Jim Brown reviewed Solidarity by Astra Taylor
Solidarity as a practice
This is a nice, detailed walk-through of the history of solidarity as a term/concept and as a practice. It argues that we need to revive that practice and that a number of structures and forces are in the way of that.
It has a bunch of examples, and it's written by an organizer of the debt collective and a person who's working hard to rethink how to transform the way wealthy people think about charity.
It's great as both a guide and a meditation on solidarity
“Appeals to benevolence, altruism, deference, or allyship are widespread, and invite us to be empathetic and kind; but they all place the onus on individual action rather than larger collective engagement, and on harnessing pity or guild, rather than a sense of shared responsibility or shared fate.” (xx)
“Building transformative solidarity involves acknowledging and overcoming imposed categories that pit us against one another and …
This is a nice, detailed walk-through of the history of solidarity as a term/concept and as a practice. It argues that we need to revive that practice and that a number of structures and forces are in the way of that.
It has a bunch of examples, and it's written by an organizer of the debt collective and a person who's working hard to rethink how to transform the way wealthy people think about charity.
It's great as both a guide and a meditation on solidarity
“Appeals to benevolence, altruism, deference, or allyship are widespread, and invite us to be empathetic and kind; but they all place the onus on individual action rather than larger collective engagement, and on harnessing pity or guild, rather than a sense of shared responsibility or shared fate.” (xx)
“Building transformative solidarity involves acknowledging and overcoming imposed categories that pit us against one another and forging new bonds” (39) Polarization is a “necessary component of building transformative solidarity...[it is “preferable, and more strategic, for [borders] to be porous, allowing members to come in and out” (46)
“The erosion of solidarity has been incorporated into the social structures we inhabit, like those metal spikes designed to deter people without reliable shelter from resting comfortably under a bridge or on a low wall. We are nudged toward resentment and rivalry, fear and defensiveness; selfishness is incentivized and institutionalized; individual solutions are encouraged over collective action. Incredible ingenuity has been directed toward constraining our cooperative and solidaristic impulses, in ways that are sometimes subtle - and sometimes violent and shockingly overt.” (96-97)
“Transformative solidarity, we argue, doesn’t require the creation of new religious or political dogma, but it does require a baseline of reverence for the fragile ecosystems and communities on which we depend. Solidarity asks each of us to attend to those around us” (276)