revolution and/as love

on caritas and comrades

Revolution and love. Revolution as love. In these dark days of barbarism, it is impossible to overstate the centrality of kindness, tenderness, and forbearance in organizing work.

In her work All About Love, bell hooks borrows Erich Fromm’s definition of love, “the will to extend one's self for the purpose of nurturing one's own or another's spiritual growth.” This is not dissimilar from the definition shared by both Aristotle & St. Aquinas, amare est velle alicui bonum, which helped the Christian faith define their virtue of caritas as “the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for His own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God.” We love the Good above all things, and love our neighbor as ourselves for the love of the Good. Goodness upon Goodness in service of Goodness, purposely chosen (again & again!) for everybody and ourselves.

This constellation of definitions is useful in divorcing the noun-ed love from the verb-ing of love. The disentangling of nebulous butterflies. The recognition of love as a struggle, against our own shadows and the monsters of this world, to desire the good of the other.

Taking Sides finds its foundation in this fertile ground of goodwill and good faith. Cindy Milstein’s Prologue makes this explicit: the essays to follow will often put forward ideas that are in conflict with one another. And yet, this friction doesn’t mean fracture. This approach is refreshing; hot takes & political treatises offered in 280 characters rule the day, it is rare to allow space for multiple correct answers & acknowledge the validity of various tactics that we might experiment with as we seek to dismantle oppressive systems. Additionally, this acknowledges the slight nuances in conditions for each community and each individual that may inform their decision-making, needs, and risks while doing this work.

And that decision-making is key. Decision-making, not simply decision-receiving. Each of us has a personal responsibility to continue engaging deeply with these questions and contend with their answers in community. Our agency is critical to resistance. Just as in love, this struggle is a matter of will. Michael Staudenmaier’s contribution “Brave Motherfuckers: Reflections on Past Struggles to Abolish White Supremacy” illuminates this particular issue by examining various past attempts at anti-racist organizing tactics.

One issue I was particularly challenged by was the inherent contradiction for majority-white organizing groups who claimed to “take leadership” from Black-led organizations. Even in “taking leadership,” white organizers were still deciding which Black-led organizations to follow and which Black organizers were worthy of leading them. This tactic was an “abdication of responsibility, politics of guilt, and the hypocrisy of pretending that taking leadership is anything other than taking sides.” Staudenmaier quotes, “We do liberation movements no favor by disguising disagreements, or, still worse, by evading questions which must be of concern to all revolutionaries.” In all loving relationships, our falsehoods catch up to us. Honesty between romantic partners is hard, but necessary. The same is true between comrades.

Yesterday, I attended a Teach-In organized by the Greenville Human Rights Coalition and the Upstate’s Defund the Police, Invest in the People Coalition. The event was well attended, which gave my little heart the boost it needed before moving to a new city. It was incredible to see new fruit from seeds that were planted by abolitionist organizers in Greenville years ago.

The organizers who came together to teach on various aspects of abolitionist politics and protest safety each had slightly different perspectives that trickled through their presentations — slight nuances in praxis, some which left me nodding my head and snapping in agreement, others that left me wondering. And yet, all the content presented was helpful in building community knowledge, fostering an abolitionist imagination, and inviting folks to join the work. So much from that event gave me hope: from seeing new faces, to having to add a row of chairs, all the educational zines provided, but nothing bolstered my spirits quite like the existence of such a coalition. Folks who agree we must have a world without cops and cages, and yet have slightly different ideas of what it looks like to resist in the *now* where we *do* have cops and cages, working together to build up their community — each willing the good of the other.

This week I move to a new city. Although I don’t expect to be there long, I intend to plug into abolitionist work as quickly as possible. I don’t expect the work there to be perfect; I’m certain there will be similar strife, horror stories, infighting as we hear about in most movement work. Greenville was plagued with the same. However, my best hope, our best hope, is a mass movement. This can only occur if we all show up, in love, to win the world. I hope whereever you are, you’re finding places to be involved in this work. And where there are no such places, I hope we build them.

If you read this far, please leave a little comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts, your hopes, and your hesitations.

If you’re reading along in Taking Sides, next week I’ll write up some reflections on “The Poor Person’s Defense of Riots” and “Decolonize Together.” Happy reading! Love to all of you.