Having first published this in 2015, her central thesis that only robust social movements effect meaningful change comes across as especially prescient.

It is impossible to read her words or hear her voice and not be moved to comprehension and gratitude for our incredible luck in having her with us. in a society that continually pushes individualism, angela davis’ “freedom is a constant struggle” is an important reminder of the transnational struggle for freedom. She shows that previous generations not only can "catch up with the times", but can also move several leaps forward. Du Bois, whom Davis recognizes throughout this work as a central intellectual forebear, once described colonies as “the slums of the world,” that is, places populated by peoples, upon which extractive economies backed by extreme police measures could be given the greatest latitude. And this idea that the militarization of American police came from Israel is laughable because Israeli police aren't militarized.

While what she was saying needed to be repeated I felt those pages could have been better served diving deeper into the history of certain Palestinian or Turkish political prisoners instead of glossing over names. Contents Foreward / Cornel West -- Introduction / Frank Barat -- Progressive struggles against insidious capitalist individualism -- Ferguson reminds us of the importance of a global context -- We have to talk about systematic change -- On Palestine, G4S, and the prison-industrial complex -- Closures and continuities -- From Michael Brown to Assata Shakur, the racist state of America persists -- The Truth Telling Project: violence in America -- Feminism and abolition: theories and practices for the twenty-first century -- Political activism and protest from the 1960s to the age of Obama -- Transnational solidarities Summary In these newly collected essays, interviews, and speeches, world-renowned activist and scholar Angela Y. When talking about the Middle East, why is Palestine held more accountable and liable for violence than Israel? We maintain, therefore, that the oppressed Negro citizens of the United States, segregated, discriminated against and long the target of violence, suffer from genocide as the result of the consistent, conscious, unified policies of every branch of government. And finally, I will just say that there was an aspect of redundancy throughout these speeches and interviews that made it feel repetitive.

She is a retired professor with the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and is the former director of the university's Feminist Studies department. Over recent years, alongside the rise of BLM, there has also been a renewed and rejuvenated movement to challenge the legitimacy of the Israeli occupation of Palestine. Davis expertly demonstrates that any meaningful articulations of equality must shed light on the hegemonic influence of capital.It's wild that this was published in 2015 because so many things she talks about feel even more relevant now.

I felt like I was missing the voice of someone fundamental to the movements and progressive ideals that I support, so I sought to rectify that.

And it's wild to me that Americans feel comfortable to take an 100 year issue and dumb it down to a side note in their own quests for liberation. Let's talk about the Palestinian hierarchies, let's talk about how the army both changes the class struggle but also shapes it, the way wealth and politics are intertwined and how they shape police brutality in Israel. To conclude, I think this is a nice book for fans of Angela Davis but I didn't feel this is quite the must read leftist book that it is often claimed to be. I imagine this is a great book for people who are already familiar with her activism and want some more extra content. This was resolved by the last 3 chapters, which--if I can qualify-- triggered the deepest thought and reaction.

From this complex history, Andrews shows how the civil rights movement built innovative organizations and campaigns that empowered local leadership and had a lasting legacy in Mississippi and beyond. This book of interviews and essays clearly distills many complex current issues, highlighting how local struggles are also global ones. So even if you're not someone who is inclined to pick up non-fiction or perhaps just not a reader of this type of non-fiction, I'd encourage you to check it out. Prisoner rights have been among her continuing interests; she is the founder of Critical Resistance, an organization working to abolish the prison-industrial complex.In a clear and concise manner, she embodies and enacts “intersectionality” – a structural intellectual and political response to the dynamics of violence, White Supremacy, patriarchy, state power, capitalist markets, and imperial policies. In “Freedom is a Constant Struggle”, she underlines the connections between struggles against state violence and oppression throughout history and around the world. Most interestingly she talks about Palestine and expresses solidarity with Palestinians' struggle for liberation. Reflecting on the importance of Black feminism, intersectionality, and prison abolitionism for today's struggles, Davis discusses the legacies of previous liberation struggles - from the Black freedom movement to the South African antiapartheid movement.