Howdy y’all!
I’m thinking of starting weekly posts for a bit, as a sort of book club. I wanted to do something a little different, though. I thought it might be more interesting, and promote more discussion, to do “nonessential” works - things that don’t get recommended for usual book club threads, or for new Marxists.
Reading Debray’s “Revolution in Revolution” made me think of this, but I haven’t found a good online copy yet.
What do y’all think? Any thoughts?
On Book Choice
These were some of the criteria I was initially thinking of for books.
-not suggested for beginners.
-not overly technical or philosophical (I’m just not smart enough to lead those discussions).
-relatively short (so as not to lose too much momentum).
-regionally or subject specific (like Che’s Guerilla Warfare is specific, or Decolonization is not a metaphor is regionally specific?).
-readily available.Please reply to this comment if you have any suggestions of books, or changes to criteria. I think the highest voted title would be a good idea to start with!
Good parameters. I’d only add that if the plan is to stick to short texts (which is a good idea), you could go for chapters in longer works.
Why did “Decolonization is not a metaphor” have so much anti-communist propaganda? I remember talks of “Communist Empires”, didn’t finish it as my mind wander to other things. If its worth it I’d love to pick it up again.
Now with Guerilla warfare, how in depth in discussion can we go without getting a knock on our door, lol.
off the top of my head:
- Huey P. Newton’s paper on Inter-communalism -(I don’t know if its considered short) Ten Myths About Israel
Im not thinking of short works right now, but I have been interested in different independence movements or decolonization in the Americas. Pretty much looking for ways that could direct any imperial aggression away from the Asian competitors of multipolarity, and that could give real change for those colonized groups in the US.
Why did “Decolonization is not a metaphor” have so much anti-communist propaganda?
Could be a good question to start a Non-Diegetic Screams Book Club discussion, tbf.
Edit: spelling
Wait what is that?
It’s the working title for this project 😁
Edit: Or, it is now I’ve fixed the spelling error.
OH okay, never really paid attention to their name, all I see is a Car and assume they are some Lighting McQueen anthropomorphic automobile on the other end lol.
On parameters
These were my thoughts on parameters for the posts.
-weekly chapter discussions.
-summary discussion.
-some prompt questions to promote discussion.
-only suggest and agree on the next book, not a whole bunch in the future (keeps things fresh, and we don’t get bogged down in a 50 book schedule).If you’ve got suggestions, please let me know!
Sounds workable, and the last point is good because it will keep the group open to newcomers and let people dip in and out.
Some broad (unoriginal) prompt questions include (feel free not to use these or to ask some for some texts but not others):
- What is the author saying?
- How are they saying it? (Method, structure, type of evidence, etc.)
- Are they persuasive?
- What have they missed?
This is a great initiative.
If others haven’t read these nonessential works, you’ll surely mention topics in the book discussion that others know something about (maybe other books or articles on the same topic), so there’ll be scope for good discussion.
There are different styles for these kinds of discussion groups, but if you or others want an example of what it could look like, @seanchai@lemmygrad.ml led a good one in !trans@lemmygrad.ml. The material was shared, there, but I think there are workarounds where the text is harder to acquire.
I have a paperback of Debray’s Revolution in the Revolution. It was a gift, but I’ve not read it yet.
If you like, I can read it promptly and we can bounce questions off each other. That might help to give others a sense of what’s in the book, given that there might not be an online copy?
I like this too, especially if someone has read the book before, and could pick out a few chapters or page sections.
