Episode Details

This month on Laura Flanders and Friends, we’re revisiting conversations around solidarity, kinship and what it means to be human. This week we explore 'The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity’, with author and activist Sarah Schulman, who shares what she’s learned from AIDS activism to Palestine.

Description: What is “solidarity” and what does it require? Giving up on perfection, for one thing, says Sarah Schulman, author of “Conflict is Not Abuse,” and so much more. Award-winning writer, teacher, playwright and activist, Schulman’s latest book is “The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity”, in which she reflects on years of experiments and learning, from the 1980s to today. In this episode, find out what role GRITtv, an earlier iteration of Flanders’ show, played in the movement for Palestinian liberation, and hear a discussion of the Harlem artist Alice Neel. Schulman sits on the advisory board of Jewish Voice for Peace. Her non-fiction books include “Conflict is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair” and “Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993”. Also in this episode, a commentary from Laura on the assassination of Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman, a strategic progressive who practiced solidarity.

“When I confronted the Israeli occupation of Palestine, something resonated for me emotionally between that and the AIDS experience. What I felt was similar was that people who were endangered were being falsely depicted as dangerous.” - Sarah Schulman

“Right now we're in the middle of a cataclysm of fascism and there's no quick fix. And we have to understand that the idea that you can go in and just fix it is a supremacy concept.” - Sarah Schulman

Guests:  Sarah Schulman, Writer & AIDS Historian; Author, The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity

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