Forget self-care. To feel better about this world, we need collective action, says Massey speaker Astra Taylor

If you’ve been feeling uncertain and unsettled lately, you’re not alone.

From growing inequality and declining mental health to climate change disasters and the threat of authoritarianism, insecurity has become a “defining characteristic of our times,” said CBC Massey speaker Astra Taylor of this year.

“Insecurity is… something that affects a large part of the population, not just the most deprived,” said the Winnipeg-born writer, filmmaker and political organizer.

But while many people view insecurity as an individual problem and try to ease their anxiety by practicing self-care or finding ways to be more productive, Taylor says these feelings are actually part of a problem broader societal.

“We all need a little self-care, but you can’t meditate your way or exfoliate your way out of this crisis,” Taylor said.

“This is absolutely a structural, social and political phenomenon. That means we can only address it through collective structural solutions.”

“The era of insecurity”

These ideas form the basis of this year’s Massey Lectures, an annual series where speakers are invited to explore the most important issues of the day.

The event is a partnership between CBC, House of Anansi Press and Massey College at the University of Toronto. Previous speakers include author Margaret Atwood, cybersecurity expert Ron Deibert and historian Margaret MacMillan.

Taylor was active in the Occupy movement and was an outspoken critic of predatory debt practices. His books include The People’s Platform: Taking back power and culture in the digital age And Democracy may not exist, but we will miss it when it is gone.

In his Massey lectures, The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall ApartTaylor explores how insecurity is actually an essential feature of our entire capitalist system – not a bug – and how it affects many facets of contemporary life, from work to education to media that we consume.

“An ad will never say, ‘Hey, you’re enough, you’re awesome just the way you are,’ right? It’ll always say, ‘Gosh, your teeth could be… whiter,'” Taylor said . “It’s a very mundane example, but it’s omnipresent.”

It goes deeper than advertising, Taylor says. She highlights what she calls “manufactured insecurity” – which she says is used to exploit people – and which is the driving force behind much of our politics and economics.

The current inflationary crisis, with the central bank raises interest rates in an effort to curb rising inflation, is one example, she said.

“The idea is that for the economy to function as it does, workers must be insecure to keep the price of labor low, to keep wages low and to contain inflation – and “Economists will debate whether it works,” Taylor said. .

But she added that insecurity can also be a source of connection: If vulnerable and desperate people come together, they could form movements and push for changes in the system.

“You can’t pay your bills. You’re afraid of being laid off. You can’t find a job. You’re afraid of being evicted. You’re afraid of fires. You can’t sleep at night because of your l “climate anxiety,” Taylor said.

Being honest about vulnerability and insecurity is the first step toward creating solidarity, she said.

“And that’s where the power to win these changes comes in.”

Collective action

This has already been done, explains journalist and historian Rebecca Solnit. “I have witnessed extraordinary changes in my lifetime, for the better, all brought about by collective action.”

Solnit cites marriage equality, decriminalization of being gay, equal rights in the workplace and health care as examples of societal progress in recent decades – although there had some negative reactions.

“Are they good enough? No. Are they radically better than they were? Yes,” Solnit said. “What provoked them? Collective actions, both in the form of specific campaigns and trials, etc., but also as cultural movements to change the collective imagination.”

A longtime colleague of Taylor, Solnit describes the lectures — which will also be published in book form under the same title – as a “fresh and incisive social analysis”.

Taylor says she hopes her lectures spark a broader conversation about insecurity.

“I want to put this on the table and see a vibrant debate on these topics and see a social movement around them,” she said.

Taylor will deliver his lectures to audiences in five Canadian cities in September:

• September 5: Prairie Theater Exchange, Winnipeg
• September 8: Neptune Theatre, Halifax
• September 20: Yukon Arts Centre, Whitehorse
• September 22 and 23: York Theatre, Vancouver (September 23 event is a separate panel discussion)
• September 27: Koerner Hall, Toronto

Tickets for the Massey Conferences will go on sale on July 17 at the venue box offices. They will be broadcast on CBC Radio IDEAS in November.