But I haven't stopped thinking about the depiction of the process of liberation-in-action described in Chapters 8 and 9 of Gene Sharp's book From Dictatorship to Democracy (shortened in these posts to From D to D). Those who have read my last few posts on his book know that I have been particularly focused on how the building of parallel institutions and a parallel society by and for communities of the oppressed is a necessary part of a successful liberation struggle by the oppressed. As Gene Sharp says in Chapter 1 of From D to D, "A liberation struggle is a time for self-reliance and internal strengthening of the struggle group." (Emphasis added.) And in Chapter 9, he writes, "Combined with political defiance during the phase of selective resistance, the growth of autonomous social, economic, cultural and political institutions progressively expands the 'democratic space' of the society and shrinks the control of the dictatorship. As the civil institutions of the society become stronger vis-a-vis the dictatorship, then, whatever the dictators may wish, the population is incrementally building an independent society outside of their control..." (Emphasis added.)
Groups and communities of historically oppressed people who choose to build their own internal power and self-sufficiency will therefore go a long way toward achieving their liberation from a dominant oppressive society. However, it is also true that groups and communities of historically oppressed people have often been "trained" to look to one or more of the dominant societies of the Global North for their salvation instead of learning to rely on themselves. This has become the basis of the "soft power" sought by some of those dominant societies in their bid to establish global rule for themselves, for the leaders of some of these dominant societies have gladly dressed themselves up as "saviors" and "benefactors" ready to supply guns and other arms, military training, investment money, trucks and heavy machinery, sketchy Russian vaccines, etc, to the poor dark-skinned unwashed masses who seemingly "can't save ourselves." I am thinking of one Global North nation in particular whose leadership looks at the entire earth as if it were already the special possession of this nation, a world which this nation's leaders have already carved up in their minds into zones with such names as "the near abroad" and "the far abroad" and on which they have drawn the "red lines" of their national narcissism.
But what if the oppressed societies (or even those societies which are categorized as "developing countries") choose to begin to build their own structures of self-reliance? What if, moreover, oppressed groups within the societies dominated by the Global North begin to build their own structures of self-reliance? What if these structures begin to provide for the needs of the people of these societies in a way that is better and stronger than anything the dominant cultures can offer? I am thinking right now of the investment of Nigeria in the mathematics education of its population, as seen in such enterprises as the Cowbellpedia math competition. One result of this investment: this year, 2021, saw a Nigerian teen named Faith Odunsi win first place in an international mathematics competition which featured students from many nations of the Global North.
When communities of the oppressed build their own structures of self-reliance, they achieve the following results:
- They strengthen their own self-confidence and motivation as they begin to see the successes they are able to achieve with their own hands.
- They destroy the basis for the "soft power" sought by the dominant societies of the Global North.
- They manage to cross a few "red lines" as they prove that they do not need their wanna-be-Great-Power "saviors" from the dominant culture. This causes those supposed "saviors" to choke a little. Now that's fun!
P.S. I mentioned vaccines in this post. The original version of the post read "worthless vaccines," but I have altered that phrase in order to make my meaning crystal-clear. I most definitely believe in vaccination as long as the vaccines offered have undergone a rigorous three-stage series of clinical trials to prove both their safety and efficacy. The Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson COVID-19 vaccines have all undergone this process, which is why I chose to receive the Pfizer vaccine in March of this year. I have received both doses of the two-dose regimen. I also appreciate the ongoing efforts to monitor the efficacy of these vaccines over time, among various populations, and in their response to the COVID-19 variants which have arisen during the last year. The efforts to be honest and transparent - even when the news is not always good - have gone a long way in establishing the credibility of these vaccines. The same cannot be said of the Russian Sputnik "vaccine", whose developers have been neither honest nor transparent. Even the article published by Russian spokespersons in the British medical journal Lancet has relied on sketchy and unverifiable data. Moreover, the publishing of that article has revealed the emergence of problems in the Lancet's peer-review process. Yet the government of Vladimir Putin has embarked on a massive campaign of trying to make its Sputnik "vaccine" look really, really good by tearing down the vaccines developed in the West. Which is to me yet another proof that Putin really is a thieving little man in a bunker, a Potemkin Village head-fake of a man. Not even a majority of his own people believe in his "vaccine." And now, rant off - secure from red alert. Have a good night.
No comments:
Post a Comment