Hope: Participating in moments of creation
“The question, then, is not so much how to save the world as to know how to keep alive that moment of creation” (Solnit, p. 108)
Rebecca Solnit, in her book Hope in the Dark (2004), endeavors to promote the idea of hope for activists by chronicling several recent “moments of creation” whereby social justice took one step forward toward a better world. Solnit recalls the protest in Seattle in 1999; the collapse of the WTO talks in Cancun, blown up by the Group of 21; the stalling of the FTAA talks in Miami; the Zapatista movement to subvert NAFTA; and the worldwide peace demonstrations against the war in Iraq on February 15, 2003.
Solnit’s work was particularly inspiring to me on our recent trip to Jamaica as Gina and I (along with two close friends) had an opportunity to participate in our own moment of creation by bringing news of a full Bellarmine scholarship to a young man in Jamaica we have known since he was 10. Before it is all said and done, Franklyn, now 17, will receive close to $150,000 in aid towards his bachelor’s degree, for which he is deciding between secondary science education or pre-med.
Another moment of creation, which occurred while we were away, involved the victory of the Coalition of the Immokalee Workers in their struggle with YUM! Brands. Gina and I have worked with the Coalition since last year, demonstrating with them during their march to YUM! last spring. This year I have also supplied them with graduate service learning students to help orchestrate this year’s Taco Bell Truth Tour and march, and helped to facilitate speakers for Bellarmine professors. In the short term the Coalition has secured a penny more per pound of tomatoes picked, a code of conduct for treatment of the workers, and a seat at the table with Yum! and the growers. Perhaps, not coincidentally, it was one of the Coalition organizers who recommended Solnit’s book to me not so long ago over tea at a local coffee shop, as we grappled with the social justice struggle. Little did we know, we were acting within a moment of creation.
And, so it is, the struggle toward justice—a hopeful struggle in which we seek a more democratic process, improvisational possibilities, and intuitive entryways. Solnit likens hope to a door—not always open to all people at all times. Yet, she points out immigrants, for example, seem to have a knack for finding doors, while the self-proclaimed spokespeople for the poor have a tendency to bang their head against them.
Sonit’s words are clear, but my forehead is bruised. While participating in these two moments of creation, I’m also scrambling to find the door with my other Jamaican partners, who are gasping for breath under the iron heel of global capitalism; poor on poor violence, propagated in the ghettos and countrysides of this 3rd World nation; land officers bilking money from squatters; parliamentary officials joking about structural adjustment; underpaid workers building walls for the hotels along the Queens Highway by day, obscuring their view of the Caribbean by night; four killings in two days in the community in which we were organizing last week; etc. I return home with these issues heavy on my heart and head, missing our partners already, but partially (sadly) relieved to return to our 2-story shotgun in the relative safety of our semi-urban community and the sweet life (to coin a Jamaican phrase) of being a university professor.
Yet, the work continues here on our town and adjoining communities as well, as we struggle for the educational lives and social well-being of 96000 JCPS students, along with their private school and surrounding county peers. Our work here is critical (and heavy) as well. What is the moment of creation toward which we evolve? In what creation will the PrESS Network participate? Towards these moments, Solnit challenges and encourages us with her “politics of prefiguration”: if you embody what you aspire to, you have already succeeded. If your activism is already democratic, peaceful, and creative, then in one small corner of the world, those things have triumphed. Activism, then, is not only a toolbox to change things, but it is also a place to take up residence. It is process. As we endeavor to define a mission, struggle toward justice, and participate in moments of creation, let us reside in this hopeful, democratic, and creative process, courageously defying the status quo and removing our head from the door. Let’s charge through the door together.
Rebecca Solnit, in her book Hope in the Dark (2004), endeavors to promote the idea of hope for activists by chronicling several recent “moments of creation” whereby social justice took one step forward toward a better world. Solnit recalls the protest in Seattle in 1999; the collapse of the WTO talks in Cancun, blown up by the Group of 21; the stalling of the FTAA talks in Miami; the Zapatista movement to subvert NAFTA; and the worldwide peace demonstrations against the war in Iraq on February 15, 2003.
Solnit’s work was particularly inspiring to me on our recent trip to Jamaica as Gina and I (along with two close friends) had an opportunity to participate in our own moment of creation by bringing news of a full Bellarmine scholarship to a young man in Jamaica we have known since he was 10. Before it is all said and done, Franklyn, now 17, will receive close to $150,000 in aid towards his bachelor’s degree, for which he is deciding between secondary science education or pre-med.
Another moment of creation, which occurred while we were away, involved the victory of the Coalition of the Immokalee Workers in their struggle with YUM! Brands. Gina and I have worked with the Coalition since last year, demonstrating with them during their march to YUM! last spring. This year I have also supplied them with graduate service learning students to help orchestrate this year’s Taco Bell Truth Tour and march, and helped to facilitate speakers for Bellarmine professors. In the short term the Coalition has secured a penny more per pound of tomatoes picked, a code of conduct for treatment of the workers, and a seat at the table with Yum! and the growers. Perhaps, not coincidentally, it was one of the Coalition organizers who recommended Solnit’s book to me not so long ago over tea at a local coffee shop, as we grappled with the social justice struggle. Little did we know, we were acting within a moment of creation.
And, so it is, the struggle toward justice—a hopeful struggle in which we seek a more democratic process, improvisational possibilities, and intuitive entryways. Solnit likens hope to a door—not always open to all people at all times. Yet, she points out immigrants, for example, seem to have a knack for finding doors, while the self-proclaimed spokespeople for the poor have a tendency to bang their head against them.
Sonit’s words are clear, but my forehead is bruised. While participating in these two moments of creation, I’m also scrambling to find the door with my other Jamaican partners, who are gasping for breath under the iron heel of global capitalism; poor on poor violence, propagated in the ghettos and countrysides of this 3rd World nation; land officers bilking money from squatters; parliamentary officials joking about structural adjustment; underpaid workers building walls for the hotels along the Queens Highway by day, obscuring their view of the Caribbean by night; four killings in two days in the community in which we were organizing last week; etc. I return home with these issues heavy on my heart and head, missing our partners already, but partially (sadly) relieved to return to our 2-story shotgun in the relative safety of our semi-urban community and the sweet life (to coin a Jamaican phrase) of being a university professor.
Yet, the work continues here on our town and adjoining communities as well, as we struggle for the educational lives and social well-being of 96000 JCPS students, along with their private school and surrounding county peers. Our work here is critical (and heavy) as well. What is the moment of creation toward which we evolve? In what creation will the PrESS Network participate? Towards these moments, Solnit challenges and encourages us with her “politics of prefiguration”: if you embody what you aspire to, you have already succeeded. If your activism is already democratic, peaceful, and creative, then in one small corner of the world, those things have triumphed. Activism, then, is not only a toolbox to change things, but it is also a place to take up residence. It is process. As we endeavor to define a mission, struggle toward justice, and participate in moments of creation, let us reside in this hopeful, democratic, and creative process, courageously defying the status quo and removing our head from the door. Let’s charge through the door together.
posted by adam at 10:28 AM
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