‘Organising is the best kind of antidepressant’: Astra Taylor and Leah Hunt-Hendrix on solidarity

The activists, who first met at Occupy Wall Street in 2011, talk about the limits of protest – and the power of connecting across difference to change the world

Leah Hunt-Hendrix and Astra Taylor’s new book, a galvanising examination of the history of solidarity and how we can use it today to shape a fair and& sustainable future, was born out of friendship. But the pair are from distinctly different backgrounds. Taylor is a Canadian-born writer, film-maker, musician and activist (the& pair prefer the term organiser, more of which later) who grew up in Athens, Georgia. Hunt-Hendrix is an& activist, too, as well as a political theory scholar and granddaughter of a& Texas oil billionaire. She grew up on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, spending summers in Dallas.

The two women met at Occupy Wall& Street in 2011. They first wrote together in 2015, creating a technology issue for the Nation magazine and, says Hunt-Hendrix, “decided we were& great collaborators and that was something we wanted to keep doing”.