A Radical Guide: The Story

Welcome to A Radical Guide! 

A Radical Guide; The best place in the world for radical history, current events, books, venues, collectives, and locations where people are working to change how we live and work together.

I created the idea for  ‘A Radical Guide’ while I was in Paris standing outside of Librairie Quilombo, a radical bookstore and community place, as I was looking at the address on the map I created that showed me where ‘radical’ locations were in the area.  I thought to myself, there should be a website created for this, so I don’t have to do this every time I travel somewhere. Then I thought, why should I wait for someone else to create it,  I can do it.    

When I returned back home to the States, I began spending my time after work, with a large cup of coffee, late at night and early in the mornings drafting up what this would look like, and decided I would create a radical travel guide.   

This guide would offer historical and current locations, people, and places of interest that highlight the wonderful world of resistance. Resistance in the spirit of creating a better world for all, that is not rooted in capitalism, competition, and hierarchy – the radical spirit.

Why So Radical?

During the development of the site and books (Yes, there are books on the way), I would struggle with my internal question and the question friends who asked, “Why use the word ‘Radical’ for the site? Won’t that scare people away?”    After long thought and stress, the words of Angela Davis rang out loud to me when I came across the quote, “Radical simply means ‘grasping things at the root’.     With that quote, I realized that the reason I create maps/lists of ‘radical’ locations when I travel is so I can visit and learn about this history. When I visit and experience history and people, in person, I learn about it and I have a different relationship to it, which helps me see what is possible outside of the corrupted world, for a lack of a better phrase.   If I use the word radical for the site along with the history and people listed within A Radical Guide, we can not only change our relationship to what it means to be radical, but we can embrace it and build something new together.

Together?

Being together is something that is so central to everything you will see on A Radical Guide. It is about people coming together to create a better world.  The creation of A Radical Guide is no different because of one important element of the site – your input!  I made sure that you can add listings to the site and share locations and stories from where you are in the world so that people from other parts of the world will know about the radical things that are happening or have happened in your area.    I hope you not only enjoy the site but will help build it with me.  

Thank you,

Jason Bayless
A Radical Guide
https://Radical-Guide.com