Boston Review Magazine

What does solidarity mean, and how can movements build enough of it to change society? This issue clarifies a key idea in struggles for a more just world.

Organizer and political theorist Mie Inouye leads a forum on obstacles to collective action today. At a moment of fractious debate about the role of race and class in movement building, she makes the case for maintaining solidarity through conflict in durable institutions over time, none of which is possible without the hard work of good organizing. With responses from eleven activists and theorists—from Rev. William J. Barber II, Astra Taylor, and Jodi Dean to Charisse Burden-Stelly, David Roediger, and Juliet Hooker—the forum helps us think about what solidarity is and what it requires.

Also in this volume, Judith Levine considers how films have portrayed solidarity among women in the face of abortion restrictions, Gaiutra Bahadur suggests terrain for Black-Asian solidarities, Simon Torracinta shows how a basic income can pave the way to a more solidaristic society, and Mariame Kaba, Kelly Hayes, and Dan Berger offer key lessons from the world of organizing.

Full list of contributors: Mie Inouye leads a forum with Rev. William J. Barber II, Charisse Burden-Stelly, Jodi Dean, Nathan R. DuFord, Alex Gourevitch, Juliet Hooker, Daniel Martinez HoSang, David Roediger, Sarah Schulman, Astra Taylor & Leah Hunt-Hendrix, and Rev. Liz Theoharis—plus other work by Gaiutra Bahadur, Dan Berger, nia t. evans, Kelly Hayes, Mariame Kaba, Michael Simmons, Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons, Simon Torracinta, and Ege Yumuşak.