Don't Leave Your Friends Behind

Overview

Creating a foundation from the grassroots up

A collection of suggestions, tips, and narratives on ways everyone can support parents, children, and caregivers involved in social movements, this book focuses on social justice, mutual aid, and collective liberation. One of the few books dealing with community support for issues facing children and families, this reflection on inclusivity in social awareness offers real-life ways to reach out to the families involved in campaigns such as the Occupy Movement. Contributors include the Bay Area Childcare Collective, the London Pro-Feminist Men's Group, and Mamas of Color Rising.

Reviews

"A poignant, powerful, and much-needed reminder of how movements can raise their own awareness—and that crucial next generation of activists as well."  —Randall Amster, author, Anarchism Today

"A practical guide for us all to do just that, but with zero guilt trips and moralizing."  —James Tracy, co-author, Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels, and Black Power

"A powerful mixture of self-help and literature, putting 'family values' in a new light and on the agenda of social justice movements. And it's not just self-help for radicals who are parents, but food for everyone who seeks to become their better, more compassionate selves."  —Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, author, Outlaw Woman

"Here is required reading of the utmost importance: essays that will help us all to get it right."  —Katherine Arnoldi, author, The Amazing True Story of a Teenage Single Mom

"This book is mind-blowing, brilliant, and urgently needed! . . . This is a must-read for anyone trying to build projects based in collective action."  —Dean Spade, author, Normal Life

"An essential resource for the interdependence revolution in progress."  —Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, coeditor, The Revolution Starts at Home

"The collection is stimulating, and whether we are parents, eldercare providers, or simply concerned human beings, inclusivity - not leaving anyone behind - is key to making the changes we wish to see." —www.truth-out.org

Author Biography

Victoria Law is a writer, photographer, and prisoner rights supporter. She helped initiate NYC Books Through Bars, a group that sends free books to prisoners nationwide, and she writes articles and gives public presentations about the needs of women in prison. She is the editor of Tenacious: Art and Writings from Women in Prison and the author of Resistance Behind Bars. She lives in New York City. China Martens is a writer whose zine, the longest-running parenting zine in the U.S., has been anthologized in her book The Future Generation. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.