutionary strategy of anarchism in Europe and the United States between 1868 and 1939. Zoe Baker clearly and accessibly explains the ideas that historical anarchists developed in order to change the world. This includes their views on direct action, revolution, organization, state socialism, reforms, and trade unions. The consistent heart of anarchism was the idea that anarchist ends can only be achieved through anarchist means. Baker draws upon a vast assortment of examples to show how this simple premise underpinned anarchist attempts to put theory into action.

You can buy the book from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop (Nailsworth, Tetbury or Chalford pick up or delivery at £3.50) via the previous link – RRP £21. When looking at your “basket” enter the “couponcode” stroudradical24 for a 12% discount – final book price £18.48, a saving of £2.52).

About our events and the venue

Stroud Radical Reading Group events are free to attend, though we will make a collection to cover costs – please bring some cash. We try to create a comfortable discussion space for everyone, including people who have not been part of a reading group or been to university. Anyone is welcome to listen to the discussion, though we encourage contributions only from those who have read at least some of the book we are discussing.

We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. This is near the centre of town, a short walk from Stroud Railway Station and a slightly longer walk from the Merrywalks Bus Station. There are stands to lock bikes to outside, and parking for cars nearby in either Brunel Mall, Fawkes Place, or Church St car park. There is a low step to enter the building, which is flat. There are no toilet facilities. Please get in touch if you’d like to get more of an idea of what the sessions are like or if you have any accessibility needs.

About the book and author

“Means and Ends is a new overview of the revolutionary strategy of anarchism in Europe and the United States between 1868 and 1939. Zoe Baker clearly and accessibly explains the ideas that historical anarchists developed in order to change the world. This includes their views on direct action, revolution, organization, state socialism, reforms, and trade unions.
Throughout, she demonstrates that the reasons anarchists gave for supporting or opposing particular strategies were grounded in a theoretical framework—a theory of practice—which maintained that, as people engage in activity, they simultaneously change the world and themselves. This theoretical framework was the foundation for the anarchist commitment to the unity of means and ends: the means that revolutionaries propose to achieve social change have to involve forms of activity which transform people into individuals who are capable of, and driven to, both overthrow capitalism and the state and build a free society. The consistent heart of anarchism was the idea that anarchist ends can only be achieved through anarchist means. Cutting through misconceptions and historical inaccuracies, Baker draws upon a vast assortment of examples to show how this simple premise underpinned anarchist attempts to put theory into action.”

Publishers description (Pluto Press)

Zoe Baker is a libertarian socialist philosopher with a PhD on the history of anarchism. She is known for popularizing the theory and history of anarchism, feminism, and Marxism on her popular YouTube and Twitter platforms

Free resources:

Events

June 26th 2024: Burning Country – Syrians in Revolution and War

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On Wednesday 26th June 2024, from 7.30-9.30pm, Stroud Radical Reading Group will host a discussion of Burning Country: Syrians in Revolution and War by Robin Yassin-Kassab and Leila Al-Shami. We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. Below you can find links to a free copy of the book as a pdf, to buy a physical copy of the book at a discount, information about the event, venue and free resources.

In 2011, many Syrians took to the streets of Damascus to demand the overthrow of the government of Bashar al-Assad. Burning Country explores the horrific and complicated reality of life in present-day Syria.

You can buy the book from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop (Nailsworth, Tetbury or Chalford pick up or delivery at £3.50) via the previous link – RRP £14.99. When looking at your “basket” enter the “couponcode” stroudradical24 for a 12% discount – final book price £13.19, a saving of £1.80).

Event format

We are very fortunate that one of the authors, Robin Yassin-Kassab, is hoping to join us half way through the meeting to answer questions about the book. We will also be joined by Rami, a Syrian refugee living locally.

About our events and the venue

Stroud Radical Reading Group events are free to attend, though we will make a collection to cover costs – please bring some cash. Anyone is welcome to listen to the discussion, though we encourage contributions only from those who have read at least some of the book we are discussing. We try to create a comfortable discussion space for everyone, including people who have not been part of a reading group or been to university.

