Book Review: Creative Interventions Toolkit

Image: the cover of the book is a muted orange color. In the center is a woodcut style print in black with a slightly lighter orange background. It shows an old twisted tree with a thick trunk extending up into 7 smaller interlocking branches. There are circular formations like leaves at the end and the tree is rooted in a lush landscape of plants. Across the top in white capital letters is "creative interventions toolkit" with "toolkit very large. Below that in small white letters is "a practical guide to stop interpersonal violence." On the bottom are for white circles, each containing an icon of a bee, a shell, a gear & wrench, and a wave.
 

Reading Creative Interventions Toolkit brought up a thousand thoughts and feelings. As a result, this review ended up being both a review of the book and a blog of the thoughts and feelings (moreso than usual) that it awakened in me. 

The Creative Interventions Toolkit was assembled by the organization by the same name and is available for free via PDF on their website or in print version via AK Press. I really liked the design of the print version. It was easy to read, follow, navigate, and I felt engaged by the layout. I have not examined the PDF version to be able to say if it is similar. The print version is gigantic- think of a textbook. This is intimidating, which the authors do acknowledge, and at first I found myself frustrated with it. I wanted to read it cover to cover in order to give it a proper review, but there is so much repetition. I finally reassessed how I should be reading it and that improved the experience. This book works less as a "read this cover to cover if you want a successful accountability process" and more of a combination between a textbook (where a teacher would assign only some relevant chapters throughout class) and a collection of independent sections that can be read alone (with the proper foundation set up in the beginning of the book.) Reading it like this meant "cover to cover" was more like reading only certain long form sections. 

 Even with the reading adjustment, I do think it could have been condensed into a shorter volume. I adore that this book is written with everyone in mind- not just small communities of far left organizers with extensive vocabularies and organizing skills. I think they do a good enough job explaining things that condensing a lot of it would make the book far less intimidating and more likely to be used by those who need it most. This book is clearly written by people who wanted it to be able to be used by a far larger audience. They are true abolitionists who clearly have put immense thought and care into its creation. I am very grateful it exists.

Here's where I talk about myself too much and the thoughts this brought up. Let me get one thing clear- this part of this post is me talking to an audience of "my" people. So, I am writing with the assumption that we all agree that most sexual assault accusations are the truth, much -but definitely not all- harm happens within or is worsened by oppressive and authoritarian power dynamics (patriarchy, white supremacy, etc,) capitalism is a hellscape, authoritarianism is never a good thing, and violence* should be reserved for defense or when other options don't work. Many people who rape are cis men, men who are raped are usually raped by other men, people who use sexual and domestic violence often do so repeatedly to multiple victims. The state often ignores, belittles, abuses, retraumatizes, or is violent to survivors especially of marginalized groups and is especially hard on people of marginalized groups who do harm (especially towards the dominant group such as a Black man accused of harming a white woman.) The vast majority of the time, courts and the police do not solve the problem and/or make things worse. Some people are so horrifically manipulative, devoid of empathy, purposefully predatory, and may never be ready for or interested in accountability. Some people unfortunately need their asses kicked, faces spread around, and to be kicked out for the safety of communities. Some even are killed in self defense by survivors of their violence or their community. But, these outcomes (I will argue usually) are not the case. What I am saying is that my discussion in this post of the messy nuances around violence and accountability is not meant to undermine these central realities.

*What constitutes appropriate and effective violence (or violence at all) is a whole other essay and this is already long, but you catch my drift.

I generally had a very complicated and traumatic life before I found sobriety and then organizing. I've had chronic physical and mental illnesses since childhood, a slew of really screwed up experiences and violent traumas, drug addiction from a young age that wrecked my life, all on top of being what my current psychologist calls a "hypersensor-" meaning I am generally a mess inside my head and easily overstimulated even in normal, everyday scenarios. About 15-20 years ago, I got really involved in various forms of anti-authoritarian organizing and LGBTQ communities, the former of which I ceased most participation in around 4 years ago due to my health worsening. I saw and learned a lot in that time- including how to fail at accountability and transformative justice both in my own life and watching the efforts (or lack thereof) of others. Despite our strong desires for an abolitionist society, we're all products of this world and we bring that and all of our trauma and internalized oppression with us. Despite our willingness to fight together in the streets, sometimes we struggle to call in our friends when we see abuse happening right in front of us. That is why this book brought up so much for me. It covers real life, not simply (sometimes imaginary) binaries.

