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Title: Privilege and Oppression
Author: Collective Action
Date: June 6, 2016
Language: en
Topics: privilege, oppression
Source: Retrieved on January 24, 2021 from https://web.archive.org/web/20210124205845/http://www.collectiveaction.org.au/2016/06/06/position-statement-privilege-and-oppression/

Collective Action

Privilege and Oppression

1. Scope and Purpose

This position statement is intended to sketch some initial points of

agreement concerning our understanding of ideas about privilege,

oppression and intersectionality. These points are neither complete nor

final, and it is our intention to expand on and develop these points as

our collective understanding develops.

2. Points of Agreement

2. 1 There are numerous interacting systems of oppression that are

experienced in a variety of ways by different actors in our society.

These intertwined oppressive systems include (but are not limited to)

sexism, racism, queerphobia, anti-trans bigotry and ableism. We think

fighting against these forms of oppression is just as important to the

creation of an anarchist society as fighting capitalism and the state.

Only by working to eliminate oppressive power relations within the

working classes will we be able to create a revolutionary movement

capable of genuinely transforming society. And only by organising

against all oppressive and exploitative systems of power will we create

a society worth fighting for – rather than one which simply installs a

new elite in place of the old.

2.2 We reject the idea that any struggle against any form of oppression

has to “wait”, for the revolution or anything else. All oppressive

systems are unjust, and all people struggling against oppressive systems

are right to do so. The idea that confronting manifestations of

oppressive systems within the working class only divides and weakens

working class struggle is mistaken. When we tolerate the manifestations

of oppressive ideology and practice we are divided and weakened. Systems

of oppression divide us now, attempts to ignore or paper over this

reality do nothing change this situation. We must identify and confront

sexism, racism, ableism, queerphobia and transphobia in order to erode

the divisions that exist amongst all people who are variously oppressed

by these systems and exploited by capitalism.

2.3 It is our position that both an anti-oppression analysis and an

analysis of capitalism, class and the state are useful, and that these

analyses are more useful when integrated. If we do not make the effort

to understand the dynamics of different oppressive structures we will

not be able to understand the complexity of capitalism and the state,

and our resistance strategies will suffer as a result. Developing an

analysis of capitalism and the state also strengthens and deepens our

understanding of the functioning of other oppressive systems. We need to

understand how transphobia, white supremacy, queerphobia and patriarchy

are institutionalised through the economic and political structures of

our societies if we are to successfully abolish them.

“These structured inequalities and hierarchies inform and support one

another. For example, the labor of women in child-bearing and rearing

provides new bodies for the larger social factory to allow capitalism to

continue. White supremacy and racism allow capitalists control over a

segment of the labor market that can serve as stocks of cheap labor.

Compulsory heterosexuality allows the policing of the patriarchal family

form, strengthening patriarchy and male dominance. And all structured

forms of inequality add to the nihilistic belief that institutionalized

hierarchy is inevitable and that liberatory movements are based on

utopian dreams” – Deric Shannon and J. Rogue.

2.4 There are some important differences between capitalism and other

systems of oppression and exploitation. Capitalism is a system of class

rule founded upon control of the means of production (private property,

such as land, factories, resources). The class rule of capitalism is

buttressed by ideological and cultural structures but it is primarily a

system of economic control and class exploitation. Other systems of

oppression typically rely upon class hierarchy and exploitation as a key

tool for maintaining the subordinate position of the oppressed group.

For example, patriarchy and white supremacy could not be sustained

without the exploitation of the labour of women and people of colour,

which keeps them in an economically powerless position. However,

economic control is less central to these forms of oppression. Instead,

social institutions, such as the family and the gender binary, play a

more central role in fostering these oppressive power relations.

The economic character of capitalism means that there are some key

differences in how we abolish the power of the capitalist class, in

comparison to struggles against white supremacy, anti-trans bigotry,

queerphobia and patriarchy:

“[W]e aim to end capitalism through a revolution in which the working

class seize the means of production from the ruling class, and create an

anarchist communist society in which there is no ruling class. For the

other struggles mentioned, this doesn’t quite work the same way – we

can’t force men to give up their maleness, or white people to give up

their whiteness, or send them all to the guillotine and reclaim their

power and privilege as if it were a resource that they were hoarding.

