Saving Our Own Lives: A Liberatory Practice of Harm Reduction

Saving Our Own Lives is an anthology of essays that tell the stories of how sex workers, Black, Indigenous, and people of color, queer folks, trans, gender non-conforming, and two-spirit people are building systems of change and support outside the societal frameworks of oppression and exploitation. It serves as an inspiration and a catalyst for radical transformation of our world.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 300 pages
Publication date: 08 December 2022
Publisher: Haymarket Books

Liberatory Harm Reduction stands as one of the most significant interventions of the 20th century, yet a comprehensive collection of its critical narratives and voices has remained elusive until now. Saving Our Own Lives, an anthology of essays curated by long-time organizer Shira Hassan, seeks to bridge this gap by recounting the inspiring stories of how sex workers, Black, Indigenous, and people of color, queer folks, trans, gender non-conforming, and two-spirit individuals have been tirelessly constructing systems of change and support outside the oppressive and exploitative societal frameworks. This collective tale unfolds through the experiences of trans women of color, who, as sex workers and radical political organizers, pioneered the creation of shared housing to ensure safe sleeping arrangements for young individuals. It encompasses the narratives of activists who liberated clean syringes from empathetic doctor's offices, distributing them among injection drug users in squats in the East Village. It also sheds light on the early AIDS activists who ensured widespread knowledge of their proper usage. Furthermore, it highlights the empowering actions of Black Panthers and the Young Lords, who took over Lincoln Park Hospital in the Bronx to advocate for and ultimately establish community-accessible drug treatment programs. The book also showcases the exchange of bad date sheets between sex workers in Portland, leading to the development of a data collection tool that revolutionized the tracking of systemic violence by prison abolitionists. In a political climate where Liberatory Harm Reduction and mutual aid hold immense significance, Saving Our Own Lives serves as a beacon of inspiration and a catalyst for transformative change in our world.

Weight: 496g
Dimension: 139 x 216 x 27 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781642598414