After sitting in on a couple activist meetings this week, I came to two realizations. First, I could make my entire dissertation project about queer and related activism in São Paulo. Instead of consistently feeling guilty for not making x, y meeting because of a conflict with work (like I do in Chicago), I could just make my work consist of going to meetings and protests. We'll see if that actually pans out. If so, I will have to up the before bed stretching to compensate for the time spent in uncomfortable chairs for four hours a pop.
Second, I realized that activist collectives resemble romantic relationships in all the good and all the bad senses. During a particularly tense session last week, I kind of zoned out and started writing scribbling the following in English....
"In meetings, we argue with our fellow activists because we feel a love for the world we want to create and share with one another. But, we have to remember, like all lovers, we have different styles of love. Some of us are generous, others selfish. Some love to argue, and some withdraw. Some of us are pragmatists and others idealists. Part of the challenge of the affective life of meetings is accepting our lovers' demands of us, and the various kinds of care we must offer to one another... of listening to the person who needs to be listened to, of arguing until we get the fight out of us, and of just letting other subjects go ... of sometimes making quality time for one another and other times giving one another space ... of working through difficult problems for worthwhile causes and camaraderie, and knowing when to finish others. And, to learn to live with disillusionment and keep acting out of love."
i like this. what has changed from deliberative democracy? love over reason as open instead of closed? "of just letting other subjects go"? a very interesting ethics.
ReplyDelete