Dear ecofem,
I've followed this discussion with great interest. I too believe that denying
people "the authority of experience" is a form of oppression with long roots.
My concern is with how, giving the pressing need for a global unification of
people on at least some fronts in order to counter the soulless multinational
corporations, which are about to take us all out, we build bridges. It is a
paradox that the people (most in the U.S.) who most benefit from the
exploitation of the world's resources and indigenous people, and are therefore
most blind to the oppression and the attitudes that foster oppression, must
also somehow find a way to break the grip of its power, simply because we are
most likely to have the physical means to do so. But we don't really know
how. We tried the seventies environmentalist solution: "think globally, act
locally," but although there are always environmental victories, and they
matter, the whole shebang is even more perilously close to slipping away
forever than ever before. I know people who believe the whole solution is to
work on oneself. And I confess that there is much to do in my camp along
those lines. But I can't help feeling, so what if I've healed my wounds,
while the planet teeters on the brink of destruction of all life? I have no
desire to speak of or for another's experience; but I sincerely want to know
how, or even if, in our separateness, we can bond in our humanity to somehow
reach beyond exploitation of each other and the earth, not despite our
cultural separations, but rather employing the full strength they bring? If
that means admitting I'm white and therefore a racist, knowing or unknowing, I
admit it. If it means admitting I will never if I lived a million years fully
understand what any other individual ever feels, I also admit it. And perhaps
so must we all admit it. But where do we go from here?
Puzzled, but learning,
Jane
