The years of 2020 and 2021 were generally bad years for me as a variety of personal crises, including my father’s recurring illness, intertwined and reached their zenith amidst the pandemic lockdown. Yet despite everything, I was still able to read some good books. These are my top reads (not in particular order) from the pandemic lockdown:
2020:
On the National Question by Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, Crowds and Party by Jodi Dean, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney, The Nationalist Alternative by Renato Constantino, Reclaiming the Nation edited by Sam Moyo and Paris Yeros, Revolutionary Learning by Sara Carpenter and Shahrzad Mojab, Critique of Maoist Reason by Joshua Moufawad-Paul, Accumulation on a World Scale by Samir Amin, and Press Freedom Under Siege edited by Ma. Ceres Doyo (which I reviewed for the Philippine Studies journal). Last is The University & Social Justice edited by Aziz Choudry and Salim Vally, where a chapter I co-authored with Sarah Raymundo was included.
2021:
A People’s Green New Deal by Max Ajl, Organizing Insurgency by Immanuel Ness, Development Debacle: The World Bank in the Philippines by Walden Bello, David Kinley, and Elaine Elinson, Marcos Against the Church by Robert Youngblood, The Fascist Offensive and Unity of the Working Class by George Dimitrov, Marxism and the National and Colonial Question by Joseph Stalin (which I presented in a lecture with the League of Filipino Students), The Morals of the Market by Jessica Whyte, China’s Revolutions in the Modern World by Rebecca Karl, Of Concepts and Methods by Ajith, and Policing America’s Empire by Alfred McCoy.
Bombard the Headquarters! 