I think that both Susan and Carolyn have made good points. I've been
involved in feminist, queer and disability organizing cultural,academic,
grassroots, etc.) for almost 20 years and during that time I have seen
countless committed and earnest people simply stop 'doing the
work' because they became so disillusioned with, and hurt by their
'fellow comrades' who have accused them of 'not doing the RIGHT work,'
'not doing it in the RIGHT way,' and 'not doing the RIGHT amount of it'.
What a waste.
To be sure, it is important for us to be accountable to each other and
self-critical. I think, however, that the sort of
more-political-than-thou attitude that often gets adopted actually masks
horizontal jealousies, rivalries, competitiveness, and hostilities which
themselves can be intimidating enough to discourage members of oppressed
groups (many of whom have low self-confidence and low self-esteem) from
getting involved in movement for social change.
best regards, Shelley
Shelley Tremain, PhD,
L'Institut Roeher Institute,
Kinsmen Building,
York University,
4700 Keele Street,
North York, ON, Canada
M3J 1P3
Carolyn Tyjewski wrote:
>
> To add to Susan's point about there being many different types of activism that
> exist and are needed. I believe it was Cornell West who was chastised back in the
> day because he wasn't out on the line and his response was that he could do the
> cause more good writing and educating than he could getting arrested hundreds of
> times. We all have our work to do. The question should not be whether or not our
> work fits a stereotyped image of "activism" but whether or not we are doing our
> work.
>
> Susan Gabel wrote:
>
> > Dear Phyllis and all,
> > Phyllis, thank you for participating in the Singer protest. I appreciate your
> > willingness to be arrested for that cause. I hope that I can learn from your
> > example and your strength.
> >
> > I think, though, that there's another way to look at the activism issue. It
> > seems like activism can take many forms and that from the outside looking in on
> > someone else's experience, it might be difficult to know what they can and cannot
> > do and what they consider activism in their life. Some folks have just enough
> > energy (physical and mental) and just enough time to be good advocates for family
> > and self. I suspect that we all go through stages in our lives when we can and
> > cannot be involved in protests that lead to arrests, etc. There probably are
> > many reasons for these phases but I'll bet they're often related to constraints
> > or other commitments in our lives: children/family members who need us present,
> > impairments that prevent or interfere with certain activities (my depression, for
> > example, can be quite constraining at times and I must carefully manage my
> > environmental stress), jobs that cannot be missed, selves that must be tended
> > to. I'm sure my list isn't exhaustive.
> >
> > Can we find ways to value everyone's contributions and accept that we will all
> > contribute differently but to the best of our "ability"? Susan Gabel
>
> --
> Carolyn
> check out, "Passing, Invisibility and Other Psychotic Stuff" at
> http://www.tell-us-your-story.com/_disc68r/00000003.htm
> Add your story
> at http://www.tell-us-your-story.com
> Finding What We Have In Common One Story At A Time*
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