Are you interested in learning more about the role of art and cultural production in resistance? Listen to this episode to find out about a book that is for you.

In another guest episode with the inimitable Isabella Kajiwara, we are discussing ‘I, Rigoberta Menchú’, the autobiographical account of Rigoberta Menchú, a Mayan Indigenous K’iche woman. Rigoberta tells the story of her community’s resistance to the Guatemala government in the 1970s and their army-led repression of revolutionary movements. Rigoberta describes the violence and brutality faced by Indigenous Guatemalans during this repression.‘I, Rigoberta Menchú’ is an account that she calls the testimony of her people and this legacy has continued to inspire indigenous peoples in struggle throughout Central America.

This is the final book of the last bookshelf series ‘Literature for Liberation’ which has traversed revolutionary autobiographies, exploring the role of storytelling in political education and movement ecosystems. In this episode, we discuss the threads of shared experience between these accounts – in repression, resistance, community building and worldmaking. From these stories, we learn lessons about how to build the future we are dreaming of.

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In our previous episode, we spoke about the importance of supporting political prisoners, but how do we better understand their experiences? The Trinity of Fundamentals by former Palestinian political prisoner, Wisam Rafeedie, is a semi-autobiographical account of his nine years in hiding from the occupation, penned from an Israeli prison.

We often hear that each of us has a part to play in the revolution and this book is testament to that. This book is not only revolutionary in content but in how it came to exist through comradeship in the Palestinian resistance, too. In this episode, shado’s Isabella Kajiwara returns as a guest to the pod and talks about the incredible story behind that brought this book into being, and the lessons we can learn from it.

Tune in for this expansive discussion about how we might apply those lessons, and use the book as a tool in our organising — including a reflection on what it means to critically engage with the shortcomings of revolutionaries.

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What does it really mean to live a revolutionary life? Assata Shakur’s autobiography offers deeply personal – and candid – reflections on struggle, survival, and liberation. This is why it is such a must-read for organisers across the world.

Led by Isabella Kajiwara, the latest bookshelf season – Literature for Liberation – is exploring seminal autobiographies from revolutionaries across various struggles, inviting readers to reflect on the role of storytelling in our collective political education and movement ecosystems.

Isabella explains that the aim of the season is not to individualise struggle or put people on pedestals, but to study revolutionary lives as a lens through which to understand the wider struggle they are part of. By understanding how Assata Shakur understood political education, resisted carceral repression, and leaned on kinship throughout her organising, we can learn important lessons about what it means for each of us to live a revolutionary life.

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