Vortex Group

For the past almost four years, I've been dreaming about a book like this. I've read plenty of history about uprisings and occupations that have happened in the '60s and '70s but nothing really that I've been alive for and/or a part of. Little did I know that this book was published last year. If PM Press hadn't had another “damaged” book sale I might have never known.

The George Floyd Uprising is a collection of essays written (mostly I assume) by people who were heavily involved in show more different cities: Minneapolis to Atlanta to Portland, etc. Most of them were written during the peak of the battles, with some penned towards the tail end. All of them (except for one) were super insightful and brought me back to the spring and summer of 2020, when everything felt possible for a brief moment.

I'm not going to talk about whether I was there or not in this review, but I was around and heavily interested in the uprising. I read a lot of articles and Tweets, watched news, and spoke to people who were active in different cities. Still, I don't think I read or watched anything that had anywhere the analysis found in these pages. It was enlightening and interesting to hear the voices of people who were in the streets fighting for and believing in a better world. To read about things I didn't know happened, and predictions that mostly came true. Sure, some folks thought this was the beginning of the revolution (tankies) but most were able to see it for what it was.

This book looks at the things that made the rebellion work, from everyone working together to the spontaneity that allowed different things to be happening in different cities at the same time to tools like social media and city hopping.

It also examined the many pieces working together to stop what was happening including: police violence, peace police, infighting, ring wing goons, media turning on the participants and then losing interest, burnout, and the co-optation of individuals by politics and non-profits to name a few.

Now, when we're finally able to take a step back and see the whole picture, would be a great time to take another look at what happened back then and how it connects to Standing Rock, Occupy, the Battle in Seattle, and other big events; and how it will help influence the next uprising. I would highly recommend reading this book. show less