#activist communities

[k-pagination]

Re: this post, where the op is told in an ask that because they are non-binary/agender and cis-passing that their fears are lesser and invalid and to shut up: 

The idea that people are not allowed to be in pain or afraid if their struggles or injustices done to them are “lesser” and they have it “easier” is one of the things I really dislike about a lot of activist discourse. We should not be basing who is in a community on how much violence and oppression and injustice they face for belonging to said community - that’s gatekeeping.

There’s a post I appreciate by a person I like (not sure if they want me to link it here) that talks about how if we found a person on the planet who had ”every single oppression,” should we stop caring about other oppressed people because they don’t have as many, even though oppression won’t have stopped for them either? And it also says, that’s what happens when you base your politics around who has the most oppressions. People get left out.

People get left out. The thing people talk about in activist circles is making sure everyone is collectively represented. And then from many different angles, it doesn’t happen - both from those in institutional power and within marginalized communities. The thing that we talk about mattering should actually matter in practice: including everyone, and making sure no one gets left out.

(I welcome discussion on this post, but I ask that you not make blanket assumptions about anyone else’s level of privilege when doing so, and I will not engage if you basically act like the asker in the post linked).

[aliceviceroy]

"A lot of "allies" simply don't want to discuss the extent to which our organizations have been hijacked and LGBTQ has been appropriated as a promotional tool. It means shifting the focus of the gay rights movement back to actual gay people and away from the liberal circle jerk, and that's not something that benefits them."

[autisticadvocacy]

There isn’t enough writing on the topic of toxicity and abuse in SJ communities that is nuanced.

No you don’t have to give up your values to give up on harmful people.

[autisticadvocacy]

I’ve never liked the phrase “agree to disagree” Much of this just stems from my self-absorbed desire to be right and acknowledged as being right. In practice, it does have some pr…

I will not pretend the world is a better place than it is, in hope that my positivity will become a reality.

[aliceviceroy]

[resourcesforradicals]

I think this is a way under-discussed factor in radical organisations.

Organisations with a membership based around a group of friends can feel really positive if you're part of the friendship group, but can be very challenging if you're not. In-jokes are made, interests cross over a lot, and new people will quickly notice who is friends with who and who has influence over who.

Friendship drama can get in the way of effective organising. Simple enough.

Friends turning up to meetings that aren't that passionate about the issues isn't necessarily good. If people aren't that serious about organising, and are more in it for the friendship, it can create a culture of lethargy in your group. People not being committed enough may also lead to people to be unreliable with workloads.

Conclusion:

Why do friendship groups so often dominate our organizing? It’s because they are the people that we have the most access to. Going out and doing real outreach and engaging people that we don’t know and are different than us is scary at first. It takes work, so doing this in teams is a good way to alleviate some of this fear. The simplest thing we can do to change the friend activist group culture is to not lean on our friends to join our groups and actively seek out self-starting organizers who are interested in the projects we want to work on. Start with two or three people instead of five unreliables. You will have better results.

Amazing!