<< Front page Commentary April 30, 2004

Deconstructing OC backlash

To the Editors:

At Oberlin College, there is a dominant ideology which tacitly states that since we are a “liberal” community, we are absolved from challenging ourselves or our institution to be anti-racist, anti-sexist, to critically engage with history, etc.

This campus’ self-perception as a liberal safe-haven co-opts previous movements for social change and stifles existing ones in a headstrong pursuit of the status quo.

Liberalism is used on this campus in two general ways. First is that “liberal” is conflated with everything good and progressive. Secondly, it is used as a derogative to mean “uber-PC” or hypersensitive. Both uses of “liberal” contribute to backlash on this campus. I will speak specifically about the former.

The Edmonia Lewis Center defines backlash as “when people in power perceive losing privilege that they don’t deserve as being attacked.” Backlash of this sort comes out of liberal thought, which operates under the assumption that we are all on equal playing fields and that previous movements to address racial or sexual discrimination have fully succeeded in eliminating structural imbalances of power.

As Rebecca DeCola and Alex Braunstein alluded to in their commentary last week, liberalism forefronts the individual without adequate consideration for social and historical factors that place certain people in power over others. Anyone who’s taken a simple sociology class knows that individuals are not neutral actors; society shapes them. Categories such as “white,” “male,” “people of color,” are not monolithic, either. People make their own decisions. It is a complex and constant negotiation.

Nonetheless, liberal ideology makes allegations of oppression seem ludicrous when, most often, they are not. Certainly this is applicable to the Review’s coverage of the controversy over the SAST hotline. Portraying accusations of racism as “alleged” made the issue seem hysterical.

In OSCA, both Third World Co-op and the Committee on Privilege and Oppression have been assailed for exaggerating or misperceiving various forms of oppression or for perpetuating “reverse racism.” This does not recognize the institutional and historical factors that make safe spaces and anti-racist groups appropriate in our communities.

Progressive ideals such as addressing issues of cooperation or sexual assault do not negate an organization’s complicity in various forms of oppression.

Similarly, posters that declare Israel as “one of the most progressive countries towards sexual minorities” are an attempt to frame Israel as “good” and “liberal” in order to distract from consciousness-raising about the violent and deadly occupation of Palestinian territory. Asserting the above claim silences attempts to advocate against the Israeli occupation.

Similarly, a move is made to silence when the conflict is portrayed as two equal sides at war. Israeli and Palestinian leadership do not occupy equal positions of power. Commentaries like Demchick’s ignore histories of myth-making and structural power in the Israel/Palestine conflict. He also portrays the entire Palestinian population as ungrateful and irrational.

Looking at histories of oppression (legal, social, personal, economic) it is clear that people of color do not have the same access to institutional privilege to enact power over white people. Palestinians do not have institutional or political power to organize a legitimate military to occupy Israeli land, build a wall around them and destroy their economic infrastructure all with the backing of billions of dollars in U.S. aid.

I am not advocating for a silencing of opinions that disagree with mine, but rather for a deeper recognition of the significance of power when we engage in these debates. Backlash, however, does not do this.

Backlash is a reactionary attempt to preserve existing power hierarchies. Many of us simply won’t stand for it.

–Rachel Marcus
College sophomore


 
 
   

The Review News Service: News, weather, sports and more, in your ObieMail every Sunday and Wednesday night. (Click here to subscribe.)