On Activism, Friendships, and Fighting: Oral Histories, Strategies, and Conflicts [Paperback]

Conflict and resolution are the lifeblood of social movements. How, and with whom, do we find lasting friendship, support, and joy in a world in need of so much repair?

In On Activism, Friendships, and Fighting veteran organizer and social worker Benjamin Heim Shepard traces a pressing dynamic of social movements: friendship and conflict. The project builds on oral histories with more than  thirty movement organizers—from AIDS, queer, trade union, community, Occupy, and harm reduction-based movements—reflecting on the lessons, meanings, and future directions of movements and collective organizing efforts. “There is a hunger for radical history – to give credit to past struggles, to learn from our mistakes and to improve our strategies for the future,” writes Lesley Wood. Oral histories trace the stories of these movements.

The book goes in depth into the reasons and ways the interviewees became involved in activism, the friendships they formed, and the conflicts they faced. This includes asking questions such as: where do friendships support or undermine these efforts? How can conflicts be resolved?  And where do people find lasting support?

USThis book begins with a puzzle, posed between the canonical quotations about friendship and a list of interviewees who shared their own stories about a most elusive of concepts: friendship and its conflicts. What do they mean to us? It seemed like a lot of us were struggling with it. The work grew as I talked with more and more friends about the challenges of maintaining friendships within political movements, ideas of the good life, and ways to navigate differences, friendship, and flux.  Over time, I interviewed some fifty activists about their friendships and clashes, tracing narratives of social movements and ethical conflicts, some of which find resolution while others do not.
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