Join members of the Beehive Collective for a special presentation, discussion storytelling, and movement art. The Beehive Collective has been active for over 25 years making art and engaging in popular education to challenge corporate colonialism. They are best known for creating intricately detailed pen and ink murals in collaboration with directly impacted communities over the course of many years. These graphics, rich with nature metaphors, become the centrepiece of educational campaigns aimed at cross-pollinating movements for social, economic, and environmental justice. One of these graphics, "The True Cost of Coal" has been adapted into a rhyming kids book.
Lynn Lewis, Benjamin Heim Shepard
The theme of the 2025 Howard Zinn Book Fair, “Fight Supremacy: Actions Against Authoritarianism”, looks to the past for insight into how we can effectively organize today. We draw inspiration from abolitionists, Indigenous resistance movements, organized labor, the Civil Rights, Women’s Rights, and LGBTQ+ Rights Movements, Occupy Wall Street, and the countless groups and individuals who continue to take to the streets in defiance of autocracy. With this in mind, Lynn Lewis and Benjamin Shepard propose a panel on ways to remember and connect movements, in order to learn from the past to inform our current and future organizing and movement building work. Oral history is a method to trace through lines between movements, ever-evolving from labor to civil rights, to housing and healthcare, to AIDS and queer, autonomous movements. We will share our work, rooted in activism and oral history, and engage participants to imagine what an oral history process would look like in their work. Building on his new book On Activism, Friendships, and Fighting: Oral Histories, Strategies and Conflicts, Shepard explores conflict and resolution as the lifeblood of social movements. How, and with whom, do we find lasting friendship, support, and joy in a world in need of so much repair
Chris Carlsson
Chris Carlsson presents the 2025 2nd edition of his unique historical guidebook to San Francisco's overlooked and forgotten histories. He will read from the new preface to the 2nd edition, "In the Wake of the Pandemic," which puts the recent pandemic in the context of a long history of public health politics in the city. He also analyzes the long history of tech booms in the city, and how likely the much-touted "doom loop" will reach a climax. In addition, a new chapter featuring unusual ecological hikes through San Francisco on unknown back trails through neighborhoods well off the tourist path will also be revealed.
Tiny Gray-Garcia, Muteado Silencio, Aunti Frances Moore
Session will include an author talk, workshop, and dialogue about POOR Magazine's newest book, UnTourBook. This new genre “guide Book” is full of truth about genocide as well as poetry, prayer, stories and art on indigenous resistance to settler colonial erasure, poLice terror, homelessness and the many acts of indigenous/Black/Brown-led resistance from Turtle Island to Palestine and all across Mama Earth. The UnTours across Occupied Turtle Island ( which the book is named after ) was launched in 2016 to reveal the truth about so many acts of settler colonial terror, rape, enslavement removal and murder, Terrifying acts like missionaries and settlers like Juniperro Serra was responsible for under his reign in the California Mission system.
Cayden Mak, Max Elbaum, Maya Schenwar
The media system in general is at a crossroads: being pulled apart by private equity, ravaged by austerity, and squeezed by algorithmic suppression and AI slop, it’s harder than ever to thrive as a media maker these days. But the mission of the media also feels more urgent because of those pressures, and independent media is an important bulwark against the rising tide of authoritarianism. But merely being “independent” is not enough. Our shared commitment to building movement media is about building the informational and narrative power our movements need to strategize, struggle, and win against the far Right ascendant. In this intimate discussion between Max, Maya, and Cayden, we look to the past and look ahead: at the history of media consolidation; historic attempts to build alternative structures; and the challenges and opportunities we face as we strive to block authoritarian consolidation and build people power in our time and place.
Sarah Alza12:00 and Jamie Swanton This presentation explores the life experiences of a Palestinian refugee through hergrandparents’ powerful stories of a Palestine before Zionism and then surviving the Nakba. Despite the Zionist entities’ current genocide wiping the family name from the civil registry, Sarah Alza12:00 continues the fight for a free Palestine in the diaspora. Specifically looking at the long history of the Zionist mission to dismantle the Palestinian medical infrastructure, Sarah, along with Jamie Swanton from Healthcare Workers for Palestine, focus on the continuing Palestinian-led resistance to Zionism through education and action in the diaspora as well as the fight for a liberated Palestine in the U.S. by Healthcare Workers for Palestine. The presentation includes sections from the Al Jazeera documentary, “The Disappearance of Dr. Abu Safiyah” and time for questions and discussion. We will also have zines, pamphlets, handouts and other resources on Zionism as racism and settler-colonialism created by Palestinians in the diaspora and anti-Zionist organizers.
Cayden Mak, Max Elbaum, Maya Schenwar
The media system in general is at a crossroads: being pulled apart by private equity, ravaged by austerity, and squeezed by algorithmic suppression and AI slop, it’s harder than ever to thrive as a media maker these days. But the mission of the media also feels more urgent because of those pressures, and independent media is an important bulwark against the rising tide of authoritarianism. But merely being “independent” is not enough. Our shared commitment to building movement media is about building the informational and narrative power our movements need to strategize, struggle, and win against the far Right ascendant. In this intimate discussion between Max, Maya, and Cayden, we look to the past and look ahead: at the history of media consolidation; historic attempts to build alternative structures; and the challenges and opportunities we face as we strive to block authoritarian consolidation and build people power in our time and place.
Laura Ruberto, Evelyn Ferraro, Antonella Vitale, Benedetta Liccarda
This panel uses Jason Stanley’s work, Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future, to examine the broader politics of history in Italian transnational and diaspora studies. Recent battles over monuments, school curricula, and DEI initiatives reflect a coordinated effort to reshape collective memory, silence marginalized voices, and reassert dominant power structures. Within the context of Italian studies, the glorification of figures like Christoper Columbus or the marginalization of southern Italian or immigration history illustrates the ways in which narratives are selectively constructed to serve nationalist or assimilationist agendas. Positioned within the frameworks of Italian Diaspora and transnational frameworks, panelists invite participants to consider: Who controls historical narratives and how do these narratives serve political ends? And what are the consequences when history is distorted to justify oppression or silence dissent? The panel seeks to foster critical engagement with the current forces reshaping our understanding of the past and how we can challenge them.
Jonathon Rosenblum, Bia LaCombe, more TBAConcept: How do working people use electoral politics to build movements and maintain their independence from big business and its money. We will draw on the experience of 2014-2024 when Seattle had an independent socialist city council person.
Jonathon Rosenblum, Bia LaCombe, & TBA
How do working people use electoral politics to build movements and maintain their independence from big business and its money. We will draw on the experience of 2014-2024 when Seattle had an independent socialist city council person.
Sarah Alzanoon and Jamie Swanton
This presentation explores the life experiences of a Palestinian refugee through her grandparents’ powerful stories of a Palestine before Zionism and then surviving the Nakba. Despite the Zionist entities’ current genocide wiping the family name from the civil registry, Sarah Alzanoon continues the fight for a free Palestine in the diaspora. Specifically looking at the long history of the Zionist mission to dismantle the Palestinian medical infrastructure, Sarah, along with Jamie Swanton from Healthcare Workers for Palestine, focus on the continuing Palestinian-led resistance to Zionism through education and action in the diaspora as well as the fight for a liberated Palestine in the U.S. by Healthcare Workers for Palestine. The presentation includes sections from the Al Jazeera documentary, “The Disappearance of Dr. Abu Safiyah” and time for questions and discussion. We will also have zines, pamphlets, handouts and other resources on Zionism as racism and settler-colonialism created by Palestinians in the diaspora and anti-Zionist organizers.