Humans in general (in my limited USAmerican experience) really like to point the finger at others. We love hating rapists, abusers, and fuckups of all sorts. We love thinking of them as one dimensional monsters- completely different species from ourselves. We love calling out that Karen's racist joke on twitter or shaming the ignorant in order to prove to ourselves that we're not like them (anymore.) Get a big enough group together and those dynamics can make canceling someone incredibly intoxicating and feel like "community." Sometimes, even often, the person being canceled doesn't deserve it at the far reaching levels that canceling extends to.

We are often hypersensitive from our own traumas and experiences with oppression. We truly want to see a better world and society. The ideas that people who do harm might actually still be complex and human, that situations of violence are often very complicated, that sometimes people who make accusations can be wrong, that entire communities can be responsible for abuse (not just the person who directly did harm,) and that we can't just solve abuse and violence by tossing out the trash... well... suck. We all do harm. We all cause conflict. Sometimes we do harm because we grew up learning it was normal. Sometimes we are more vulnerable to harm because we grew up learning it was normal. 

In small communities especially, social capital can sometimes outweigh everything else.

In my own mental health struggles, I have perceived and declared things that were minor issues as being bigger forms of abuse. Sarah Schulman discusses "overstating harm" like this in Conflict is not Abuse. I have weaponized callout culture in ways that- in hindsight- I realize made the situation worse. I once completely cut off a dear friend when I found out she had been abusive to multiple women. I later realized it would have been far more helpful to do things the hard way and try to help her acknowledge the harm and do better. During a mental health crisis, a generally nonabusive partner of similar demographics was scary and violent towards me, had far more social capital, then tried to paint me as at fault/abusive to escape responsibility. I had a close friend who once helped me leave an abusive relationship, then started a partnership with the abuser 2 weeks later, never denying what he did and ghosting me. He abused her for years after that. He was celebrated as a pinnacle of trans community when he died. I have met multiple men who have done harm and agreed to "accountability processes" that were not processes at all. Some of their actions were minor and done once- even according to the survivor- but other folks took out their past trauma on them while offering them no way to do better (and they were actually willing.) It was a mess that didn't heal anyone. I have had friends deal with an extremely violent and unstable housemate who weaponized oppression lingo and community leaders to make said friends (who were also marginalized in more ways) out to be "unsafe," even while he was the one literally holding the axe. I have one parent who was an extremely neglectful and sometimes abusive alcoholic and died by suicide. I have another parent existing in a state of active paranoid psychosis, who refuses treatment, and constantly accuses people of poisoning, attacking, gang stalking, assaulting, etc her- including me at times. Regardless of reality- they are completely real experiences for her.

This book covers all of that shit. It doesn't go into the kind of detail I have here, which is why this post is more personal than a review, but it actually leaves room for real conflict resolution, discussion, and problem solving. Creative Interventions acknowledge that things can sometimes be clear cut (a man serially assaulting women and hopping from community to community) or more confusing (partners accusing one another of abuse at the same time.) They acknowledge that things can be messy (the survivor may be a straight up unlikable asshole, the person doing harm may be well loved.) They acknowledge that most if not all of us tend to feel and/or act defensive when confronted with the idea that we have done harm- especially if it was unintentional or out of ignorance. They acknowledge that some mental and intellectual disabilities may prevent someone from being able to be accountable in ways someone without said disabilities could be without ignoring the harm done and the need to do something about it. With all of these acknowledgements and many more, they offer real, concrete solutions. Neither I nor the authors have any illusions of perfection. I am sure mistakes can still be made. But, they're far less likely with these methods and far more likely to be mended in this sort of system.

Some of the stuff that was most enlightening for me were the sections on "the person doing harm" and their role in things. I have seen a lot of the survivor, community, and ally transformative justice tactics that they explain. I have rarely seen texts that go deep into what we can do when we're the one who has done harm. The section is thorough and covers a wide range of stages that a person doing harm may exist in. These range from those in a state of pure, unempathetic lack of remorse to those whose defensiveness is protection from their own shame to those who are ready, willing, and enthusiastic about doing better and healing the harm they have caused. It was freeing to read and be reminded that there will always be ways to do better, rather than wallow in shame and guilt (that can motivate, but can also take up massive space, and center the person doing harm.) Fearing and running from accountability can sometimes take more time and effort than the scary process of facing it head on. The skills in this book would apply across the board to all harm and conflict in my opinion- not just violence. I can see myself using things I learned in every day interactions with people in everything from very minor, one time mistakes to chronic, deeply entrenched problematic beliefs and behaviors. The authors acknowledge the reality that accountability does not mean a community will feel comfortable or that relationships will remain intact. It does not mean the person who was harmed will forgive everything and we'll all run off into the sunset alongside unicorns. It does mean, however, that the future is full of promise and the ability to do better and live better, regardless of how extreme the harm(s) someone has caused.

