On Wednesday 6th December 2023, from 7.30-9.30pm, Stroud Radical Reading Group will discuss The Care Manifesto: The Politics of Interdependence by The Care Collective.
We’ll meet at 10 John St – the old Electric Bike Shop, next to the Ale House pub and currently home to Access Bike/Creative Sustainability. More info on the venue below.
As publishers Verso say: “The Care Manifesto puts care at the heart of the debates of our current crisis: from intimate care—childcare, healthcare, elder care—to care for the natural world. We live in a world where carelessness reigns, but it does not have to be this way.”
On this webpage you can find free resources including free downloads of two chapters and a free online version of the whole book, details to buy a copy of the book at a discount, and information about the author, the book, how our sessions work, and the venue.
We will focus our discussion on chapters 3 and 6, and the following questions. Thanks to Benjamin – who will introduce the session – for coming up with these:
- What can we do to create more caring kinships/communities/states?
- Is there a conflict between indiscriminate and emotionally invested care? Can/should either be enforced?
- In a world so empty of care, should caring people extend their care as far as possible to make up for this, or is it enough to care as much as they would in a caring world?
- What role does the state have in a non-hierarchical caring society?
We enourage people to read the whole 97 page book but you are also welcome to listen to the discussion and ask questions even if you haven’t read the book (or engaged with other the free resources).
Resources related to the book are available below – most are free. We like to ensure everyone can attendee our sessions and get something out of them even if they can’t afford to buy a copy of the book or the time to read it. We would encourage people to read/listen to as much as possible, but you are welcome to attend and listen along even if you are unable to engage with any of the below. Audio/visual materials are provided for anyone who prefers these to reading – don’t feel you have to read content to attend the ‘reading’ group. The aim is to discuss the ideas – however they have been presented.
Resources
- Free download of chapters 3 and 6 only (.odt format – should open in most word processors)
- Free online version of the book
- Get a 20% discount on The Care Manifesto from publishers Verso – making it £7.19 instead of £8.99 RRP (e-book at £4).
- 54 minute video with Care Collective members talking to Read and Resist (embedded below)
- 50 minute audio interview between 3 members of the Care Collective and Dana Sousa-Limbu from the the ‘Politics of Care in Pandemic Time’ podcast
This book is the third in a 3-part series on Crisis, Mutual Aid, and Radical Action, following books by Mike Davis on Marxism in the Anthropocene and Rhiannon Firth on Mutual Aid and Radical Action . You can come even if you didn’t attend the previous events.
About the venue
We’ll meet at 10 John St – the old Electric Bike Shop, next to the Ale House pub and currently home to Access Bike/Creative Sustainability. There’s one small step to enter the shop, then access is level. There are a couple of sofas and some harder chairs. There’s good lighting, and lots of room. It’s not an easy space to keep warm but there are heaters and some blankets. If you have any questions about acessibility or the venue, please get in touch.
About the author and the book
The Care Collective was formed in 2017, originally as a London-based reading group aiming to understand and address the multiple and extreme crises of care. Each coming from a different discipline, we have been active both collectively and individually in diverse personal, academic and political contexts. Members include: Andreas Chatzidakis, Jamie Hakim, Jo Littler, Catherine Rottenberg, and Lynne Segal.
Publishers Verso say:
The Care Manifesto puts care at the heart of the debates of our current crisis: from intimate care—childcare, healthcare, elder care—to care for the natural world. We live in a world where carelessness reigns, but it does not have to be this way.
The Care Manifesto puts forth a vision for a truly caring world. The authors want to reimagine the role of care in our everyday lives, making it the organising principle in every dimension and at every scale of life. We are all dependent on each other, and only by nurturing these interdependencies can we cultivate a world in which each and every one of us can not only live but thrive.
The Care Manifesto demands that we must put care at the heart of the state and the economy. A caring government must promote collective joy, not the satisfaction of individual desire. This means the transformation of how we organise work through co-operatives, localism and nationalisation. It proposes the expansion of our understanding of kinship for a more ‘promiscuous care’. It calls for caring places through the reclamation of public space, to make a more convivial city. It sets out an agenda for the environment, most urgent of all, putting care at the centre of our relationship to the natural world.”
Endorsements:
“The Care Manifesto is a radiant invitation to transform our economy and society, a roadmap for how we can emerge from overlapping crises and weave a new social fabric. The ethic of universal care is an antidote to the spiralling carelessness that our current system shows towards people and the planet. The authors understand that care is not a commodity: it’s a practice, a core value, and an organizing principle on which a new politics can and must be built.” – Naomi Klein
“This manifesto is a call to action for global progressives. The Care Collective shows the “systemic carelessness” of existing political, economic, and kinship orders are broken both for humans and the planet. They demonstrate that capacious care offers a practical and already existing starting point for change on all levels” – Joan Tronto, author of Caring Democracy
“In showing us the power of mutual aid, coalition-building and solidarity, this book aids us in ensuring our activism is enacted through our daily actions within our communities and that whilst change starts within us, it doesn’t end there” – Adele Walton, gal-dem
Stroud Radical Reading Group 