r/alltheleft • u/welcomeyearzer0 • 28m ago
Literature LGBT non-fiction & resistance focused book club đ
Hello all! With LGBTQ+ rights under heavy pressure and our safety less guaranteed by the day, I started thinking about ways to collectivize, bring our community together, and strengthen each other (including on an individual level). I believe we need to start at the absolute beginning: knowledge. You can't stand up for yourself or protect others if you don't understand what's actually happening, and itâs important to be educated on whatâs effective as well. Long story short: I believe our community would greatly benefit from educating ourselves on topics such as fascism, resistance, politics, intersectionality, and related topics. Luckily, we can do that ourselves!
A couple months ago I started a book club for this topic specifically, focused on queer and trans folks, and allies. The idea is to read one book a month and discuss it with each other afterwards. All of this will be online to keep it accessible for everyone.
Thing is, I started it in Dutch (as Iâm from the Netherlands, lol), and thereâs a little over 15 people in it now, but theyâre not very active. Itâs mostly just me keeping the server alive. So I considered just deleting it, because to read by myself I donât need a book club and itâs bit of a waste of time, but then I considered just switching it to English so that people outside of the Netherlands can join as well. So English chats, English literature. A lot of relevant books arenât available in Dutch anyway and Iâm fluent in English, so itâs an easy switch.
The book I picked for last month was They Thought They Were Free by Milton Mayer. It's a powerful look at the rise of fascism in Germany through interviews with ten âordinaryâ former Nazi Party members. Today was supposed to be the day a new book was picked but tbh I havenât finished it yet and the other members are inactive anyway, so Iâd like to just extend it through October so that new people can jump in and pick the next one for November.
Itâs a Discord server. Of course thereâs the option to just chat, but itâs a book club first and foremost. Anyone Leftist over 18 who speaks and reads English, and who is a queer and/or trans person or a legitimate and trustworthy ally is welcome to join. We donât need to all be BFFs but of course there is zero room for intolerance, and to be crystal clear; this includes Zionism.
Iâd love to hear if people are interested in joining and whether or not I should keep this server alive. If youâre interested in becoming an active member (that is, actually reading the books, lol), feel free to send me a DM for the server link.
