Reclaiming Faith
Article: Nora Ziegler. Illustration: Rory Robertson-Shaw
Faith is a vital part of the de-colonial, feminist and anti-capitalist struggle. Like mutual aid and care, people always practise faith in their relationships and groups: when we put faith in people we don't know very well or have not yet learned to trust. When we act on a belief that a radically different world is possible. When we are faithful to our cause, our people, our land, and refuse to sell out. When we do our little part, courageously and faithfully, believing that we are part of a bigger picture that we don't fully understand or control.
European social justice movements have colluded in the secularisation of faith, at least in part, to wrest their independence from the powerful Christian churches. But they have surrendered too much ground and, in doing so, have become complicit with the colonial, capitalist and patriarchal forces that subjugate what these forces consider non-human, irrational, Black, feminine, queer, broken, primitive, natural, and inferior.
I am not trying to define faith as a universal experience across many different religions, cultures, and histories. But I want to highlight its grassroots and relational nature. We could think of faith as a bridge between different people, between the individual and the collective, and between the personal and the political. Or we could think of faith as many kinds of weeds that sprout in the cracks between us, holding our soil together and nourishing us.
What makes this faith spiritual or mystical is that it puts us in a relationship, not only with other humans but with other living and non-living beings too. With rivers and mountains, stories and legends, ancestors and future generations, our trauma and grief. With what we have lost, what we could have been, and what we might still become.
As with activism and mutual aid, faith is something people do in their day-to-day lives, and we create structures that support us in doing it. I can draw on a rich tradition of history, stories, prayers, wisdom and rituals that help sustain my faith, and draw me into a community. However, the structures we create can be separated and co-opted from the communities in which they emerged, meaning that they are no longer controlled by these communities, no longer fully serve their needs, or even undermine their original purpose. For example, grassroots groups and movements have become religious institutions, political parties, charities, or academic disciplines.
Sometimes it is necessary to let go of these institutions and create new ones. The histories of many religious and social justice movements unfold through countless schisms, revivals and reclamations. But sometimes people find ways to practice a radical and egalitarian faith or politics within these institutions. This involves navigating complex power dynamics and facing criticisms from all sides—from the establishments that see you as a troublemaker, and those who don't see your work as radical enough.
Sometimes it is helpful to draw clear boundaries, such as 'no gods, no masters' or 'solidarity, not charity'. But if these boundaries are drawn too rigidly, there is a danger of treating co-option as a done deal. We risk conceding large areas of faith and mutual aid to the elites, retreating to narrow, isolated ground. We also erase the work of all the people worldwide and across history who have fought against this co-option, working in the spaces between the religious and secular, or charity and mutual aid.
Indigenous land and water defenders are building coalitions with non-indigenous activists while also resisting the co-option of their struggles into a predominantly white and middle-class climate movement. Jewish people around the world are fighting against the co-option of Judaism into Israel's right-wing Zionist ideology. For example, Miknaf Ha'aretz is an organisation that is building a radical, diasporic Jewish community in the UK, and organising around the demand for land justice for all.
Islam has also been co-opted by authoritarian regimes and organisations, as well as through the "other", against which a secular liberal Western identity is constructed. In his book Islam and Anarchism, Mohamed Abdou explores the radical heritage of Islam, which he argues can offer fertile ground for de-colonial feminist and queer politics. Wisdom in Nature is an example of a UK-based group exploring a radical vision of community and ecology, grounded in Islamic spirituality.
In Black Marxism, Cedric Robinson shows that Black resistance against colonialism and slavery drew from an African revolutionary consciousness, with mystical and religious elements such as Obeah and Haitian Vodou. Marxism has co-opted the Black radical tradition into its own narrative of social change, erasing the role of faith and the particular role of African ways of thinking and being in challenging Western imperialism.
The co-option of Christianity as a moral foundation for Western liberal democracy erases Asian, Arab, African, Latinx, European ethnic minority and indigenous Christians around the world, as well as Christian anarchists, communists, revolutionaries, queers, misfits and rebels (like me). The Catholic Worker is an example of an anarchist movement that lays claim to the Catholic tradition and its social teachings, often to the displeasure of the Catholic hierarchy.
A problem for European social justice movements is that so much of what could tie us together has been co-opted by the structures we are working to challenge, leaving us alone as individuals or small cliques of people with the same experiences and perspectives, or dependent on hierarchical organisations that concentrate power and resources in the hands of a few. With so little to offer each other by way of belonging and solidarity, we also risk losing more ground to the false promises of the far-right. Finding ways to reclaim faith and spirituality is one part of a wider challenge to rebuild and reconnect with cultures of belonging that fundamentally challenge white supremacy, capitalism and patriarchy.
Nora Ziegler is co-editor of the radical interfaith zine Bad Apple. She lives in a community house that practices mutual aid and hospitality, and she is training to become a local preacher in the Methodist Church.
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