Something I don’t like about identity politics is the implicit shifting of blame towards the hegemonic Other. Like a feminist who says men are responsible for raping mother nature, or a vegetarian blaming non-vegetarians for rampant thoughtless consumerism. It is as if people enjoy assuming some marginalized identity in order to absolve themselves of the world’s crimes (to the detriment, of course, of people who actually are discriminated against because of their identity). It reminds me of a great Curtis Mayfield lyric:
“Sisters, niggas, whities, jews, crackers! Don’t worry… If there’s a hell below, we’re all gonna go.”
I’m tempted to change it to: “Feminists, vegetarians, cisgender males, gays, blacks, whites, disabled, able-bodied! Don’t worry…” The good news is of course that there’s no hell. There’s no final judgement passed, no cruel God who asks “Have you done enough to make the world a better place?” So how come it feels like that for so many people?
Maybe it has something to do with the depoliticization of politics. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the liberal-democratic capitalist order was accepted as the best system possible. The world had finally found a rational set of rules which, in the end, would mean prosperity for all. So when kids were starving in Africa, it couldn’t be because of some fault in the system. It couldn’t be because of huge corporations buying up the best farming land in Somalia to grow aloe vera. No, it was because we didn’t care enough. Similarly, when global warming reared its ugly head, it wasn’t because of unregulated industry producing tons and tons of CO2 gas. No, it was because you and I left the fridge door open for too long.
Over and over, the message was that we’re all personally responsible for making the world a better place. Not politicians and revolutionaries, but citizens and consumers have the task of dealing with the suffering of those less fortunate. The feeling of guilt this produces however is, I think, totally unproductive. It leads to people splitting themselves up in tiny little lifestyles, blaming ‘normal people’ for the state we’re in, destroying our solidarity.
It’s time we realize that we’re all in this together. It’s time we realize that we didn’t make the world the way it is, but together we can change it.
Maarten Schumacher 