“On Tyranny” - Chapter 13: “Practice corporeal politics”
Snyder continues with another entry on what I call embodied politics and he refers to here as “corporeal” politics. “Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipated on the screen. Get outside. Put your body in unfamiliar places with unfamiliar people. Make new friends and march with them.” I was taken aback when I heard a pundit recently downplay the effectiveness of protesting or demonstrating. Yes, there are other modes of effective protest, but showing up, putting your time in with others to raise your voice in a collective measure to fight oppressive policies, oppressive government is not to be reduced to the merely performative. It never really is. Even if there are people who only march to get a photo-op or put something up on Instagram, they still get. Credit for taking the time to do so. And truthfully, I’ve not met anyone at any protest or demonstration who attends for some superficial reason. People protest, march, and demonstrate because their live...