ART IS DANGEROUS
Mohsen Mahdawi! Toni Morrison! Seth Godin! And More!
Hello Beloved,
How are you? I’d love to know! Hit reply to this email and tell me all about it. I love hearing from you. Or if you’re reading online, leave a comment below. Sending hugs and love to each one of you.
I was going to write a couple of paragraphs about how fucking terrible things are right now. I’m not going to do that because you already know how fucking terrible things are right now. And we don’t need to be reminded about how fucking terrible things are right now.
Instead, I’ll remind you that we are the ones we are waiting for. That together we can topple this empire. That Palestine, Sudan, and Congo will be free. That we will all be free. That, as Saul Williams reminds us, “The antidote to capitalism is community.”
I need you to join this movement—our movement— in 2026. Are you in?
I also want to remind you that still have a few days left in the year of our lord 2025 to make a tax-deductible donation to the Let’s Give A Damn Foundation. Why should you donate to the LGADF? Because our vision is to serve anti-fascist, pro-liberationist artists in one primary way—we’ll provide monthly financial stipends to artists. These stipends will allow our artists to invest more of their time, energy, and heart into making the kind of art that will help our communities move closer to liberation.
The spirits, creativity, and bank accounts of artists are under attack more than ever before. It’s time for us to build an ecosystem that works for our artists and with our artists.
In addition to monthly stipends to the artists in our residency, we’ll provide community and events for all artists and activists.
If you’re able to make a tax-deductible donation, it’ll help us build this organization in 2026. And if you know of a person or organization that can make a large donation, have them contact me at hello@letsgiveadamn.com.
🎧 THE LATEST PODCAST EPISODE:
It’s Mohsen Mahdawi Day on the podcast!
Mohsen Mahdawi is a Palestinian organizer, human rights activist, co-founder of the Columbia Palestinian Student Union, and a damn good human.
Mahdawi was a leading voice during the 2024 protests and the encampments at Columbia University. His leadership during those months and his support for a Free Palestine and an end to the Israeli occupation led to him being arrested in April of 2025 by ICE during a citizen interview in Vermont. Keep in mind that Mohsen is a lawful permanent U.S. resident and was arrested because he participated in peaceful protests. Thankfully, he was released two weeks later and gave a very clear statement as he walked out of jail: “I am saying it clear and loud to President Trump and his cabinet, I am not afraid of you.”
Mahdawi’s fight for justice is not over. He could face arrest again in the future. Please follow him and support him in any way that you can. I know for a fact that Mohsen won’t stop—and we cannot stop—until Palestine is free.
Listen on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify. Or if you prefer to watch your podcasts, click below to watch it on YouTube.
🔗 A FEW THINGS YOU SHOULD CLICK ON
🔥 Together for Palestine—founded by Brian Eno, Khalid Abdalla, and others—exists to raise money for humanitarian aid in Gaza. They recently released a song called “Lullaby” to raise money for Gaza’s children. Don’t stream it, BUY IT. And you can watch the YouTube video now. It’s devastating and hopeful at the same time.
🔥 Please watch Palestine 36, All That’s Left of You, and The Voice of Hind Rajab as soon as you possibly can! These are all Palestinian films and they are all shortlisted for Academy Awards!
🔥 As we approach the end of the year, here is some sound advice from Seth Godin’s daily blog. Here’s a bit from the most recent blog post:
“Our actions become our habits, and our habits attract others. That becomes our community, and our community builds systems. Those systems feel awkward until they become normal, and then, once normal, they become the status quo.
Bolts of lightning rarely change the world, but erosion does. Streams turn into rivers, and rivers persist.”
🧠 PONDER
“I want to remind us all that art is dangerous. I want to remind you of the history of artists who have been murdered, slaughtered, imprisoned, chopped up, refused entrance. The history of art, whether it’s in music or written or what have you, has always been bloody, because dictators and people in office and people who want to control and deceive know exactly the people who will disturb their plans.
And those people are artists. They’re the ones that sing the truth. And that is something that society has got to protect. But when you enter that field, no matter whether that’s Sonia’s poetry or Ta-Nehisi’s rather startlingly clear prose, it’s a dangerous pursuit. Somebody’s out to get you. You have to know it before you start, and do it under those circumstances, because it is one of the most important things that human beings do.” ― Toni Morrison
👋🏽 GOODBYE!
Don’t forget to scroll down a bit more and choose one of the ways listed to support Let’s Give A Damn. It means the world to me/us!
That’s it for this week! Thank you for reading. I'm truly grateful. Consider forward this email to a friend? Or send them this link so they can sign up. And you can always email me about anything.
We have a lot of work to do, y’all. Sending love.
Keep giving a damn,
NICK LAPARRA
🙏🏽 WAYS TO SUPPORT LET’S GIVE A DAMN
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