As Submitted
for Publication:
Portland
Press Herald, Thursday, December 2, 1999
COMMUNITY
VOICES
The
Peugeot Proletariat, Left Conservatives, and White Trash: Old Cliques
or New Tribes
By ED DEMOCRACY
If we continue to use terms and behavior which divide us we will conquer ourselves. However, if we define new terms which unite us, then we cannot be conquered. After 16 years of community organizing, I have seen it all. Left, right, rich, poor, black, white, men, women and everyone in between: we, the people, are divided. We need to learn some communication skills or we, the people, will continue to be conquered. However, with basic communication and conflict resolution skills there is absolutely nothing we, the people, cannot do.
The term "Peugeot Proletariat" could be used to describe the "Suburban Politics" discussed in a recent Maine Sunday Telegram editorial (11-28-99). The issue is that a "lack of diversity tilts environmental focus," while "inclusion might result in a different set of priorities." It is not a problem solely for environmental groups. It is a fundamental flaw in American culture. We do not have a culture of democracy. We do not have a culture of the people, by the people, and for the people: ALL THE PEOPLE.
Left
Conservatism and White Trash are concepts discussed by a
self-professed "red-neck", Matt Wray, who is a Ph.D.
candidate in Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley (
http://www.healthandsocietyscholars.org/1822/16821/3205
). Left Conservatism is an elitist, exclusive, clique of "true"
leftists. In "White Trash: Construction of an American
Scapegoat" ( http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA97/price/open.htm
) the history of poor white people is examined. Wray also
co-authored, with Annalee Newitz, a controversial but honest book
entitled, "White Trash: Race and Class in America." Wray
discovered a treasure of unknown history documenting centuries of
cooperation and community between blacks and whites in the South. He
realized that the experiences of poor white people and poor black
people are identical in terms of class and economics.
We
can think of plenty of other divisive terms including the recent
proposal to ban a certain Native American term from use in place
names here in Maine. Some years ago a similar round of changes of
place names was accomplished. Words and concepts are socially
constructed. Therefore, they can also be anti-socially constructed.
Communication skills can help us to untangle some of the (anti)social
knots in which we seem to find ourselves.
Communication
is a very diverse field covering a range of contexts: intrapersonal,
interpersonal, small groups, organizational dynamics, mass
communication, culture, and politics. In essence, communication is
about community and information. A human social system is like a
living computer. Concepts are defined such as race, class, and
ethnicity. Conceptual systems are then constructed and people are
"sorted" by the categories into which they fall.
In
"Bridging the Class Divide", (
http://www.beacon.org/Search.aspx?k=linda%20stout
) Linda Stout discusses the issue of class as relates to grassroots
organizing. She is the Founder of the Piedmont Peace Project in
North Carolina. She is an American and speaks only English, but she
felt like she was from another America speaking another language
unrecognizable to most of the organizers and activists she
encountered. Stout relates her "bi-lingual/bi-cultural"
experiences resulting from growing up poor and making the transition
to an effective organizer in a world of sophisticated middle and
upper class professionals. She realized how differently she was
treated when she spoke in her normal "street" lingo which
she thought she had to give up to survive. She then realized there
were invisible walls preventing others from following in her
footsteps. Ultimately, Stout transcended the invisible walls by
leaving behind the old models and building new ones without any
walls.
Daniel
Quinn's "Beyond Civilization: Humanity's Next Great Adventure,"
draws similar parallels. (
http://www.ishmael.org/books/beyond-civilization/
) He begins by calling for, "A Fable to Start With," in
which, "the vast majority lived at the bottom of the hierarchy
and didn't like it at all. They worked and they lived like pack
animals, struggling just to stay alive, without any hope for
themselves or their children. 'This isn't working,' the masses said.
'The tribal way was better. We should return to that.' But the
ruler of the hierarchy told them,'We've put that primitive life
behind us forever. We can't go back to it.' 'If we can't go back,
the masses said, 'then let's go forward - on to something
different.'"
There
is nothing we cannot resolve if we sit down and listen to each other
and work together to find common solutions to common problems.
Common people have a common history thousands of years long … a
history of elites dividing and conquering and exploiting and abusing
and murdering and raping the masses. Let's build a common dream of a
common future thousands of years long … a future of the people, by
the people, and for the people.
BIO
Lifelong
Mainer, civil rights activist, US Navy veteran, political organizer,
recently completed B.A. in Philosophy at University of Southern
Maine, and working on second B.A. in Communication. Interested in
applying knowledge of organizational dynamics to creation of
sustainable organizations of the people, by the people, and for the
people.
[
Links updated 091714 ]
As Published:
Portland
Press Herald, Thursday, December 2, 1999
COMMUNITY
VOICES
Perhaps
changing our words can help us find ways to live in peace
Many
people are studying the problems of how we relate to one another with
language
By ED DEMOCRACY
If we continue to use terms and behavior which divide us, we will conquer ourselves. However, if we define new terms which unite us, then we cannot be conquered.
