Educational Catalogue of Resources: Resistance

In 1906, Emma Goldman faced the problem that, although women’s rights have expanded in certain areas, the broader emancipation of women is still far from being achieved. 

Alexandra Kollontai, a Russian socialist, played a major role in movements regarding the working class rights, particularly of women. In this pamphlet she goes on to talk about the ongoing subordination of women and the lack of social democracy

In 1879, then revised in 1910, August Bebel addressed the oppression and inequality of women under the current social and economic systems, particularly in bourgeois society.

In Woman Suffrage (1910), Emma Goldman deals with the issue of the limited scope of the women's suffrage movement.

In 1912, Rosa Luxemburg addressed the lack of political rights for working women, particularly their exclusion from suffrage, and the broader social and economic injustices that stem from their political disenfranchisement.

In The Woman Question, a speech delivered in 1913, De Cleyre graples with the problem of women's economic dependence and the oppressive nature of traditional marriage. 

Harrison played a significant role in race movements throughout the United States. This can be seen through his contributions in spaces such as the Socialist Party of America, and founders of the Liberty League (political organization), and the Voice (newspaper). 

Post World War I (WWI), Asa (A.) Philip Rudolph and Chandler Owen write about what the term "New Negro" means in relation to their context as Black Americans and in contrast to the subdued "Old Negro". 

This book is a compilation of various editorials, articles, and reviews written by Harrison between the years of 1917 - 1920. The chapters go through the lasting effects of World War I on the lives of Black Americans.

The African Blood Brotherhood addressed the issue of lack of organized planning in the liberation of the Black race. 

Claude McKay was dealing with the problem of racial oppression and the marginalization of Black people within both the capitalist system and the global revolutionary movement. 

Marcus Garvey grapples with the problem of racial division and internal disunity within the Black community, which hinders collective progress and liberation.

In 1920, Witkop-Rocker addresses the problem of male comrades opposing women’s unions, which were essential for addressing women's needs, particularly those of housewives and non-producers.

Haywood talks about the deeply integrated suppressive system in which the United States is engulfed in. He mentions the white liberals and their ideological perceptions of Black Americans fighting for their emancipation as a matter of race only and a complete disregard of the systemically embedded hurdles within a capitalistic society which they face.

Through his political activism, Haywood calls Black Americans towards an anti-capitalist movement, and to join forces with the workers and farmers against American imperialism. 

In the pamphlet, Jones calls out the extensive amounts of people and money being funnelled in to the war and how, under the guise of safety and democracy, there has been countless bloodshed and widespread domination due to hungry imperialists. 

In 1941, prominent civil rights activists, including A. Philip Randolph, planned the March on Washington Movement (MOWM), where tens of thousands of Black Americans were to march in protest of discriminatory practices, particularly in defence industry employment practices.

At the brisk entering World War II, many Black Americans were subjected to meagre jobs, if anything. Racial discrimination and inequitable hiring practices left many without federal contracts.

Kwame Nkrumah's Education in West Africa is a condemnation of colonial education systems for their contribution to the erosion of African cultural identity and national development.

In this news clipping Jones questions the political systems in place and the hypocrisy of their words and actions. 

Cox argues against two scholars and their usage of ethnocentrism to explain racial prejudice. He mentions that one cannot go about changing people's perceptions simply by proving them wrong; perceptions are rooted in the system.

C.L.R James addresses the issue of the tension between the independent struggle of Black Americans and their relationship with the broader labour and socialist movements in the U.S.

In 1949, Claudia Jones addresses the intersecting oppression faced by Black women, particularly in how they are negected in both feminist and civil rights movements.

In Black Skin, White Masks (1952), Frantz Fanon grapples with the psychological effects of colonialism and racism on Black individuals, particularly the alienation and internalized inferiority they experience in a white-dominated society.

Fraser tackles the problem of incorrectly framing the Black struggle in the U.S. as a national issue, arguing instead that it is fundamentally about racial discrimination.

