Black Looks

Occupy Patriarchy - Bringing feminism to the majority of 99% -

Women make up the overwhelming majority of people living in poverty and do the overwhelming majority of unpaid work on which everyone’s lives depend. The Man-cession is a Myth; the Reality is … Women’s Bodies are Part of the Battlefield of War Sex Trafficking is a Reality for Women in Poverty The Capitalist System Depends on Controlling Women’s Reproduction Women of Color are Hit Hardest by Predatory Lending Domestic Violence Intensifies in Unstable Economy Economic Exploitation and Destruction of the Environment go Hand in Hand Our reproductive rights and agency are continually under siege. The overwhelming number of victims of sexual exploitation and violence are women and this exploitation intensifies under conditions of economic devastation. While these issues impact all women, women of color are far more likely to suffer the consequences of patriarchal domination.

A few weeks back I listened to Slavoj Žižek address the Occupy Wall Street protests with the warning to the people “Don’t fall in love with yourselves. Carnivals come cheap.” I’ve been thinking about those words and the dangers they invoke. The dangers of getting caught up with frameworks and processes and the doing and forgetting the thinking and reflecting particularly as they impact on women and queer people of colour.  And this is happening and here is one such situation…..

Confronting Intra/Inter-Oppression Collectively [@ Occupy Oakland]

Gist: During the March on Saturday, l found myself walking by some folks near the lake. We just fell into a conversation about feeling unsafe at the occupation site. I shared my own experience of discomfort, during which I demanded that my white comrades assist me in facing sexual harassment from a black man. Another woman shared her experience and discussed how we need to become more aware of people’s needs and learn how we can support each other in advocating our needs and boundaries

I’ve been thinking about Troy Davis particularly the last week and days of the campaign to save his life. Of being caught up with the intensity and urgency of the moment and wondering how whether he and the campaign to save his life would be forgotten. The Occupy Patriarchy website and this piece by Darnell L Moore on Feminist Wire provide some answers.

When we answer the calls to meet comrades—on bridges, in parks, on street corners, on Wall Street, at Union Square, in the city or the hood—in pursuit of social and economic justice we engage radical resistance work that could result in ideological and material change. However, if bodies are only called upon to assemble in the public square with the production of certain ends in mind, like the actualization of agenda items, the ratification of certain laws, or the staying of an execution, then our “radical” work might itself be compromised by the very consumerist, capitalist, impulses that many of us call into question. Yes, when bodies are called to rally, as if laborers in the social justice marketplace, for the purposes of merely producing “goods” (i.e. passage of, say, marriage equality legislation or the ceasing of Troy Davis’s execution which are both good ends), we become workers in the domain of justice and not human beings (with hearts, minds, and souls) worthy of embrace, conversation, and respect. Is it possible, then, that what we might be experiencing in our various, yet interconnected social justice movements, is a reinstitution of the harmful forms of commodification that fractures human relationships by diminishing the significance (read, value) of the persons engaged in them.

In other words how do we avoid replicating the forces we are struggling against and how much of the process of struggle itself is embedded with forms of commodification and patriarchy. Moore questions the process of protest as we stand and walk in solidarity with each other? How mindful are are protestors of sexism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny? How much do we engage on a spiritual and mindful level? How much time is taken up with slogans and listening to speeches and how much with engaging in reflection with others? What happens when we leave those momentary spaces of solidarity? Whose name, whose story will we remember? Will our presence be remembered beyond the casual words and encounters? What will feed our minds when we are outside the space of community or solidarity so that we are able to imagine a different way of being. Bringing feminism to the Occupy Movement is part of this process.

For example, it is estimated that nearly 3000-4000 bodies were in attendance at SlutWalkNYC and at the onset of the Occupy Wall Street résistance it was reported that 5,000 bodies were on hand to commence the “occupation.” But, how many stopped to discuss the particularities of another’s life or the similarities and dissimilarities that make us diverse persons even while we might all be women standing against rape and violence or the 99 percent standing against the class warfare waged upon us by the corporate class? When we engage the other, we are necessarily forced to do the type of self-engagement that dislodges the prejudices, ignorances, and violations that many of us bear witness to in among justice workers. When we self and other engage, we begin community and soul-building. That work requires us to “see” the other not just as a pawn on the field in the struggle for justice, but as a brother and sister. But, this type of work is also dangerous because it requires, as noted eloquently and powerfully by Stephanie Gilmore, “reflexive analysis” on the part of the justice worker

Continue reading “America’s Autumn: A Time for Growth Amidst Struggle” and Occupy Patriarchy - Bringing feminism to the majority of 99% -