We will meet at 10 John St, GL5 2AH. This is near the centre of town, a short walk from Stroud Railway Station and a slightly longer walk from the Merrywalks Bus Station. There are stands to lock bikes to outside, and parking for cars nearby in either Brunel Mall, Fawkes Place, or Church St car park. There is a low step to enter the building, which is flat. There are no toilet facilities. Please get in touch if you’d like to get more of an idea of what the sessions are like or if you have any accessibility needs.

About the book and authors

“Burning Country explores the horrific and complicated reality of life in present-day Syria with unprecedented detail and sophistication, drawing on new first hand testimonies from opposition fighters, exiles lost in an archipelago of refugee camps, and courageous human rights activists among many others. These stories are expertly interwoven with a trenchant analysis of the brutalisation of the conflict and the militarisation of the uprising, of the rise of the Islamists and sectarian warfare, and the role of governments in Syria and elsewhere in exacerbating those violent processes. With chapters focusing on ISIS and Islamism, regional geopolitics, the new grassroots revolutionary organisations, and the worst refugee crisis since World War Two, Burning Country is a vivid and groundbreaking look at a modern-day political and humanitarian nightmare.”

Publishers description (Pluto Press)

Robin Yassin-Kassab is a regular media commentator on Syria and the Middle East. He is the author of the novel The Road from Damascus (Penguin, 2009) and contributor to Syria Speaks (Saqi, 2014).

Leila Al-Shami has worked with the human rights movement in Syria and across in the Middle East. She is a founding member of Tahrir-ICN, a network that aimed to connect anti-authoritarian struggles across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.

Free resources:

Events

Saturday 24th June 2023: The Solutions Are Already Here by Peter Gelderloos

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On Saturday 24th June 2023, from 7.30-9.30pm at The RYSE, 2 Bath St, Stroud Radical Reading Group will discuss The Solutions Are Already Here: Strategies for Ecological Revolution From Below, by Peter Gelderloos. The book looks at how “grassroots networks of local communities are working to realise their visions of an alternative revolutionary response to planetary destruction”. On this webpage you can find a link to buy the book at a discount, free resources, and information about the author, the book, how our sessions work, and the venue.

You can buy a copy of the book from the Yellow-Lighted Bookshop with a 12% discount by using this link. After adding the book to your ‘basket’, view your basket where there is an option to enter a ‘Coupon code’. Add the code “StroudRadical23” and click/tap “Apply coupon”. The book will then cost £14.95, saving you £2.04 or 12%. You can collect the book from shops in Nailsworth, Tetbury or at the Chalford Village shop, or delivered for an additional cost of £3.50.

This discussion is part our series on climate change, but you are welcome to join the discussion even if you cannot make the other events. You are also welcome even if you haven’t read the book or the free section of it available below – to listen to the discussion and ask questions.

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.

Free resources

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:

solutionsalreadyhereintro7-17Download

About the author and the book

Peter Gelderloos is an anarchist writer and movement participant. He is the author of Worshiping Power: An Anarchist View of Early State Formation.

In The Solutions Are Already Here, “Gelderloos argues that international governmental responses to the climate emergency are structurally incapable of solving the crisis. But there is hope.

Across the world, grassroots networks of local communities are working to realise their visions of an alternative revolutionary response to planetary destruction, often pitted against the new megaprojects promoted by greenwashed alternative energy infrastructures and the neocolonialist, technocratic policies that are the forerunners of the Green New Deal.

Gelderloos interviews food sovereignty activists in Venezuela, Indigenous communities reforesting their lands in Brazil and anarchists fighting biofuel plantations in Indonesia, looking at the battles that have cancelled airports, stopped pipelines, and helped the most marginalised to fight borders and environmental racism, to transform their cities, to win a dignified survival.”

‘Few books are as honest, inclusive and based on so much experience of committed social and ecological struggle. The Solutions Are Already Here opens doorways to a world so many young activists want to know and understand, and reminds so many more that now is the time to act’ – Dr. Alexander Dunlap, Centre for Development & the Environment, University of Oslo

About Stroud Radical Reading Group events and the venue

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 above, and we’d encourage people to read/listen to as much as they can ahead of the session.