One thing on violence: Creative Interventions states that they are generally against violence used to shame or seek revenge on the person doing harm which, I admit, made me bristle for a second. I've seen some pretty awful predators do some really horrific things (including discovering I narrowly escaped a skillful grooming by a serial assailant that was committing horror movie style sexual violence against people throughout the community.) The idea of them being hurt feels perfectly justified to me. CI's explanations gave me a new outlook on how violent retribution can actually be giving the person doing harm what they want. In one of the personal stories (which are all extremely helpful and enriching to the text,) there is a description of a man who sexually assaults someone and submits himself in front of the group that confronts him, begging for forgiveness and not to receive the consequences the accountability team had planned. While some of them wished violence had happened, some said that it is exactly what he wanted in those moments- to get his ass kicked and therefore claim he had repented and to walk away from it all. If a man rapes a community member, we all go kick his ass, and tell him he's not welcome (which as I said, is occasionally all that's left to be done,) is that better than taking away his ability to access more victims, to get him to interrogate his issues, to support him in doing so, etc? It depends on the situation, but sometimes violence is the less effective way out. And, if you're a sensitive person like me, violence towards someone even if they "deserve it" can fuck you up. Sometimes the kindness of providing a process of redemption for someone who has done something despicable is really worth it.

If you made it this far, thank you for giving me your time and attention. This was actually even longer and I cut a lot out, but hopefully still made my points and intentions clear. I find that real conversations around this stuff, however difficult, can be immensely enriching and healing. If I've said some shit here you hate or just disagree with, and you want to have a real conversation about it, hit me up. Go get this book. If able, and you know someone who can't access this book due to language barriers, disability, etc, consider finding ways to help them access it. CI is also clear about that- they want everyone to be able to use these tools to prevent and heal harm in their relationships and communities. I hope to become a better human with the stuff I have learned in this book and I think others can, too.

This was also posted to my goodreads.

Book Review: Antiracism in Animal Advocacy

Image: The cover of the book is on a white background and centers the profile of a person from the top of the shoulder to the middle of their head. They have short cropped hair and dark brown skin barely showing through the image contained within. Inside the borders of the partial profile is a landscape of a green hillside with a group of humans of various racial backgrounds, 3 brown and white cows, and two pink pigs shown from the side walking up and down the hill. Across the top in small uppercase dark grey letters is "The Encompass Essays" with "encompass" in green. Below that in larger grey letters is "Antiracism in animal advocacy." Below that in small green letters is, "igniting cultural transformation." In the lower right corner of the cover in alternating grey and green text lines is, "Jasmin Singer, Editor. Foreword by Aryenish Birdie. Afterword by Michelle Rojas-Soto."

 Antiracism in Animal Advocacy, released in September from Lantern Press, is a tough book to review. This is not because it's a horrible book or anything, but it goes in a lot of directions that made me wonder who the best audience was for it. It is a collection of essays tackling racism and white supremacy all too present in white dominated sectors of animal rights activism. I admit I initially missed the text at the top telling the reader these are "The Encompass Essays," so I did not realize until I began reading that all of the essays would be from people involved with the organization Encompass. I am generally out of touch with all of the nonprofits out there as there are so many, but Encompass' goals seem very important and noble to try to achieve. Not everyone in this text is included on the website, but judging from the entries, all of them are or were involved in helping Encompass achieve goals of better racial inclusion in animal advocacy movements. 

Around half of the essays in the book are by self identified Black, Indigenous, & People of the Global Majority (BIPGM,) which is one of the things that makes it difficult to categorize. Because the burden of tackling white supremacy should rest on the shoulders of white people, and mainstream animal advocacy movements with the most funding are dominated by white people, sharing essays by white animal advocates discussing their antiracist journeys and practices make sense. And it is true that the representation of BIPGM in this book is much better than in animal rights organizations in the west at large. But, I wouldn't recommend essays by white folks to people who already experience racism and know what it is unless they are interested in knowing which white folks are at least working at it. At the same time, the contributions by BIPGM are stellar and I believe most if not all people of various backgrounds could benefit from their wisdom, if only for the sense of comradery. Perhaps I should just let go of my love of boxes and let this book exist outside of one. If you're white, especially if you are new to committing to truly fight racism and white supremacy within and outside of yourself, you should read this book. If you're BIPGM, you may want to stick with the half of the book written by BIPGM and even then, they may be sharing things you already know from personal experience.

