On WBAI 99.5 in New York, The Asia Pacific Forum hosted a special two-hour show on the Occupy movement, featuring in-studio interviews with the editors and contributors of Verso's own collection Occupy! Scenes From Occupied America. Discussing everything from what it's like to attend a General Assembly meeting to the larger questions about organized labor and left politics, the show was a valuable occasion for a wide set of reflections on a number of the most pressing issues of the movement.
Among the participants were Astra Taylor and Sarah Resnick, who discussed the genesis of the book; Kung Li, who elaborated about her experience on 'Occupy Atlanta' and considered the role of race in the Occupy movements; Nikil Saval addressed the relationship between trade unions and the possibility for new forms of solidarity with older institutions; and Sarah Leonard spoke about the importance of citizen journalism and the presence and effects of progressive media since the movements first began. As well, Manissa Maharawal discussed the People of Color Caucus, and the show's host, Verso editor and member of the APF Collective, Audrea Lim, discussed her contribution to the collection on gentrification and Chinatown.
Full audio of the interviews is now available online. Please visit the Asia Pacific Forum for a listen.
Verso editors Andrew Hsiao and Audrea Lim recently gave readings during the event “Into East River(s): Chinese / American Artists and Asian American Poets” at City University of New York. Both read from The Verso Book of Dissent.
Because The Verso Book of Dissent features writings and speeches from around the globe spanning centuries, some appearing in English for the first time, it wasn’t difficult for Hsiao and Lim to find choice selections to read for the event.
Hsiao went back to 1887 to channel “one of the greatest of great New York smart-asses,” Wong Chin Foo, affirming Wong’s designation by recounting the time Wong challenged anti-Chinese populist and Tea Party forebear Denis Kearney to a duel to the death, with chopsticks. Hsiao read from “Why Am I A Heathen,” Wong’s response to Christian attacks against Chinese immigrants: