“We're in a time of grotesque imperial wars. We have to keep complaining and protesting.” - Sara Ahmed Bhakti Shringarpure speaks with writer, scholar and activist Sara Ahmed about her book NO! The Art and Activism of Complaining for the Radical Futures podcast.

“We're in a time of grotesque imperial wars. We have to keep complaining and protesting.” - Sara Ahmed

open.substack.com/pub/radicalb...

The words "The Key" written out three times, one above the other, getting a little larger each time, in the colour orange. Then underneath it says Issue 003.

Artwork postcard by Molly Crabapple featuring her illustration above an election flyer from Volkovsyk in 1938: “The Jewish masses must clearly and openly declare: We are not foreigners! We will not leave! We will fight for our freedom and rights, together with Polish workers and peasants. And if the Zionists … raise a hand to hinder our struggle, then we will kick them off the Jewish street.”

Issue 003 of The Key has landed.

We’ve got so much to share with you this week:

🔑 The first look at Molly Crabapple’s epic social history of the anti-Zionist Jewish Labour Bund, eleven years in the making.

🔑 A profile of one of the most innovative Palestinian rappers working today, Haykal. 1/2

Otoniya J. Okot Bitek: Against Forgetting A beautifully assembled symphony of women’s voices breathes life into the cruel history of the war waged by the Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda.

An interview with the incredible O.J Okot Bitek here: www.radicalbookscollective.com/p/otoniya-j-...

Remember Joseph Kony? We may have forgotten Kony but a new novel by Otoniya J. Okot Bitek urges against forgetting the victims and survivors who bore the brunt of his cruelties in northern Uganda.

This powerful and truly lyrical novel came out one year ago. Not too late to dive into it. Essential reading about Uganda, war, gender and for African literature broadly.

www.radicalbookscollective.com/p/remember-j...

Michael Jackson, Palestine, and the Erasure of Solidarity In 1993, Michael Jackson penned a song for Palestine. But it was never recorded. Sherry Zane asks why and explores the policing of Jackson's politics.

"Michael Jackson, Palestine, and the Erasure of Solidarity" -- essay by Sherry Zane.
How were the political positions of the most visible Black superstar on the planet strategically made invisible?

www.radicalbookscollective.com/p/michael-ja...

Palestine at the Movies: A Triptych

On a big year for Palestinian cinema and the importance of culture work in the war over historical narrative. By Bhakti Shringarpure

www.radicalbookscollective.com/p/palestine-...

The Movies Were Too Political! Pre-Oscars roung up of a year in film Bhakti Shringarpure and Madhuri Sastry debrief a year in cinema, and what it says about our cultural and political moment today.

Live this Saturday -- "The Movies Were Too Political! A Pre-Oscars round up of a year in film" open.substack.com/pub/radicalb...

Abdallah Alkhatib in Berlin: "And one day, we will have a great film festival in the middle of Gaza, in the middle of other Palestinian cities....We will speak about politics before cinema. We will speak about resistance before art, about freedom, before duty, and about a human being before culture”

We Are Not Okay From Gaza to ICE to Epstein, our children are not safe, and the horror is closer than ever before. By Bhakti Shringarpure.

We Are Not Okay

From Gaza to ICE to Epstein, our children are not safe and the horror feels closer than before. By Bhakti Shringarpure.

open.substack.com/pub/radicalb...

24. The Ballot as Battleground: Featuring Anjali Enjeti Today, in the United States, the right to vote is more precarious and more contested than ever.

"I have had front row seats to voter suppression,” writer, poll worker, activist and Georgia resident @anjalienjeti.bsky.social Enjeti explains in a conversation about the precarious history of voting rights in the US.

open.substack.com/pub/radicalb...

Ep. 23: Is Satire Dead? Featuring Gado “Satire is dead.

Is Satire Dead? Featuring Tanzanian political cartoonist Gado on the role of satire, humor and cartoons in modern public discourse open.substack.com/pub/radicalb...

Really good episode on how we got here, where we are, what to do. Never miss Harsha Walia’s words.

"Border enforcement structure predates Trump.” - Harsha Walia A conversation with Harsha Walia, author of "Border and Rule" on the history of ICE, border imperialism, settler colonialism, and normalization of violence towards migrants.

"It’s not about abolishing ICE. It’s about abolishing the system and the power that ICE upholds.” -- @harshawalia.bsky.social

#podcast on the history of ICE, border imperialism, settler colonialism, and normalization of violence towards migrants.

open.substack.com/pub/radicalb...

“Venezuela is a brutal sanctions regime.” - Geo Maher Political scientist Geo Maher sits down for an in-depth conversation about the history of Venezuela, US interests in the region, and what the media gets wrong about Trump's fast unfolding disaster.

“Venezuela is a brutal sanctions regime.” - Geo Maher
open.substack.com/pub/radicalb...

20 Episodes of Radical Futures in 2025 Watch now | There is very little to celebrate as we near the end of 2025; a year filled of brutalization, war, hatred and racism.

