Lets’s talk about why I am not interested in allyship, why I am not an ally, and you should not be an ally either.

The reel version of this post can be found here.

• Comrade by Jodi Dean articulates the impact of neoliberalism on our political relationships.
• Dean situates that this highly identity based approach to politics on the left is counterproductive.
• One being Black or Trans or Muslim or a Black Trans Muslim will tell us quite literally nothing about their politics.
• Our spaces tend to see identity as a site of political engagement which has bled over into our political relationships with one another henceforth the idea of an ally.
• An ally at its core is an individual disposition rather than a relationship to have to another person.
• It is a confrontation within one’s own mind with their own ideas, feelings, and discomfort.
• Allyship desginates a limit and suggests that “you wil never be one of us” more than it enables solidarity.
• A comrade is a shared political relation of those who are on the same side of a political struggle.
• A comrade is also a mode of address — “you are my comrade”.
• Allyship is not a bidirectional relationship.
• Comradeship carries expectation — a comrade will show up to meetings, they will canvas in the cold, and live up to the responsibilities we have to each other.