What in the hell has been going on with the Oscar Grant movement?
And I am not talking about the infamous “Violence is Not Justice” PSA that Youth Uprising put out (but that was pretty fucking bad).
I’m talking about the patriarchy.
Yes, I said it.
There is something eerily similar about the type of patriarchy that has emerged in the Grant movement to what has been coined “disaster patriarchy.” It’s like a mix of opportunism with a we-have-no-time-to-focus-on-women’s-liberation-we-are-in-a-state-of-emergency! madness. Shall we call it "riot patriarchy"? “rebellion patriarchy”? “emergency patriarchy?” Either way, the endless bombardment of machismo is just embarrassing. It makes me want to throw up in my mouth a little.
The rush of testosterone that fills the crowd when the riot police move in terrifies, fascinated and humiliates me. I am humiliated to be part of a movement with such bravado. I don’t know how to describe it really. It reminds me so much of the organizing that went down after Katrina….
I really wanted to punch a guy in the face that grabbed me during the last demo but how could I do that when 20,000 members of law enforcement are just waiting for an excuse to pounce? Don’t get me wrong, Too Sexy for 501c3 does not endorse nor participate in violence against egotistical organizers—not because it’s unprincipled behavior but because it’s just not very sustainable and we don’t like being lectured by those peacemaking-coalition-builders about how we have to put our claws away in the face of repeated disrespect.
I wonder if this most recent wave of manliness has gone completely unchecked? At the risk of being painted as a petty bitch or outside agitator by all, I ask you, are we only going to discuss gender justice and sexual harassment when we talk about reproductive rights? I’d much rather see it being brought up by men of color than the white anarcho-femmes who travel to Chiapas every year and try to school me on Zapatism@.
I know people have brought up the opportunism and the egoism in the Grant movement but the thing about all this opportunism and egoism is that patriarchy is like its food. We’re just feeding the beast until it self-congratulates itself into a national Oscar Grant movement tour complete with pictures of organizers on shirts instead of Grant's.
…
I'm tempted to begin a conversation applying Marcuse's theory that the market is sustained by sex drive to the activist community in the Bay Area... but I don't want to bore you to death with more of my beating dead horses and it is already a f-ing miracle that you are still reading. I’ll have to brush up on my Marcuse and save that for another rant down the line.
Now that I have gotten all that off of my chest, lets get back to business shall we?... Have you given feedback on the new design?? All you have to do is CLICK HERE!
Yours in dyslexic banter,
Half of Too Sexy for 501c3
p.s. please email me resources, zine and journal articles about riot/rebellion patriarchy. What I have been reading so far is soooo unsatisfying. Feel free to comment on the irony of my rant in light of our new tshirt design (if you think it’s ironic, you obviously don’t get it). Or use the comment section to vent about your experiences with riot/rebellion/disaster patriarchy as well—that’s what we’re here for! I would heart you for it!
From indybay:
ReplyDeleteI think that this critique should be taken rather seriously, especially since the author didnt necessarily fall for the riot=manarchist trap.
It does seem that since the dry up of the nationwide radical queer/trans/feminist explosion that happened from 2007-2009 a whole bunch of straight (mostly) white dudes are going in for the kill, trying to "take it back." Which by the way is eerily similar to the white tea party arguing to take their country back from the evil black man.
Before people (aka mostly straight mostly white mostly men) pounce on this critique I think it is important to point out that the entire reason queer/trans people, womyn, and POC in the Midwest (which is pretty much where the last wave of queer militant visibility began) started was because they were sick of the very things that this person pointed out. They were not questioning militancy or riot, in fact they thought there wasn't enough militancy, they were simply refusing to organizing in a straight, male, or white fashion, and many of them started BB!, and other queer groups as militant semi-separatist groups. It is really funny to read this critique because friends of mine from the Midwest started BB! after very similar things happened at the World Bank march in Georgetown in 2007...where big white men were manhandling womyn, immigrants, trans people, and queers...and in fact literally using them as shields against the police.
