Join us for an exciting night with Shanelle Matthews, Marzena Zukowska, and RadComms, as they discuss the essay collection, Liberation Stories. Moderated by Dr. Maha Hilal in conversation with a panel of co-authors, Katherine Ollenburger, Joseph Torres and Cameron Oglesby.
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From an international cast of leading activist communicators, a timely and instructive handbook for telling stories that change the world
The twenty-first century has seen a profound shift in the global sociopolitical and economic landscape, shaped by seismic interventions ranging from the War on Terror to the COVID-19 pandemic. Between 2000 and 2024, social movements like Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, climate justice, the Fight for $15, Palestine liberation, health care for all, and queer and trans resistance have illuminated a new narrative—one rooted in an inclusive vision of society, driven by a newly politicized and radicalized generation. This shift did not happen by chance. Movement workers have meticulously crafted communications and narrative strategies, honing their political messaging and storytelling to seize narrative power in today’s struggles.
In Liberation Stories, today’s foremost progressive and leftist communicators, organizers, artists, journalists, and academics share their collective wisdom in one powerful volume. Featuring in-depth case studies of both contemporary and historical movements, Liberation Stories distills successful theories, strategies, and tactics for anyone wanting to understand—and participate in—the diverse initiatives currently shaping our society.
As far-right and conservative movements gain traction worldwide—attacking our books, our bodies, and our democracies—Liberation Stories emerges as a vital resource for constructing the world we envision, one story at a time.
Shanelle Matthews is the founder of Radical Communicators Network (RadComms), the former communications director for the Movement for Black Lives, and a former faculty member of Freedom Scholars at The New School. Today, she is a full-time Distinguished Lecturer at City College at the City University of New York in the Department of Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Studies. She lives in New York.
Dr. Maha Hilal is a Muslim Arab American expert on institutionalized Islamophobia, the War on Terror, and counternarrative work, and the author of the book Innocent Until Proven Muslim: Islamophobia, the War on Terror, and the Muslim Experience Since 9/11. Her writings have appeared in Vox, Al Jazeera, Middle East Eye, Newsweek, Business Insider, The Daily Beast, and The Nation among others. Dr. Hilal is also the founding executive director of Muslim Counterpublics Lab, an organization that works to disrupt and subvert dehumanizing narratives that are designed and deployed to justify state violence against Muslims.
Marzena Zukowska is an organizer, communications strategist, and co-founder of the immigrant rights organization POMOC. For a decade, they have developed narrative and organizing strategies for leading social and political movements in the US, UK, and Europe. They are the former media director for National Domestic Workers Alliance and former leadership team member of the Radical Communicators Network. They live in Liverpool, England.
Radical Communicators Network (RadComms) is a community of practice for emerging and experienced movement and communications workers. RadComms builds narrative power for a just and liberatory future.
Muslim Counterpublics Lab is a grassroots, community-building organization and radical discursive space with a mission to combat and challenge systems of oppression rooted in Islamophobia using the tools of research, writing, and organizing as well as direct, victim-centered support and advocacy campaign programming.