They Will Beat the Memory Out of Us: Forcing Nonviolence on Forgetful Movements
'This striking book reveals collective memories of freedom struggles, despite attempts to distort or steal our inheritance' - Joy James, editor of Beyond Cop Cites
'As more and more people are mobilizing against war, genocide, poverty, and extraction, this book is right on time' - Dean Spade, author of Mutual Aid
'Peter Gelderloos reminds us that for our survival, we must keep the flame of memory alive, ensuring that the radical roots of our movements are not whitewashed by the gatekeepers of history' - Franklin Lopez, anarchist filmmaker, founder of subMedia
How can we resist oppression in the face of ecological crisis, police violence, and white supremacy? Peter Gelderloos puts forward a radical critique of nonviolent movements in this provocative account. Weaving history, vignettes, interviews, and personal reflections, he shows how we suffer from an inability to pass on lessons from one generation to the next and explores why.
Learning from the failure of antiracist rebellions triggered by police murders from Minneapolis to Bristol and the climate campaigns that forget their colonial histories, Gelderloos shows how nonviolent protest is a symptom of social amnesia, an inability to remember what we have learned from our past. Cautioning against future waves of pacification and forgetting, he urges us to collectivize memory and develop the methods we need to fight for survival.
Peter Gelderloos is a writer and social movement participant. He is the author of The Solutions are Already Here, How Nonviolence Protects the State, Anarchy Works, The Failure of Nonviolence, and Worshiping Power.
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Franklin Lopez, anarchist filmmaker, founder of subMedia
'A much-needed intervention in this time of profound loss and erasure, They Will Beat the MemoryOut of Us is an impassioned counterattack against forgetting. An inspiring, intergenerational invitation to dig deep for a "memory of our roots" of resistance. Woven together from street-smart rebel voices, Gelderloos's book is a powerful read from start to finish.'
Cindy Milstein, editor of Constellations of Care: Anarcha-Feminism in Practice
'Once again, Peter Gelderloos offers us an important book coming from the frontlines of numerous struggles. A must read for all aspiring trouble makers and those wanting to free themselves from the grips of exploitation and state terrorism. While the authorities try to terrorize people into forgetting who they are, and what really matters, Gelderloos offers us memory, discussion and care to transform the world, but our ourselves and neighborhoods which is where it all begins.'
Xander Dunlap, Research Fellow at Boston University and author of This System is Killing Us
'Maintaining and sharing revolutionary love, we strengthen intergenerational memories of creative resistance. Despite the beatings and burnings meted out by states, schools, corporations, police, prisons and militaries, our communities continue to weave overlapping concentric circles of care and resistance. This striking book reveals collective memories of freedom struggles, despite attempts to blur, distort or steal our inheritance.'
Joy James, editor of Beyond Cop Cites: Dismantling State and Corporate-Funded Armies and Prisons
'As more and more people are mobilizing against war, genocide, poverty, and extraction, this book is right on time. Gelderloos' decades of participating in and studying resistance movements grounds this book's practical analysis of common misunderstandings cultivated by liberals to stifle resistance efforts. This book shows the costs --to our boldness, our effectiveness, our solidarity, our survival-- of forgetting lessons learned in our struggles. A much needed tool for the difficult times we are in and the worse ones that are coming.'
Dean Spade, author of Mutual Aid
'A bold, eloquent, and timely account of the powerful role collective memory plays in toppling the lies that uphold structures of injustice and inequality. Gelderloos also shows how the forces of counterinsurgency erase or manipulate collective memory as a form of social control. They Will Beat the Memory Out of Us brings into sharp relief the urgency of building social movements that have continuity and intergenerational memory. The social movement novice and the seasoned veteran alike will find this book a useful tool to think with.'
Tariq D. Khan, author of The Republic Shall Be Kept Clean: How Settler Colonial Violence Shaped Antileft Repression
