Initially, this was a point of frustration for me as a reader I wanted the text to offer something more "concrete", and for the authors to make a more prescriptive case for how their theory could be built, held, and navigated inside of politically/emotionally fraught conditions. and in each chapter, they describe the ways in which the "common notions" they lift up might not get us what we want politically, if we don't complicate our understanding of how they operate. In each chapter, carla and Nick offer thoughtful arguments for how we might re-center our movement communities. Getting into these ideas with others is helpful with Joyful Militancy, precisely because of the authors' insistence on holding their concepts "gently" (so as not to fall into dogmatism). In fact, "joyful" in this case does not refer to "happiness" (see the authors' critique of capitalist positivity), but actually to "the capacity to affect and be affected". "Joyful militancy" is a way through - not a prescriptive how-to, but an experimental, open-ended conversation that invites curiosity and generative shifts toward visionary presence, openness, and connection. It's no secret that "rigid radicalism" is an energetically-crushing facet of our movement psyches, and that this mindset has emerged based on completely valid realities of trauma, betrayal, exploitation, and harm (within and without our organizing circles). I read this with a book group, and was so compelled by carla and Nick's framework for nurturing leftist organizing cultures.
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