My Whirlwind Lives: Navigating Decades of Storms
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Our recent storms didn’t start in 2020 or 2016. They started decades ago in the 1960s – a whirlwind of threatened nuclear catastrophe, then police dogs and rednecks terrorizing civil rights marchers down south, then Vietnamese children fleeing from napalm flames. Then draft notices to go to Vietnam to “fight commies.” A small town boy started by supporting rightist Goldwater against the “peace candidate” Johnson, but rapidly changed in the face of the civil rights and anti-war movements, and started a quest that hasn’t ended yet.This book tells Dee Knight’s story of “waking up” to the truth about the US war in Vietnam, then refusing the draft and going to Canada where he lived for six years. It relates the years-long campaign for amnesty, in which Knight was a leader. After war resisters won a partial amnesty, Knight continued campaigning against US wars up to the present day.
A reviewer adds:
Like many others who became politicized during the US war on the Vietnamese, Knight continued his political work after the war finally ended in 1975. In addition to his work for complete and total amnesty, Knight became involved in various anti-imperialist work, from Nicaragua to Iran. In fact, he spent several months in Nicaragua as a member of the organization TecNica. This organization was involved in numerous locally-based water filtration and electricity production projects and was made up of many international volunteers hoping to help out the Sandinista revolutionary government. During this time, the government was also fighting a war against US-funded mercenaries known for their brutal and bloody killings of civilians. In a chapter titled “A Love Song to Nicaragua,” Knight describes his work and the nature of a nation in the early years of a revolutionary government.
The subsequent chapters in this text tell the story of Knight’s continued political involvement and is hopes for a better world. Each chapter ends with a reflection on the meaning of the events in the chapter and their role in the larger picture of social change with the goal of a socialist world as its outcome. In addition, My Whirlwind Lives includes a number of appendices: documents from the draft resistance movement, the amnesty campaign and a reflection on the Green New Deal, among others. This is a personal testimony from a human who has dedicated his life to a more just world. The narrative is conversational and thoughtful.
–Reviewer: Ron Jacobs
$10.00
Keywords amnesty, Antiwar movement, exile, socialism, Vietnam era
About the Author
Dee Knight was an editor of Amex-Canada, the newsletter of American exiles and expatriates who went to Canada in resistance to the Vietnam war. He was part of national organizing efforts to oppose the U.S. invasion of Iraq, resulting in protest actions of millions of people in the United States and across the globe. His writing appears at DeeKnight.blog, and at RealPathToPeace.com. He is the author of “A Realistic Path To Peace: From Genocide to Global War… And How We Can Stop It.”
Affiliations:
Dee Knight is a member of the International Committee of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), and a founding organizer of the Bronx Antiwar Coalition. He is a member of the Advisory Council of Friends of Socialist China.
Knight has a Master’s degree in Public Administration from New York University, and a Bachelor’s degree from York University. He also studied at San Francisco State University, Columbia University, and the City College of New York.
My Whirlwind Lives is a fast-paced and fascinating tour of a life filled with politics, passion and purpose. Knight takes us through decades of turmoil in the U.S. and overseas, and decades of movement building against war, injustice and destruction of the planet.
The book is infused with Knight’s sweeping vision of a more humane world and his infectious sense of optimism.
Read it and act.
– Medea Benjamin, Co-founder, CodePink (codepink.org)
From the movement against the Vietnam War in the 1960s, to the revolutions in Portugal, Africa, and Latin America, to today’s movement for the Green New Deal, these stories of how real change happens are full of inspiration and valuable lessons.
– Jeff Paterson, Founder, Courage to Resist (couragetoresist.org)
Dee Knight has written a most compelling account of his personal odyssey and political evolution. This life story shares much with that of thousands of young people whose lives and world views changed when they were pushed to participate in unjust U.S. wars.
– Gerry Condon, Vietnam era GI resister and former president of Veterans For Peace
“Dee Knight’s book recounts the history of American soldiers and civilians’ resistance to our country’s wars of aggression, speaking from the perspective of a lifelong leader of that resistance. Today America’s number one target is China, and Dee has set his sights on resisting this new Cold War 2, a war which could turn hot at any time.”
– Michael Wong, Vice President of Veterans For Peace, Co-founder of Pivot To Peace
Description
This book tells Dee Knight’s story of “waking up” to the truth about the US war in Vietnam, then refusing the draft and going to Canada where he lived for six years. It relates the years-long campaign for amnesty, in which Knight was a leader. After war resisters won a partial amnesty, Knight continued campaigning against US wars up to the present day.
There are chapters on:
The political storms of 1968
Exile life in Canada
The years-long campaign for universal unconditional amnesty
Antiwar veterans and active duty soldiers and sailors, including the sanctuary movement
Witnessing Portugal’s “Carnation Revolution” of 1975
Living and working in Sandinista Nicaragua
Socialism and the Green New Deal
“Messages from the Future”
Reflections on the Pandemic
The Battle to Expand and Protect Democracy
Appendices on Vietnam’s victory in 1975, and on the reality of life and politics in China
Testimonials:
A fast-paced and fascinating tour of a life filled with politics, passion and purpose.
Knight takes us through decades of turmoil in the U.S. and overseas, and decades of movement building against war, injustice and destruction of the planet.
The book is infused with Knight’s sweeping vision of a more humane world and his infectious sense of optimism. Read it and act.
– Medea Benjamin, Co-founder, CodePink
From the movement against the Vietnam War in the 1960s, to the revolutions in Portugal, Africa, and Latin America,
to today’s movement for a Green New Deal, these stories of how real change happens are full of inspiration and valuable lessons.
– Jeff Paterson, Founder, Courage to Resist
Dee Knight has written a most compelling account of his personal odyssey and political evolution.
This life story shares much with that of thousands of young people whose lives and world views changed when they were pushed to participate in unjust U.S. wars.
– Gerry Condon, Vietnam era GI resister and former president, Veterans For Peace
Dee Knight’s book recounts the history of American soldiers and civilians’ resistance to our country’s wars of aggression, from the perspective of a lifelong leader of that resistance. From resistance in the United States, to Canada and Nicaragua, Dee Knight has been there, and done that. Today America’s number one target is China, and Dee has set his sights on resisting this new Cold War 2, a war which could turn hot at any time.”
– Michael Wong, Vice President, Veterans for Peace, Co-founder of Pivot To Peace
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