Chapter 4 “The Duty to be Seen, the Yearning to be Seen”; Chapter 6 “Navigating Refusal Within the Academy”; Chapter 16 “That’s Because I’ve Read” + a bonus introduction specifically for BWR readers by Asim Qureshi. Sign up for our email list here and get a free PDF excerpt!
RSVP NOW to join the roundtable conversation with Asim Qureshi, Tarek Younis, Shereen Fernandez, & Azeezat Johnson on December 27th at 11:00am CST / 5pm GMT
Connect with an official chapter lead (or become one yourself!) to find out where and when your next meetup is!
A full circle! #BecauseWeveRead was launched in 2018 after my interview on live TV went viral for going, well, horribly wrong…for the hosts. Over two years later and unfortunately the incident is still far from irrelevant, and has been experienced time and time again by others around the world. But it’s not just those of us in front of cameras who are forced to be confined within the parameters of violent and racist securitization frameworks and speak on behalf of our communities; microagressions underpinned by racist and classist “War on Terror,” “War on Drugs,” and “national security” logics continue to be normalized for all of us as Muslims, people of color, and oppressed communities globally in daily life. Between programs including Countering Violent Extremism (CVE), Prevent (its UK equivalent), gang-prevention programs, predictive policing, and all of their close relatives, our streets, public venues, places of worship, schools, workplaces, therapy, the media we consume, incarceration, and even our private homes have all become fair game for states’ probing surveillance, adamancy of control, and insistence on playing the role they’ve scripted for you in play entitled white supremacy. Refusals to play the role–to condemn terrorism, to sever our identities in exchange for powerless and meaningless positions in popular culture, and play by their rules–is where the complacency in our own oppression ends, and liberation begins. We are not just refusing to eat their food, we are questioning the very validity of the table on which it sits.
But let me keep this short, as Asim Qureshi has put together quite the introduction–complete with discussion points and a proposed project–for the special BWR-edition excerpt of the book! Even if you do go ahead and purchase the complete book (which, I highly recommend! There are amazing essays!), I do suggest downloading our BWR-specific PDF with the special introduction!
If you’re already on our email list, you will have already received a copy of the book emailed straight to your inbox! If not yet, you can sign up here and automatically receive a follow-up email with the link!
Our additional recommended resources has a lot of writing, essays, poetry, music, and even comedic sketches from the incredible contributors of the book and beyond, so be sure to explore that below! And as always, I hope you can join us for our roundtable conversation at the end of the month with the authors of the essays included in the PDF excerpt!
As always, be sure to share your insights with us as you’re reading, using the hashtag #BecauseWeveRead. Here’s to developing language of refusal, of resistance, and of community power together, on our terms.
RSVP for the zoom webinar conversation here!
bwr.seattle@gmail.com
bwr.londonon@gmail.com
Tech developments are inevitable, but surveillance, surveillance capitalism, and intrusive tracking are not. We can live in–and even celebrate–a tech-driven world without submitting to the wills of power. It’s not “normal” for google to be able to track your every move, for Amazon to detect your accent and record your conversations when Alexa is supposedly “off”, or to step outside to a forest of cameras watching you, even if you “have nothing to hide.”
For this conversation, we’re so thrilled to be joined by a #dreamteam of some of our favorite scholars, activists, artists, and hackers fighting to keep us all safe at the intersections of surveillance, anti-Blackness, capitalism, the war on terror, and the carceral state.
Join us for a conversation with Simone Browne, scholar and author of Dark Matters; Assia Boundaoui, award-winning filmmaker and director of The Feeling of Being Watched; Freddy Martinez, Director of the Lucy Parsons Labs; and Sarah Hamid, activist with the Carceral Tech Resistance Network.
The past week, the United States has witnessed what Angela Davis has called a possibly unprecedented moment in demands being made globally for radical and systemic challenges to racism and legacies of slavery. This moment is exciting, inspiring, painful, intense, beautiful, shocking, brilliant, and messy. And we’re here for all of it. But immensely important in these moments is also grounding: spiritual/religious grounding, community grounding, and historical grounding. This moment is both new and a legacy of what was made possible by the freedom fighters before us; both visionary and historic; we are speaking new languages and articulating new demands crafted from the alphabets of James Baldwin, Angela Davis, Toni Morrison, bell hooks, Malcolm X, Ida B. Wells, and so many others. So let’s dive into their words.
We’re excited and honored that the brilliant poet, singer, and songwriter Jamila Woods will be joining us as our discussant for this unit!
In light of the ongoing and accelerating Indian military occupation of Kashmir, lack of media attention, and urgent calls for international solidarity, #BecauseWeveRead is honored to be partnering with Stand With Kashmir to host this ‘Emergency Read’ on Kashmir. Join the brilliant Sanjay Kak (filmmaker & writer), Hafsa Kanjwal (professor & writer), & Mohamad Junaid (professor & writer) in a conversation describing & contextualizing what is happening on the ground in Kashmir, right now.
Referred to in the New York Times as “India’s most impassioned critic of globalization and American influence,” Arundhati Roy stands as one of the most influential writers in the world today. Her writing includes the award-winning The God of Small Things, Field Notes on Democracy: Listening to Grasshoppers, Capitalism: A Ghost Story, and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, among other fiction and non-fiction work. But beyond her writing, her work also extends into the streets: Roy is an outspoken activist, frequently working on and discussing issues related to India’s illegal military occupation of Kashmir, anti-Zionism, political repression, caste and class, and a myriad of environmental and human rights issues — many of which are discussed in our February/March 2019 read, The End of Imagination. We love a principled, badass woman.
