[Debate] I Thus Caught That Colonial Mind-Set At Work

[Khadija Sharife]

"should I as a privileged white student be placed in the same camp
(although I'm not denying the political implications of whiteness) as
the privileged white academic?"

those wanting to get involved, in my view, must ask themselves the question
of what they really have to offer and how they choose to present
themselves..(as students of the social movement, learning and observing, or
do they come in as a specialist to help)? if they are shaped and funded by
the same systems, can they actually avoid replicating the same problems
innate to the rot of the development industry? if the social movement is
constructed on that corrupting model (a marxist or social democrat academic
with funding shapes the narrative and barters access etc for mass) how can
it be something of value given the fiction of it? if they have no real
taste of brutal poverty, of closed doors, of marginalisation, can they
speak on behalf of it?

what i evidenced, at the COP17, were masses of 'privileged' youth
parachuting in to the 'alien' poverty of "africa" expecting that their
developed country identity and nice education would magically make the
difference....their enthusiasm, if located in the context of their own
environments, which they can change, would be useful. but because in so
many ways the wealth of the wealthy is constructed on the poverty of the
poor (and the development industry that saves  a handful, charitably, is
intertwined with the same structural system that kills millions)..... it is
too inconvenient for them to think about their own place and role...and the
issues of race and class (agency, power, access etc) that are elided also
form the foundation for the ways in which they are usually integrated into
'development'...funded organizations etc

 tom goldtooth did a brilliant interview on this theme of poverty tourism,
manufactured narratives and privileged specialists etc...

*Youth from all over the world have flown in – yet many lack understanding
of the political economy of pollution, both problem and solution. Why is
this?*

"Look at the role of the WWF-type organisations. These are educators. Al
Gore – pushing for the carbon market, he is an educator on the environment
and climate. They are slumming it out in Durban, it is fashionable for a
young white kid from the US or UK to be concerned about a global poverty
issue, not the reality in their own backyards, but somewhere where they can
be special, become heroes. We challenged the big organisations with
environmental racism – the top ten movements, including Greenpeace, the
Sierra Club, to bring our voices to the board, to the way in these
campaigns are shaped. They resisted us. Even when they do appoint a person
of colour, it is usually from within the mentality of surburbia, so that
they are never questioned or taken out of the comfort zone where 'white is
right.' And these organisations and their narratives are so popular – you
have young kids coming, getting their hands dirty. They leave, feeling
vindicated, slumming around – as if they have done their share. But this is
our life, and that parachuting in and out of communities, the ruckus
society, is destructive and presents the distorted reality. We have
challenged, and become very unpopular, for raising the issue of classism
which is source of the problem and requires an economic analysis if the
environmental and climate narrative is to be truthful.."

*Do you have representation through large green political muscles – and if
so, how, if not, why not?*

"When indigenous peoples started to call into question the false solutions,
we were attacked by large environmental organisations, saying that we were
not looking at the bigger picture, at the benefit of REDD. We saw a
campaign mounted to disrupt us, and to marginalise what we're saying. But
indigenous people no longer are able to stand back and let the 'good
intentioned' voices speak on our behalf. In 1999, it used to be five or six
people, at most, holding the line. Only when REDD became part of the
picture, did indigenous peoples begin to stand up and actively resist.
Corporations that fund some of the green organisations know how to play the
game, and the organisations play back, to stay in business. The
corporations know there is money to be made from investing in privatised
trees, and that it looks good in paper. If you look at the NGOs, these are
European 'white' NGOs, and there is tremendous racism and classism woven
into that. When an ethnic person speaks up, they get offended they don't
want a solution from the marginalised. They want to devise the solution
they feel is best for the whole system – and we have to ask ourselves what
the system they actually represent, entails."

http://www.theafricareport.com/index.php/news-analysis/climate-change-the-big-corrupt-business-50176874.html



On Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 6:30 AM, Benjamin Fogel <gonzostig at gmail.com> wrote:

> Out of curiosity (as well as having some personal stake in the matter),
> when referring to the personal/academic/career benefit of these so-called
> 'mentors' in social movements, does anybody know of one academic
> paper authored on the movement which started this recent fracas? Namely the
> UPM? Has anybody written anything of tangible financial academic repute?
>
> Furthermore we seem to be diverging into academic narcissism here, do the
> same rules apply to students? Particularly students like myself with
> no discernible research interests involving working with movements? Do we
> have to play by the same rules as the old people in Bohmke's case, namely
> whitey get out? Or are there other political factors at play such as age?
> Is it not possible to build alliances between working class youth and
> student movements along completely different lines to the relationships
> detailed above?
>
> I ask this, because from where I am sitting, I see this entire debate
> nullifying or ignoring what should be the primary goal of any so-called
> 'Independent Left' in South Africa right now. Which should be to build some
> sort of mass movement, but this Left can't even bother to really
> communicate to anybody under a certain age, instead somebody attempting to
> get involved particularly from a student perspective has to wade through
> frankly what is a whole bunch of other people's shit stemming from
> debates/fights etc... which had nothing to do with us, but yet limit our
> ability to get involved. From what I gather at least from Bohmke's
> perspective we should in effect be sitting on our asses signing avaaz
> petitions, rather then trying to find at least some political gig to get
> into. In essence does age play a role, should I as a privileged white
> student be placed in the same camp (although I'm not denying the political
> implications of whiteness) as the privileged white academic?
>
> _______________________________________________
> Debate-list mailing list
> Debate-list at fahamu.org
> http://lists.fahamu.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/debate-list
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.fahamu.org/pipermail/debate-list/attachments/20120417/47492c7e/attachment.htm