Monday October 28th: Letter Writing for Marwan Barghouti

  • October 25, 2024 1:48 am

from Philly ABC

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Join us on Monday October 28th at 6:30pm at Wooden Shoe Books as we send letters to Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian political leader associated with the First and Second Intifidas, and with the campaign for improved conditions for Palestinian prisoners. Marwan has been variously referred to as “the single most popular Palestinian leader alive,” a “ “symbol of resistance,” and “the world’s most important prisoner.” We’ll also sign a card for political prisoner Josh Williams, whose birthday is November 25th.

From prisonersolidarity.com :

Marwan Hasib Ibrahim Barghouti was born in the West Bank village of Kobar in 1962. He is a prominent and popular political figure associated with Fatah, currently serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison. He is a member of the Fatah Central Committee, and of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC). Often described by Palestinians as the ‘Palestinian Mandela.’

In the run-up to the First Intifada, Barghouti was a student leader at Bir Zeit University involved in popular protests. He was deported by Israel to Jordan in May 1987 and was only allowed to return to the West Bank in 1993 as part of the Oslo Accords. The following year, in 1994, he became secretary-general of Fatah in the West Bank. During the Second Intifada, he allegedly directed military attacks against Israeli targets. Israel accuses him of having established the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades (AMB) at the time.

Barghouti was arrested and sentenced by an Israeli military court in 2002 to five consecutive life sentences for orchestrating attacks on Israelis. Since his imprisonment, Barghouti has been active in the prisoners’ movement and has published various articles from prison to communicate with the outside world. While in prison, he helped draft the 2006 National Conciliation Document of the Prisoners — which he co-signed with Abdulkhaleq al-Natsheh (Hamas), Bassam Sa’adi (PIJ), Abdel Rahim Mallouh (PFLP), and Mustafa Badarneh (DFLP). In 2017, he led a large-scale hunger strike to demand improved rights and conditions for prisoners.

The campaign for Barghouti’s release was launched in 2013 from Nelson Mandela’s cell on Robben Island, in South Africa, where many leaders of the anti-apartheid struggle were imprisoned. Signing the Robben Island declaration calling for Barghouti’s release were eight Nobel Peace Prize laureates, including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu, himself a veteran of the South African campaign.

Are You Anarcho-Curious?

  • September 25, 2024 1:27 am

from Instagram

Come to our recurring meetup to discuss anarchism--what it is, what it isn't, and what it could be! An informal gathering where food will be munched, questions asked and ideas bandied.
Come to our recurring meetup to discuss anarchism–what it is, what it isn’t, and what it could be! An informal gathering where food will be munched, questions asked and ideas bandied.
[October 6th
4pm – 6pm
Wooden Shoe Books
704 South St, Philly]

Three Way Fight

  • September 21, 2024 1:19 am

from Instagram

A discussion with local activists and contributors to the book,
Three Way Fight: Revolutionary Politics and Antifascism

What’s the relationship between combating the far right and working for systemic change? Three way fight politics argues that the far right grows out of an oppressive capitalist order but is also in conflict with it in real ways, and that radicals need to combat both. A three way fight approach says we need sharper analysis of these different opponents so we can fight them more effectively. This discussion aims to support people in current movements and help us strategize.

[Sept 28, 7pm
704 South St
Wooden Shoe St]

Monday August 26th: Black August Letter-writing

  • August 26, 2024 1:08 am

from Philly ABC

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In August 1979, the first official Black August took place when incarcerated people came together to commemorate the deaths of brothers Jonathan and George Jackson, who were killed after the Marin County Courthouse Rebellion (Jonathan in August 1970 and George in August 1971). Prisoners in San Quentin started this tradition of daily exercises to sharpen their minds, bodies, and spirits in honor of the collective principles of self-sacrifice, inner fortitude and revolutionary discipline needed to advance the New Afrikan struggle for self-determination and freedom.

Black August now takes place all month as an invitation to reflect on the history of the Black freedom struggle, to celebrate those who have come before, and to commit to continuing this fight for justice and liberation. We invite you to remember, reflect, learn, and unlearn, by connecting with Black freedom fighters still behind bars.

Join us on Monday, August 28th at 6:30pm at Wooden Shoe Books as we share a compilation of audio commemorations and inspiration from Black August and take time to send out letters and cards to political prisoners from Black liberation movements.

Download a PDF of the Black August illustration by Kevin Rashid Johnson laid out as a card to print. Check prisonersolidarity.com for Black Liberation prisoners to send cards to.

We’ll also be sending a birthday card to Leonard Peltier (September 11th).

