Clandestine Occupations ― An Imaginary History

A unique, fictional portrait of feminist radicals that brings the legacy of the ’60s and ’70s into its portrayal of radical activism in the 21st century

Radical activist Luba Gold makes the difficult decision to go underground to support the Puerto Rican independence movement. When Luba’s collective is targeted by an FBI sting, she escapes with her baby but leaves behind a sensitive envelope that is being safeguarded by a friend. When the FBI come looking for Luba, the friend must decide whether to cooperate in the search for the woman she loves. Ten years later when Luba emerges from clandestinity, she discovers that the FBI sting was orchestrated by another activist friend who had become an FBI informant. Told from the points of view of five different women who cross paths with Luba over four decades,Clandestine Occupations explores the difficult decisions that activists confront about the boundaries of legality and speculates about the scope of clandestine action in the future. It is a thought-provoking reflection on the risks and sacrifices of political activism as well as the damaging reverberations of disaffection and cynicism.

Diana Block was a founding member of San Franciso Women Against Rape and the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee. She spent 13 years living underground with a political collective committed to supporting the Puerto Rican independence and Black liberation movements. She is the author of Arm the Spirit: A Story from Underground and Back, writes for left-wing journals, and is a member of the editorial collective of theFire Inside newsletter, which has been giving voice to women and transgender prisoners since 1996. She lives in San Francisco.