PLEASE NOTE! STUDY GROUPS HAVE BEEN PUT ON PAUSE DUE TO PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES. SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE!
Meeting monthly, the four Solidarity Study Groups were enjoyed monthly or even weekly when engaging in all four groups.
The foci of the Wednesdays meetings are as follows:
- First Wednesday — The Stories of Ancestors and Allies <heart>
- Second Wednesdays — The Stories of Manifesting Community <clover>
- Third Wednesdays — The Stories of the Fearful in Power <diamond>
- Fourth Wednesdays — The Stories of Our Best Futures <spade>
- Fifth Wednesdays — The Stories as Told in Movies <circle>
The reading and study lists are posted here that anyone may read along on their own or create a group of their own. Meeting in person is important, but sometimes folks need an accommodation to participate in the ways they can. Be kind.
All reading/watching lists subject to change. The only cost is your commitment to read and attend, so choose one (or more!) and make it happen, cousin!
What follows is information for each study group, gathered in area of focus.
Homework for sessions:
2025.05.07 – Write your three minute super hero origin story. In meeting: assess group’s strengths of knowledge and plan for future weeks.
2025.06.04 – Antigone by Sophocles and/or other instances of defiance of authority in human culture before 1500.
2025.07.02 – On Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau and other instances of Civil Disobedience. Possibly discuss Rules for Radicals by Saul Bellow, Greenpeace, Earth First!, and the Animal Liberation Front.
A short introduction to Thoreau:
https://youtu.be/gugnXTN6-D4?si=Cyp0Yfuray0nUeHP
From a philosophical perspective, with a lot of emphasis on John Rawls:
https://youtu.be/tewRUZKE-bU?si=BdYH6v5KCY0sl7x6
2025.08.06 – The Port Huron Statement (Students for a Democratic Society and related orgs)
POSTPONED! – Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King. Explore what you know about the Civil Rights Movement in the United States from the 1950s onward.
POSTPONED! – Film: Judas and the Black Messiah (Black Panther Party). Explore what you know about the Black Panther Party. Find it here: https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/judas-and-black-messiah
POSTPONED! – Film: United in Anger about the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP). Explore what you know about the grassroots movement which included ACT UP. Find it here: https://www.unitedinanger.com/the-film
POSTPONED! – Explore what you know about the anti-nuclear & environmental movements. Looking for a book, essay, or movie that summarizes well.
Homework for sessions:
2025.05.14 – Just Transition Framework from Movement Generation. Find the printer ready or easy to read online version of their zine here: https://movementgeneration.org/justtransition/
2025.06.11 – Mutual Aid by Dean Spade
Also, watch or listen to this Mutual Aid 101 series from Shareable:
https://www.shareable.net/mutual-aid-101-learning-series/
The following links were from Dean Spade’s teaching guide for the book. Some links may not work.
Barnard Center for Research on Women. “Queer Dreams and Nonprofit Blues” video series:
Barnard Center for Research on Women, “Building Accountable Communities” video series:
http://bcrw.barnard.edu/building-accountable-communities/
“Battle of Chile, Part 3: Popular Power” (1979)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBMOPQMui8Q
“COINTELPRO 101” at
“Consensus: Direct Democracy @ Occupy Wall Street.” October 13, 2011.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dtD8RnGaRQ
Morales, Iris. ¡Palante, Siempre Palante! The Young Lords. Video. New York: Third World Newsreel, 1996.
“Jane: An Abortion Service.” Women Make Movies, 1995.
https://www.kanopy.com/product/jane-abortion-service
Klein, Naomi, and Avi Lewis. The Take. Brooklyn, NY: First Run / Icarus, 2004.
Take Back the Land videos, posted at videos: “Take Back the Land’s Work,” Big DoorBrigade, June 22, 2019:
http://bigdoorbrigade.com/2019/06/22/take-back-the-lands-work/
“The Black Panthers: Vanguards of the Revolution,” on Kanopy orat
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/the-black-panthers-vanguard-of-the-revolution/
2025.07.09 – Why Civil Resistance Works by Erica Chenoweth and Maria J. Stephan
Read this article by Erica Chenoweth to discuss:
https://newrepublic.com/article/140474/violence-will-hurt-trump-resistance
And then listen to this interview with Ben Case:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/02/17/why-not-riot-interview-with-author-ben-case/
2025.08.13 – Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown
POSTPONED! – Beyond Survival by Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
POSTPONED! – Hope in the Dark by Rebecca Solnit
POSTPONED! – Love in a Fucked Up World by Dean Spade
POSTPONED!– Joyful Militancy by Carla Bergman and Nick Montgomery
Homework for sessions:
2025.05.21 – To discuss how the U.S. fits in the cycle of rising and falling empires (spoiler alert: we’re falling). Watch this five minute summary of Ray Dalio’s concept of the Big Cycle here: https://youtu.be/BB2r_eOjsPw?si=Hd9-tw_lguBYm3GA
Or if you can handle over 43 minutes of his theory, you can watch this summary of his book: https://youtu.bexguam0TKMw8si=2ebRxg8jFL4lkKSl
Okay, since I am updating this, here is a summary of Polybius a Greek who was conquered by the Romans and developed a theory of how civilizations cycle called anacyclosis. This video is from “After Skool” which is right wing in lots of the offered content, but this is an accessible introduction to Polybius.
