Andy Clarno’s Reading List on Transnational Solidarity & Liberation
We wanted to learn more about apartheid, BDS and the steadfast transnational solidarity between Palestine and South Africa. Andy Clarno — associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and author of “Neoliberal Apartheid” — joined us on our “This is Not a Watermelon” podcast series to define apartheid and neoliberalism, sharing what he considers to be a useful working definition of the terms, unpacking their origins, and explaining what systems and realities they actually refer to. In the episode, Andy kindly suggested that he’d send a reading list for anyone who wants to learn more about transnational solidarity and liberation. Here it is!
Geographies of Liberation: The Making of an Afro-Arab Political Imaginary — Alex Lubin
An “absorbing transnational history” that traces the connections between African American political thought and the people and nations of the Middle East. Starting in the 1850s and tracking all the way to the present day, Lubin maps out how international geopolitics — including the rise of liberal internationalism — has “established the conditions within which blacks imagined their freedom and, conversely, the ways in which various Middle Eastern groups have understood and used the African American freedom struggle to shape their own political movements.”
A Shadow Over Palestine: The Imperial Life of Race in America — Keith Feldman
“A Shadow over Palestine brings a new, deeply informed, and transnational perspective to the cultural forces that have shaped sharply differing ideas of Israel’s standing with the United States—right up to the violent divisions of today. Focusing on the period from 1960 to 1985, author Keith P. Feldman reveals the centrality of Israel and Palestine in postwar U.S. imperial culture.”
Justice for Some: Law and The Question of Palestine — Noura Erakat
“Justice for Some offers a new approach to understanding the Palestinian struggle for freedom, told through the power and control of international law. Focusing on key junctures—from the Balfour Declaration in 1917 to present-day wars in Gaza—Noura Erakat shows how the strategic deployment of law has shaped current conditions. Over the past century, the law has done more to advance Israel's interests than the Palestinians'. But, Erakat argues, this outcome was never inevitable.”
Palestine: Matters of Truth and Justice — Azmi Bishara
“Drawing on extensive research and rich theoretical analysis, Bishara examines the overlap between the long-discussed ‘Jewish Question’ and what he calls the Arab Question, complicating the issue of Palestinian nationhood. He addresses the Palestinian Liberation Movement’s failure to achieve self-determination, and the emergence of a Palestinian Authority under occupation. He contends that no solution to problems of nationality or settler colonialism is possible without recognizing the historic injustices inflicted on Palestinians since the Nakba.”
Via Hurst Publishers
Against Racial Capitalism: Selected Writings — Neville Alexander
“Neville Alexander is among the most important theorists of racial capitalism to emerge during the struggle against Apartheid. His writings engage with some of the important debates in South Africa from the last 50 years, many of which have international resonance today: from the unresolved national question and the relationship between 'race' and class; the continuities of racial capitalism in post-apartheid South Africa; the role and purpose of schooling and higher education; and the importance of nation building and multilingualism. This carefully curated collection brings his incredible body of work to an international audience for the first time. It features a comprehensive introduction, a timeline of key events in the life of Alexander, selected articles, speeches, op-eds, book chapters and a bibliography of his writings.”
Via Pluto Press
What is Antiracism? And Why it Means Anticapitalism — Arun Kundnani
“Liberals have been arguing for nearly a century that racism is fundamentally an individual problem of extremist beliefs. Responding to Nazism, thinkers like gay rights pioneer Magnus Hirschfeld and anthropologist Ruth Benedict called for teaching people, especially poor people, to be less prejudiced. Here lies the origin of today's liberal antiracism, from diversity training to Hollywood activism. Today, liberal antiracism has proven powerless against structural oppression. As Arun Kundnani demonstrates, white liberals can heroically confront their own whiteness all they want, yet these structures remain. This deeply researched and swift-moving narrative history tells the story of the two antiracisms and their fates. As neoliberalism reordered the world in the last decades of the twentieth century, the case became clear: fighting racism means striking at its capitalist roots.”
Via Verso Books
Abolition. Feminism. Now. — Angela Davis, Gina Dent, Erica Meiners & Beth E Richie
“In this landmark work, four of the world's leading scholar-activists issue an urgent call for a truly intersectional, internationalist, abolitionist feminism. As this book shows, abolitionism and feminism stand shoulder-to-shoulder in fighting a common cause: the end of the carceral state, with its key role in perpetuating violence, both public and private, in prisons, in police forces, and in people's homes. Abolitionist theories and practices are at their most compelling when they are feminist; and a feminism that is also abolitionist is the most inclusive and persuasive version of feminism for these times.”
Via Penguin Books
Arise! Global Radicalism in the Era of the Mexican Revolution —Christina Heatherton
“An international history of radical movements and their convergences during the Mexican Revolution, which was a global event that catalyzed international radicals in unexpected sites and struggles. Tracing the paths of figures like Black American artist Elizabeth Catlett, Indian anti-colonial activist M.N. Roy, Mexican revolutionary leader Ricardo Flores Magón, Okinawan migrant organizer Paul Shinsei Kōchi, and Soviet feminist Alexandra Kollontai, this book reveals how activists around the world found inspiration and solidarity in revolutionary Mexico.”
Via the MIT Press Bookstore
