shado’s bookshelf presents:

As censorship tightens its grip on political discourse worldwide, and the foundations of independent media appear to be shaken to their core, shado’s seventh book cluster dares to imagine what a liberation media landscape could look like.

Weaving together a tapestry of seminal autobiographies from revolutionaries across various struggles, readers are invited to explore the role of storytelling in our collective political education and movement ecosystems.

In each session, we will feature organisers from today’s movements as speakers – guiding us through the lessons we can learn from these powerful testimonies.

Assata Shakur’s autobiography brings us face to face with the radical social movements of the sixties and seventies – devoid of romanticisation. We delve into the legacies of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, examining organisational practices we can learn from today.

Liberated from Zionist prisons, Wisam Rafeedie’s The Trinity of Fundamentals illustrates how dissident knowledge-sharing practices and prison literature is fundamental to resisting settler colonialism - offering a glimpse into a life dedicated to liberation and transformed by revolution.

Finally, the 1983 testimonial biography of Rigoberta Menchú provides a first-person account of the brutality faced by Indigenous Guatemalans at the hands of the government and ruling class, as well as their steadfast resistance – which in her own words, is “not only my life, it’s also the testimony of my people.”