Big Fun Book Club, Wednesday May 21, 6pm
Big readers & big dreamers are invited to join us for the BIG FUN BOOK CLUB, hosted by Studio Two Three.
The third Wednesday of each month we'll read a new book together, chat, debate, share drinks & snacks and hopefully become book buddies for life!
Wanna join us? Sign up for a spot here (we're capping the group to 12 so we can have meaningful dialogue!).
When & Where? Our first meeting is Wednesday, May 21st at 6pm at Shop Two Three (1437 Hull Street, at the corner of 15th & Hull (one block from Studio Two Three). We'll have snacks & drinks.
What are we reading? We'll be reading a non-fiction book by Sarah Schulman, 'The Fantasy & Necessity of Solidarity'.
WANNA GRAB A COPY LOCALLY? You can get a copy from our sweet friends at Small Friend Records & Book (1 N Lombardy St, Richmond, VA 23220) will have 12 copies on hand starting Wednesday, May 7th. Please go by and grab one from them!
About the book:
From award-winning writer Sarah Schulman, a longtime social activist and outspoken critic of the Israeli war on Gaza, comes a brilliant examination of the inherent psychological and social challenges to solidarity movements, and what that means for the future
For those who seek to combat injustice, solidarity with the oppressed is one of the highest ideals, yet it does not come without complication. In this searing yet uplifting book, award-winning writer and cultural critic Sarah Schulman delves into the intricate and often misunderstood concept of solidarity to provide a new vision for what it means to engage in this work—and why it matters.
To grapple with solidarity, Schulman writes, we must recognize its inherent fantasies. Those being oppressed dream of relief, that a bystander will intervene though it may not seem to be in their immediate interest to do so, and that the oppressor will be called out and punished. Those standing in solidarity with the oppressed are occluded by a different fantasy: that their intervention is effective, that it will not cost them, and that they will be rewarded with friendship and thanks. Neither is always the case, and yet in order to realize our full potential as human beings in relation with others, we must continue to pursue action towards these shared goals.
Within this framework, Schulman examines a range of case studies, from the fight for abortion rights in post-Franco Spain, to NYC’s AIDS activism in the 1990s, to the current wave of campus protest movements against Israel’s war on Gaza, and her own experience growing up as a queer female artist in male dominated culture industries. Drawing parallels between queer, Palestinian, feminist, and artistic struggles for justice, Schulman challenges the traditional notion of solidarity as a simple union of equals, arguing that in today's world of globalized power structures, true solidarity requires the collaboration of bystanders and conflicted perpetrators with the excluded and oppressed. That action comes at a cost, and is not always effective. And yet without it we sentence ourselves to a world without progressive change towards visions of liberation.
By turns challenging, inspiring, pragmatic, and poetic, The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity provides a much-needed path for how we can work together to create a more just, more equitable present and future.
Big readers & big dreamers are invited to join us for the BIG FUN BOOK CLUB, hosted by Studio Two Three.
The third Wednesday of each month we'll read a new book together, chat, debate, share drinks & snacks and hopefully become book buddies for life!
Wanna join us? Sign up for a spot here (we're capping the group to 12 so we can have meaningful dialogue!).
When & Where? Our first meeting is Wednesday, May 21st at 6pm at Shop Two Three (1437 Hull Street, at the corner of 15th & Hull (one block from Studio Two Three). We'll have snacks & drinks.
What are we reading? We'll be reading a non-fiction book by Sarah Schulman, 'The Fantasy & Necessity of Solidarity'.
WANNA GRAB A COPY LOCALLY? You can get a copy from our sweet friends at Small Friend Records & Book (1 N Lombardy St, Richmond, VA 23220) will have 12 copies on hand starting Wednesday, May 7th. Please go by and grab one from them!
About the book:
From award-winning writer Sarah Schulman, a longtime social activist and outspoken critic of the Israeli war on Gaza, comes a brilliant examination of the inherent psychological and social challenges to solidarity movements, and what that means for the future
For those who seek to combat injustice, solidarity with the oppressed is one of the highest ideals, yet it does not come without complication. In this searing yet uplifting book, award-winning writer and cultural critic Sarah Schulman delves into the intricate and often misunderstood concept of solidarity to provide a new vision for what it means to engage in this work—and why it matters.