In order to discuss Gary Gerstle’s idea of “political orders” listen to at least the first ten to fifteen minutes of this interview on the Ezra Klein show:
https://youtu.be/bGmzHXnRP9o?si=c_mAMroNuMkkTCxU
Gerstle’s idea recently got a little bump by mention in a new book by Klein and Derek Thompson called Abundance. Of course, read that book if you like but also check this criticism: https://www.levernews.com/abundance-is-how-dems-lose-to-trump/
For a quick mainstream introduction to Karl Marx, check this out: https://youtu.befSQgCy_iIccsi=jP8OxJdhtjrOtXI1 (not working??)
or maybe this one:
And Richard Wolff is always good, but I listened at 1.5x speed:
This is a thorough podcast introducing the concept of historical materialism: https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/marxism-101-intro-to-historical-materialism It’s long but listen as much as you can.
We will discuss the idea of political orders, eras, and how conditions change over time.
2025.06.18 – Not sure we want to read Steven Hahn’s whole book Illiberal America for this group (especially since it is only in hardcover) but this interview on the Ezra Klein show gets to much of what we need to cover in this session (basically how America has always had fascist, racist tendencies): https://youtu.be/82tk31IHnoY?si=RgFoVFloYemXoYxl
What the heck? Listen to this song:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKe67r1N1Bt/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
2025.07.16 – Democracy in Chains by Nancy MacLean
2025.08.20 – The Master Plan Podcast from the Lever. Find it here: https://www.levernews.com/masterplan/
Here is a link to the Powell Memo:
https://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/powellmemo/
2025.09.17 – Silent Coup by Clair Provost and Matt Kenard
2025.10.15 – On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder
2025.11.19 – Antifa by Bray and/or Blueprint for Revolution by Popović
2025.12.17 –Project 2025: How did it go? As the year comes to a close we will have a lot to talk about.
As I was writing up this part it made me think of the Sword of Damocles. Read about it here: livius.org/sources/content/cicero/tusculan-deputations/damocles/
Homework for sessions:
2025.05.28 – To research an ancient speculative fiction read or learn a little about at least one of these:
A Chinese Tale called the Peach Blossom Spring here: afe.easia.columbia.edu/ps/china/taoqian_peachblossom.pdf
The Republic by Plato is everywhere, but this is a good short explanation: https://youtu.be/Iq7R-nFXZjo?si=5XX5xf4EEb2uDI8P
The Opinions Of the Dwellers Of The Virtuous City by Abû Nasr al-Farabî here: https://via-hygeia.art/abu-nasr-al-farabi-opinions-of-the-dwellers-of-the-virtuous-city-from-book-v/
The Book of the City of the Ladies by Christine de Pizan here (at about 20 minutes in): https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-stuff-you-missed-in-histor-21124503/episode/christine-de-pizan-and-the-book-29805332/
2025.06.25– Choice of late 19th century utopian novel (Erewhon, Looking Backward, News from Nowhere, etc.)
2025.07.23 – Choice of early 20th century utopian novel (Red Star, Herland, Men Like Gods, etc.)
POSTPONED! – Choice of late 20th century speculative fiction novel (The Dispossessed, Fifth Sacred Thing, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, etc.)
POSTPONED! – Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach
POSTPONED! – Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
2025.11.26 – Find a short story to read aloud. We will have a more social gathering of those still around town.
2025.12.24 – Find a short story to read aloud. We will have a more social gathering of those still around town.
No homework for these sessions and we can invite others to come check it out! Potluck style food as well. Big salads!
2025.04.30 – Land and Freedom (set during the Spanish Civil War)
We will likely watch this short video summarizing the war:
https://youtu.be/LtBBHjZl10A?si=Oc5LtR9qsIWaDo87
Pre-work should you like it:
Rev Left Radio happens to be re-releasing some of their best podcast episodes now (in 2025) including this one where Brett talks about the Spanish Civil War with John from Working Class History. It’s a long episode but it’s a complicated topic, deserving of your time.
https://revolutionaryleftradio.libsyn.com/best-of-the-spanish-civil-war-1
Of course if you want to read more about it you could check out Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell or Spain in Our Hearts by Adam Hochschild.
2025.07.30– How to Blow Up a Pipeline (how do people weigh the consequences of taking illegal action that is just?)
2025.12.31 – Robin Hood (the Errol Flynn version, of course…)
How can stories that restore the “true monarch” still be radical?
Check out this video titled Disney’s Robin Hood and the Death of Color before we watch (so good): https://youtu.be/428ZxrW6jhk?si=D6XEBoHmN9LnlYK7
All reading/watching lists subject to change. The only cost is your commitment to read and attend, so choose one (or more!) and make it happen, cousin!
Solomon Everta 