Solidarity: Deference vs Obeisance

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Wednesday July 23, 2014 · 10:15 AM PDT

2014/07/23 · 10:15

I asked the other day if we could start talking about solidarity; what it means, how you practice it, and what erodes solidarity. Thank you to those who joined that conversation. It felt like a good beginning to an exploration.

One of the topics which popped up a couple of times was the misunderstanding of what I meant by "defer" to someone else, in a given situation. A couple of times, this was directly translated as "obeisance." I'd like to discuss the difference between deference and obeisance, today. They are fundamentally different to me. Internalizing the difference is part of internalizing the value of solidarity.

As this is a post about parsing how words are used, please read the "Author's Note" before plunging in. Thank you.

UnaSpenser

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday July 23, 2014 · 10:15 AM PDT

2014/07/23 · 10:15

There a is rather passionate community debate about the merits of Markos' personal boycott of AZ, and, therefore, not allowing his business to participate in an event taking place there. This is a good opportunity to have a discussion about what solidarity means. How we practice solidarity, what builds solidarity and what erodes it. It's not always simple because solidarity is about strength of social networks. None of us have just one network. We have overlapping ones and completely disparate ones. So, how do we navigate solidarity with that?

First, why do we need solidarity? Well, solidarity is the best tool for combating oppression. The members of an oppressed group have very little effective power as individuals and only gain power when they stand as one group and can gain allies in defense of their liberation.

Whether you're a member of the specific oppressed demographic or an ally, there are moments when the question of solidarity can be confusing due to conflict. When fighting oppression, there will always be conflict. It's the nature of the best. So, learning how to navigate during conflict is key to solidarity. I have some thoughts on this and would love to have people join in and explore this topic so that we, as a community, might become better and better at solidarity, over time.

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Solidarity: Deference vs Obeisance

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