(Nimue)

There’s a meme that floats about online claiming that joy is resistance. On Saturday night I went to a Grace Petrie show where she outright questioned the idea. It is something I wanted to explore in more detail.

Joy is essential. You have to be for something, with ideas of what to move towards. Without that, resistance is just resisting, it creates nothing and the agenda is set by the people with the worst ideas. That doesn’t mean joy itself is a form of resistance.

To keep going in these difficult times we need joy. Happiness is essential for mental health and can give you the resources to keep going. Joy can make resistance more sustainable, but of itself, it still doesn’t seem to be doing the whole job. 

Resistance is not always joyful. You don’t always win. Setbacks can be disheartening and heartbreaking. Sometimes there really is no scope for joy. At that point you need courage and determination to pull you through.

There is a real risk that the main effect of saying joy is resistance is actually to reduce resistance. If you are focused on private, personal joy, what are you changing in the world? Being able to focus on personal joy is itself a pretty good indicator of privilege and comfort. People at the sharp end of climate disaster and political evils do not have the luxury of seeking joy. They are struggling to survive.

There is however, a way in which joy as resistance can be a meaningful choice. Community joy has the potential to be much more radical and transformative. Building community, builds resilience and makes a firm base from which to organise. Community joy can thus be helpful. When we come together in a joyful way, we can connect, empathise and feel more kindly towards each other. We can break down barriers and challenge fear and prejudice. For this to really work, your community joy needs to reach out as widely as it can. Little is gained by getting a bunch of privileged people into a space to pat each other on the back while changing nothing. 

Joy is important, but if you aren’t working to change something then joy alone is not resistance. Being happy by being able to temporarily insulate yourself from the woes of the world is part of the problem, not the answer. Seeking happiness by making the world a happier place for all living beings, would be truly radical.