The conclusion tends to be that whenever we start trusting, befriending, or taking to the streets with cis-men, straight people, and white people who have no idea what it is like to grow up experiencing the violence that we face on the regular, we are putting ourselves at risk. Straight people like to talk about how queer friendly they are (or how "queer" they are) all the time...and how many times do they turn their backs or say nothing when someone starts shit with one of their trans/queer friends or says something incredibly fucked up? Frequently. For fuck sakes pretty much ALL of the men that I allowed myself to befriend in the last couple of years have turned out to be rapists, abusers, arrogant, and bigheaded. And that is really fucking sad because I have pretty much always hated straight men until the last couple of years when I forced myself to open up to the ones that I thought were "different" or "working on their shit"or not all that bad. Boy was I wrong.
So we have to ignore them. We have to organize amongst ourselves and fight they way we wish to fight. We have to upstage them, silence them, kick the shit out of them (figuratively and sometimes literally) and make them feel they have no place in any movement. It worked incredibly well for a couple of years before infighting tore the above-ground militant queer/trans movement to shreds.
Just remember, confrontation, militancy, and revolutionary actions are not a symptom of patriarchy. It is easy to get caught up in that wave when so much fucked up shit happens all of the time. Patriarchy is the problem and the idea that womyn, trannies, and queers shouldnt participate in street confrontations because it is "manarchist" is in fact a symptom of internalized patriarchy. Our history proves that we (oppressed peoples) have lead the way in revolutionary confrontation time and again. Lets embrace it and kick the shit out of patriarchy!
I think this article is taking attention away from what is really important, and that is EVERYONE( women and men) should be organizing for justice for Oscar Grant. With that said, I don't think that women, and men too, should stop fighting to smash patriarchy and further equality; even amongst social movements like the one that has formed to obtain justice for Oscar Grant. But that fight can't be one that is going to distract or take away attention and energy from what the goal is at hand in acheiving justice, or for what the actual cause is. If Cyberxcian@/Too Sexy for 501c3 thinks that women are not having an equal say in the Oscar Grant movement, then she has a right to say it. But she needs to show why she thinks that way and make an argument and give reasons and rational behind why she does. This article did not really show an proof or present an argument that the OG movement has become patriarchial. So really to me, it is kind of an argument that isn't an argument and more of just of an accusation. This is not helpful in furthering any cause; Oscar Grant or the fight to smash partriarchy. Actually it hurts and it divides people. The Oscar Grant movement does not need to get caught up in distractions like this right now because some people, with no real proof, are saying that it has become repressive and unfair to women, or whoever else. I don't really think the movement is going in that direction and that there are alot of people amongst it who care enough to NOT let it go in that direction; including women. It is also an open movement for all to get involved. I don't think anyone, including women, have really been pushed out. There have been alot of women who have been involved in organizing for to see justice for OG. If u think I am wrong Too Sexy for c 501c3, then comment back.
ReplyDeleteThere is always someone who is going to ask oppressed people to 'prove' that oppression exists. I mostly have that experience with racism: I complain about the culture of white supremacy in some organization's work and then all of these white people come out of the woodwork demanding proof and then all of a sudden I'm the divider of the movement instead of patriarchy/racism/homophobia/etc. and then how dare I complain!?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous commenter, my post is a rant. I'm not going to write a thesis about the culture of patriarchy that allows a woman to be grabbed and then has someone claiming that that’s not enough 'proof' of patriarchy. Being told what to do by male organizers, being hit on, starred at, having men brush up against us sexually when the police move in on a rebellion is a regular occurrence for many women in large demonstrations. The Oscar Grant movement is no exceptions. We, however, still attend. If that is not hardcore commitment to the cause I don't know what is. There is a special irony about getting sexually assaulted (because that is what it is when someone grabs you to make sexual advances) while protesting against police violence. An irony I don’t think you will ever truly understand.
You say,
"the fight can't be one that is going to distract or take away attention and energy from what the goal is at hand in acheiving justice, or for what the actual cause is."
This is where we differ. Maybe you should take some time out and think about how white police officers are attempting to assert their masculinity over Black men during an arrest and how the whole construction of manliness has been historically in opposition to people of color. Its not just that you don't understand how patriarchy works, but you don't truly understand racism and how wrapped up patriarchy is in it. So maybe you are the one "talking attention away from the cause."
I suggest you have discussions with these women you claim to be organizing with because I have spent far too much of my time explaining what patriarchy is to men to have some comment war on Indybay about it.
My blog is for allies. Stay the fuck off of it with your "explain what oppression is" shit.
that's Ms. Too Sexy to you.