After
16 years of community organizing, I have seen it all. Left, right,
rich, poor, black, white, men, women and everyone in between: We,
the people, are divided. We need to learn some communication skills
or we, the people, will continue to be conquered. However, with basic
communication and conflict resolution skills there is absolutely
nothing we, the people, cannot do.
The
term "Peugeot Proletariat" could be used to describe the
"Suburban Politics" discussed in a recent Maine Sunday
Telegram editorial (Nov. 28). The issue is that a "lack of
diversity tilts environmental focus," while "inclusion
might result in a different set of priorities."
It
is not a problem solely for environmental groups: it is a fundamental
flaw in American culture. We do not have a culture of democracy. We
do not have a culture of the people, by the people, and for the
people: all the people.
"Left
Conservatism" and "White Trash" are concepts discussed
by a self-professed "redneck," Matt Wray, who is a Ph.D.
candidate in Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley. Left Conservatism is an
elitist, exclusive clique of "true" leftists. In "White
Trash: Construction of an American Scapegoat," the history of
poor white people is examined. Wray also co-authored, with Annalee
Newitz, a controversial but honest book entitled, "White Trash:
Race and Class in America." Wray discovered a treasure of
unknown history documenting centuries of cooperation and community
between blacks and whites in the South. He realized that the
experiences of poor white people and poor black people are identical
in terms of class and economics.
We
can think of plenty of other divisive terms, including the recent
proposal to ban a certain Native American term from use in place
names here in Maine. Some years ago a similar round of changes of
place names was accomplished.
Words
and concepts are socially constructed. Therefore, they can also be
anti-socially constructed. Communication skills can help us to
untangle some of the (anti)social knots in which we seem to find
ourselves.
Communication
is a very diverse field covering a range of contexts: intrapersonal,
interpersonal, small groups, organizational dynamics, mass
communication, culture, and politics. In essence, communication is
about community and information. A human social system is like a
living computer. Concepts are defined such as race, class, and
ethnicity. Conceptual systems are then constructed and people are
"sorted" by the categories into which they fall.
In
"Bridging the Class Divide," Linda Stout discusses the
issue of class as relates to grassroots organizing. She is the
founder of the Piedmont Peace Project in North Carolina. She is an
American and speaks only English, but she felt like she was from
another America speaking another language unrecognizable to most of
the organizers and activists she encountered.
Stout
relates her "bi-lingual/bi-cultural" experiences resulting
from growing up poor and making the transition to an effective
organizer in a world of sophisticated middle- and upper-class
professionals. She realized how differently she was treated when she
spoke in her normal "street" lingo which she thought she
had to give up to survive.
She
then realized there were invisible walls preventing others from
following in her footsteps. Ultimately, Stout transcended the
invisible walls by leaving behind the old models and building new
ones without any walls.
There
is nothing we cannot resolve if we sit down and listen to each other
and work together to find common solutions to common problems. Common
people have a common history thousands of years long -- a history of
elites dividing and conquering and exploiting and abusing and
murdering and raping the masses.
Let's
build a common dream of a common future thousands of years long -- a
future of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Special
to the Press Herald
Ed
Democracy is a lifelong Mainer, civil rights activist, Navy veteran
and political organizer who recently completed a B.A. in philosophy
at the University of Southern Maine, and is working on second B.A. in
communication.
As Referenced (above):
Maine
Sunday Telegram, Sunday, November 28, 1999
Lack
of diversity tilts environmental focus
Inclusion
might result in a different set of priorities
Amos
Eno, the Freeport resident who until recently headed the powerful
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, will personally shoulder the
blame for his insensitive and derogatory remark last month referring
to former Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan Jr. as a "damned chili
eater."
His
forced resignation, however, should not mask a more systemic problem
mainstream environmental and conservation groups ought to come to
grips with: a lack of ethnic, racial and cultural diversity.
This
is not simply a matter of political correctness. As long as the
leaders of these national, agenda-setting environmental groups fail
to reflect the many faces of America accurately, their policy agendas
will inevitably be skewed toward the concerns of middle- class white
suburbanites. Thus, their efforts -- and millions of dollars in
funding -- will likely remain tightly focused on conserving and
protecting immense tracts of remote land, while ignoring the many
environmental problems of inner cities and rural towns with minority
populations.
Just
as Eno defended himself by claiming he didn't mean to be derogatory,
so too might environmental groups argue that their lack of diversity
reflects only a failure to reach out to minorities, rather than a
purposeful exclusion.
That's
not good enough, however. There's too much at stake for the
environmental movement to remain the preserve of predominately
middle- class, white America. Opening up positions of leadership to
people of different racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds should
help environmental groups to take up the cause of city brown fields
as readily as they do the green fields (and forests) of mostly rural
states like Maine.