Flights

  • June 28, 2024 1:30 am

from Instagram

In FLIGHTS, Joel Whitney offers us a genre-defying group portrait of radicals, dissidents, and whistleblowers on the run, sharing with us the stories of how many of our best-loved poets, writers, journalists, artists, and leaders have been obliged to elude, evade, and flee from the authorities.Collecting for us the dirty and deep 20th century background to our current age of mass surveillance, torture, assassination and censorship, FLIGHTS is a “fine-grained and deeply engaging” collection (Astra Taylor) that is so “mind-bending … so profound and original” (Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz) that you won’t want to miss it.Please join us in person or online on July 5 at 6 pm EDT for a conversation between Joel Whitney and Gabriel Rockhill on radical intellectuals targeted by imperialist states and their intelligence services. The event will also be live streamed on the Critical Theory Workshop YouTube channel.

Join The Beehive Collective For Art, Storytelling & Discussion

  • June 23, 2024 1:07 am

from Instagram

The Beehive Design Collective is a wildly motivated, all-volunteer, activist arts collective dedicated to “cross-pollinating the grassroots” by creating collaborative, anti-copyright images for use as educational and organizing tools. Working as word-to-image translators of complex global stories informed by affected communities, the Beehive has launched graphics campaigns that have had major impacts in social and environmental movements worldwide. Active for a quarter-century, the beed have distributed over a quarter million copies of their prints, and have been invited to present their work, tour, and give lectures at conferences, festivals, galleries, museums, community centres and universities on every continent. Their MesoAmerica Resiste graphic took 23 members of the collective over 9 years to complete, and they’ve recently published a rhyming storybook to complement their large mural artwork entitled “The True Cost of Coal”.

Reading and Q&A: The Hands That Crafted The Bomb: The Making of a Lifelong Antifascist

  • June 14, 2024 1:37 am

from Instagram

Photo by The Wooden Shoe on June 10, 2024. May be a graphic of 1 person, poster, book, magazine and text that says 'WOODEN SHOE & RECORDS collectively runsince run since 1976 PM PRESS READING AND Q&A WENAN FERN THE MAKING OF A THE HANDS THAT CRAFTEDTHEBOM BOMB LIFELONG ANTIFASCIST es JOSH 21 June 2024 6 pm Wooden Shoe 704 South Street Philadelphia, PA 19147 FCKNZS HE HANDS CRAFTED THEBOMB BOMB THE 5 rAИ THE MAKING OF LIFELONG LIFELONGANTIFASCIST ANTIFASCIST HEBK THE'.
Josh Fernandez is a community college professor in Northern California who finds himself under investigation for “soliciting students for potentially dangerous activities” after starting an antifascist club on campus.As Fernandez spends the year defending his job, he reflects on a life lived in protest of the status quo, swept up in chaos and rage, from his childhood in Boston dealing with a mentally ill father and a new family to a move to Davis, California, where, in the basement shows of the early ’90s, Nazi boneheads proliferated the music scene, looking for heads to crack. His crew’s first attempts at an antifascist group fall short when a member dies in a knife fight.A born antiauthoritarian, filled with an untamable rage, Fernandez rails against the system and aggressively chooses the path of most resistance. This leads to long spates of living in his car, strung out on drugs, and robbing the whiteboys coming home from the clubs at night. He eventually realizes that his rage needs an outlet and finds relief for his existential dread in the form of running. And fighting Nazis. Fernandez cobbles together a life for himself as a writing professor, a facilitator of a self-defense collective, a boots-on-the-ground participant in Antifa work, and a proud father of two children he unapologetically raises to question authority.Josh Fernandez is an antiracist organizer, a father, a runner, a fighter, an English professor, and a writer whose stories have appeared in Spin, the Sacramento Bee, the Hard Times, and several alternative news weeklies. He lives in Sacramento, CA.
[June 21 2024
6PM
Wooden Shoe
704 South St
Philadelphia, PA 19147]

An Evening with Joel Whitney Author of Flight Radicals on the Run

  • May 27, 2024 1:34 am

from Instagram

Photo by The Wooden Shoe on May 16, 2024. May be an image of book, magazine, poster and text that says 'AN EVENING WITH Joel Whitney author Flights of of RADICALS ON THE RUN Monday, June 3 at 7pm The Wooden Shoe'.
In FLIGHTS, Joel Whitney offers us a genre-defying group portrait of radicals, dissidents, and whistleblowers on the run, sharing with us the stories of how dozens of our best-loved poets, writers, journalists, activists, artists, and leaders have been obliged to elude, evade, and flee from the authorities.Collecting for us the dirty and deep 20th century background to our current age of mass surveillance, torture, assassination and censorship, FLIGHTS is a “fine-grained and deeply engaging” collection (Astra Taylor) that is so “mind-bending … so profound and original” (Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz) that you won’t want to miss it.

