From renowned organizers and activists Leah Hunt-Hendrix and Astra
Taylor, comes the first in-depth examination of Solidarity--not just
as a rallying cry, but as potent political movement with potential to
effect lasting change.
Solidarity is often
invoked, but it is rarely analyzed and poorly understood. Here, two
leading activists and thinkers survey the past, present, and future
of the concept across borders of nation, identity, and class to ask:
how can we build solidarity in an era of staggering inequality,
polarization, violence, and ecological catastrophe? Offering a lively
and lucid history of the idea--from Ancient Rome through the first
European and American socialists and labor organizers, to
twenty-first century social movements like Occupy Wall Street and
Black Lives Matter--Hunt-Hendrix and Taylor trace the philosophical
debates and political struggles that have shaped the modern world.
Looking forward,
they argue that a clear understanding of how solidarity is built and
sustained, and an awareness of how it has been suppressed, is
essential to warding off the many crises of our present: right-wing
backlash, irreversible climate damage, widespread alienation,
loneliness, and despair. Hunt-Hendrix and Taylor insist that
solidarity is both a principle and a practice, one that must be
cultivated and institutionalized, so that care for the common good
becomes the central aim of politics and social life.
