A conversation with Sarah Schulman about solidarity and a life spent writing and fighting
The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity BY Sarah Schulman. New York: Thesis. 320 pages. $30.
WHEN SARAH SCHULMAN WALKED INTO MY APARTMENT, a month or so after Artforum magazine fired me in October 2023 for publishing an open letter in support of Palestinian liberation, her first words were, “How can I help?” I think this is the most ethical sentence in the English language. She said it like she meant it. This orientation toward the world permeates her latest work,The Fantasy and Necessity of Solidarity (Thesis, $30). It’s more than a handbook for activists; it’s a guide for staying human in hell. “The purpose of this book is to make solidarity doable,” she writes plainly, not long after she gives us the most beautiful and useful definition of the term I’ve ever read: “Solidarity is the essential human process of recognizing that other people are real and their experiences matter.” {read}