20 Episodes of Radical Futures podcast in 2025
Conversations that mattered during a difficult year.
open.substack.com/pub/radicalb...

"Zero percent healthy:" How the genocide in Palestine has changed everything about food A conversation with writer Lama Obeid about on systematic attack on food, foodways and nutrition in Palestine that works alongside tactics of starvation and hunger.

A despairing but important conversation with Ramallah-based writer Lama Obeid open.substack.com/pub/radicalb...

“We’re all heading to Gaza…That’s the model for the world.” - Ammiel Alcalay A conversation with Ammiel Alcalay contextualizing the present moment as genocide continues in Palestine, as American universities unravel, and the grip of authoritarianism tightens worldwide.

“We’re all heading to Gaza…That’s the model for the world.” - Ammiel Alcalay
open.substack.com/pub/radicalb...

Make Reading an Act of Solidarity Read Palestine week starts tomorrow, November 29th. As you engage with Palestine, keep Sudan in your hearts, minds and on your bookshelves as well.

Make Reading an Act of Solidarity:
Read Palestine week starts tomorrow, November 29th. As you engage with Palestine, keep Sudan in your hearts, minds and on your bookshelves as well. www.radicalbookscollective.com/p/make-readi...

#ReadPalestine week (Nov 29-Dec 5)
Read. Resist. Rise up.

-> publishersforpalestine.org

@pubforpalestine.bsky.social @plutopress.bsky.social @orbooks.bsky.social @haymarketbooks.org @saqibooks.bsky.social

Palestinian Author Nasser Abu Srour Wins 2025 Prix de La Littérature Arabe The awards ceremony for the 2025 Prix de la littérature arabe — held at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris on November 18 — was an emotionally charged affair.

Palestinian Author Nasser Abu Srour's prison memoir ("written inside the walls of the Israeli prisons where Abu Srour spent 33 years") wins 2025 Prix de La Littérature Arabe. @oliviasnaije.bsky.social for @arablit.bsky.social

arablit.org/2025/11/20/p...

'To fully contextualize the current man-made hunger crisis in Sudan and to recognize that it has been decades in the making,
we must turn to history." writes Nisrin Elamin. Accompanied by paintings by the legendary Ibrahim El-Salahi

transitionmagazine.fas.harvard.edu/the-politics...

Omer Al Tijani on documenting Sudanese cuisine as an act of resistance In a country ravaged by war and where hunger has been weaponized in extreme ways, The Sudanese Kitchen cookbook works against invisibility and erasure.

Omer Al Tijani on documenting Sudanese cuisine as an act of resistance. In a country ravaged by war and where hunger has been weaponized in extreme ways, The Sudanese Kitchen cookbook works against invisibility and erasure.

www.radicalbookscollective.com/p/omer-al-ti...

Introductory Guide to Sudan's War: Who, What, Where and Why Straightforward answers to basic questions, who's who, and historical context

#Sudan

open.substack.com/pub/sudanwar...

Read Palestine Week is seven days when people around the world read – publicly and in community – as part of the global resistance to the genocide of the Palestinian people.

publishersforpalestine.org/2025/11/11/j...

Nov 30, 2025: Reading Palestine 5 - We Are Not Numbers: Voices of Gaza's Youth We continue to engage with the fight for Palestinian liberation by turning to the words of Palestinian writers themselves.

Nov 30, 2025: Reading Palestine 5 - We Are Not Numbers: Voices of Gaza's Youth
www.radicalbookscollective.com/p/nov-30-202...

Just learned that the interviewer here is the wonderful Bhakti Shringarpure of @radicalbooks.bsky.social, full interview here www.warscapes.com/conversation...

In Conversation with Mahmood Mamdani It is in his bittersweet and touching book on the Asian expulsion from Uganda that one can trace the beginnings of author and intellectual Mahmood Mamdani’s world-view. He captures the terrifying expe...

This conversation being shared like crazy since Zohran Mamdani's win 💕
www.warscapes.com/conversation...

17. Undoing Empire, One Story at a Time: Featuring Sunny Singh Writer, scholar, and educator Sunny Singh explains that everything she does “centers around finding ways to undo empire.” The world we have inherited is “an ongoing colonial project” and thus “the war...

17. Undoing Empire, One Story at a Time: Featuring Sunny Singh www.radicalbookscollective.com/p/17-undoing...

Court declares apartheid cover-up of ANC leader Chief Albert Luthuli’s murder Delivering a historic judgment in the Chief Albert Luthuli inquest, the Pietermaritzburg high court revealed how the law was systematically used as a tool to enforce apartheid and how even magistrates...

This is big. A South African court has ruled that anti-apartheid leader & 1961 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Albert Luthuli was murdered by the apartheid state's security forces & that the inquiry into his death was a cover-up -- as many had asserted all along. www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025...

Policing, surveillance, and the targeting of Muslims in Kenya A conversation with scholar Samar Al-Bulushi about her powerful book "War-Making as Worldmaking: Kenya, United States and the War on Terror."

Uncovering histories of targeting and policing Muslims in Kenya
www.radicalbookscollective.com/p/uncovering...