Towards a theory of radical kinship

Abstract

This is an abridged and edited version of the speech given by the author in the panel on ‘The influence of A. Sivanandan’s ideas’ at the conference ‘New circuits of anti-racism’ at King’s College London in October 2022. It follows on from her seminal 2019 article (in Race & Class 61.2, ‘“White privilege”: shortcuts to anti-racism’) which drew on Sivanandan’s ‘RAT and the degradation of black struggle’, his critique of essentialising blackness and treating racism, a structural issue, as an interpersonal one out of which you could be ‘retrained’. She discusses ways of radical, respectful organising at a time when difference and competition of experiences can set back unity.