Hi friends,
I’m excited to report that the new book I’ve co-authored with Stephanie Luce, Practical Radicals: Seven Strategies to Change the New World, is being published November 7th. To celebrate, Stephanie and I will be holding a book launch event on Friday, November 10th, at CUNY’s School of Labor and Urban Studies (in-person and online options available). The reception begins at 5pm ET, with a discussion following at 6pm, led by the amazing Cristina Jimenez, and a book signing at 7:30pm. You can register here. (If you're not in NYC, you can register to watch online).
Stephanie and I have been working together on Practical Radicals for a couple of years, and the book grows out of a graduate-level class we've taught with very experienced community and labor organizers. Drawing on our research about how movements on the left and right have developed winning strategies, and our combined six decades of experience in movements, we wrote this book to offer organizers guidance on how to effectively achieve change in this fraught moment, when the challenges we face are from climate change to inequality to authoritarianism — are obvious and growing.
Despite all the odds facing us right now, Stephanie and I believe that change can happen – and progressives CAN win the future – but getting better at strategy is essential. Great strategists are made, not born.
To help organizers identify the strategies they need to win, our book looks at strategies used by successful grassroots movements throughout history – from the movement to abolish slavery to Occupy Wall Street to the Fight for 15 and the Keystone XL pipeline victory. Along the way, we share powerful insights from leading organizers and theorists, past and present, like Ella Baker, Stuart Hall, Frances Fox Piven, and Rev. Wyatt Tee Walker, to provide a foundation upon for building which movement builders can build their campaigns to win some of today’s biggest battles. We also consider the work of strategists from the military, business, and politics. And, just like we do in our course on Power and Strategy at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, Stephanie and I share tools and templates to develop strategies, from power analysis to reverse engineering to tabletop exercises, to develop strategy.
Our hope is that this book will be a resource that progressive activists and movement builders can turn to to find the sustenance, inspiration, and strategy needed to build a more just society. If you haven’t pre-ordered the book yet, you can do so here!
With much gratitude,
deepak