Optimists and pessimists share a fundamental orientation: they are determinists, certain that thing will turn out well (or horribly). Because I have no idea how things will turn out (and neither does anyone else), or even what’s next, I choose hope as a politics, hope as a state of mind—I get up each morning with my mind set on freedom, pound away against injustice, and end the evening wishing I’d done more. Remember, the day before every revolution, it was deemed impossible, and the day after, it’s made to seem inevitable. We’re joined in conversation by Dima Khalidi, a brilliant lawyer, radical thinker, and founding director of Palestine Legal, who engages the struggle for Palestinian freedom against a hard, but not impenetrable, wall of racism and reaction.
Free write:
Since your life is and should be a precious thing, too precious to waste on trivial pursuits, make a list of 5-10 places you can name to nourish your hope and pursue your wildest dreams.