‘Absolutely what we need in these days of spreading gloom.’ —John Holloway, author of Crack Capitalism
‘A guide to a fulfilling militant life.’ —Michael Hardt, co-author of Assembly
‘Rigid radicalism’ is the congealed and debilitating practices that suck life and inspiration from the fight for a better world. Joyful Militancy investigates how fear, self-righteousness, and moralism infiltrate and take root within liberation movements, what to do about them, and ultimately how tenderness and vulnerability can thrive alongside fierce militant commitment.
Carla Bergman co-edited Stay Solid: A Radical Handbook For Youth.
Nick Montgomery is an organizer and writer currently at Queen’s University.
Tabela de Conteúdo
Introduction
— Intro to intro
— Questions
— Affirmative theory
— Joy and the Spinozan current
— Joyful militancy and emergent powers
— Beyond optimism and pessimism
— On anarchism
— The beginning of a conversation
— Structure of the book
Chapter 1: Empire, Militancy and Joy
— Resistance and joy are everywhere
— Sadness and subjection
— Joy is not happiness
— The power of joy
— Militant about joy
— Starting from where people find themselves
Chapter 2: Friendship, freedom, ethics
— Introduction
— Friendship is the root of freedom
— From morality to ethics
— What can friendship do?
— Solidarity begins at home
— The ethics of affinity in anarchism
— Connecting Spinozan current to Indigenous resurgence
— Friendship and freedom have sharp edges
— The active shaping of our worlds together
Chapter 3: Trust and Responsibility as Common Notions
— Trust and responsibility as common notions
— (Mis)trust and (ir)responsibility under Empire
— Empire’s radical monopoly over life
— Towards conviviality
— Emergent trust and responsibility: three examples
— Indigenous struggles
— Anti-violence and transformative justice
— Deschooling and youth liberation
— The power of baseline trust
— Infinite trust and responsibilities?
— Holding common notions gently
Chapter 4: Rigid Radicalism
— Introduction
— It’s those people
— The paradigm of government
— Decline and counterrevolution
— The perils of comparing
— Having good politics
Chapter 5: Sources of Rigid Radicalism, Sources of Joy
— Introduction
— Ideology
— Ideology in Leninism
— Ideology in anarchism
— Critique of ideology as such
— Undoing ideology
— Morality, fear, and ethical attunement
— Christian origins of morality
— Morality in movements
— Warding off morality with common notions
— You’re so paranoid, you probably think this section is about you
— Lack-finding, perfectionism, schooling, walking
— Radical perfectionism and paranoid reading
— Holding ambivalence
— The limits of critique: from paranoia to potential
— Towards new encounters
Outro
— Rigid radicalism can be hard to talk about
— Three modes of attunement
Appendix 1: Feeling Powers Growing Within Yourself: An Interview with Silvia Federici
Appendix 2: Breaking down the walls around each other: the transformative power of trust – An Interview with Kelsey Cham Corbett
Glossary of Terms
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
Sobre o autor
Carla Bergman: Carla Bergman has worked with youth in alternatives-to-education projects for over fifteen years. She co-directed the film: Common Notions: Handbook Not Required and co-edited the Stay Solid: A Radical Handbook For Youth.
Nick Montgomery: Nick Montgomery is an organizer and writer currently finishing a Ph D in Cultural Studies at Queen’s University. His work focuses on alternatives to the capitalism, gender violence, settler colonialism, and ecological degradation.
Hari Alluri: Hari Alluri, an award-winning poet, educator, and teaching artist, is the author of Carving Ashes (2013), The Promise of Rust (2016), and The Flayed City (2017)