Building a better world through science fiction | What's Left
Imagining a better world is an important exercise for the left. Envisioning what a better future on Earth could look like for all peoples is, in many ways, an essential step in developing a political and social program to get there.
Through history, science fiction has often been a tool for socialist writers to conduct this exercise: either by describing humanity’s downward spiral through distopic extensions of current crises, or by depicting what a prosperous and equal future could mean for humans in a utopic world.
It is interesting to see a renewal in the use of utopic fiction to imagine a path out of the current climate crisis. While the need to act is more urgent than ever – and humanity seems unable to give itself the political and economical means to act – perhaps the creative exercise of casting imaginations forward a few hundred years to a sustainable world can help inspire today’s social movements.
As winter sets in, the recommended readings below provide an opportunity to stretch the imagination, fuel common struggles, and encourage us to believe that a better world is possible.
More: The New Utopians
More: [[https://citizenspress.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=27d7d00e19a37005743125d7e&id=410c47eae6&e=8484a6ba75][19 Must Read Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels by Women of Color You Must Read]]
More: 50 Sci-Fi & Fantasy Works Every Socialist Should Read
More: 11 Sci-Fi Books Every Woman Should Read
More: Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements