Friendship as Political Practice: 'Stable relationships, not correctness, are needed'

In an era marked by significant global anxieties, political scientist María do Mar Castro Varela emphasizes the enduring importance of friendship as a political tool. Teaching at the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, Castro Varela, alongside Bahar Oghalai, co-authored a book exploring friendship's role in political practice.

Castro Varela shared that the impetus for the book arose from a request to lecture on "allyship." While familiar with the term in political contexts, signifying connections that bridge the personal and political, she found the concept itself somewhat sterile. This skepticism spurred her to delve deeper into the nature of political friendships, seeking a more resonant framework.

Her work posits that in these turbulent times, the focus should shift from rigid adherence to correctness towards cultivating stable, enduring relationships. This perspective challenges conventional political discourse, suggesting that genuine connection and mutual support, embodied in friendship, offer a more robust foundation for navigating complex social and political landscapes.

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Perhaps the origin story of the essay offers an answer to your question: I was asked a few years ago to give a lecture on Allyship and was not fully familiar with the term, the concept behind it. I knew it from political contexts and knew that it meant connections that oscillate between the political and the private, something like political friendship. But the term has a certain coldness for me, which made me skeptical.