Post by Feral Wolf on Jan 20, 2011 17:36:05 GMT -7
Towards a More Dangerous Community: Anti-Oppression & Safe(r) Spaces at Wild Roots Feral Futures
This is a discussion about the coalescing of a living, open-source document created through an on-going collaborative process. Language is a tool, and can be a tool of liberation, or a tool of oppression. Language has long oppressed us, and our attempt at the liberatory and radical use of language is an ongoing process of learning, growth, and discovery.
This post is also part of an ongoing discussion formed from the previous experiences of numerous individuals with the limitations and failings of certain instances of anti-oppression and safe(r) space gone awry (in other words, turned into nothing more than internal policing), as well as recent discussion on anarchistnews.org/?q=node/13359 regarding the initial language of the call, which is as follows:
*And here's the first point of revision I'd like to work on. Commentary rightly pointed out that people don't so simply fall within the easy "either/or" of oppressor and oppressed, and that there are a lot of intersections of oppression and privilege that often collide within individual human beings. So in the updated version of the text, below the starred paragraph above, I'd like to insert a new paragraph (or footnote para just below it) adding something to the effect of:
It is the goal of the WRFF crew to incorporate more eminent critiques of anti-oppression practices and safe(r) space while reconciling them with an insurrectionary praxis allowing us to "deal with our shit" (as we tend to say) without actually generating MORE shit to deal with. In that spirit I'd like to solicit suggestions for recommended reading on the subject. I'll start with what I am currently digesting:
Lines in Sand - Part I: You Have to Do It My Way
anarchistnews.org/?q=node/12215
Lines in Sand - Part II: "So Fucked Up"
www.anarchistnews.org/?q=node/12230
Lines in Sand - Part III: Suggestions for real solidarity
anarchistnews.org/?q=node/12245
zinelibrary.info/lines-sand
Safety is an Illusion: Reflections on Accountability
anarchistnews.org/?q=node/13205
UPDATE: I've digested my way through Lines in the Sand Part I and am beginning Part II. They've given me many great insights and ideas, but I wanted to come here and incorporate this one right away:
(bolding mine)
So now my updated working text insertion looks like:
*The above statement is, of course, over-simplified and over-generalized. It is highly important to operate from an awareness that these are not monolithic, static categories and that individuals do not so easily fit into a simplistic "either/or" scenario of oppressed/oppressor. Rather, there are many layers and intersections of oppression and privilege interwoven and intermixed (and often colliding) within the conglomerate we call the self, formed through the reciprocal processes of social construction and autonomous individuality. "Privilege" and "oppress" are situational verbs and constructed social qualities, not inherent and hegemonic qualities of individual human beings.
"Among those who speak of social war are some who want a homogeneous front that struggles only for freedom in the abstract, who stifle any talk of oppressions they do not personally experience. And among those who speak of privilege and oppression are some who are just politicians and guilt-mongerers." ~Lines in Sand - Part I: You Have to Do It My Way
This is a discussion about the coalescing of a living, open-source document created through an on-going collaborative process. Language is a tool, and can be a tool of liberation, or a tool of oppression. Language has long oppressed us, and our attempt at the liberatory and radical use of language is an ongoing process of learning, growth, and discovery.
This post is also part of an ongoing discussion formed from the previous experiences of numerous individuals with the limitations and failings of certain instances of anti-oppression and safe(r) space gone awry (in other words, turned into nothing more than internal policing), as well as recent discussion on anarchistnews.org/?q=node/13359 regarding the initial language of the call, which is as follows:
We at the Wild Roots Feral Futures organizers collective feel that white dominated spaces & racism within our communities are a significant problem, & feel the need to confront that. Due to the legacy of racism within our communities of resistance we will be holding workshops on white privilege, settler privilege, & cultural appropriation.We also feel that cis-hetero, male dominated spaces and hetropatriarchy within our communities are equally problematic, and will also be holding workshops on patriarchy and (anti)sexism.
We would like to put out a request for workshops on white privilege, hetero privilege, cis privilege, and male privilege. We recognize that it's not the job of those of us oppressed by white supremacy and heteropatriarchy to facilitate those workshops. We don't expect oppressed people to attend, but you are welcome to. While it is not the responsibility or duty of queers, POC (People of Color), and other oppressed and marginalized people to assist white, cis-hetero, and privileged people unpack, deconstruct, and confront their own privilege, these processes will be open to all.*
...
