Solidarity and burnout in an election year

Solidarity and burnout in an election year Hannah Proctor (bio) and Astra Taylor (bio) In the lead-up to this year's presidential election, how should we best make use of the anxiety we feel during this fraught political moment? This spring, The Yale Review invited the writers and activists Astra Taylor and Hannah Proctor, both of whom have written extensively about the emotional and psychological dimensions of social movements that work for political change, to consider this question. Taylor's most recent work has focused on the history and meaning of solidarity, including "transformative solidarity," which has [End Page 113] powered progressive social movements through the centuries. She has argued that beyond being central to successful organizing, this type of solidarity is crucial to the possibility of democracy itself. Proctor's most recent work examines the psychological consequences of political failure. A familiar catchphrase on the Left has been the twentieth-century labor activist Joe Hill's frequently abridged admonition, "Don't mourn, organize!" Proctor offers a more realistic understanding of what it takes to keep fighting. Sometimes, in order to organize, it is also necessary to mourn. In their conversation, conducted over Zoom, they discuss what Proctor calls "the emotional life of politics," the meaning of solidarity and burnout, and how activists can keep going in the face of what can feel like insurmountable challenges. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. —the editors ________ hannah proctor I can't decide if it is depressing or vindicating that the themes I have been thinking about for such a long time—political disappointment, despair, and defeat—are strikingly relevant to our current moment. My book Burnout partly responded to the aftermath of the student movement in the U.K. Like Occupy Wall Street, this protest movement was part of the 2010 and 2011 "movement of the squares," a broader global phenomenon that kicked off with the Arab Spring. The movement included not only Occupy but also the 15-M movement in Spain and the Syntagma Square occupation in Greece. Many of the large questions I contemplated then still feel relevant today, as we stare down this unique presidential race: defeat, hope, and the challenges of persevering within activist movements. I was interested specifically in the negative emotions that accompany continued political activism, particularly interpersonal tensions that can emerge within groups; the feelings of disillusionment that come with big moments of defeat; and the general [End Page 114] physical and mental exhaustion of long-term organizing. How do people keep going? astra taylor "Burnout" is a word that people in activist circles frequently toss around. I have been seriously engaged in movement work for just over a decade, and several times I have felt on the path to burnout, especially in moments of defeat. I'm thinking of big losses—for example, Bernie Sanders' primary fights—and also ones I've been more intimately involved with. The organization I cofounded, the Debt Collective, has been leading the campaign for student-debt relief, which was stymied by Betsy DeVos, Trump's billionaire secretary of education, who sought to roll back gains we had made on behalf of defrauded borrowers. The Supreme Court struck down Biden's initial debt-relief plan last year, which was pretty crushing. But on the flip side, I have been energized and encouraged by this project. How life-giving it is to be in the trenches with people who care about other people and the planet! There is exhaustion and drudgery along with emotional and intellectual sustenance in this work. One obvious way a group can hang together is by having a strategic focus, such as the Debt Collective's focus on debt, which is a concrete hardship people endure day after day. Who isn't worried about paying their bills? Having a clear economic and material analysis can guide and ground activist work in very useful ways. There is so much in the world to grieve and to organize around. You and I are talking in the middle of a genocide. Grief is a paradoxical force. There is the real risk that grief can become so demo-bilizing that it halts political action...