Screenshot of article title and subtitle. It reads: This Valentine's Day, Let's Ditch Romance Myths and Seek Collective Liberation In this frightening time, let's dedicate ourselves to true love and liberation, caring for each other and the world. By Dean Spade, TRUTHOUT February 14, 2025
Screenshot of the text of the article: Amind a pressing acceleration of harm and violence (ecological crisis, wealth concentration, immigration enforcement, criminalization, attacks on queer and trans people and reproductive care, genocidal and imperialist warfare) our resistance movements are often disorganized by the romance myth. People tend to wreak havoc on lovers, groups and communities when caught up in romance myth scripts and reactions. Our groups implode because we don't know how to stick together when we are overcome by the
Screenshot of the text of the article: We often pretend it doesn't matter how we treat each other as long as we get the deliverables out: meals distributed, banners dropped, court cases filed, actions planned. Yet as feminists have always maintained, the personal is political, and the "women's work" of attending to relationships is vital. Many brilliant organizers (or former organizers) who identify as "burnt out" aren't tired simply from the hard work of collective action but from unresolved conflict with other
Screenshot of the text of the article: My assessment, 25 years into resistance work, is that right now all it takes is one strongly emotionally activated person to disorganize almost any group. A string of smaller unresolved conflicts precede the moment of blowup and break down. The romance cycle is present in our groups just as in sexual relationships and friendships. We often project at the start that this person or group is going to meet deep unmet needs, that we've found "the one," and we selectively ignore signals that
Happy Valentine’s Day!! Let’s celebrate by dedicating ourselves to each other and collective liberation 💘💘
My new op-ed is in @truthout.org today. Check it out here: truthout.org/articles/thi...
