Every second and fourth Thursday from June 2025 until July 2025

Join us for a four week reading group exploring local tenant organizing in conversation with the book Abolish Rent by Tracy Rosenthal and Leonardo Vilchis! This event is organized by Asheville Democratic Socialists of America.

Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can End the Housing Crisis is a deeply reported account of the resurgent tenant movement centering poor and working-class people who are fighting back, staying put, and remaking the city in the process. The authors take us to trilingual strategy meetings, raucous marches against gentrification, and daring eviction defenses where immigrants put their lives on the line. These are the seeds of the revolutionary movement we need to make our housing, our cities, and the world our home.

Use promo code ABOLISHRENT to save 10% on the book at checkout. Firestorm will make copies of the book available at no cost for participants who cannot afford to buy one.

Series Schedule

We'll be meeting every other week, starting June 26th!

Thursday, June 26th – Introduction and Chapter 1 (pages 1-33) 
Thursday, July 10th – Chapters 2+3 (pages 34-80)
Thursday, July 24th – Chapters 4+5 (pages 81-148)
Thursday, July 31st – Author Session (with this critical review as optional reading)