May 2012
38 posts
Essay and Critical Response: Privilege Politics is... →
butterflyrevolt:
Signal boost! This is really important.
angrybrownpeople:
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....
““Evils like those arising from antagonistic interests [between master and...”
– Herbert Spencer, vulgar capitalist, social Darwinist, hater of the poor (via sushigoat)
Never sleeping as revolutionary praxis
Every issue of Benjamin Tucker's "Liberty" in PDF... →
There are no safe spaces →
butterflyrevolt:
And when did anti-oppression stop being empowering/start being reformist?
But seriously, we have to save identity politics/privilege politics/anti-oppression from BOTH the liberals on one side, and the manarchist bros on the other.
Anti-oppression/privilege…
The Case for Self-Defense →
Self-Defense as I’m using it here is the principle of using defensive tactics of a political, social, economic, or physical nature that seeks to deny an oppressor opportunity to exploit or otherwise harm an oppressed group. This includes tactics and actions meant to bolster the power of an oppressed community to prevent the possibility of such attacks happening in the future.
We should assert in...
Mutualist Alliance Blog: Social safety-nets vs... →
mutualistalliance:
Belief in a “social safety-net” is usually connected to progressivism or Scandinavian-style social democracy, so it’s understandable that the concept is usually linked to a state function, and the concept of “Big Government”(even though it’s not necessarily so). The concept has been tried and has…
Dumb Things White People Say: Help one of my... →
detroitsomething:
Dear followers, teachers, and the Tumblr #education community,
My name is Ray Stoeser and I am a second year English teacher at Crockett Technical High School in Detroit, MI. This year I had the amazing opportunity to be the AP Language and Composition instructor for…
have a nice life: What is an Emo Progressive and... →
sushigoat:
Over recent twitter debates with vulgar Obamabots, we’ve come across the term “emoprogs” or “emo progressives” a lot. I am not a progressive but I certainly think this is a load of bullshit. Taken from Urban Dictionary:
Note: This term was seen as divisive and has been superseded by …
have a nice life: What is an Emo Progressive and... →
aheram:
sushigoat:
Over recent twitter debates with vulgar Obamabots, we’ve come across the term “emoprogs” or “emo progressives” a lot. I am not a progressive but I certainly think this is a load of bullshit. Taken from Urban Dictionary:
Note: This term was seen as divisive and has been superseded by …
Some of the brightest people I respect apparently fall into this category of “emo...
You. Can't. Win.
For anarchists who do know something about anthropology, the arguments are all too familiar. A typical exchange goes something like this:
Skeptic: Well, I might take this whole anarchism idea more seriously if you could give me some reason to think it would work. Can you name me a single viable example of a society which has existed without a government?
Anarchist: Sure. There have been...
I just really, really want to go out and buy heaps...
everythingbutharleyquinn:
HEEEEEEEEAPS.
I can see it in my minds eye. You approach the legendary peaks and valleys and imposing foundation dunes of Elise’s cosmetics purchase, remembering the warnings of the prophecy…
The Pervocracy: Cosmocking: June '12! →
pervocracy:
Let’s all laugh at people who privately revealed fetishes to their partners! Ha ha, ewww, freeeaks!
I live for the Pervocracy’s Cosmockings. I do.
marja erwin and charles johnson on privelege h/t...
Marja Erwin: Does patriarchy even exist any more? Men die sooner. Men get imprisoned more often.
Charles Johnson: I guess this depends on what group of phenomena "patriarchy" is supposed to be encompassing. The strand of radical feminism I've always identified with has seen patriarchy as rooted primarily in men's violence against women, and especially the sexualized violence of rape, wife-beating, abortion laws, etc. As much has been done to challenge all of these, they are still everywhere and still largely committed with impunity, and I think as long as, e.g., men are raping 1 out of every 4 women, and this has systemic effects on constraining women's behavior and gender expression, patriarchy as I understand it is still in place. // It's true that men get imprisoned more often, but as far as I know that's always been true, as long as there have been prisons. Prison is oppression, but at present it's almost exclusively form of oppression that some men inflict on other men. (Maybe that will change as more women become police, prison-guards, and political office-holders, but at present all those are still predominantly the province of states-men.) And I think the major causes of, e.g., men's shorter life expectancies (labor conditions under state capitalism, violence among men, etc.) are also examples of things men do to other men. But hasn't patriarchy, as a hierarchical structure, has always included internal hierarchy among the patriarchs, and intersected with cross-cutting forms of oppression?
Marja Erwin: Is privilege the best way of thinking about it?
