In her 2023 CBC Massey Lecture series, Astra Taylor argued “Insecurity is really central to the functioning of our political and economic system.” Rising farm debts, the transformation of land into a financial instrument, and our reliance on the market to fulfill basic needs has created insecurity and hollowed out rural communities.We live in the most prosperous era in human history, but it’s also an era of profound insecurity. Ultimately, however, we are reliant on each other for our collective existence, and it is this interdependence that will help us to resist the manufactured insecurity that we face today.
Astra will argue that the interdependence that is needed will manifest in the form of solidarity. Solidarity must be seen both as a principle and as practice that can address the polycrisis that we face in this age of manufactured insecurity.
Astra Taylor is a writer, filmmaker, and activist. She is a co-founder of The Debt Collective, the first union of debtors, which aims to abolish debts and advocate for a transformation in the way public goods and services are distributed. In 2023 Astra Taylor presented CBC’s Massey Lecture’s series, speaking on the “age of insecurity”arguing that “Insecurity is really central to the functioning of our political and economic system.” She says we can resist insecurity with solidarity – that solidarity is both a principle and a practice that must be cultivated and institutionalized so that care for the common good becomes the central aim of politics and social life.
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If you have questions about registration, please call (306) 652-9465 or email nfu@nfu.ca.