“International solidarity.” “Imperialism”. Capitalism”. “Prison-industrial complex”.

These academic-sounding words may sound like theoretical fluff that is of no use to the masses, but Angela Davis makes these often-difficult terms and turns them into digestible ideas for everyone to understand. By no means is this an easy read for those who have no background information on interconnected historical and current world events that have often been detrimental to some of the most marginalized in our society. Nevertheless, this is an important book to not only better understand the world around us, but also help readers build a sense of solidarity and obligation to do their part in recognizing the connections between their present conditions and the conditions of other communities, and take meaningful action.

Oftentimes, our current material conditions distract us from thinking or caring about the plight of other people. What does the fight for justice for LGBTQ+ people have to do with a minimum-wage working barely making enough to fund their education? Why do the humanitarian crises in the Gaza Strip, Congo, Sudan, and Haiti warrant more than gestures of sympathy from those who just want to advocate for the protection of reproductive rights? Why should the Asian diaspora care for and support the Black Lives Matter movement? The reality is that everyone’s struggles and sufferings are interconnected, and cannot be viewed in a vacuum. Me and my family was forced to leave the Philippines due to deteriorating socioeconomic conditions, conditions that were caused by the same imperialist violence inflicted in other parts of the globe, a climate crisis that is being exacerbated by the same Global North countries that many Filipinos migrate to, and a capitalist system that has benefitted the Philippines’ ruling class and ruling classes of other countries to the detriment of peasants in the Philippines, indigenous communities in Africa, working-class Europeans and Australians, and racialized migrants in the United States and Canada. As the world becomes more interconnected, so should our struggle.
This important realization is not accessible to everyone. Books like this one are important in pushing back on individualist, short-minded narratives that fail to look at the bigger picture, but often succeed in exploiting people’s material conditions caused by capitalism and imperialist agendas. It’s an agitating scholarly work that will get people to better understand that their suffering and struggles are a shared experience that can only be combated by a shared and united effort. It equipped me with the language and tools to help contribute to such efforts, but more importantly, it will equip readers with the wisdom necessary to act.