White “Guilt” and Being Guilty

Eugene at Pudgy Indian writes about a recent conversation he had with a co-worker:

“I don’t want to feel guilty for something I didn’t do.”

No where in our conversation, whitey, did I ask you to feel guilty. That, many of you, is your own fucking problem. I could really give a rats ass. This, in my opinion, is what you are really saying. “There is a perceived threat to my privilege. I don’t have to feel guilty about MY privilege. That’s just the way it is. It isn’t my fault.” No where, whitey, did I say anything about you having to feel guilt. A reminder; That is your own fucking problem and maybe something you should deal with. But here you go, getting all defense about a perceived threat because you do feel guilt, reacting in a way that brings all the issues back to you, whitey.

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White “Guilt” and Being Guilty

Eugene at Pudgy Indian writes about a recent conversation he had with a co-worker:

“I don’t want to feel guilty for something I didn’t do.”

No where in our conversation, whitey, did I ask you to feel guilty. That, many of you, is your own fucking problem. I could really give a rats ass. This, in my opinion, is what you are really saying. “There is a perceived threat to my privilege. I don’t have to feel guilty about MY privilege. That’s just the way it is. It isn’t my fault.” No where, whitey, did I say anything about you having to feel guilt. A reminder; That is your own fucking problem and maybe something you should deal with. But here you go, getting all defense about a perceived threat because you do feel guilt, reacting in a way that brings all the issues back to you, whitey.

Leaving Socialism

Fire Fly blogs about organizing and leaving the socialist movement:

…it’s always white men who lead these demonstrations, who are given the opportunity to speak, and who set the agendas.

These means of engaging can be really alienating for lots of people. Speaking at demonstrations involves loud, angry invective — talking at people, not to or with them. Inevitably they engage in every other conversation this way as well. Speaking to them is very one-sided (and that’s a criticism I’ve heard from people both within and outside the activist community), which makes it difficult to work with them or to get one’s priorities represented at organising meetings where the real decisions get made.

The reason they behave like this is because they get a sense of entitlement from their ideology. One of my interlocutors compared it to evangelical Christianity: aside from the need to evangelise (recruit), there’s also a single book/prophet (Marx, who has canonical interpreters), a teleological view of human history that will end in a single protracted moment where everything will be set right (in Christianity it’s the Second Coming, in socialism, it’s Revolution), inability to acknowledge any problems other than the ones they prescribe (e.g. patriarchy), and an inability to analyse with any other perspective (e.g. environmentalism).

2nd Carnival of Radical Action

Fire Fly hosts the 2nd Carnival of Radical Action at She Who Stumbles:

Welcome to the second Carnival of Radical Action!

This month has been full of ups and downs, so promoting and writing for this carnival hasn’t been a huge priority for me. But a handful of dedicated people have made wonderful submissions — this edition of the CORA is about quality, not quantity!

The theme of this edition of the carnival seems to have been “community” by default. The physical spaces that people live in and the things they do in those spaces, amongst their existing networks. The radicalism of people changing the way they relate to others.

Time To Stand UP Against…Straight Bashing??

Yolanda, fellow editor at The Blog and the Bullet, writes on her blog:

Four African American lesbian women from Newark, New Jersey were sentenced this past June 14th to excessively long prison terms in New York for the crime of defending themselves against homophobic harassment and violence. These young sistas were railroaded by both a dismissively misogynist judge and by the reactionary, sensationalist media.

Time To Stand UP Against…Straight Bashing??

Yolanda, fellow editor at The Blog and the Bullet, writes on her blog:

Four African American lesbian women from Newark, New Jersey were sentenced this past June 14th to excessively long prison terms in New York for the crime of defending themselves against homophobic harassment and violence. These young sistas were railroaded by both a dismissively misogynist judge and by the reactionary, sensationalist media.