Understanding theories of oppression and marginalization can help you link your campaign to those of others fighting for different causes but against the same systems, structures and intricate complexities of how power seeks to divide and rule us. This can enable us to build broad, emancipatory and inclusive movements fighting for the empowerment of everyone…
Check your Privilege: What does it mean when someone remarks on your ‘privilege’ or asks you to ‘check your privilege’? Privilege in this instance refers to the multiple ways that institutions and society automatically favor you as a result of your race, class, gender, sexuality and other classifications based on systems of oppression. It is…
Homonationalism Jasbir Puar’s book Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times introduces readers to the notion of homonationalism which is a coupling of Lisa Duggan’s Homonormativity. Homonationalism however differs in that it is poststructural critique of nationalism and develops a conceptual framework to analyze and understand how “acceptance” and “tolerance” of lesbians and gay men becomes…
Homonormativity Homonormativity was first coined by Lisa Duggan in her work The New Homonormativity: The Sexual Politics of Neoliberalism where she describes “the new homonormativity – it is a politics that does not contest dominant heteronormative assumptions and institutions [such as gay marriage or the right to serve openly in the military] – but upholds…
Gender Performativity Post-structuralist feminist philosopher Judith Butler first used the term gender performativity in her work Gender Trouble (1990). Butler states that gender, which is a socially constructed idea, is a continuous performance of the mythical notions of what constitutes male and female gender identities. Butler points out that “the body is only known through…
Biopower and Biopolitics The French philosopher, social theorist and historian Michel Foucault, is concerned with how modern society is controlled, subjugated and regulated through “biopower”. Biopower is a complex social theory that examines the strategies and mechanisms by which society is organized and managed through an authoritative regime of power, knowledge, and systems of subjugation.…
What is Intersectionality? Intersectionality is a concept coined by law professor Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989. It is commonly used in critical theory to illustrate how different forms of discriminationatory and oppressive institutions (such as racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, ageism, ableism, xenophobia, etc..) are interconnected and and cannot be analyzed and examined in vacuum of…
Check out this interesting article about what messages our opponents use. They really know no limits. This is definitely “going too far”. But beyond outrage, what messaging can we oppose to this fear-mongering tactics. Research shows that upfront combatting this argument would just make things worse. Campaigns would be better off engaging the voters on…
Your campaign objectives should be: Specific Measurable Achievable Relevant Time-Bound This will help you set clear targets that can become a reality, focus your campaign team around agreed upon goals and objectives, remain on target throughout your work, stick to set deadlines, continuously assess your progress, and utilize all your resources. Specific …
Non-violent action (or nonviolent resistance, NVR) relies on achieving campaign objectives and goals through tactics such as symbolic/nonviolent protests, civil disobedience, political and/or economic noncooperation without resorting to violent methods. Organizations and movements that have been successful in nonviolent actions and strategies have come to the realization that ‘if people do not obey, rulers cannot…