Solidarity is not a matter of altruism. Solidarity comes from the inability to tolerate the affront to our own integrity of passive or active collaboration in the oppression of others, and from the deep recognition of our most expansive self-interest. From the recognition that, like it or not, our liberation is bound up with that of every other being on the planet, and that politically, spiritually, in our heart of hearts we know anything else is unaffordable.
Interpretation
Solidarity arises from a shared understanding of our interconnectedness and the rejection of complicity in injustice.
This quote by Aurora Levins Morales emphasizes that true solidarity is not merely an act of goodwill or altruism; rather, it emerges from an understanding of our interconnectedness and the moral imperative to resist oppression. It suggests that our own integrity and self-interest are tied to the struggles of others, and that recognizing this connection is essential for genuine liberation, making it a matter of collective survival rather than optional kindness.
In practice
This quote can be used in discussions about social justice movements.
Right here in our bodies, in our defense of our right to experience joy, in the refusal to abandon the place where we have been most completely invaded & colonized, in our determination to make the bombed & defoliated lands flower again and bear fruit, here where we have been most shamed is one of the most radical & sacred places from which to transform the world.
What is required to face trauma is the ability to mourn, fully and deeply, all that has been taken from us. Only through mourning everything we have lost can we discover that we have in fact survived; that our spirits are indestructible.
Power corrupts, and there is nothing more corrupting than power exercised in secret.
War: A by-product of the arts of peace.
Good bye, proud world! I'm going home; Thou art not my friend, and I'm not thine
Even if I had expected it, even if I had known what I was going to do with my life, it would have knocked the wind out of me. When something that violent hits you, you can't help but lose your balance and fall. And after you pick yourself up, you realize you can't trust anybody to save you- not your husband, not your mother, not God. So what can you do to stop yourself from tilting and falling all over again?
The journalistic 'I' is an overreliable narrator, a functionary to whom crucial tasks of narration and argument and tone have been entrusted, an ad hoc creation, like the chorus of Greek tragedy. He is an emblematic figure, an embodiment of the idea of the dispassionate observer of life.
How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!
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