Topics in Political Strategy

Tuesdays, 7-9 pm ET Next on September 1

As we head toward the US fall elections, the Topics in Political Strategy reading group will continue our mix of currently-published substantive analytical pieces and a monthly book-length treatment of important topics of political theory.

This fall, we read two critical commentaries on two very different ends of the present moment and organizing responses to it.

We Still Here: Pandemic, Policing, Protest and Possibility, by Marc Lamont Hill. We trace back to 2020 and the uprising that “marked a new phase in the Movement for Black Lives.” Hill “critically examines the “pre-existing conditions” that have led us to this moment of crisis and upheaval, guiding us through both the perils and possibilities, and helping us imagine an abolitionist future.” (from Bookshop.org listing)

The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy, by Gil Durán, a journalist traces back from the rise of JD Vance, to Peter Thiel, and then further to the right. “These guys were never libertarians,” says Durán. “Now that they are the government, we see their true face: They’re fascists, and they’re authoritarians.” (Quoted on Democracy Now!)

We study together to understand the wave of reaction which once again has washed over politics, its reflection in both long historical currents and fast-changing global trends, and ways to think strategically about advancing in new directions for the socialist left.