gallinggalla (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gallinggalla) wrote2011-04-18 11:31 pm
gallinggalla) wrote2011-04-18 11:31 pm
Entry tags:
"Feminism" in support of colonialism
So it would seem that "philanthropist" Greg Mortenson is a fraud.
I mean, look at the photo at the top of the story: White male dude rides in to "rescue" brown people from themselves. In the process, he gets US $30,000 speaking fees and flies in private jets while lying to people about the schools he supposedly built in Afghanistan.
But what turns my stomach the most is this [bold mine]:
Great. So a bunch of white Western cis het owning-class dudes use the language of white Western cis het owning-class (WWCHO-C) feminism to justify colonialist wars. And of course, those white Western cis het owning-class feminists – the ones that dominate and control feminist discourse in the Global North – sit on their laurels and say nothing while their words are used to justify invasions, mass killing of civilians, and torture.
WWCHO-C feminists say nothing while Republicans destroy what's left of unions and make life harder for working-class women.
WWCHO-C feminists say nothing while immigrant women are physically and sexually abused and denied health care in ICE facilities and for-profit jails and Arpaio's hellholes. Feminists say nothing when those women's children are taken away from them.
WWCHO-C feminists say nothing as the prison-industrial complex and the War on Drugs tears apart communities of color.
I didn't leave feminism *just* because WWCHO-C feminism is rife with transphobia and fake "allyship". I left because of this shit.
I mean, look at the photo at the top of the story: White male dude rides in to "rescue" brown people from themselves. In the process, he gets US $30,000 speaking fees and flies in private jets while lying to people about the schools he supposedly built in Afghanistan.
But what turns my stomach the most is this [bold mine]:
Three Cups of Tea has sold over 4m copies and brought Mortenson not just celebrity but a wide audience for his views on how to win "hearts and minds" in the Islamic world. General David Petraeus, overall commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, and his predecessor General Stanley McChrystal, were both fans of the book. McChrystal wrote to Mortenson in June 2010: "If I'm not involved in the years ahead, I will take tremendous comfort in knowing people like you are helping Afghans build a future."
The former mountaineer has also lectured at top American military academies and been invited to talk with the most senior officers of the American military about his belief that Islamist extremism is best fought through female education.
Great. So a bunch of white Western cis het owning-class dudes use the language of white Western cis het owning-class (WWCHO-C) feminism to justify colonialist wars. And of course, those white Western cis het owning-class feminists – the ones that dominate and control feminist discourse in the Global North – sit on their laurels and say nothing while their words are used to justify invasions, mass killing of civilians, and torture.
WWCHO-C feminists say nothing while Republicans destroy what's left of unions and make life harder for working-class women.
WWCHO-C feminists say nothing while immigrant women are physically and sexually abused and denied health care in ICE facilities and for-profit jails and Arpaio's hellholes. Feminists say nothing when those women's children are taken away from them.
WWCHO-C feminists say nothing as the prison-industrial complex and the War on Drugs tears apart communities of color.
I didn't leave feminism *just* because WWCHO-C feminism is rife with transphobia and fake "allyship". I left because of this shit.
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And in the context of this article, while it's much more subtle, the implication is obviously "I might not be there but AT LEAST there are people like you! That's the second best thing!"
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Privileged folks just don't get how pernicious these micro-aggressions are. I mean, I was part of a bible study session a few weeks ago and the topic turned to disability and mental illness. I kid you not, the rector's warden – essentially chairman of the board of directors of the church – who is a wealthy white temporarily-abled cis gay man, said that Jesus' "lesson" to mentally ill people is that we need to get over ourselves and "man up" – yep, he used those exact words, "man up". It was very difficult to keep my anger in check after that one. He managed to roll ableism, cissupremacism, and misogyny into a two-word ball of shit.
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