In light of ongoing massive protests in Sudan, their lack of coverage in mainstream media outlets, and the dire need to contextualize these protest within Sudan’s own particular political and historical contexts (which many non-Sudanese and non-African people seem to lack knowledge of), we’re calling for a #BecauseWeveRead ‘Emergency Read’ for the month of January to help us better understand what is happening in Sudan right now, and how we can support. We’re joined today with Nisrin Elamin, a Sudanese PhD student in Anthropology at Stanford University. Her doctoral research focuses broadly on the phenomenon of “foreign land grabs” in post-secession Sudan. It seeks to understand how the differential impact of state-driven land dispossession is being negotiated and contested in several communities in the agricultural Gezira region.
To raise our collective awareness and understanding of global politics, race, capitalism, gender, religion, culture, history, colonialism, socioeconomic disparity etc, in ways that disrupt normative narratives
To uplift and celebrate stories of those whose identities are marginalized and whose voices are systematically silenced globally, as their stories are powerful models of effective resistance against power, and their lived experiences challenge state narratives.
To build & mobilize transnational communities, conversations, and movements united in shared struggle while simultaneously making radical literature more accessible to the communities that need them the most.
Every two months a new unit will be announced here on our website, in our newsletter, and on social media. Each unit has a central book that will always be made available as a free e-book, and is accompanied by additional multimedia resources such as essays, films, databases, poetry, photoessays, and other materials that complement the unit.
Think of each unit as a mini syllabus on a particular topic.
Throughout each 2-month long unit, all of our members (i.e. anyone who is reading with us around the world at any particular time) are encouraged to post their thoughts, reflections, favorite quotes, or other commentary related to the readings or unit on social media using the hashtag #BecauseWeveRead to be part of a global conversation.
Each unit also includes a Youtube Live discussion hosted by Hoda Katebi and a different esteemed guest. Past guests have included Arundhati Roy, Naomi Klein, and others. The Youtube Live discussions are open to the public and viewers are encouraged to ask questions and engage in the conversation with the host, guest, and each other.
You can find previous live discussions, many of which have also been adapted into podcast episodes, linked in each book post in our digital library, or on the “Community Discussions” page.
#BecauseWeveRead is unique for many reasons, but we’re most excited about our growing list of local chapters globally!
Smaller, more intimate conversations on a local level are an incredibly helpful tool to better understand and engage with texts while simultaneously learning from and building community.
Our global chapters are largely autonomously run by local leaders (most of whom are women and non-binary people of color!) who we train and support as needed. Each chapter hosts an open, local community discussion for each unit, and often hosts other events and projects related to the unit.
Our chapters have organized everything from sold-out panels and poetry slams on Islamophobia & Anti-Blackness to letter-writing events and book drives for people currently incarcerated to week-long event series at their local university supporting the struggles of Kashmiris under Indian occupation!
Get involved & find the closest chapter to you on our “Chapters” page!
Can’t find a chapter in your city? Get in touch with us if you’re interested in launching a new chapter and bringing #BecauseWeveRead to your community!
#BecauseWeveRead actively adapts and responds to major global crisis as they develop. To do so, we occasionally will call for one-month ‘Emergency Readings’ on a particular crisis that needs urgent attention.
Typically, we focus on situations that: a) lack global attention b) are deeply misunderstood/the general global public lacks major context c) are immediate and actively-unfolding situations in which people on the ground are asking for global solidarity in ways that #BecauseWeveRead and our chapters and members can clearly respond to
Unfortunately, there are countless important issues and causes globally that deserve to be uplifted. We are often inundated with requests to launch an ‘Emergency Read’ in respond to various ongoing local & global crises and unfortunately cannot focus on them all.
We want to name that several factors go into announcing an ‘Emergency Read’, and even if an official announcement is not made, often times many of our chapters will still focus on these issues on a local level.
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Really great conversation tonight with @becauseweveread. We spoke about healing, ideas of community and those on the margin. I always learn so much from @azeezatj’s interventions and particularly her point on who is at the margins and their inclusion in our idea of liberation.
Join us via Zoom on Jan 27 w/ @istanbulandi for another session of #BecauseWeveRead. This month's focus is on the prison industrial complex and trying to imagine a world without prisons. The text is 'Are Prisons Obsolete?' by Angela Davis. Details:
https://www.facebook.com/events/226197849066828/
Join us via Zoom on Jan 27 w/ @istanbulandi for another session of #BecauseWeveRead. This month's focus is on the prison industrial complex and trying to imagine a world without prisons. The text is 'Are Prisons Obsolete?' by Angela Davis. Details:
https://www.facebook.com/events/226197849066828/
Join us via Zoom on Jan 27 w/ @istanbulandi for another session of #BecauseWeveRead. This month's focus is on the prison industrial complex and trying to imagine a world without prisons. The text is 'Are Prisons Obsolete?' by Angela Davis. Details:
https://www.facebook.com/events/226197849066828/
Join us via Zoom on Dec. 30 w/ @istanbulandi for another session of #BecauseWeveRead. We'll be reading three essays written by Muslims in the West, focusing on subjects such as the authors' experiences with racism and white supremacy. Details:
https://www.facebook.com/events/149531376957202
"Refusing to condemn is not only emotional, it’s also a bodily act", Shereen brings up that there is power attached to the condemning that we do, how is the book I Refuse to Condemn important for us in daily interactions?
#BecauseWeveRead