Setting Sights: Histories and Reflections on Community Armed Self-Defense

by Ward Churchill (Foreword), Scott Crow (Editor)

Decades ago, Malcolm X eloquently stated that communities have the legitimate right to defend themselves “by any means necessary” with any tool or tactic, including guns. This wide-ranging anthology uncovers the hidden histories and ideas of community armed self-defense, exploring how it has been used by marginalized and oppressed communities as well as anarchists and radicals within significant social movements of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Far from a call to arms, or a “how-to” manual for warfare, this volume offers histories, reflections, and questions about the role of firearms in small collective defense efforts and its place in larger efforts toward the creation of autonomy and liberation. Featuring diverse perspectives from movements across the globe, Setting Sights includes vivid histories and personal reflections from both researchers and those who participated in community armed self-defense. Contributors include Dennis Banks, Kathleen Cleaver, Mabel Williams, Subcomandante Marcos, Kristian Williams, George Ciccariello-Maher, Ashanti Alston, and many more.

Genres: History, Politics, Activism, Indigenous, Nonfiction, Theory

336 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2018

About the author

Ward Churchill (Keetowah Cherokee) has achieved an unparalleled reputation as a scholar-activist and analyst of indigenous issues. He was a Professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder, from 1990 till 2007; a leading member of the American Indian Movement (AIM); and has been a delegate to the U.N. Working Group on Indigenous Populations. He is the author of numerous books, including A Little Matter of Genocide, Fantasies of the Master Race, and Struggle for the Land.

Reviews

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We are advocates of the abolition of war, we do not want war; but war can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun." - Chairman Mao

This book strikes a really good balance between emphasizing the necessity of armed community resistence against encroaching and emboldened reactionary movements, but also tempers the all-too-common gun fetishization in lefty spaces.

It's filled with anecdotes from Black Panthers, water defenders, and everyone in between. This is real shit, and the authors that contributed all have nuanced and fascinating takes on what it's like to be on the right side of the barrel, behind the sights.

We keep us safe. Shoot fast, eat ass. Highly recommended.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extensive survey of the history and theory of organized community defense in the 20th century, as told through interviews and historical research. This isn't an instruction manual on how to form your own community defense network - as the book makes clear, any real community defense has to spring from your community's specific material conditions. A prepackaged template or checklist wouldn't work! Rather, take these real-life historical examples as guidelines and food for thought.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful collection on armed defense in horizontalist/anarchist responses to oppression. Humbling and reconsidering: acceptance of state monopoly on violence, privilege of non-violence from outside, association of firearms with patriarchal power rather than bottom-up embedding. First third is theory and argument, last two are chronological histories of 20/21c, best of these are the many personal accounts including the editor's.

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of essays detailing the theory behind community self-defense and brief explorations of where this has been put into action.

[Duncan M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like any anthology there are good ones and less good ones but overall this was much better than expected.

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely and holistic read of what self-defense looks like or can look like in various contexts.

[Anja · Rating 4 out of 5]

read for school

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring.

[La Crosse Public Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scott Crow's Setting Sights is a collection of essays from a wide range of authors addressing armed community and self-defense. The book covers a wide range of historic and contemporary cases of violent struggle. Some examples are IWW labor organizers defending themselves in the early 20th century, the Civil Rights movement and the interplay between the armed and non-violent methods that were used, the Black Panther Party's revolutionary actions in the late 60s and 70s, anti-Rape activities organized by women, anarchists' attempts to stop the rise of the Nazis in 1930s Germany, defense of people of color from white supremacist militias in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, and the many struggles of Indigenous people to fight off oppression and imperialism in Canada, the USA, and Mexico over the past 50 years. Crow's collection offers nuance to the discussion of self armament and community defense, which is so often over-simplified. Through the lens of systems of oppression and an understanding of the risks faced by minorities, women, and the impoverished, these essays detail people's choices to take up arms, explain why they chose to do so, and analyze the lasting effects of their actions.

~Peter, Library Assistant