A Time for Treason

A reading list created by a group of Black, Brown, Indigenous, Muslim, and Jewish people who are writers, organizers, teachers, anti-fascists, anti-capitalists, and radicals.

WE studied and pursued methods for revolutionary social change before Trump came to power, and our core focus remains the same: abolishing the ever-enlarging systems of hierarchy, control, and environmental destruction necessary to sustain the growth of capital. With the ascendance of White nationalist ambition to the upper echelons of empire, we have given special attention to struggles waged and endured by marginalized people for whom the fight against capital has always been a concurrent fight against Anglo-Saxon supremacy.

Although there are bleak times ahead, we must remember that for most of us America was never paradise. Democrats and liberals will use this time to revise history. They will present themselves as the reasonable solution to Trump’s reign and advocate a return to “normalcy.” But their normal is a country where Black people are routinely killed by police and more people are imprisoned than any other place in the world. Their normal is a country where millions are exploited while a handful eat lavishly. Their normal is the opposite of a solution; it’s a threat to our lives.

We encourage everyone to use their local libraries and indiebound.org to acquire the books listed below.

 

ANTI-FASCISM/FASCISM HISTORY

Militant Anti-Fascism: A Hundred Years of Resistance by M. Testa (Ebook free until 11/30 from AK Press)

The Mass Psychology of Fascism by Wilhelm Reich (PDF)

Escape from Freedom by Erich Fromm

Blackshirts and Reds by Michael Parenti (PDF)

“The Shock of Recognition” (An excerpt from Confronting Fascism by J. Sakai)

Hypernormalisation by Adam Curtis (documentary)

A critical review of Hypernormalisation

Fascist Symbols (photo)

Searchable Symbol Database

Hatemap

Chile:
The Battle of Chile (Documentary): Part I, Part 2, and Part 3

Philippines:
When A Populist Demagogue Takes Power

Argentina:
Transatlantic Fascism: Ideology, Violence and the Sacred in Argentina and Italy

Eastern Europe:
In the Shadow of Hitler

Italy:
The Birth of Fascist Ideology by Zeev Sternhell (PDF)
Basta Bunga Bunga
Lessons from Italy: The Dangers of Anti-Trumpism

Greece:
How Greece Put an Anti-Austerity, Anti-Capitalist Party in Power

Russia:
Russian Fascism: Traditions, Tendencies, and Movements by Stephen Shenfield

France:
Where Have All the Fascists Gone? by Tamir Bar-On
Neither Right nor Left by Zeev Sternhell (PDF)
Gender and Fascism in Modern France edited By Melanie Hawthorne, Richard Joseph Golsan
The Manouchian Group (French Antifa who resisted the Nazis when Germany occupied France)
L’Armée du Crime/The Army of Crime (Film)
Antifa Chasseurs de Skins (Documentary)

Spain:
Fascism in Spain 1923–1977
“The Spanish Civil War” (Series on Youtube)

Germany/Hitler:
Escape Through the Pyrenees by Lisa Fittko
Male Fantasies, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 by Klaus Theweleit (particularly Chapter 1)
The Nazis, Capitalism and the Working Class by Donny Gluckstein
Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt (PDF)
Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada (fiction)
“Freudian Theory and the Pattern of Fascist Propaganda” by Theodor Adorno (PDF)
Fascinating Fascism
The Horrifying American Roots for Nazi’s Eugenics

United States:
Negroes with Guns by Robert F. Williams: EPUB, PDF and Audio Documentary
The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement by Lance Hill
In the Name of Eugenics by Daniel Kevles
Dixie Be Damned: 300 Years of Insurrection in the American South by Saralee Stafford and Neal Shirley
Bloody Dawn: The Christiana Riot and Racial Violence in the Antebellum North by Thomas P. Slaughter
“Why We Fight” Part I & Part II
Columbus Day is the Most Important Day of Every Year
Fascism in a Pinstriped Suit by Michael Parenti (Essay in book Dirty Truths)
Southern Horrors by Ida B. Wells
Morbid Symptoms: The Rise of Trump

Alt-Right/U.S. Neo-Nazis:
'Hail Trump!': White Nationalists Salute the President Elect
This Is Not a Guide: Is the Alt-Right White Supremacist? (yes)
Why We Must Stop Speaking of Oppression as "Hate"
The Myth of the Bullied White Outcast Loner Is Helping Fuel a Fascist Resurgence
The New Man of 4Chan
The Dark History of Donald Trump's Right-Wing Revolt
Dark Days at the RNC
Trump Normalization Watch
The Real Origins of ‘Lone Wolf’ White Supremacists Like Dylan Roof

Here are assorted alt-right/White nationalist propaganda videos to better understand their rhetorical pull: one, two, three (Note: these videos were made by white supremacists).

