Capitalist culture requires transient bodies, managed by and for a never ending flow of consumption. Our bodies in repose are remiss. So, we are constantly heading somewhere, anywhere, unable to take a breath—to feel our bodies, to care for one another. Our increasing precarity cannot be nourished by individualism—which has perpetuated regimes of violence and circadian trauma. Rather, we must rehearse communal acts of solidarity through questioning the state, sharing space, re-distributing resources, expanding agency…

If we consider transient space as an underlying experience of our community, we can recognize our collective vulnerability against those who permanently hold power in space—and understand why transient solidarity is essential.

This issue of Paprika!, “Transient Solidarity,” is a toolkit for practicing solidarity in transient spaces.

Contents:

Questioning the State
Why do they keep us apart?
     - Donavan Caver interviewed by Alex Kim.
Where do we go then?
     - Eloise Hess. Visibility and Solidarity between the Housed and Unhoused in Los Angeles
How do we contextualize reciprocity?
     - George Papam. Not To Be Unpleasant, But We Need To Talk About The Travel Week
When do you feel it too?
     - Ye Sheng. No History Is Ever Lost

Sharing Space
Friendship sustained in the ephemeral
     - McKenzie Wark interviewed by M.C. Overholt.
Community solidified in the transitory
     - Carlos Blanco. En-Route Sentiment
Connection traversed beyond the frame
     - Sara Mortazavi. The light of God

Re-distributing Resources
Healing communities in stigma
     - Lisa interviewed by Red Canary Song.
Aggregating a long-term coalition
     - Page Comeaux. How to Let a Good Crisis Go to Waste

Expanding Agency
Cook family recipes. Cook together.
     - Naseema Gilson interviewed by Samar Halloum.
Call and ask, how are you? Answer with intimacy.
     - Sarah Kim. Emergency Contact
Hold hands.
     - Taesha Aurora. A Lovenote to Henna
Sister each other.
     - Cynthia Deng and Elif Erez. Sistered Beams and Other Sisterings: A Partial Ongoing Glossary
Grow alternative economies.
     - Livy Li. An Oral History of the Women of One Chinatown