 I've done a bit of the never ending work of learning about and fighting racism both within myself and systemically. (I have much more to do.) Thus, I found the dominance of white voices in this to be a little disappointing. However, if I think of myself around 15-20 years ago- embarrassingly ignorant of so many of these issues and how entrenched they are in my life and the world at large- I can see myself benefiting from these essays immensely back then. With all of this in mind, I'd say the people that need to read this book the most are the white folx who are still in the early phases of their awakening. In the promotional quotes for the book listed in the beginning, Omowale Adewale calls this collection, "an excellent springboard for white people and their entities to do antiracist work while strengthening the infrastructure of the animal advocacy community." That sums it up quite well.

I do have some criticisms of how some of the entries by white people come off as shallow in terms of their goals, particularly one essay by Rachel Huff-Wagenborg that is basically a list about how she'll think about and challenge her white privilege as the action points she's taking. That's less than the bare minimum. Michelle Graham rightfully acknowledges the racism in the "effective altruism" movement, but does not criticize EA itself for being notoriously ineffective in their research and implementation, funneling large amounts of money into already wealthy (often white) organizations (who of course are more "effective" than small ones because they are rich.) I admit it has been some time since I looked into how they operate, so perhaps they are better at this than they were years ago. Other white authors like Cailen LaBarge do a better job of discussing both personal and systemic issues and how to tackle them both. 

I especially appreciated authors of multiple racial backgrounds bringing up the shameful issue of organizations going after farm workers and not the farm owners and operators, often doing Purdue and Hormel's PR work for them by allowing the blame to fall on "bad apples" whose behaviors they "don't condone" despite literally inventing them. To add fuel to the systemic fire, they end up laying misdemeanor or felony charges at the feet of people already so down and out that they're doing some of the most traumatic, dangerous, and dirty work in the world. Overall I would have liked to see less talk about personal privilege from middle to owning class white people (whose experiences also don't translate often to many poorer or multiply marginalized white people) and more discussion overall of systemic issues and how to fight them.

The best essays in the collection are that of Malina Tran, Dana McPhall, Christopher Eubanks, and Michelle Rojas-Soto. My book is littered with page flags here and I will not include long quotes so as to hopefully entice you to go out and grab a copy of the book and read the full essays. All of their entries bring great depths of understanding as well as giving the gift of vulnerability in sharing their personal experiences with these issues as well. These, and other BIPGM in the book are people that not only have been fantastically active animal advocates, but they have done so while navigating the immense barriers placed before them by racism in white dominant animal rights groups and movements. Readers- especially white ones- should read these entries and realize not only how incredibly horrific and unjust it is that our movements for all animals often exclude the most marginalized of humans, but also realize just how much we are all missing out on by excluding them. Everyone benefits from dismantling white supremacy. Yes, everyone. 

I acknowledge the hypocrisy in devoting much of this review to critiquing white essays while complaining that too much time is spent on white people in this book. This is all very messy and I don't have easy solutions. Like many authors state, there is no perfect way to do this and there is no way to do this without failing at times. Being uncomfortable is a good thing as a white person fighting racism. Don't run from it.

I think Jasmin Singer did a decent job editing the collection overall. While I have criticisms of the demographics, I don't have an easy solution. 2 books divided into BIPGM and white accomplices? That would come with its own set of issues. Perhaps this book is right where it should be- a bit of something for everyone. Anthologies often are that way. The editors and authors of this book never claim to have all of the answers. I think this book is a valuable contribution to these ongoing conversations and the actions that hopefully grow from them. I wonder what my activism would have looked like had I been handed a book like this 20 years ago. 

This was also posted to my goodreads.

Book Review: The Blade Between

 

Image: The cover of the book shows a dark ocean portrait of a whale viewed from below. The sea surrounding her is pitch black and her body is a mix of bright teals, black, and white. Over top of the image is the cover of the book in large white capital letters, covering the top half of the cover. There is white liquid dripping from the bottom corners of the "E" in the, "B" in blade, and the second "E" in between. Below that, in grey capital letters is Sam J Miller's name. Coming down from the middle of the right edge in smaller red letters is "a novel." Across the bottom in smaller white and red letters is "author of blackfish city."

While waiting for my ARC of Sam J Miller's newest novel- The Blade Between- to arrive, I noticed that my library had procured the audio version and I decided to grab that to get started while I was waiting. I ended up finishing it quickly. The audio version has great narration and voice acting that fit the tone of the book. This book, like some of Miller's other work, straddles genres. In some ways, I found myself thinking that you could take the fantastical or paranormal elements away from it, and still have a great story about a ton of complex characters interacting in another gay boy returns to working class homophobic home town type of story. As a result, this sometimes left the paranormal elements feeling unfinished. They occasionally felt like refrigerator magnets that were part of the big picture, but not the heart of the story until we reach the end.

