New Media We Recommend

Below is a list of new materials that we have read/watched in recent weeks. The comments are not a “review” of the material, instead sort of an endorsement of ideas and investigations that can provide solid analysis and even inspiration in the struggle for change. All these items are available at The Bloom Collective, so check them out and stimulate your mind.

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, by Manning Marable – This book not only sheds new light on the person of Malcolm X, it raises numerous questions about the Nation of Islam, the FBI, CIA and NYC cops and their role in the assassination of one of the most important Black activists of the 20^th century. There is a great deal of new information on Malcolm’s life that the author was able to track down over a 10 year research period, which includes new documents, taped lectures and interviews with those who knew Malcolm. Equally important is the new details on the drastic changes that Malcolm X was making months before his assassination in terms of his evolving views about the plight of Black America, religion, politics and organizing. Highly recommended as an informative and inspiring look at the person that James Baldwin referred to as “the gentlest person I ever met.”

BP: The Unfinished Crimes and Plunder of Anglo-American Imperialism, by Frederic Clairmont – It has been more than a year since the BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and not only has BP been able to avoid any serious backlash from their insidious greed they have been able to avoid having to deal with greater scrutiny of their entire history. This short book provides readers with a brief history of the company that has been wedded to western imperialism and British colonialism. The author provides important information that frames BP as a long-term partner in the plunder of countries like Iran, where BP played a central role in the military overthrow of the democratically elected government in 1953. This book is an important resource to help us prevent future historical amnesia when it comes to corporate crimes.

To Die in Mexico: Dispatches from Inside the Drug War, by John Gibler – The united Nations recently published a report saying that the 40 – year old international war on drugs has been a complete failure. This new book by John Gibler confirms this fact in terms of how the war on drugs is playing out in Mexico. Gibler provides an investigative reporter account of the human cost of the war on drugs and takes you to the scene of the crimes where innocent people are being gunned down over profits. To Die in Mexico follows in the great tradition of writers such as John Reed and John Ross, making Mexican life and politics come alive in print. This book not only should be required reading for anyone wanting to understand the human cost of the war on drugs, it should be read by Americans who will come to realize through Gibler’s book that the US government is deeply complicit in the gruesome deaths that occur daily throughout Mexico because of drug trafficking.

Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria (DVD) – This documentary not only demonstrates that Stonewall was not the first radical action by the LGBTQ community it sheds like on the fact that the main force behind this uprising in San Francisco were trans people. The film is packed with first person accounts of what happened in before and after the 1966 riot where police attacked members of the LGBTQ community and people fought back. Screaming Queens is an important contribution to our understanding of the struggle for liberation within the LGBTQ community and a powerful example of the need to continue to present a grassroots perspective on history that mostly ignores the views of the most vulnerable.