Mehdi Ben Barka, a Moroccan revolutionary politician, presented this report as the II Conference of African Peoples in 1960.

In this report, Mehdi Ben Barka, a Moroccan anti-imperialist, talks about the lasting impacts of imperialism within Africa, particularly the French troops and their acts of colonization.

In his book, Madness and Civilization, Michel Foucault examines the problematic historical treatment of the mentally ill and the evolution of societal attitudes toward madness.

In 1961, Frantz Fanon addressed the limitations of national consciousness in post-colonial societies, critiquing its potential to reinforce class divisions rather than fostering true liberation.

Mehdi Ben Barka, amongst his many roles of being a politician, was a spokesperson of the National Union of Popular Forces (UNFP). This following report goes through Ben Barkas' addresses to the Moroccans, particularly focusing on the relationship between the Moroccans and Algerians. 

In 1963, Malcolm X addressed the systemic oppression faced by Black people in America, focusing on the nation's refusal to accept them and their ongoing marginalization.

Many prominent civil rights activists were present at the March on Washington (1963) protest, advocating for foundational rights for Black Americans.

James Boggs addresses the systemic oppression of the working class and African Americans within the capitalist system, which is reinforced by both economic exploitation and racial inequality.

In the 1960s, the Revolutionary Action Movement responded to the systematic marginalization of Black students within the broader political, educational, and social systems.

In collaboration with Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Harry Haywood wrote an unpublished manuscript, Towards a Revolutionary Program for Negro Freedom, which was originally published in the quarterly journal, Soulbook. In the chapter, The Crisis of Negro Reformism and the Growth of Nationalism, they touch upon the uprise of anti-colonialism movements, stark polarizations of socioeconomic classes, and the dissatisfaction on the empty promises of the “American Dream”.

This document was worked on by A. Philip Randolph, Bayard Rustin, and Martin Luther King Jr., as a means of developing a plan. This plan particularly focused on moving America's most vulnerable, both Black and white people alike, out of poverty.

I am Joaquín is a piece of poetry which explores the diaspora feeling of Mexican Americans (Chicano's). It highlights the cultural disconnect felt and the rise of the Chicano Movement.

"To begin with, the white world defines who is white and who is black." Walter Rodney goes on in this highly provocative work highlighting the power dynamics present between Black and white people and the deeply rooted systemic pushback non-white people face.

George Jackson in this letter, grapples with the systemic oppression of Black people under capitalism, imperialism, and the prison-industrial complex.

In The Imperialist Partition of Africa, Rodney expands by providing many examples of the imperialist countries, Britain, France, and Germany, coming into the African continent as a "white racist virus" and dividing the continent up for extraction.

Angela Davis addresses the problem of the historical distortion of Black women’s roles during slavery, particularly the harmful stereotypes of Black women as either "matriarchs" or emasculating figures.

Martinez and Vásquez go through the experiences of what the Spanish colonizers did to their land. They tell the story of Mexican Americans (Chicano's) and their fight for freedom.

What happens when a community refuses to stay silent about its own erasure? That’s at the heart of Let Me Speak!, the powerful testimony of Domitila Barrios de Chungara, a Bolivian miner’s wife who found her voice in union organizing and the Housewives’ Committees.

In Orientalism (1978), Edward W. Said critically examined the Western perception of the "Orient", arguing that it was constructed as a counterpoint to the West and used as a means to assert Western dominance.

Bishop presents himself before the United Nations at the turn of the Grenadian revolution. This was shortly after the departure of the previous Grenadian fascist and imperialist government.

When Guyana had originally gained its independence from the British colonizers in 1966, their systems still ran on the model of the bourgeois democratic system of Britain.

Maurice Bishop was a prominent anti-capitalist Grenadian Prime Minister. He fought hard for many pressing issues, such as worker's rights, women's rights, and the overall fight against racism and apartheid. 

In this book Race, Reform, and Rebellion, the third chapter, The Demand for Reform, 1964-1960, Manning highlights the large disparities present amongst white and Black Americans, particularly with regard to Jim Crow laws.

