Playing for Team Human today is L.A. Kauffman. Douglas met with Kauffman on the eve of the release of her new book, Direct Action, Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism, published by Verso press. Direct Action charts a history of renewal and reinvention in activist movements since the 1960s with a focus on how we might learn from both the successes and failures of our radical past.

In today’s episode, L.A. offers an invigorating commitment to protest, grassroots organizing, and the fight for justice. Douglas and L.A. spoke just days before Women’s March on Washington. They discuss what direct action means by connecting the dots from Mayday action of 1971 and ACT UP in the 1980s and 90s, all the way up to the mobilization happening this month in Washington and across the country.

Links:

From Verso: https://www.versobooks.com/books/2331-direct-action :

“Propelled by more than 100 candid interviews conducted over a span of decades, this elegant and lively history showcases the voices of key players in an array of movements – environmentalist, anti-nuclear, anti-apartheid, feminist, LGBTQ, anti-globalization, racial-justice, anti-war, and more – across an era when American politics shifted to the right, and issue- and identity-based organizing eclipsed the traditional ideologies of the left.”

Read an excerpt from Direct Action here:

https://longreads.com/2017/01/20/in-1971-the-people-didnt-just-march-on-washington-they-shut-it-down/

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