Astra Taylor

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social [ View ] May 06, 2024 at 01:46 UTC

you don't have to be a moral philosopher to wade through the complexities of these issues. but I happen to be one, so for whatever that's worth: the question of where to stand on genocide is life pitching at you underhand. moral life will never be easier than this.

www.newyorker.com/news/essay/s...

12 replies 161 reposts 520 likes

Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social [ View ] May 05, 2024 at 16:06 UTC

Here’s our full-throated defense of outside agitators.

The presence of community members and experienced activists in campus protests is nothing to be ashamed of.

We need to connect with and learn from others to build a better world.

jacobin.com/2024/05/outs...

0 replies 5 reposts 16 likes

Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 15:49 UTC

Supposed to say a *thread*🧵about…

0 replies 0 reposts 6 likes

Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 15:21 UTC

If you want more, check out the book (ideally from your local library!)

bookshop.org/p/books/soli...

0 replies 2 reposts 2 likes

Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 15:19 UTC

In the end, MLK said it best: “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial ‘outside agitator’ idea."

1 replies 7 reposts 15 likes

Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 15:19 UTC

“Participating in disruptive action requires seeing oneself as different than one was. And that is difficult to do, perhaps most difficult to do, in our closest relationships,” Polletta explains.

1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 15:18 UTC

Outsiders have attri­butes that make them effective cultivators of solidarity. Being removed from the social and familial commitments and petty conflicts and rivalries that characterize daily life can help activists open space for people to see themselves and engage in new ways.

1 replies 0 reposts 2 likes

Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 15:18 UTC

Linked to the broader move­ment, locals were emboldened and empowered. Their “we” wid­ened.

1 replies 1 reposts 2 likes

Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 15:18 UTC

As sociologist Francesca Polletta argues, outsiders were invaluable to the civil rights movement. In addition to courage and organizing commitment and know-how, they brought a sense of connec­tion to the wider world that punctured locals’ sense of isolation and vulnerability.

1 replies 1 reposts 2 likes

Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 15:17 UTC

The presence of Communists was undeniable as well, and though Wallace and his ilk made it seem unthinkable, homegrown Communists, born and raised in the American South, had been some of the boldest anti-racist organizers since the 1930s.

1 replies 0 reposts 3 likes

Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 15:17 UTC

And yet, the reality is that plenty of civil rights activists were outsiders. The presence of non-Alabamans and non-Southerners spoke to the ways the movement had built effective, and powerful, solidarity.

1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 15:17 UTC

James Baldwin put it bluntly in 1961: “When the South has trouble with its Negroes—when the Negroes refuse to remain in their ‘place’—it blames ‘outside agitators’ and ‘Northern interference.’ When the nation has trouble with the Northern Negro, it blames the Kremlin."

1 replies 0 reposts 4 likes

Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 15:17 UTC

As though Black people could not fight for liberation and equality without external prompts.

1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 15:17 UTC

The notorious Alabama governor George Wallace signed a resolution calling on loyal residents of every “race, color, and creed” to stay home and not participate in “continued agitation and demonstrations, led and directed by outsiders” aiming to “foment local disorder and strife among our citizens."

1 replies 0 reposts 2 likes

Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 15:16 UTC

In every instance, the powerful have insisted that, without such med­dling by strangers, local people would have remained complacent and content.

1 replies 1 reposts 3 likes

Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 15:15 UTC

"Wobblies” hopped freight trains, lending a hand to working people in remote regions and banding them together into one big union. Freedom Rid­ers rode buses across state lines, visiting towns across the South to encourage people to challenge Jim Crow and register to vote.

1 replies 1 reposts 5 likes

Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 15:15 UTC

In Britain in the 19th century, itinerant activists promoted Chartist principles, building a national movement that demanded basic democratic rights. Abolitionists like Frederick Douglass traveled far and wide promoting a vision of a multiracial society to all who would listen.

1 replies 2 reposts 6 likes

Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 15:15 UTC

Committed outsiders have long played a crucial role advancing the cause of transformative solidarity. Roaming visionaries and organizers have served as bridges, uniting far-flung individuals and communities.

1 replies 1 reposts 6 likes

Astra Taylor @astra.bsky.social [ View ] May 02, 2024 at 15:14 UTC

Why are outsiders so threatening? Because solidarity often thrives as a result of the perspective distance brings—and because being supported by outsiders is emboldening and galvanizing, and weaves local resistance into larger more powerful campaigns.

1 replies 1 reposts 8 likes