Complaint Activism, Killjoy Feminism, and the Power of NO! Featuring Sara Ahmed
“Complaints often get us to the politics of how the institution works. And that's how I've tried to see it - as a lens into the institution.” Writer, scholar and activist Sara Ahmed learned the harsh truth about academic institutions over a decade ago. When a group of students and feminist faculty collectively complained about sexual harassment at their institution - Goldsmiths, University of London - a suite of deflective actions from the university ensured that the complaint never saw light of day and that the harassers stayed protected. In what became a long, drawn out battle against the institution, Ahmed fiercely advocated for all those who complained, and eventually blew the whistle on the university. The atmosphere turned so hostile and abusive towards her that it became untenable to work there and Ahmed resigned.
When the resignation became public and the practices of the university were exposed, Ahmed was flooded with stories from all over the world. People wrote to her sharing that they had gone through something similar: They had been harassed, their complaints had been blocked, and some had even lost their jobs. “And that's actually what enabled the research,” Ahmed explains.
“It was the kind of connections that are possible when we disclose information that professionalism tells us to keep hidden.” Saying “No” to her institution allowed Ahmed “to be part of a political movement that was not bound by one specific institution, but was actually thinking about what are these structural problems that are not being dealt with.”
Ahmed’s book, NO! The Art and Activism of Complaining, published by Feminist Press (New York, 2026) is an astounding analytical work that exposes the deep rot within institutions of all types. Workplaces in most professions are hotbeds of injustice and oppression, and disproportionately impact women, queer and trans people, people of color, and people with disabilities. NO! emerges from research compiled over several years, as people began telling Ahmed their stories of sexual harassment, racism, sexism, transphobia and ableism in the workplace. Ahmed became a friend, teacher, parent, activist, therapist and scholar all rolled into one, and cultivated what she called a “feminist ear” in order to listen to and learn from grievances, reports and complaints.
Institutional violence, Ahmed found, was a structure not an event, and is continually replicated by those in power in order to keep themselves in power. The complaint can be one way in which this unchecked power can be disrupted, exposed, and sometimes even ruptured. In NO! Ahmed offers an anatomy of a complaint: what happens when it's made, how it travels within the system, which complaint is repressed and which is quickly resolved, who complies, who resists, who benefits, and who is cast out. Ahmed believes that it is nearly impossible for an official complaint to ever become a vehicle for justice, but it is the act of complaining that is ultimately invaluable. The complaint itself, and the solidarities that emerge when a complaint is out there, becomes a tool for power mapping; a means of understanding exactly where power lies, who holds it, and how it moves. Along the way, it exposes the administrators who are invested in preserving the status quo despite pretending to care about helping the person being harassed.
In this wide-ranging conversation with Bhakti Shringarpure, Ahmed discusses the art and activism of complaining by taking apart the nuts and bolts of workplace culture that purports to do one thing, but often does the exact opposite. She interrogates the nature of professionalism, the push for confidentiality, the culture of open secrets, hollow (non) performative gestures, the faux interest in diversity, gender and disability justice, and the institutional gaslighting of the persons who complain about being harassed. In fact, the last years of genocide in Palestine have proven just how low institutions have sunk. Complaints have been manufactured in order to justify the disciplining, harassment and the firing of people who have been outspoken about Palestine.
“So I think that everything you do because you do not believe that it is okay to genocide a people can be used against you,” Ahmed says. “The very language of oppression can be used against you. The very language of being a victim can be used against you. Identity politics can be used against you. Universalism can be used against you. Anything can be used against you.”
Ahmed thinks it's time to get louder and more creative. This might mean turning your complaint into a placard or a prayer or a poster, or even a post-it, where it can be seen. Complaints may not become instruments of justice, but they can be deployed to raise consciousness.
“We're in a time of grotesque imperial wars,” Ahmed says. “We have to keep complaining and keep protesting.”
Buy NO! The Art and Activism of Complaining here: https://feministpress.org/products/9781558613683-no [https://feministpress.org/products/9781558613683-no]
Hosted by Bhakti Shringarpure. Edited by Agatha Jamari
Radical Futures is produced by Warscapes
Title Music: “Cottonstorm” by Bayern Boom Beat
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