 

U.S. REPRESSION & MCCARTHYISM

A ‘Commission on Radical Islam’ Could Lead to a New McCarthy Era

Newt Gingrich Calls for a New House of Un-American Activities

If They Come in the Morning: Voices of Resistance edited by Angela Davis (PDF)

Naming Names by Victor Navasky

Red Scare Racism and Cold War Black Radicalism by James Zeigler

The Other Blacklist: The African American Literary and Cultural Left of the 1950s by Mary Helen Washington

Still Black, Still Strong: Survivors of the War Against Black Revolutionaries by Dhoruba Bin Wahad, Assata Shakur, Mumia Abu Jamal (PDF)

Enemies: A History of the FBI by Tim Weiner

The COINTELPRO Papers by Ward Churchill (PDF)

Red Scare: Memories of the American Inquisition by Griffin Fariello

Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radicals and Reagan’s Rise to Power by Seth Rosenfeld (EPUB)

Interview with the Rosenfeld on NPR.

Green Is the New Red by Will Potter

War Against All Puerto Ricans: Revolution and Terror in America’s Colony by Nelson Denis (EPUB)

War Against The Panthers: A Study of Repression in America by Huey Newton (PDF)

The Repression Lists

The Story Behind The NATO 3 Domestic Terrorism Arrests

Why Did the FBI Spy on James Baldwin (Review of the book All Those Strangers by Douglas Field)

Cointelpro 101 by The Freedom Archives (Video)

 

SECURITY CULTURE/THE SURVEILLANCE STATE

The Burglary by Betty Medsgar

Overseers of the Poor by John Gilliom (PDF)

The Smart Girl’s Guide to Privacy by Violet Blue

Security Culture, CrimethInc

EFF Surveillance Self Defense

The Intercept's Surveillance Self Defense against the Trump Administration

Things To Know About Web Security Before Trump’s Inauguration

How Journalists Can Protect Themselves Online

How To Encrypt Your Entire Life in Less Than An Hour

On Building a Threat Model for Trump

FBI Confirms Contracts with AT&T, Verizon, and MCI

New York’s EZ Pass: We’re Watching You

NYCLU on EZ Pass Surveillance and ACLU blog on EZ Pass Surveillance

New York's New Public Wifi Kiosks Are Spying On You

Why Public Wifi is a Public Health Hazard

The Drone Papers

The NSA’s Secret Role in the U.S. Assassination Program

US Cited Controversial Law in Decision To Kill American By Drone

Security Notebook (a packet of readings)

Why Misogynists Make The Best Informants

Fusion Centers / What’s Wrong With Fusion Centers (ACLU report) / Fusion Center Investigations Into Anti War Activities

How See Something, Say Something Punishes Innocent Muslims and Spawns Islamophobia

Citizenfour by Laura Poitras (Documentary)

1971 by Johanna Hamilton (Documentary)

 

RESISTANCE TACTICS

The Ideology of the Young Lords Party (PDF)

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire (PDF)

The Black Panther Party: Service to the People Programs, edited by David Hilliard (PDF)

Blood in My Eye by George Jackson (PDF)

Peoples’ War, Peoples’ Army by Vo Nguyen Giap (PDF)

Poor People’s Movements by Frances Fox Piven

Policing the Planet, edited by Jordan T. Camp and Christina Heatherton

In the Shadow of the Shadow State

Black Riot

Against Innocence

Nothing Short of a Revolution

A Concise History of Liberation Theology

Organizing Lessons from Civil Rights Leader Ella Baker

After Trump

Black Study, Black Struggle

The Jackson Kush Plan (by Cooperation Jackson/MXGM)

Fuck Trump, But Fuck You Too: No Unity with Liberals

the past didn't go anywhere -- making resistance to antisemitism part of all our movements

De-arrests Are Beautiful

10 Points on Black Bloc (Text or Youtube)

On Blocs

How To Set Up an Anti-Fascist Group

How To Survive A Knife Attack: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4

