Essay and Critical Response: Privilege Politics is Reformism
Source: angrybrownpeopleSignal boost! This is really important.
Here are two essays dealing with recent debates in PoC organizing around privilege theory (also called identity politics, anti-oppression politics, safe space politics, etc). Both are by people of color.
The first essay, in the link above (click here), was originally published on the Black Orchid Collective’s website. It argues that privilege politics as it exists today is dangerously liberal and neutralizes radical liberation movements. The author makes four critiques of privilege theory. For example:
“There is no doubt that certain groups are more likely to be targeted by the police during political actions and that the repression they face will be greater, not to mention they might have less resources to call upon in their defense. These are all fairly obvious realities of white supremacy. These factors certainly hinder greater struggle. At no point should they be underestimated. At the same time, these factors are exactly the forms of oppression which must be defeated. These movements must find ways to deal with these issues politically and organizationally. Who will defeat these forms of oppression and how? If the liberation of oppressed people must be carried out by oppressed people then the tasks of liberation remain in the hands with the people who have the greatest risks. If white supremacy can only be defeated by mass and militant action and not legislation or pithy reforms then the style of struggle is fairly clear as well. What is privilege theory’s response to these two fundamental premises? Privilege theory ends up in a dead end.”
The second essay is a critical response by Invisible Man (click here for link).
From the Black Orchid Collective’s discussion of both pieces:
“Like the original piece, Invisible Man draws heavily from the traditions of Malcolm X, Fanon, CLR James and the Black Power movement and come to different conclusions. They pose questions to the original such as, why should we assume that the white militants we organize with, are not white supremacist? Why should we assume that they do not inherit the white supremacist ideology that has placed them above all non-white people? Should non-white militants organize independently so that they can gain sufficient power and strength? Are such organizations an expression of racially oppressed people’s self liberation? They further discuss the experience of non-white people when they address the racism of white organizers, to question the possibility of multiracial organizations.
Other responses to the original piece can be found here (click for link).
This has become a very important discussion in radical people of color organizing, that threatens a split between the two major camps. The editors of this blog hold that there are many problems with mainstream privilege politics as they exist today, especially in incapacitating people of color movements from feeling empowered to escalate militant struggle. We also believe, however, that there are many critical advances made by privilege politics in, ironically, helping to empower oppressed people.
We would like to ask our readers where they stand on this issue. Can a balance be found?
