In a recent interview, acclaimed author Rebecca Solnit radiated optimism, not merely from the pragmatic positivity of her new book, The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on a World of Change, but from a specific event: the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. "Why is the UK doing these things the US should be doing? Why now? Wow!" she remarked, describing her reaction as "feminist chortling." This moment, she argues, underscores a broader, often overlooked political reality.
The 'Slow Revolution' Versus Fascist Spectacle
Solnit, renowned for popularising the term 'mansplaining' through her viral essay and book Men Explain Things to Me, contends that while daily headlines focus on authoritarian advances and atrocities, a deeper, seismic shift has been unfolding since the 1950s. This "slow revolution" encompasses transformative changes in attitudes toward gender, race, sexuality, science, and the climate. "I often feel like a tortoise at a mayfly party," she says, highlighting how many people live in a "perpetual present," either reassured or despairing that nothing changes. However, she insists that the far-right backlash globally is a reaction to this birth of a new world. "They're basically trying to abort it. Which is a little ironic, given their views on abortion."
Memory, History, and the Fight Against Forgetting
Drawing on Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci's notion of an interregnum where "the old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born," Solnit acknowledges these as "times of monsters." Yet, she stresses that the current U.S. political climate, with its "autoimmune disorder" of corruption under figures like Donald Trump, lacks historical precedent. Her book opens not with despair, but with a 2024 ceremony where 466 acres of ranch land north of San Francisco were returned to the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. This act of restitution, born from decades of activism and memory, exemplifies how change is forged by those who refuse to forget. "If the cliche is that history is made by the people who show up," Solnit complicates, "change is made by people who refuse to forget."
Environmental and Social Intersections
Growing up in a leftwing family in San Francisco, Solnit's engagement with indigenous activism was geographically rooted, revealing the erasure of Native presence. She argues that environmental, anti-nuclear, civil rights, and anti-colonial movements have intersected to achieve seemingly impossible victories. "The whole idea of the ascent of man... is a weird detour," she says, pointing to environmental destruction, loneliness epidemics, and corporate rapacity as symptoms. Once this detour is recognised, "the change is deep and profound."
Class consciousness and environmental awareness, once awakened, cannot be extinguished. "Fossil fuel lobbyists cannot undo it. Putin and Trump and that idiot in Argentina [Javier Milei] cannot undo it," Solnit asserts. She notes that enemies often appraise progressive movements accurately, recognising their power even when activists doubt themselves.
Hope from Heroic Struggle
Citing American theologian Walter Brueggemann's idea that "hope arises from memory," Solnit inverts it: "despair arises from forgetting." She emphasises that every social gain—women's rights, racial equality, environmental protections—results from "heroic struggle." Environmental victories, like unpolluted rivers or preserved forests, may be invisible but are no less significant. "To know that is to know we have tremendous power," she says. "These things were contingent on us actually showing up, on doing the work. We have to keep showing up and keep doing the work."
Chaos as a Distraction Tactic
Solnit delves into the mechanics of authoritarianism, which sees journalism, history, and science as rival sources of power to be undermined. "The politics of chaotic spectacle, disinformation and outright untruth leaves you endlessly trying to prove gravity," she explains, likening it to an abusive relationship designed to lock individuals into engagement. This distraction derails priorities, but Solnit counters that optimism, pessimism, and climate doomerism all assume a known future, requiring nothing. "I think the future is radically uncertain, and therefore much is required of us."
The Power of Collective Action
Reflecting on unforeseen developments, from Jeffrey Epstein's downfall to the fall of the Berlin Wall, Solnit recalls her own surprise at progress. "The world I was born into no longer exists," she says, citing feminist advances, marriage equality in San Francisco, and the Paris climate treaty. She addresses climate pessimism, questioning whether it stems from objective crisis or deliberate authoritarian projects to induce pliancy. Regardless, she advocates for solidarity through activism. Quoting environmentalist Bill McKibben, she says, "Stop being an individual." Political action fosters unbreakable bonds, friendships, and a sense of purpose that defines lives.
In The Beginning Comes After the End, Solnit's message is clear: while the far right creates chaos to abort a new world, the slow revolution of memory, activism, and collective struggle continues, proving that "nothing is inevitable."