 

BLACK LIBERATION

Black Reconstruction by W. E. B. Du Bois (PDF)

Abolition Democracy: Beyond Empire, Prisons, and Torture by Angela Davis (PDF)

Revolutionary Suicide by Huey Newton (PDF)

Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement by Barbara Ransby

We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement by Akinyele Omowale Umoja (PDF)

How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America by Manning Marable (PDF)

Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Repression by Robin DG Kelley (PDF)

Interview with Robin DG Kelley about his book

Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition by Cedric Robinson (PDF or EPUB)

Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon (PDF)

Black Jacobins by CLR James (PDF)

A History of Pan-African Revolt by CLR James

Black Awakening in Capitalist America by Robert Allen

From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime by Elizabeth Hinton

This NonViolent Stuff’ll Get You Killed by Charles E. Cobb Jr (PDF or EPUB)

Eddie Conway in conversation with Charles E. Cobb in How Guns Kept People Alive During The Civil Rights Movement: Part I, Part II and Part III

The Young Lords: A Reader (PDF)

Black Anarchism: A Reader (PDF)

We Charge Genocide’s Report on Community Policing (PDF) | The group’s talk with DOJ

An Open Letter To My Sister Angela Davis by James Baldwin

Cooperation Jackson: Countering the Confederate Assault and The Struggle for Economic Democracy (Video)

American Nightmare: Black Labor and Liberation (Documentary, not yet released)

On Reparations: Resisting Inclusion and Co-optation by Jamilah Martin

Beyond Nationalism but Not Without It by Ashanti Alston

The Liberal Solution to Police Violence: Restoring Trust Will Ensure More Obedience

The Weapon of Theory by Amilcar Cabral

The Carceral State

The Work Continues: Hannah Black Interviews Mariame Kaba

 

RESISTING ICE AND DEPORTATIONS

Mapping Trump's Coming War on Immigrant Sanctuary Cities

Migra Map: Crowdsourced map of ICE raids

Fight Trump: Stop Deportations By Any Means by George Ciccariello-Maher

What To Do If ICE Comes To Your Door / How To Avoid an ICE arrest and sudden deportation / The difference between ICE warrants

ICE Agents Lure Immigrant Out of Church Using Fake Text Messages

Testimonies and Evidence for Luring Garcia Family out of the Church

ICE Lied To Get Inside Immigrants’ Homes During Raid, Lawyer Says

This Is What a Deportation Raid Looks Like

Unconstitutional ICE Raids in Georgia

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s Policies in Latin America

The Clinton Foundation Left a Toxic Legacy in Colombia

US Government Deporting Central American Migrants to Their Deaths

“They Are Refugees”: US Government Deporting Central American Migrants Who Fled Extreme Violence

DACA Guide by Immigrant Resource Legal Center

NYCLU statement on IDNYC
Similar municipal ID programs exist in D.C., New Haven, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Oakland and Phoenix.

Churches Offer Sanctuary to Immigrants in Danger of Deportations
Goes over legality—and lack thereof—of sanctuary spaces

The Deportation Machine Obama Built

 

CHICANO OPPRESSION AND RESISTANCE

Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s by Francisco E Balderrama and Raymond Rodriguez

Forgotten Dead: Mob Violence Against Mexicans in the United States by William D. Carrigan

Chicano Indianism

Contra Aztlán

The Chaparral Insurgents of South Texas

 

THE BORDER, THE WALL

Border Patrol Nation by Todd Miller

Migra! A History of the US Border Patrol by Kelly Lytle Hernandez

Visualizing the U.S.–Mexico Border

I Went Undercover with a Militia and the US-Mexico Border. Here’s What I Saw

 

BLACK MIGRATION

The Big Truck That Went By: How The World Came To Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster by Jonathan M. Katz

The State of Black Immigrants (Report by Black Alliance for Just Immigration)
Part I: A Statistical Portrait of Black Immigrants in the United States
Part II: Black Immigrants in the Mass Criminalization System

History Is Repeating Itself At Guantanamo Bay

An American Concentration Camp, Guantanamo Public Memory Project

The Legacy of Guantanamo

“Testifying to Rightlessness: Haitian Refugees Speaking from Guantánamo” by Naomi Paik (PDF)

The Mass Deportation of Black Immigrants Seeking Asylum That You Haven’t Heard Of

