mya (they/she)i want to share some fantastic quotes from nick montgomery and carla bergman’s “joyful militancy: building thriving resistance in toxic times” because i’m nearly finished with it and it had given me so much to think about! (and many parts are eerily relevant to stuff i’ve seen going on on here recently.) so heres a thread of some quotes...
@myacg “the most widespread, long-lasting, and fierce struggles are animated by strong relationships of love, care, and trust. these values are not fixed duties that can be imitated, nor do they come out of thin air. they arise from struggles through which people become powerful together. as people force empire out of their lives, there is more space for kindness and solidarity.” (31-2)
@myacg “to be militant about joy means being attuned to situations or relationships and learning how to participate in and support the transformation rather that directing or controlling it.” (48)
@myacg “under empire, happiness is seen as a duty and unhappiness as a disorder ... neoliberal capitalism encourages its subjects to base their lives on this search for happiness, promising pleasure, bliss, fulfillment, arousal, exhilaration, or contentment, depending on your tastes and proclivities (and your budget).
the search for happiness doesn’t just come through consumption. empire also sells the rejection of upward mobility and consumerism as another form of placid containment.” (56)
@myacg “the promise of happiness can be treacherous, encouraging us to ignore or turn away from suffering-our own or others’-if it threatens happiness.” (57)
@myacg “joy arises not from the pursuit of a distant goal but through struggle in one’s own situation. it ofter erupts through the capacity to say no, to refuse, or to attack the debilitating form of life offered up by empire.” (79)
@myacg “relationships of mutual love and support can enable us to see and feel the toxicity of some of our attachments. they can help us to look at our patterns of addiction or depression without shame. those we love can be our reason to stay alive when we aren’t sure that we want to. they can help us leave miserable situations by leaping with us into the unknown. friendships can be the source of our capacity to take risks and get in the way of violence and exploitation.” (96)
@myacg “freedom is the capacity to make friends and enemies, to be open and to have firm boundaries. joyful, deeply transformative relationships are only possible through vulnerability and trust, but they also entail the risk of being deeply hurt.” (122)
@myacg “what does it mean to HAVE good politics? what happens when politics becomes something a person HAS, rather than something people DO TOGETHER, as a shared practice? what happens when shared practices always have to be announced and their goodness displayed?” (179)
@myacg “when radicals attack each other in the game of good politics, it is due at least in part to the fact that this is a place where people can exercise some power. even if one is unable to challenge capitalism and white supremacy as structures or to participate in transformative struggles, one can always attack others for being complicit with empire and tell oneself that these attacks are radical in and of themselves.” (180)
@myacg “what if the capacity to be really present is revolutionary? what potentials can be unleashed by connecting with the immediate, in a world that encourages constant distraction, deferral, and numbness?” (239)