Sites of Resistance

These words from bell hooks resonate with what I see everywhere I look. I see people defending place in mainstream spaces, refusing to be silenced. People are resisting the usual suspects; people are also resisting possible allies. People are resisting complex circumstances, but the same oppressors are in plain sight (whether we acknowledge them or not). And, people are defending space on the margins - their sites of resistance - whether these sites exist in the physical or cyber worlds.

I bring the powerful words of bell hooks to my little corner of resistance. I read them for myself and pass them along, as someone who is acutely aware of my own oppression and who is slowly confronting the extent to which I oppress others as a white occupier of the so-called First World.

bell hooks writes:

Silenced. We fear those who speak about us, who do not speak to us and with us. We know what it is like to be silenced. We know the forces that silence us, because they never want us to speak, differ from the forces that say speak, tell me your story. Only do not speak in a voice of resistance. Only speak from that space in the margin that is a sign of deprivation, a wound, an unfulfilled longing. Only speak your pain.

This is a site of intervention. A message from that space in the margin that is a site of creativity and power, that inclusive space where we rediscover ourselves, where we move in solidarity to erase the category of colonized/colonizer. Marginality as site of resistance. Enter that space. Let us meet there. Enter that space. We greet you as liberators.

Spaces can be real and imagined. Spaces tell stories and unfold histories. Spaces can be interrupted, appropriated, and transformed through artistic and literary practice.

As Pratibha Parma notes, "The appropriation and use of space are political acts."

I am located in the margin. I make a definite distinction between that marginality which is imposed by oppressive structures and that marginality one chooses as site of resistance -- as location of radical openness and possibility. This site of resistance is continually formed in that segregated culture of opposition that is our critical response to domination. We come to this space through suffering and pain, through struggle. We know struggle to be that which pleasures, delights, and fulfills desire. We are transformed, individually, collectively, as we make radical creative space which affirms and sustains our subjectivity, which gives us new location from which to articulate our sense of the world.

Resources:

hooks, b. (2004). Choosing the margin as a space of radical openness. In S. Harding (Ed.), The Feminist Standpoint Theory Reader: Intellectual and Political Controversies (pp. 153-159). New York: Routledge.

Comments

[Red Jenny]

Amazing. Brings tears to my eyes. :)

The personal really is the political, as they say, and our struggles and movements are so intertwined with our real experiences. This is something that is so different from electoral partisan politics, which is about management and power.

Spaces on the margins also relate to knowledge, as in standpoint theory. Those on the margins have extremely valuable things to say and should never be silenced.

[Polly Jones]

Red Jenny, thanks for the link! Did you notice that is the same book I'm taking from or is that a coincidence?! I definitely think the margins are sites for beginning to understand how systems of power operate. I also think it is a critical idea that margins are spaces of resistance. Especially with international development, there has often been a push for women to be integrated into the mainstream. But, many resist being "integrated" as this robs them of autonomy. I think the link you had on your blog recently to landless workers spoke to this point beautifully.

[Red Jenny]

Indigenous movements like the MST occur in exactly these sites of resistance. They are all about margins, and they are so amazingly inspiring.

Interestingly, Paul Hawken was on Democracy Now yesterday. I find his talks also very inspiring (I saw this one in person - made me cry). Whenever I listen to him I think real change is possible.

He speaks of the largest movement the world has ever seen - by which he means all the different movements going on around the world: indigenous movements, environmental movements, anti-globalization movements, women's movements, etc. These are movements of marginalized people, previously silenced, struggling in their own way, with varied organizational structure.

This means decentralized movementS without centralized power or single ideology. To me this is also the essence of Anarchism.

The most important thing now, aside from working within our own movements, is creating federations, coalitions, solidarity. This allows for both separation and integration, autonomy and cooperation.

[Red Jenny]

Oh, and isn't that funny. I didn't notice this quote from bell hooks came from the same book as the quote being discussed at thinking girl. funny. I am putting in a request at the library right now. Obviously the universe is telling me to read it. ;)

[Polly Jones]

Just this past week, my faith has been restored in blogging. I think that feedbite Paul from Paulitics got going is really good and I've caught up with some other blogs I like.

You happening to provide me a link to something I'm in the process of trying to figure out, reinforces for me that blogging is a good way to connect with people who share similar ideas. It provides info and inspiration I wouldn't have otherwise.

I have always tended away from anarchism because I think we are fed all sorts of sterotypes about it. But, its appeal has grown for me. It is not waiting for the powers above to grant something, but claiming power for oneself.