L.A. Kauffman talks about the history of radical action in the U.S. beginning May Day 1971, when an audacious collection of radical announced that “If the government won’t stop the war, we’ll stop the government.” The extraordinary story of a nearly forgotten action in Washington, D.C. leads into a discussion of movements from the anti-nuclear power protests of the 1970s and 80s to the AIDS action movement and the 1999 Battle of Seattle, all woven together through a set of organizing structures and tactics heavily influenced by the feminist and radical queer movements. Kauffman is the author of the new book, DIRECT ACTION: Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism.
And Carolina de Robertis shares excerpts from and the ideas behind the new anthology RADICAL HOPE: Letters of Love and Dissent in Dangerous Times. The book, which is released on Tuesday, compiles letters by 33 prominent writers including Junot Diaz, Karen Joy Fowler, Jewelle Gomez, Mona Eltahawy, Achy Obejas, Alicia Garza, Viet Thanh Nguyen and Cristina Garcia. Carolina and a number of the contributors will celebrate the book launch on Wednesday, May 3 at Laurel Books in Oakland and on May 10 at Bookshop West Portal in San Francisco.