Rebellious Mourning: The Collective Work of Grief

Published in 2017
412 pages

epub


Cindy Milstein is an anarchist activist and educator who talks at various anarchist and socialist gatherings. One such talk was the very informal but in-depth class, “Anarchism 101” at the National Conference on Organized Resistance, at the American University in Washington DC, in 2003 and 2004. (See the NCOR Web site for other talks by Milstein each year, including in the new Radical Theory Track.) Milstein’s presentation covers the philosophical roots of anarchism and its evolution to the present, including pre-anarchist ideas of liberty, the anarchist-communist split, and a number of different anarchist philosophies, among other things.

What is this book about?
“This intimate, moving, and timely collection of essays points the way to a world in which the burden of grief is shared, and pain is reconfigured into a powerful force for social change and collective healing.” —Astra Taylor, author The People’s Platform

Rebellious Mourning uncovers the destruction of life that capitalist development leaves in its trail. But it is also witness to the power of grief as a catalyst to collective resistance.” —Silvia Federici, author of Caliban and the Witch

We can bear almost anything when it is worked through collectively. Grief is generally thought of as something personal and insular, but when we publicly share loss and pain, we lessen the power of the forces that debilitate us, while at the same time building the humane social practices that alleviate suffering and improve quality of life for everyone. Addressing tragedies from Fukushima to Palestine, incarceration to eviction, AIDS crises to border crossings, and racism to rape, the intimate yet tenacious writing in this volume shows that mourning can pry open spaces of contestation and reconstruction, empathy and solidarity. With contributions from Claudia Rankine, Sarah Schulman, David Wojnarowicz, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, David Gilbert, and nineteen others.