Haitians Carve a Dangerous 7,000-mile path to the U.S. from Brazil

US Policy in Haiti Over Decades Lays the Foundation for Why Impact of Natural Disaster Is So Severe

Bill Clinton’s Trade Policies Destroyed Haitian Rice Farming

 

MUSLIM SURVEILLANCE/MUSLIM RESISTANCE

Anti-Arab Racism in the USA: Where It Comes from and What It Means for Politics Today by Steven Salaita

We Are All Suspects Now: Untold Stories from Immigrant Communities after 9/11 by Tram Nguyen

Anarcha-Islam

Towards a Black Muslim Ontology of Resistance

My Student, the 'Terrorist'

What Wasn't Said at Senator Durbin's Hearings on the State of Muslim Civil Rights in the US

FOIA Documents Show FBI Illegally Collecting Intelligence Under Guise of "Community Outreach"

The Long Roots of the NYPD Spying Program

The Perils of American Muslim Politics

Welcome to America — Now Spy on Your Friends

First They Came for the Muslim-Americans

Chicago Arab Youth to Push Back Against Racial Profiling

Where Did All That Power Go?: Black Muslims in the Movement for Community Control and Police Accountability

Countering Violent Extremism (CVE)

Burhan Mohumed Speaks Out Against Government Repression of Somali Community

The FBI Accused Him of Terrorism. He Couldn't Tie His Shoes.

How the U.S. Government Has Used 9/11 to Criminalize People of Color

How U.S. Torture Left a Legacy of Damaged Minds

Rising Up: The Alams (documentary)

 

INDIGENOUS RESISTANCE

500 Years of Indigenous Resistance by Gord Hill

An Indigenous People’s History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz (PDF of introduction, excerpt)

Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions by John (Fire) Lame Deer and Richard Erdoes

Lakota Woman by Mary Crow Dog

#StandingRock Syllabus (a large packet of readings)

Thesis 2: Capitalism No More by Glen Coulthard (excerpt of book Red Skin, White Masks)

Accomplices Not Allies

Anti-Colonial and Anti-Fascist Action

 

FEMINIST HISTORY, REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH, TRANS AND QUEER RIGHTS

Women, Race and Class by Angela Davis (PDF)

Compelled to Crime: The Gender Entrapment of Battered Black Women by Beth Ritchie

Want to Start a Revolution? Radical Women in the Black Freedom Struggle, edited by Dayo F. Gore (PDF)

What You’ve Got Is a Revolution: Black Women’s Movements for Black Power by Ashley Ford (forthcoming, 2017)

Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex | Interview with the editor, Eric Stanley

Baedan 3: Journal of Queer Time Travel (particularly the chapters “Anal Terror” and “Between Strangers and Friends”)

Queer Ultraviolence: Bash Back! Anthology

QUEERS READ THIS

Where Abolition Meets Action: Women Organizing Against Gender Violence

Abu Ghraib and U.S. Sexual Exceptionalism

Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe

This Is Not a Love Story: America’s Deadly Domestic Violence Problem

Why Are So Many Black Transgender Women Getting Killed in Detroit

Here’s What’s Missing From Straight Outta Compton: Me and the Other Women Dr. Dre Beat Up

Abortion Without Apology

What Trump Means for Sex Workers

What Bresha Meadow’s Faces Next

In Conversation with Cece McDonald, Joshua Allen, and Alok Vaid-Menon (Video)

Ignoring Aids: The Reagan Years (Video)

Resisting Gender Violence without Cops or Prisons (Video)

 

POETRY

The White House” by Claude McKay

An American Poem” by Eileen Myles

Praise Song for the Day” by Elizabeth Alexander

Brazilian Is Not A Race” by Wendy Trevino

A Song for Many Movements” by Audre Lorde (audio)

Afterimages” by Audre Lorde

I Want a Dyke for President” by Zoe Leonard

Nikki-Rosa” by Nikki Giovanni

The President has Never Said the Word ‘Black’” by Morgan Parker

Spirits Unchained” by Keorapetse Kgositsile

Conditions XIV” by Essex Hemphill

Feeling Fucked Up” by Etheridge Knight

Selections from Poems from Guantanamo

For Malcolm X” by Margaret Walker

I Come From the Nigger Yard” by Martin Carter

Young Blood” by Assata Shakur

Our Wandering” by Dawn Lundy Martin

Addressed to Alabama” by Langston Hughes