This lovingly assembled compendium, rich in exclamation marks and emphatic capitals, covers 170 years of feminist and protofeminist thinking, from Sojourner Truths I Am as Strong as Any Man speech (1851) and Donna Haraways A Cyborg Manifesto (1985) to Sara Roebucks devastating A Letter to the Man Who Tried to Rape Me (2016) and essays about Black Lives Matter. It is a readable primer of strong liberated thought.<\/p>\n
There are texts famous and infamous (Valerie Solanass Scum Manifesto), statements of intent (E Janes Nope: A Manifesto) and even some not-exactly manifestos, such as Ani DiFrancos poem Grand Canyon (Why cant all decent men and women\/ Call themselves feminists?\/ Out of respect\/ For those who fought for this).<\/p>\n
Editor Breanne Fahs has reproduced each document faithfully typos, idiosyncrasies et al conveying the heat in which the manifestos were put together. These are not carefully worded philosophical treatises or god forbid placatory corporate mission statements. They are calls to protest, and for urgent change. They pulsate with righteous fury, end-of-the-tether angst and high emotion. If your blood is boiling, dip in. It is magnificently cathartic.<\/p>\n
It is also endlessly quotable. If you yearn to start a social media account doling out furious, righteous aphorisms rather than emetic motivational quotes, this book is for you: Every miscarriage is a work accident, Your lack of enlightenment is not our problem, Psychiatric mystification is a powerful influence in the maintenance of peoples oppression.<\/p>\n
Fahs groups her documents by loose category: Queer\/Trans, Anticapitalist\/Anarchist, Indigenous\/Women of Colour and so on. Each is ordered as a kind of call and response rather than a chronology. It can be an effective way of showing what little ground has been made. Ni Una Menoss Call to Womens International Strike (2017) is hardly evolved from Silvia Federicis Wages against Housework (1974).<\/p>\n
It also offers something like balance: the extremes of one position countered by the extremes of another. It is perhaps worth re-stating this: these manifestos are not in accord, so no reader will be in agreement with all they read in this volume. Yet all these contrary positions can co-exist within feminism strong, heartfelt and eloquently expressed without erasing one another, or the book exploding, or the crust of the earth being rent asunder and us all being sucked down to the fiery depths. In the era of cancel culture and the accompanying pressure to consensus, this feels revelatory. Almost a manifesto in itself.<\/p>\n
Burn It Down! is a reminder of the power and importance of taking a position, asserting your rights and expressing them forcefully and that we can take strength from these positions, appreciate them, disagree, and argue the nuances with equal force and passion.<\/p>\n
Burn It Down! Feminist Manifestos for the Revolution, edited by Breanne Fahs, is published by Verso (20)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
See original here: <\/p>\n
If your blood is boiling, dip into Burn It Down! it is magnificently cathartic - iNews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This lovingly assembled compendium, rich in exclamation marks and emphatic capitals, covers 170 years of feminist and protofeminist thinking, from Sojourner Truths I Am as Strong as Any Man speech (1851) and Donna Haraways A Cyborg Manifesto (1985) to Sara Roebucks devastating A Letter to the Man Who Tried to Rape Me (2016) and essays about Black Lives Matter. It is a readable primer of strong liberated thought Continue reading