Charles Johnson: I'm inclined to doubt it. But I'm increasingly uncertain that "privilege" is the best way of thinking about much of anything; I'm not sure if we have the same reasons for worrying in this case. I'm worried because I'm worried about how far the all-encompassing use of "privilege" to explain has shifted the focus from what oppressors do to what oppressors have. Of course there were reasons for that -- unpacking invisible knapsacks and making privileged people aware of the limitations of their own standpoint and all that -- but what we have now is a basically epistemological approach (about becoming aware of, and owning, how much "privilege" you do or don't have) to the micropolitics of one-to-one or one-to-many power-relationships -- an approach which provided a handy conceptual tool for the analysis and criticism of individual beliefs, attitudes, conduct, epistemic standpoints, etc. -- but which seems to have been wrenched out of that context and awkwardly repurposed into an all-encompassing framework for viewing all forms of oppression, exploitation, bigotry, ignorance, alienation, interpersonal friction, or abusive behavior. I do think that one effect of this is that it has proved really, extremely awkward for any attempt to talk about power relationships that involve more than two sides, and hence also for horizontal, diagonal, or intersectional power (such as the hierarchies of power among men under male supremacy, for example; or the way in which "cis" women, trans women, trans men, gay men, genderqueer folks, children, etc. are all oppressed -- but differently oppressed, in different directions, by patriarchal violence).
Marja Erwin: Privilege has become the default model in radical circles. I think it actually gets in the way in most discussions. For example, it centers the privileged person's ignorance of the situation over the oppressed person's knowledge of the types of oppression she faces. It also encourages knee-jerk reactions that "I didn't choose this privilege!" "I haven't seen this privilege," or "I am oppressed too." It invites confusion from people not familiar with the topic. I think it makes more sense to speak of oppression than of privilege. // Patriarchy is conceptually problematic because it implies a social order where men, as a class, rule over womyn, as a class. Men's violence against womyn oppresses all womyn - through fear, the reality that absolute safety from male violence does not exist, and that relative safety is precarious at best. But it's not something that all men do, and it's not something that all men benefit from. It is closely tied into masculinity, to violence against non-masculine men, and violence between masculine men as they try to divvy up access to womyn. // I think it makes more sense to speak of masculinity and misogyny.
“[N]ot everyone who supports universal healthcare supports government healthcare,...”
– Charles “Rad Geek” Johnson (via neverfox)
This. This. This. This. This.
The Trans Women's Anti-Violence Project:... →
transfeminism:
It was just announced that CeCe McDonald, who was being charged with two counts of second-degree murder in an incident of self-defense, has just taken a plea-deal—second degree manslaughter with a recommended 41 month sentence. CeCe McDonald’s sentencing hearing will be in a month.
But Ms….
Blackamazon is too much: Ain't no new black,... →
holzmantweed:
So with President Obama’s position on marriage equality finally evolving, we’re into the latest round of people saying “Gay is the new Black,” which is the latest round of someone comparing bigotry against themselves to Blackness because the fact is that how we treat Blacks in…
Why did I comment on f'n Jezebel?
So Jezebel takes on the “Stripper Hot Dog Mom” story by adding the oh-so-Jezebel comment
http://jezebel.com/5908855/stripper-mom-selling-hot-dogs-charged-with-prostitution
“She and Tan Mom should do a collabo.”
For some reason utterly unknown to me, I found myself commenting there.
zhinxy@gmail.com
Wed 09 May 2012 12:30 PM
She and Tan Mom should do a...
Dumb Things White People Say: Black on Black Crime →
racismschool:
On a regular basis I am attacked with false comments about the idea of “Black on Black Crime.” It’s here on Tumblr, the “NEWS,” the comment section of…well, everything. Two days ago I saw a comment that read “The greatest enemy of the Black man is the Black man.” The best…
CeCe McDonald Was Punished for Surviving →
transfeminism:
“When attacked, both Paige and CeCe were 23-year-old Midwestern girls. Both were black transgender women. Paige was mortally shot; CeCe, a college student, was on trial, being punished for defending herself. Though in different ways, both stories tell the same truth about how society has come to accept, and even expect, the violence transgender people — especially young trans...
Peppermint Wind: Headdresses- And Why They Aren't... →
beautifulbiatch:
karenhealey:
moniquill:
beautifulbiatch:
I know I promised not to write non-PC things any more but since I’m not adding anything to this, I think I can post it. Yes. :)
Why am I standing up for this again? Because I don’t like seeing people get bullied for being white and Western. Being passive would be bullying, too. I don’t wanna give in to nonsense because of fear.
...
And y'know what? Even if they HAD used the Wasp,...
I see what you did there and also I agree.
“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own...”
– George Orwell (via bruisingfetish)
I’m telling you
I’m fucking scared
Panicky even
They’ve been doing this to Black people for centuries
And now they’re beginning with Latino Studies.
Arizona is fucking Ground Zero and we have to fight the persecution of Latino/Hispanic people.
(via...
have a nice life: Shawn Wilbur's series on... →
sushigoat:
Shawn Wilburs incredibly thoughtful approach to Proudhon and how to analyse property, The Gift Economy of Property, can be found here:
Thesis
From the Self to Property
From Property to Gift
Gifting Property
Property has become one of those things I always return to, and the basic…