Nonetheless, this book explores quite well the various ways in which real life people with real life struggles find themselves in conflict and cooperation with one another. How does one fight with the white working class against encroaching gentrification and destruction of their jobs when said working class has more violently homophobic and racist members than the gentrified areas have? How do you find solidarity in groups who hate their own members like that? How do we understand concepts of sexuality? Is it only how we identify, who we love, the actions we take, what we like, or all of the above and more? Can one be proud of where they come from when it also includes immense amounts of pain? What can we do to work together and make things easier for youth that come after us? I think the paranormal parts added an interesting twist to these things, even if I wish they were more fleshed out.

To avoid spoiling this story, I will end this review here. I really have enjoyed everything I've read by this author and look forward to his next release.

This was also posted to my goodreads.

Book Review: Anarchism and the Black Revolution - The Definitive Edition

 

Image: The cover of the book is an illustrated version of a black background with a gray paper on top of it. The paper has rips in it revealing every alternative letter as a different color. So, the title of the book and the author's name cover the entire cover in large capital letters. "Anarchism and the black revolutions"'s letters alternate between white and black and "lorenzo kom'boa ervin"'s letters alternate between red and black.

I actually began slowly meandering through a previous edition of this book many months ago. I had an ebook on my phone that I would dig into when I was out and about and didn't have another book handy. I wasn't far in when Anarchism and the Black Revolution: The Definitive Edition was released, so I grabbed a copy and switched over to that. The newest edition includes some extras: "...an interview with writer and activist William C. Anderson, as well as new essays, and a contextualizing biography of the author's inspiring life," making it worth revisiting even if you have read another version in the past.

As one can tell from the title and the blurb, this book merges together anarchism and Black liberation. It should go without saying that they shouldn't need to be merged because they are part of the same thing. Unfortunately, though, the reality that occurs as a result of a large majority of white people organizing: there is a critical need to carve out a space for Black people that is created and filled by Black people. Ervin is not just critical of white supremacy when it governs the actions of white people, including anarchists, though. He also has strong criticism of organizations like The New "Black Panthers," whose hierarchical structures make them unfit to use the name. He also discusses the unfortunate results of oppression such as when the oppressed turn their pain on one another through violence and other harms and offers solutions to deal with such phenomena.

What struck me most about this book while reading both the previous version and the new one is just how relevant everything in it remains. I am aware of the whole, "oppression doesn't disappear, it only changes shape," adage (though I always forget who a similar quote should be attributed to.) So, I won't say I am surprised necessarily that everything still applies. Yet, it is still striking to read Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin's assessments, and especially his predictions, and realize that they all were true and/or came true.

Another thing that makes this book standout aside from the subject matter itself is just how detailed Ervin's suggestions and guidelines are for creating a better world. They are also wonderfully ambitious. Many anarchist texts that end up being "how-to's" of sorts regarding the larger implementation of living in an anarchist world tend to focus more on smaller community structures. Ervin definitely does this. But, he also calls for international solidarity- an anarchist planet full of cultures and societies that organize among themselves as well as together across the globe. The idea is so daunting, but it makes sense. When one is left asking how it would even be possible, Ervin maps out various strategies and the importance of the methods in detail.

There are some things with room for improvement- I think that Ervin focuses a lot on the general ideas of race and class for good reason. I think he could have gone more into misogynoir, sexuality, disability, etc. There are also some parts that show Ervin's hubris. This is especially evident in the interview at the end of the book, but in a couple of other places as well. Ervin states that no one likely would have known about Black anarchism had he not written this book and that he was the only Black anarchist during the civil rights era. Aside from the fact that any claim that someone is the only one of something or the only source of information should be met with suspicion, Ervin himself  credited Martin Sostre for introducing him to anarchism and claimed he still didn't become one until the 70s. Some people also mention Lucy Parsons coming long before any of them, but it can be argued that her avoidance of the topics around racial justice does not make her a good comparison. I am not sure what prompted him to change his story in these ways, or if there is a misunderstanding on my part, but it was a strange move while calling for an anti-authoritarian worldwide movement of cooperation and solidarity.

Nonetheless, this book was and remains a critical part of any reading list for those interested in justice and liberation. I especially encourage those who are involved in racial justice, but who do not identify as anarchists or who see anarchism as a white movement, to give this book a shot. I think that when you give yourself an essay or two, you won't be able to put it down.

This was also posted to my goodreads.