North Stars of Emancipation

How greater racial inclusion can propel movements forward and help realize sustainable change, from a longtime political organizer and researcher.

How we grow, harvest, distribute, and consume food is bound up with how we use (and abuse) environmental resources, and how we achieve (or undermine) collective well-being. In North Stars of Emancipation, Antonio Roman-Alcalá finds in the radical experiments of new food movements the seeds of a world liberated from old, extractive systems, where a more equitable way of eating and living is possible.

The book traces the transformation of California’s diverse food movements as Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other people of color have come to play a larger organizational role, especially at a time of toxic national politics. A new vision now guides these movements, rooted in the radical traditions of anarchism, Black radicalism, and Indigenous resurgence, yet focused on pragmatic solutions to the problems of market and state. In pursuing a North Star political ideal that rejects capitalism, colonialism, and state violence while prioritizing survival, California’s food movements have achieved greater collaboration among sectors, workers, and consumers, pointing toward a promising future.

North Stars of Emancipation takes the rare step of analyzing movements as interconnected wholes. From their collective success, we learn how to move past an untenable present.