In going from ideals to action, one useful framework is the “utopian demand” as defined by feminist theorist Kathi Weeks. She describes it as “a political demand that takes the form not of a narrowly pragmatic reform but of a more substantial transformation of the present configuration of social relations; it is a demand that raises eyebrows, one for which we would probably not expect immediate success.” Examples of utopian demands might include prison abolition or a universal basic income, but what’s most important is that the utopian demand is not informed by political feasibility alone but by its end vision. Weeks continues, “To make a demand is to affirm the present desires of existing subjects: this is what we want now. At the same time, the utopian demand also points in the direction of a different future and the possibility of desires and subjects yet to come.”
- from jasmine sun’s Take Back the Future