The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity

What does solidarity between unequals require? 

What is the work of solidarity in the face of one’s own implication as aggressor or in passive complicity? How do bystanders learn to share in the risks of those they stand with? 

And what becomes possible when solidarity embraces both radical politics and imperfect forms of entry into struggle? 

In her most recent book, writer and queer activist Sarah Schulman examines solidarity through her long-standing experience of political organizing across several movements, with the Palestine solidarity movement playing a central and defining role in our political moment.  

Drawing on stories, documents, and “lessons in courage” from her own journey and those of others in the fight for abortion rights in post-Franco Spain, NYC’s AIDS activism in the 1990s, the ongoing protest against Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people, and the challenges of being a queer female artist in male-dominated cultural industries, Sarah discusses both the principles and the pitfalls of the messy work of solidarity. 

Because solidarity implies a “dialogic relationship of listening” she invites the audience into conversation (in dialogue with Bojana Cvejić) rather than speaking at us. Her book The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity will be available at the stand of rile*books.