Articles
The following articles explore many different topics related to class, capitalism, and redistribution. We welcome your comments, and your submissions!
Reflections from a Homownersexual
Emily Nepon writes about the process of co-purchasing a house in a Black, working-class Philadelphia neighborhood as a white radical queer, living in it collectively with a rotating group of friends for several years, and then later selling it; and explores the challenges and contradictions of doing it all with anti-gentrification and anti-capitalist intentions.
Notes From New Orleans
Tyrone shares observations about activist solidarity, social justice funding, and anti-racism from time spent in New Orleans.
Notes from a Wealth Redistribution Conciousness-Raising Dinner Party
This article describes how Jess and Dean organized a dinner party focused on getting a group of people to talk and think together about the personal politics of wealth redistribution. The steps they took and what happened is described so you can try it yourself if you want.
Letters about Poverty
Dean, Lis and Pascal exchange letters reflecting on experiences of growing up poor, class shift, and the difficulties of speaking up about classism in social spaces.
Can You Hear Me Now?
Colby and Dean provide a critical perspective on cell phones as a luxury item masquerading as a need and invite you to quit your contract.
Poverty Scholarship
Tiny writes about what it means to be a poverty scholar, and the importance of placing the experiences and expertise of those with lived experience of poverty, racism, and colonialism at the forefront of movements and media.
Privilege and Solidarity
Tyrone interrogates the history of his own class privilege, critiques social justice philanthropy, and challenges himself and other wealthy people to think more deeply about their role in social justice and wealth redistribution.
Some Considerations for Anti-Racist Educators
Sailor Holladay offers strategies for building the leadership of raised poor and working class people within the anti-racist movement.
The Suspension of Fear
Matt Dineen talks with Sailor Holladay about the politics of debt and academia, traveler culture, the desire to desire, and the forging of practical ways to create and support radical projects.
Critical Desire
Dean writes about expanding our collective skills for approaching our consumerist desires critically and building desires for safety and security that are not based in hoarding wealth or getting products.
Class Stuff
Davey explores the tensions that come up in cross-class friendships, what it means to give and receive hand-me-downs and to otherwise share resources in friend groups.
More than Enough: Precarious Lives, “Mere” Survival, and Abundant Joy
Kriti Sharma’s essay chronicles her own experiences of middle class exceptionalism while reflecting broadly on what a commitment to global wealth redistribution might mean.
Privileged with Cancer
Libbey Goldberg writes about surviving cancer as a white, owning-class person. She reflects on how class and race privilege have impacted the trauma of her diagnosis and recovery from treatment- in stark contrast to the ways that poor people, trans people, people of color, and other marginalized communities are often denied even the most basic care. Libbey calls on others with similar privileges to fight for our collective liberation by offering action ideas towards wealth redistribution and quality health care for all people.
Enough: Questions
After unexpectedly inheriting money, J.H. grapples with political and ethical dilemmas. What is enough? What is the difference between financial security and hoarding wealth?
Accumulation vs. Redistribution
How does wealth pile up in the hands of a few? Holmes discusses the politics of wealth accumulation in contrast to redistribution. Who knows the rules, and how to change them? Some individuals voluntarily ask, “what’s enough for me?” - but where would the conversation lead if we asked, “what’s enough for society?”
Buy One, Get One. Free.
Alexis Pauline Gumbs uses personal history to explore the racialized, politicized cultural meanings of class and debt.