We intend to create clinic space with some privacy provided for patient care so that the bodies of trans people (and also cis womyn) aren't on display during vulnerable moments. We will also be implementing a safe(r) space policy to keep perpetrators of sexual/physical assault out of our community and support survivors by respecting any processes of accountability they initiate.
Womyn (cis and trans), queers, and trans folk have full support of the Wild Roots Feral Futures organizers collective to establish safer spaces for themselves, including spaces that are only for people who are oppressed by sexism, people who are queer, and people who are trans. We recognize the need for those spaces because no matter how much we work on our privilege, as recovering hetropatriarchists still in the process of mental and psychological decolonization and recovery, we're still going to be bringing heteropatriarchy into the space (hopefully unconsciously and unintentionally, which does little to change its effects).
...
Please do not make assumptions about an individual’s gender, and if you feel unsure, do not be afraid to ask what someone’s preferred gender pronoun is. If you use the incorrect gender pronoun, you will be corrected, but it is not something to be ashamed of. We have all been raised within a gender binary culture and breaking free of these false binaries is a process of learning and growing for all. It is also appropriate to introduce your preferred gender pronoun when first introducing yourself to new people, if you feel the desire.
*And here's the first point of revision I'd like to work on. Commentary rightly pointed out that people don't so simply fall within the easy "either/or" of oppressor and oppressed, and that there are a lot of intersections of oppression and privilege that often collide within individual human beings. So in the updated version of the text, below the starred paragraph above, I'd like to insert a new paragraph (or footnote para just below it) adding something to the effect of:
The above statement is, of course, over-simplified and over-generalized. It is highly important to operate from an awareness that these are not monolithic, static categories and that individuals do not so easily fit into a simplistic "either/or" scenario. Rather, there are many layers and intersections of oppression and privilege interwoven and intermixed within the conglomerate we call the self, formed through the reciprocal processes of social construction and autonomous individuality.
It is the goal of the WRFF crew to incorporate more eminent critiques of anti-oppression practices and safe(r) space while reconciling them with an insurrectionary praxis allowing us to "deal with our shit" (as we tend to say) without actually generating MORE shit to deal with. In that spirit I'd like to solicit suggestions for recommended reading on the subject. I'll start with what I am currently digesting:
Lines in Sand - Part I: You Have to Do It My Way
anarchistnews.org/?q=node/12215
Lines in Sand - Part II: "So Fucked Up"
www.anarchistnews.org/?q=node/12230
Lines in Sand - Part III: Suggestions for real solidarity
anarchistnews.org/?q=node/12245
zinelibrary.info/lines-sand
Safety is an Illusion: Reflections on Accountability
anarchistnews.org/?q=node/13205
UPDATE: I've digested my way through Lines in the Sand Part I and am beginning Part II. They've given me many great insights and ideas, but I wanted to come here and incorporate this one right away:
Quickly, a division becomes apparent in the mobilization of guilt within an anti-oppression practice. Because of the laundry list of oppressions that require equal consideration, nearly every individual is privileged in some way, and oppressed in others. However, anti-oppression activists refuse to use “privilege” and “oppress” as situational verbs, with the obvious connotation that these are things imposed by a larger social structure. Instead, the commonly upheld norm is to use these terms as labels that inhere to individuals and qualify who they are. This means that most individuals can choose what is, according to the theory, not something we have an ability to choose: which category we belong to. Theoretically this comes with an awareness of an intersectionality of different oppressions, but in practice people end up identifying and being identified with one camp or the other.
(bolding mine)
So now my updated working text insertion looks like:
*The above statement is, of course, over-simplified and over-generalized. It is highly important to operate from an awareness that these are not monolithic, static categories and that individuals do not so easily fit into a simplistic "either/or" scenario of oppressed/oppressor. Rather, there are many layers and intersections of oppression and privilege interwoven and intermixed (and often colliding) within the conglomerate we call the self, formed through the reciprocal processes of social construction and autonomous individuality. "Privilege" and "oppress" are situational verbs and constructed social qualities, not inherent and hegemonic qualities of individual human beings.