Jesus and the Abolitionist Launch Event

  • May 26, 2024 1:32 am

from Instagram

Photo by The Wooden Shoe on May 16, 2024. May be an image of 1 person, book, magazine and text that says 'LAUNCH EVENT JUNE 2, 6-8PM Wooden Shoe Books 704 South St., Philadelphia, PA JESUS and andthe the ABOLITIONISTS D HOW ANARCHIST NARCHISTCHRISTIANITY CHRISTIANITY EMPOWERS EMPOWERSTHEPEOPLE THE PEOPLE TERRY ERRYJ.STOKES J. STOKES Jesus and the Abolitionists By TERRY J. STOKES'.
Join us at the Wooden Shoe for a launch of Terry Stoke’s exciting new book, JESUS AND THE ABOLITIONISTS: HOW ANARCHIST CHRISTIANITY EMPOWERS THE PEOPLE! Compelling, witty and written with a deep sense of purpose and empathy, we hope you’ll join us for Terry’s reading and for questions and answers afterwards.

Monday May 27th: Letter-writing for Ant Smith

  • May 24, 2024 1:23 am

from Philly ABC

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Join us on Monday May 27th at 6:30pm at Wooden Shoe Books to write letters to Philadelphia’s own Ant Smith. Ant is a high school social studies teacher in North Philly, an activist with organizations including Food Not Bombs Solidarity and Philly for REAL Justice, and a beloved community member currently serving a yearlong sentence for politically motivated charges related to the 2020 George Floyd Uprisings.

On Oct 26 2020, Ant was taken from his home and charged with obstructing law enforcement during a civil disorder and aiding and abetting the arson of a police cruiser. An outpouring of community support and outrage immediately followed. The impact of his tireless pursuit of collective liberation for his community was made clear to the court from the statements in his support released by the North Philly Peace Park, Philly Student Union, the Racial Justice Organizing Committee, the Coalition for REAL Justice, as well as the over 70 character letters submitted by students and colleagues after his arrest.

At his sentencing on Nov 21 2023, Ant’s friends and supporters had to be packed into a second overflow courtroom. U.S. District Judge Juan Sanchéz heard emotional pleas that Ant not be sent to prison from family, students and coworkers. Sanchéz sentenced him to a year and a day in prison, and two years probation on top of the three years of house arrest already served, and monetary restitution for the burnt police cruiser. Ant’s felony conviction also bars him from teaching for 10 years.

Just as Ant worked selflessly for all of us before he was imprisoned, we need to have his back while he’s in prison. This includes writing him letters to let him know he’s not alone. If you can’t join us in person on Monday May 27th, you can still write to him at:

Anthony Smith
14813-509
FCI Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution
Satellite Camp
P.O. Box 2000
Joint Base MDL, NJ 08640

Ben Fletcher: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly

  • May 9, 2024 1:05 am

from Instagram

Another great event coming up at the shop! Did you know @muralarts is set to unveil a Ben Fletcher mural at 301 South Christopher Columbus on May 18th? Come out two days before to learn more about who this incredible Philadelphian was and why his impact on our city is still being felt today.A brilliant union organizer and a humorous orator, Benjamin Fletcher (1890–1949) was a tremendously important and well-loved African American member of the IWW during its heyday. Fletcher helped found and lead Local 8 of the IWW’s Marine Transport Workers Industrial Union, unquestionably the most powerful interracial union of its era, taking a principled stand against all forms of xenophobia and exclusion.Hope to see you on the 16th!

One Book, One Philadelphia: Anarcho-Curious with Wooden Shoe Books

  • April 24, 2024 1:03 am

from Free Library of Philadelphia

Wed, May 1, 2024 7:00 P.M.
Parkway Central Library

Slash and his friends in True Biz present an image of anarchism rarely seen in the news. For those who want to learn more, Anarcho-Curious at the Free Library expands the Anarcho-Curious program periodically hosted by Wooden Shoe Books. The event includes three speakers, all based in Philadelphia: Kim Kelly, author of Fight Like Hell: The Untold History of American Labor; Andrew Lee, author of Defying Displacement: Urban Recomposition and Social War; and the abolitionist educator and organizer Felicia Teter. Kelly, Lee, and Teter will share their stories and an outline of what anarchism means to them in a panel conversation moderated by Wooden Shoe volunteers. Then, attendees will break into conversation groups to ask questions and discuss. Curious about anarchism? Join us!

This event will take place in the Skyline Room, on the 4th floor of Parkway Central Library. ASL interpretation will be provided. Masks required.

Click here to register.

Anarcho-curious?

  • April 20, 2024 1:49 am

from Instagram

Join us for an open conversation about anarchism where you can ask all your questions and talk to other people about how we can build a freer, more just society. To attend the @freelibrary event please register! https://libwww.freelibrary.org/calendar/event/134416

Informality, Anarchy, and the Black Radical Tradition at Wooden Shoe

  • March 10, 2024 1:48 am

Submission


A lecture based discussion on organization and strategy in the 21st century.
Bring a friend. No prior reading required, this will be an introductory discussion.

March 24
5pm
Wooden Shoe Books 704 South St

are you anarcho-curious?

  • December 9, 2023 1:09 am

from Instagram

We’re back on our bullshit! If you’re newly acquainted with anarchist thought or if you’re one of THOSE people, come on by and chat! Masks required!