In this book Race, Reform, and Rebellion, the fourth chapter, We Shall Overcome, 1960-1965, concepts such as the Second Reconstruction Civil Rights movement were occurring with the goal to rid society of Jim Crow laws

In this collection of essays, Said goes through the political discontent going on during the separation of Palestine and Israel, in particular focusing on the 1993 Oslo Accords. These essays demonstrate that often times there is a hidden agenda behind the work of front-facing leaders, demonstrating Said's critique of those involved.

This collection of poetry was Darwish's most favoured one, which he provided to the translator Mohammad Shaheen, himself.

Martínez states that white supremacy is fundamental to the existence of America. She breaks down colonization, through conversations around Indigenous peoples, followed by the enslavement of African labour.

Gonzales was a boxer, politician, activist, and public speaker. This book is a compilation of Gonzales work over the span of 20+ years. It is divided by order of speeches, plays, poetry's, and other messages. 

This book compiled by Akbar Muhammad Ahmad, goes through the journey of Black workers and how they were one of the last peoples to be allowed to work in the automotive industry.

The author, Eric Perkins, goes through the battles in which the League of Revolutionary Black Workers went through, and how they were able to form themselves as a formidable bloc against their oppressors.

This chapter, Under Siege in Somalia, recounts Abdi's encounter with armed soldiers and albeit brief, but frightening, apprehension of her sanctuary. She goes through the multi-day siege and describes the terror filled air as armed soldiers took ahold of their space.

Bachir Hadj Ali was a great Algerian poet, Andalusian music enthusiast, and political activist. Ali grew up learning both secular and Islamic studies, but eventually had to leave school during his teenage years to support his family.  

Nimtz delves into the Civil Rights Movement (CRM) and their usage of non-tactical violence such as bus boycotts and catalyst events for the CRM, such as Emmit Till's murder and Bloody Sunday – a civil rights march demanding for voting rights in Alabama. 

Tanya Talaga, an journalist of Anishinaabe and Polish descent, talks about the experiences of Indigenous children at schools in Thunder Bay, Ontario. In particular, she surrounds the conversation around the deaths of seven Indigenous high school students who had travelled to Thunder Bay to attend Boarding school.

All Our Relations: Finding the Path Forward is a part of the CBC Massey Lecture series. In this book, Talaga, a journalist of Anishinaabe and Polish descent, writes about the history of resistance, resilience, and civil rights activism of the Indigenous peoples.

Political scientist Daniel Webb argues in his article, “Inclusion Isn’t Enough”, that the popular ideal of the "open city", where everyone can access and enjoy urban space equally, isn’t what it claims to be.

In this article, Nimtz strengthens his positionality on the working class to rise against the capitalist class, and advocates for themselves to bring about a revolution.

This book is a collection of some of the best poems of Saadi Youssef's, translated into English from Arabic by Sinan Antoon and Peter Money. Youssef's poetry is centred on his longing for his home country, Iraq.

Saadi Youssef was a prominent Iraqi poet, political activist, and publisher. He lived much of his latter life exiled from Iraq due to conflicting political ideologies with the government regime.

In her interview "Not So Black and White", legal scholar Dorothy Roberts challenges the deeply rooted assumption that race is a natural category. Drawing on the work of Barbara and Karen Fields, she argues that we focus too much on “race” as if it were a real, stable trait, rather than recognizing it as the product of racism—a system that first imposes unequal treatment, then invents race to justify it.

Talaga, a Anishinaabe and Polish descent journalist and author, writes about her conversations surrounding the Canadian history of colonization upon Indigenous peoples.

Mohammed Harbi lived a very politically involved life with involvement in groups such as the National Liberal Front (FLN) organizing political and practical support for the Algerian struggle, all the while recognizing the FLN had its limitations. Recognizing that every step towards liberation is imperfect, furthering Harbi and his work towards an Algerian revolution.