James facilitates the sessions, which we start and finish with everyone having a short time to introduce themselves, and mention something that struck them about the reading or which they’d like to discuss. The conversation then flows, with people using hands to indicate they’d like to speak – and we try to make sure everyone gets a chance. Sometimes we identify particular questions to think about during a session or even before it.

The RYSE is a new venue for us – it is accessed by a staircase. Please contact us if you have any accessibility requirements, or other questions about how the events work.

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.

Events

Oct 26th 2022: Living My Life by Emma Goldman

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On Friday 21st October 2022, from 7.30-9.30pm at The Exchange, Brick Row, Stroud (GL5 1DF), Stroud Radical Reading Group will discuss Emma Goldman’s autobiography Living My Life (discounted copies are available from a local bookshop – click the previous link/see more details below).

If you do not have time to read the fill book (which approaches 600 pages), please focus on the Introduction, Chapter 42/XLII, pages 311-322 of the Penguin Classics edition (in which she discusses the Mother Earth radical newspaper she published, censorship, Feminism and homosexuality), and/or Chapter 52/LII, pages 403-527 of the Penguin Classics edition (which covers Goldman’s experiences in the early Soviet Union).

Buy a copy of the book with a 12% discount from the Yellow Lighted Bookshop. To claim the 12% discount (which reduces the price by £1.92 from £15.99 to £14.07), add the book to your basket, then click to ‘view your basket’, type “StroudRadical”in the ‘Coupon Code’ box, click ‘apply coupon’ and then proceed.

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 most dangerous woman in America,” as J. Edgar Hoover described her, took pen in hand in June 1928 to write the events of her tumultuous life. “Red Emma” Goldman, who the popular press claimed owned no God, had no religion, would kill all rulers, and overthrow all laws, chose to begin her autobiography on her fifty-ninth birthday, a task she would later say was the “hardest and most painful” she had ever undertaken. As she wrote about her life, she confronted not only her own loneliness but also the disappointment of her political hopes, the dream that anarchism, which she called her “beautiful ideal,” would take root in her lifetime among the people whose benefit she believed she served…

Eight years earlier, in 1920, America, her adopted country, had deported her as a subversive, leaving her feeling “an alien everywhere,” as she wrote to her friend in exile Alexander Berkman (Nowhere at Home, 170). A permanent, often unwelcome guest in someone else’s country, she would infuse her writing with a sense of loneliness and despair. To Berkman she wrote “hardly anything has come of our years of effort” (ibid., 49). On the eve of fascist victories in Europe, she felt as well the nearness of catastrophe, the likelihood that once again, as it had in 1914, Europe would be convulsed by war.

Underlying this sense of impending disaster, she was aware that political radicals on the left were embracing the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, a revolution she believed had betrayed the expectations of the Russian peasants and workers in whose name Lenin’s government served.” – Miriam Brody in the introduction to the Penguin Classics edition of the book

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.

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.

ch42livingmylifeDownload ch 42
ch52livingmylifeDownload CH 52
Events

October 28th – “The Black Jacobins”

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On October 28th we will discuss “The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo revolution” by C.L.R. James. The discussion will take place on a Zoom video call – please register (free) to access the details and be sent a reminder on the day.

In Black Jacobins, CLR James provides the definitive account of the Haitian Revolution of 1794-1803 and the story of the French colony of San Domingo. It is also the story of Toussaint L’Ouverture, who led the black people of San Domingo in a successful struggle against successive invasions by overwhelming French, Spanish, and English forces – helping to form the first independent nation in the Caribbean, and inspiring anti-colonial movements around the world.

The book obviously contains considerable references to the brutality of enslavement, and to racist ideas and commentary.

The full text of The Black Jacobins is available online for free in different formats. We encourage people to read the whole book, and as much as possible if not.

For those who know they will only have time for a section, our introducer Jeremy Green recommends Chapter 2 – The Owners. Click below to download Chaper 2 and introductory pages.

BlackJacobinsIntroCh2OwnersDownload

Black Jacobins as full text .pdf or .mobi files via link

This is the third session in our Geographies and Histories of Racial Capitalism series – but readers are welcome to join if they have not attended previous events.