To grapple with solidarity, Schulman writes, we must recognize its inherent fantasies. Those being oppressed dream of relief, that a bystander will intervene though it may not seem to be in their immediate interest to do so, and that the oppressor will be called out and punished. Those standing in solidarity with the oppressed are occluded by a different fantasy: that their intervention is effective, that it will not cost them, and that they will be rewarded with friendship and thanks. Neither is always the case, and yet in order to realize our full potential as human beings in relation with others, we must continue to pursue action towards these shared goals.
Within this framework, Schulman examines a range of case studies, from the fight for abortion rights in post-Franco Spain, to NYC’s AIDS activism in the 1990s, to the current wave of campus protest movements against Israel’s war on Gaza, and her own experience growing up as a queer female artist in male dominated culture industries. Drawing parallels between queer, Palestinian, feminist, and artistic struggles for justice, Schulman challenges the traditional notion of solidarity as a simple union of equals, arguing that in today's world of globalized power structures, true solidarity requires the collaboration of bystanders and conflicted perpetrators with the excluded and oppressed. That action comes at a cost, and is not always effective. And yet without it we sentence ourselves to a world without progressive change towards visions of liberation.
By turns challenging, inspiring, pragmatic, and poetic, The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity provides a much-needed path for how we can work together to create a more just, more equitable present and future.
Big readers & big dreamers are invited to join us for the BIG FUN BOOK CLUB, hosted by Studio Two Three.
The third Wednesday of each month we'll read a new book together, chat, debate, share drinks & snacks and hopefully become book buddies for life!
Wanna join us? Sign up for a spot here (we're capping the group to 12 so we can have meaningful dialogue!).
When & Where? Our first meeting is Wednesday, May 21st at 6pm at Shop Two Three (1437 Hull Street, at the corner of 15th & Hull (one block from Studio Two Three). We'll have snacks & drinks.
What are we reading? We'll be reading a non-fiction book by Sarah Schulman, 'The Fantasy & Necessity of Solidarity'.
WANNA GRAB A COPY LOCALLY? You can get a copy from our sweet friends at Small Friend Records & Book (1 N Lombardy St, Richmond, VA 23220) will have 12 copies on hand starting Wednesday, May 7th. Please go by and grab one from them!
About the book:
From award-winning writer Sarah Schulman, a longtime social activist and outspoken critic of the Israeli war on Gaza, comes a brilliant examination of the inherent psychological and social challenges to solidarity movements, and what that means for the future
For those who seek to combat injustice, solidarity with the oppressed is one of the highest ideals, yet it does not come without complication. In this searing yet uplifting book, award-winning writer and cultural critic Sarah Schulman delves into the intricate and often misunderstood concept of solidarity to provide a new vision for what it means to engage in this work—and why it matters.
To grapple with solidarity, Schulman writes, we must recognize its inherent fantasies. Those being oppressed dream of relief, that a bystander will intervene though it may not seem to be in their immediate interest to do so, and that the oppressor will be called out and punished. Those standing in solidarity with the oppressed are occluded by a different fantasy: that their intervention is effective, that it will not cost them, and that they will be rewarded with friendship and thanks. Neither is always the case, and yet in order to realize our full potential as human beings in relation with others, we must continue to pursue action towards these shared goals.
Within this framework, Schulman examines a range of case studies, from the fight for abortion rights in post-Franco Spain, to NYC’s AIDS activism in the 1990s, to the current wave of campus protest movements against Israel’s war on Gaza, and her own experience growing up as a queer female artist in male dominated culture industries. Drawing parallels between queer, Palestinian, feminist, and artistic struggles for justice, Schulman challenges the traditional notion of solidarity as a simple union of equals, arguing that in today's world of globalized power structures, true solidarity requires the collaboration of bystanders and conflicted perpetrators with the excluded and oppressed. That action comes at a cost, and is not always effective. And yet without it we sentence ourselves to a world without progressive change towards visions of liberation.
By turns challenging, inspiring, pragmatic, and poetic, The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity provides a much-needed path for how we can work together to create a more just, more equitable present and future.