Greetings Comrades,
ReplyDeleteFirst, let me say that I agree with the criticism raised by Cyberxican. As patriarchy is a primary form of oppression without our society, I think it goes without saying that it has manifestations, objective and subjective, within the Oscar Grant movement, and all our liberation movements, and that we don't need a thesis or a book to call out the obvious.
Criticism is not our enemy. Criticism, such as that raised by Cyberxian, can and does help strengthen our movement(s) and help them grow by forcing us to improve our practice and our understanding of how various forms of oppression and their internalization undermine our practice and movements. Patriarchy, white supremacy, capitalism, etc. are our real enemies - not the highlighting of their manifestations within our work, however subjective it may appear. If we are serious about liberation, and I firmly believe everyone here is, I firmly believe we have to be serious about receiving - hearing, listening, acknowledging, and incorporating - criticism. This does not mean that we have to accept ALL criticism, or that all criticism is necessarily relevant. But, I think it should mean taking it into account criticisms of allied forces as constructive contributions.
Fighting against patriarchial orientations and practices - conscious or unconscious; intentional or not - in the Oscar Grant movement I would strongly argue should not be seen as a distraction, or an aversion. It is part and parcel of the struggle, just as much as it was a factor in his murder.
Let's not tear each other down with agent accusations, etc. We all know there are ways to question and challenge each other that don't put folks on the defensive (who don't need to be at least), that aren't liberal or patronizing, and are much more likely to produce clarity, rather than hostility and unnecessary antagonism. That servers our movements no purpose. Let's listen, question, and push each other to get our shit together to eliminate the oppressions confining us.
Finally, Fuck Patriarchy!
In Unity and Struggle,
Kali
"Why Misogynists Make Great Informants: How Gender Violence on the Left Enables State Violence in Radical Movements"
ReplyDeletevia Make/Shift written by Courtney Desiree Morris.
from indybay
ReplyDeleteok, just to recap because i am enraged and incensed
we have a comrade who has provided a useful lens to critique the ways patriarchy, a ubiquitous oppressive system which engenders rape culture, shows up inside of our organizing spaces and allows for macho sexist patriarchal homophobic behavior to thrive unchecked.
she has disclosed how violent and humiliating it feels in organizing spaces,
she has raised legitimate concerns about how sexual assault is taking place at demonstrations without a tactical feminist response to interrupt this kind of behavior on a movement level ,
and she has alluded to similarities to Katrina organizing in the Gulf Coast and conditions that promoted sexist informants like Brandon Darby.
Yet, rather than register how useful this critique is to a movement that suffers from male domination, she is treated as suspect, delegitimized, bullied for proof that patriarchy and sexism exist in the j4og movement, lectured and dismissed? Are you kidding me? who is really being disruptive???
This conversation needs to happen, SO:
@ those who consider her critique disruptive
to me that sounds like if you feel disrupted, you are at the very least not targeted by patriarchal oppression and if you explored that deeper, you most likely benefit from patriarchal conditions. Yes, that means YOU are a tool of oppression.
@Anyone who considers a persistent commitment to dismantling patriarchy to be problematic to movement building
you are no ally, you are anything but revolutionary. and actually, you should be thanking cyberxican@ and everyone else giving you a clue for opening up a space for you to take a hard look at your internalized sexism which WILL be exploited by the state.
@the haters on this comment thread
you have a stark resemblance to the pigs and the state, and for that reason, i understand why it must be hard to look at reflections of yourself, but for fucks sake stop interrupting the conversation.
Regardless of the aims of some very ignorant defenders of patriarchal order, this perspective is obviously describing a common reality for many targets of gendered violence under the conditions of patriarchy. given how rampant and typical it is, voices like hers should echo to resounding levels, but because of how patriarchy functions, they are gagged, and gender analysis is assumed to have no political bearing. Fuck that.
for those who do get it, and appreciate cyberxican@s piece, appreciate courtney desiree morris's piece, are not surprised by midnight special's open letter, appreciate all of the countless women of color who have had to make this point, and for anyone who wants to riot against patriarchy, i recognize this as a rallying cry and want to organize with you.
So to get back on topic, have these conversations about patriarchy, gendered violence and full participation of women and queer bodies have made it to the top of the agenda for the general assembly? when it does, i'll be there.