Instead we need to take apart and understand the systems that tend to

concentrate power and resources in the hands of the culturally

privileged and question the very concepts of gender, sexuality, race

etc. that are used to build the identities that divide us” – the

Anarchist Federation’s Women’s Caucus (UK).

2.5 Broadly speaking, all systems of oppression create two groups: a

group in a position of relative privilege and a group that is

subordinated and oppressed. The group in the position of privilege does

receive a relative benefit from this situation, whether or not there

appears to be some form of direct transfer of benefit from the oppressed

to the privileged group. This occurs whether or not it is acknowledged.

“The privileged group do not have to be active supporters of the system

of oppression, or even aware of it” (AFED, 2012) in order to experience

the relative benefits of their position in this structure.

It is important to understand this real sense in which people privileged

by systems of oppression benefit or receive advantages due to their

privileged status. It is also true that, in another sense, the vast

majority of people stand to benefit from abolishing these systems of

oppression along with capitalism and the state. Both of these senses of

‘benefit’ are important for an anarchist analysis of oppression. Those

privileged by systems of oppression (white people, men, able bodied

people etc) must realise that these systems of oppression are

fundamentally destructive, and that a revolutionary transformation of

society will be impossible while they hold sway with significant

portions of the working class. Thus, there is a real sense in which it

is in the interests of all oppressed and exploited people to challenge

these systems of oppression. It is also important, however, to

understand and acknowledge the relative advantages and benefits which

lead those in privileged power positions to perceive it to be in their

interests to maintain oppressive structures. While the benefits and

advantages that privileged people receive (not being required to do as

much reproductive labour, having a comparative advantage in capitalist

job markets) do not outweigh the ultimate interest we all have in

abolishing these forms of oppression, they do pose significant, weighty

obstacles to the pursuit of an anarchist society. We are bound up in

these systems, whether we like it or not.

2.6 We believe the concept of privilege is useful for pointing out how

being in a dominant social position can make it easy to fail to pay

attention to the struggles of others. Thinking about privilege helps us

interrogate whose needs are seen as important, and whose are sidelined,

in our political struggles.

“To talk about privilege reveals what is normal to those without the

oppression, yet cannot be taken for granted by those with it. To talk

about homophobia alone may reveal the existence of prejudices –

stereotypes about how gay men and lesbian women behave, perhaps, or

violence targeted against people for their sexuality. It’s unusual to

find an anarchist who won’t condemn these things. To talk about straight

privilege, however, shows the other side of the system, the invisible

side: what behaviour is considered “typical” for straight people? There

isn’t one – straight isn’t treated like a sexual category, it is treated

like the absence of “gay”. You don’t have to worry about whether you

come across as “too straight” when you’re going to a job interview, or

whether your straight friends will think you’re denying your

straightness if you don’t dress or talk straight enough, or whether your

gay friends will be uncomfortable if you take them to a straight club,

or if they’ll embarrass you by saying something ignorant about getting

hit on by somebody of the opposite sex. This analysis goes beyond

worries about discrimination or prejudice to the very heart of what we

consider normal and neutral, what we consider different and other, what

needs explaining, what’s taken as read – the prejudices in favour of

being straight aren’t recognisable as prejudices, because they’re built

into our very perceptions of what is the default way to be” – the

Anarchist Federation’s Women’s Caucus (UK).

References/Further Reading

The following pieces were cited in this position statement.

AFED Women’s Caucus, 2012, “A Class Struggle Anarchist Analysis of

Privilege Theory,”

afed.org.uk

Abbey Volcano and J Rogue, 2008, “Insurrections at the Intersections,”

libcom.org

Deric Shannon and J. Rogue, “Refusing to Wait: Anarchism and

Intersectionality,”

anarkismo.net

Anarchist Affinity, 2013, Statement of Principles,