Why the politics of Star Wars still matters (part 10): “Rebellions are built on hope”

This is a series of posts drawing on my forthcoming book Welcome to the Rebellion: A New Hope in Radical Politics (published in June 2020 by Zero Books).

This final post is about hope, a new hope.

This doesn’t feel like a hopeful age. Today’s young people have grown up with crisis: financial crashes, terror attacks, political instability, rising xenophobia and authoritarianism. The Star Wars prequels anticipate this era of threats and fears, manipulation and misinformation, militarization and creeping restrictions on civil liberties. To Dave Schilling, the understandable pessimism felt by some young people is also evident in the most recent Star Wars films:

“People my age, the dreaded “‘90s kids” who grew up with the worst Star Wars movies – the cursed prequels – look back at the promise of post-war America with a mixture of contempt and jealousy. You promised us a better tomorrow and we got terrorism, massive income inequality, the threat of nuclear war, political instability throughout the globe, and whatever devastation climate change will bring. Similarly, Luke, Leia, Han, and the Rebel Alliance promised a new Republic and a return to decency in the galaxy... Our new characters, particularly Rey and Kylo Ren, find themselves questioning the value of all that hope.”

Empire controls the economic system, financial institutions, governments, the most powerful media. It has police forces and armies, courts and prisons. If empire has this much power, what chance do we have? And yet, contrary to the pessimism of capitalist realism – the pervasive sense that there is no alternative – empire may be surprisingly precarious. As discussed in a previous post, empire is facing a set of interlocking economic, ecological and energy crises. Massive inequalities spur resistances from below, some reactionary and regressive, but others, like the global justice and ecological movement, offering the potential of a just and free alternative.

Given its fundamental weaknesses, it’s unsurprising that Palpatine’s dictatorship only lasts for 22 years, less than a human generation. Empires that provide people with little hope, and little hope for change, are doomed. Our empire has its own weaknesses. It might seem all-encompassing. But its exceptional claim to universalism, that there is no alternative, is actually its greatest vulnerability. If this is the only system there is, we demand that it should be better, fairer, more just. And when it can’t be, because it is fundamentally unjust and exploitative, and when it embraces authoritarianism in response to rising public anger, it gives too many people too little hope for change...

If we feel hopeless, it’s because we forget that we are more powerful than we can possibly imagine. As Rebecca Solnit puts it in Hope in the Dark, we are a superpower whose nonviolent means are more powerful than regimes and armies. Empire knows this, just as in The Empire Strikes Back the Emperor warns Darth Vader that Luke “could destroy us.” This is why mainstream media suggests that popular resistance is ridiculous, pointless or criminal (unless it’s far far away, or a long time ago). This deliberately obscures the numerous nonviolent, direct action successes that are hidden in plain sight. We need to remind each other of the history of victories and transformations that could give us the confidence that we can change the world, because we have so many times before.

Whatever you think about Star Wars, many people find it inspiring and enjoy losing (or often, finding) themselves in its worlds and characters. They love the bravery and camaraderie of its heroes, and love to hate the nihilism and barbarity of its villains. If capitalist realism is about the perpetual present, if it tries to convince us that nothing can ever change, perhaps the longevity of stories such as Star Wars signifies the persistence of our belief in the possibility of a different world.

A whole series of books couldn’t do justice to all of the individuals, groups, communities and campaigns that are now rising up. The new new left, the young left (does it really matter whether we label them as ‘left’ at all?) aren’t listening to the pessimism and passivity of some of their elders. Nor do they fall for the lies of empire. To paraphrase Emma González, one of the leaders of the #NeverAgain gun control movement, this is a ‘no BS’ generation of activists and campaigners.

There are many ways to connect these diverse movements: as mass mobilizations against violence and oppression, in their recognition of the systemic nature of what we’re up against, and by their refusal to accept so-called pragmatism and political realities. But they’re also about freedom, not some abstract notion but real freedom – from the exploitation of land and environment, police brutality and institutional injustice, to being afraid of being killed at school and of the climate chaos that’s coming our way. Just like our favorite fictional rebellion, they fight for the freedom necessary for survival.

As the stories told by elites crumble, these movements are contesting the old common sense and creating new ones. Telling a different story is vital to winning change and recruiting new rebels. The previous forms of solidarity on the left, most obviously trade unions, have been significantly eroded, deliberately so by the forces of empire. In the era of globalization, the absence of structures of solidarity leaves those left out susceptible to the exclusionary identities and fake solidarity of right-wing populist appeals, or even worse. We need to build a better, more appealing common identity for change. We need a rebel alliance.

Some may disagree, but Star Wars has always been political, and the saga will always be with us as long as there is oppression to be overturned and rebels who dream of doing it. As a fantasy, it connects with what is arguably the most real thing of all: the need to stand against domination and to fight for a better world.

As the anti-racism activist Chris Crass has said, we need to avoid being unconscious stormtroopers of death culture, helping imperial forces perpetuate systems of oppression. Instead, our calling is to see empire all around us, and to join a rebel alliance of others who are working to build a future of collective liberation and justice for all. As Luke says to Han: “Why don’t you take a look around. You know what’s about to happen, what they’re up against. They could use a good pilot like you, you’re turning your back on them.”

The hero in us heeds the call to adventure. To live a life of fantasy today is not to escape into our favorite sci-fi films, so much as it is to believe that we can somehow escape from what empire is and what it is doing to our fellow human beings, to our planet and to ourselves. But there is still time, just about. Together, we can fulfill our destiny and become the guardians of peace and justice in our galaxy. Looking inside ourselves, we know we have already made our choice.

Welcome to the rebellion.

Welcome to the Rebellion: A New Hope in Radical Politics, will be published in June 2020 by Zero Books. You can pre-order your copy now at:

US: Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, Indiebound

UK: Amazon.co.uk, Zero Books, Waterstones, Foyles, Blackwells

Rest of the world: Chapters/Indigo, Booktopia, Book Depository, Goodreads

A FREE preview of the introduction to the book is available on Amazon.