Dee Knight is the author of "A Realistic Path to Peace: From Genocide to Global War... and How We Can Stop It" and "My Whirlwind Lives: Navigating Decades of Storms, a Political Memoir and Manifesto"
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Befriending China tells the story of China's current effort to "open up" to a flood of visitors, as part of a campaign of "People-To-People Peacemaking." The story is partially based on three visits to China from late 2023 through late 2024. It describes the impressive achievements China has made in infrastructure, education, health care, and poverty alleviation. It includes an in-depth eye-witness account of visiting Xinjiang, debunking official rumors in the US of abuse of the Uyghur population there. It also highlights exciting tourism opportunities, with closeup looks at the mountainous Guizhou and Shanxi provinces, and the amazing "megacities" of Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing, Hangzhou and Suzhou. It includes a preface by Carlos Martinez, editor of the Friends of Socialist China website. It also examines China's democratic system, and its successful foreign policy based on common prosperity and a shared future. Finally, it details ongoing US efforts to slander China and prepare for war against it, arguing that China is not our enemy. -
This book delves into the causes of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians, describes the crisis of war in eastern Europe (Ukraine and Russia), West Asia and East Asia, sorting truth from propaganda. It examines the role of the Big Lie in developing public consent and blunting popular opposition, and describes ways countries around the world as well as the general public are pressing for peace. Reviewer Andrea D writes in NetGalley that “Knight provides the historical context as well as sharp insight. The essays are succinct, pointed and very clear. This is a great supplement for any college class as well as a book to be discussed in community groups.” Danny Haiphong, Co-author of American Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People’s History of Fake News says “Dee Knight has put together a critical analysis of U.S. foreign policy informed by years of experience in the peace movement and rigorous research into the inner workings of the empire. This book is a must read for anyone wanting to understand how the U.S. is pursuing war with Russia and China, and why it must be stopped.” Radhika Desai, Director, Geopolitical Economy Research Group; and Convenor, International Manifesto Group, says: “This book of excellent essays, many written in the heat of events and conveying their urgency, analyzes the current genocide on Palestine and U.S. drive for war, against Russia, China and beyond, in the longer historical perspective of the U.S. foreign policy as studied by its most important critics. Distilling long years in the peace movement, Knight exposes its roots and points to the only path to peace: opposition to the U.S. war machine.” Michael Wong, National Vice President of Veterans for Peace; Co-founder of Pivot To Peace, says: “Drawing on his lifetime of experience at the front lines of resistance to empire, Dee Knight details the multitude of struggles at home and abroad against the empire, and for building a new, multipolar world in which no single nation dominates, and all nations can live and thrive together. He shows we are now at a tipping point, when the old world of war and exploitation is ending, and a new world is coming into being." -
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
