Hi friends,
I’m excited to catch you all up on some exciting updates on Practical Radical: Seven Strategies to Change the World, the book I co-authored with Stephanie Luce that came out earlier this month.
Stephanie and I hosted a book launch event on November 10th at CUNY’s School of Labor and Urban Studies, featuring a lively discussion led by the amazing Cristina Jimenez. We were floored by the turnout. If you weren’t able to attend, don’t worry! We’ve got a video of the whole event here.
If you still haven’t had a chance to check out Practical Radicals, this excerpt jointly published by The Forge and Convergence is a good starting point, as well as pieces we wrote in the The Nation and The Advocate. (You can also purchase the book here).
With so much at stake right now, it’s clear progressives need to get smarter about strategy if we want to win meaningful change. Luckily, we have a vast inheritance of timeless strategies at our disposal that some of our nation’s most successful grassroots movements have used to win in the face of enormous opposition. And, as we write in Newsweek, we’ve seen a number of these strategies recently resurrected by workers and progressive coalitions to win major victories — from striking auto workers’ use of prolonged disruption to win record 25% raises to pro-choice coalitions’ use of narrative reframing to win seven statewide abortion-ballot measures in red states like Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, and most recently, Ohio.
Practical radicals are responsible for much of the progress we have made over the centuries, and they are our best hope for addressing the growing crises of democracy, climate change, and inequality today. In a new piece for Inequality.org, Stephanie and I write that the new Netflix film and books about progressive organizer and civil rights strategist Bayard Rustin underscore the hidden tradition of practical radicalism that we desperately need to recover. Rather than lean on fiery speeches or outrageous positions to attain victory, Rustin rigorously organized behind the scenes and patiently built coalitions that could win majority support. That kind of approach is crucial to defeating the authoritarian movements we’re up against today, which will require organizing voters and working with people who may not see eye-to-eye with us on every issue.
For those of you eager to put your practical radical skills into action using the seven strategies from our book, our study guide can help get you started, both in the classroom and beyond.
With much gratitude,
deepak