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Solidarity Trip to Another World (6 of 6)
25.Jan.04 Privilege. Again -- Agricultural Workers & Unionists Meeting, Aurangbad, India
We have just finished talking about what it’s like to be immigrant, non-white, working-class, illegal in the United States. Someone from the audience asks one of us how much money she made. When she recounts her salary and tries to explain that she was broke every month after paying for rent, school and food, the whole room goes into an uproar. This interaction illustrated our unique perspective as activists of color from the US and the complexities around the idea of privilege. A lot of Indians we encountered thought that all “Americans” were very "prosperous.” Explaining the complexities of the systems of oppression at home was good in our discussions (e.g. that women have more rights, but white women still get paid a fraction of what men get, and women of color get the lowest pay, if jobs at all - if they're not in jail, for instance). However, all of us in our delegation – tho’ we be marginalized, discriminated against, struggling to survive in the belly of the beast – are privileged in relation to those we encounter here. We all had the opportunity for some kind of free education, running water, and access to resources to travel across the world for a global conference. It was a good wake-up call that in the grand scheme of things, we in the United States (even people of color!) are also benefitting (and ultimately suffering like the rest of the world) from our country’s imperialist ways.
02.Feb.04 The Belly of the Beast – the unitedstatesempire
We come back hoping to share what we learned – and determined to bring back the profound dignity, strength and hope of those we exchanged with in Mumbai. From the Dalit, the importance of cultivating our many rich cultures, of connecting with people everywhere we are, everywhere we go. To keep the world, for the generations that come before and after us, in our hearts, minds and plans of action. From the Tibetans, who – in spite of 40+ years of bloody violence maintain their principles of non-violence – let us please strengthen our commitment to love, compassion and hope. And lastly, let us remember that “another world” becomes possible not on hope alone, but with concrete action and by cultivating critical self-awareness -- of our privileges, histories, power and positionality. Peoples around the world are fighting as we are here in the US – fighting for the rights we deserve as human beings, for true security and strength, dignity and joy. The World Social Forum has given us new depth to what it means to keep the struggle alive: Zindabad, Zindabad! -- LONG LIVE – another world through Inquilab: Revolution, world wide, without borders, without fear.
CJWP (Chin Jurn Wor Ping/Chien Jin He Ping/Moving Forward for Peace) is an intergenerational alliance of people of Taiwanese, Chinese and Hong Kong heritage, working together in the Bay Area for peace and social justice. For more info about CJWP, visit www.cjwp.org. CJWP delegates that attended the World Social Forum are Ching-In Chen, Derek Chung, Joy Liu and Stella Ng.
