The dis\u00adcur\u00adsive stra\u00adte\u00adgy of appea\u00adling to safe\u00adty and inno\u00adcence is also enac\u00adted on a micro-level when white radi\u00adcals mani\u00adpu\u00adlate \u201csafe space\u201d lan\u00adguage to main\u00adtain their power in poli\u00adti\u00adcal spaces. They do this by silen\u00adcing the cri\u00adti\u00adcisms of POC under the pre\u00adtense that it makes them feel \u201cunsafe.\u201d This use of safe space lan\u00adguage conflates dis\u00adcom\u00adfort and actual immi\u00adnent dan\u00adger \u2014 which is not to say that white people are entit\u00adled to feel safe any\u00adway. The phrase \u201cI don\u2019t feel safe\u201d is easy to mani\u00adpu\u00adlate because it frames the situa\u00adtion in terms of the speaker\u2019s per\u00adso\u00adnal fee\u00adlings, making it dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to respond cri\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly (even when the per\u00adson is, say, being racist) because it will injure their per\u00adso\u00adnal sense of secu\u00adri\u00adty. Conversation often ends when people poli\u00adti\u00adcize their fee\u00adlings of dis\u00adcom\u00adfort by using safe space lan\u00adguage. The most ludi\u00adcrous example of this that comes to mind was when a woman from Occupy Baltimore mani\u00adpu\u00adla\u00adted femi\u00adnist lan\u00adguage to defend the police after an \u201coccu\u00adpier\u201d cal\u00adled the cops on a home\u00adless man. When the police arri\u00adved to the encamp\u00adment they were ver\u00adbal\u00adly confron\u00adted by a group of pro\u00adtes\u00adters. During the confron\u00adta\u00adtion the woman made an effort to pro\u00adtect the police by inser\u00adting her\u00adself bet\u00adween the police and the pro\u00adtes\u00adters, tel\u00adling those who were angry about the cops that it was unjus\u00adti\u00adfied to exclude the police. In the Baltimore City Paper she was quo\u00adted saying, \u201cthey were vio\u00adla\u00adting, I thought, the cops\u2019 space.\u201d<\/p>\n
The invo\u00adca\u00adtion of per\u00adso\u00adnal secu\u00adri\u00adty and safe\u00adty presses on our affec\u00adtive and emo\u00adtio\u00adnal regis\u00adters and can thus be mani\u00adpu\u00adla\u00adted to jus\u00adti\u00adfy eve\u00adry\u00adthing from racial pro\u00adfi\u00adling to war. When people use safe space lan\u00adguage to call out people in acti\u00advist spaces, the one wiel\u00adding the lan\u00adguage is fra\u00admed as inno\u00adcent, and may even ampli\u00adfy or poli\u00adti\u00adcize their pre\u00adsu\u00admed inno\u00adcence. After the woman from Occupy Baltimore came out as a sur\u00advi\u00advor of vio\u00adlence and said she was trau\u00adma\u00adti\u00adzed by being yel\u00adled at while defen\u00adding the cops, I noti\u00adced that many people became unwilling to take a cri\u00adti\u00adcal stance on her bla\u00adtant\u00adly pro-cop, clas\u00adsist, and home\u00adless-pho\u00adbic actions and com\u00adments, which inclu\u00added sta\u00adte\u00adments like, \u201cThere are so many home\u00adless drunks down there \u2014 suf\u00adfe\u00adring from a nas\u00adty disease of addic\u00adtion \u2014 what do I care if they are there or not ? I would rather see them in treat\u00adment \u2014 that is for sure \u2014 but where they pass out is irre\u00adle\u00advant to me.\u201d Let it be known that anyone who puts their body bet\u00adween the cops and my com\u00adrades to pro\u00adtect the State\u2019s mono\u00adpo\u00adly on vio\u00adlence is a col\u00adla\u00adbo\u00adra\u00adtor of the State. Surviving gen\u00adde\u00adred vio\u00adlence does not mean you are inca\u00adpable of per\u00adpe\u00adtua\u00adting other forms of vio\u00adlence. Likewise, people can also mobi\u00adlize their expe\u00adriences with racism, trans\u00adpho\u00adbia, or clas\u00adsism to puri\u00adfy them\u00adselves. When people iden\u00adti\u00adfy with their vic\u00adti\u00admi\u00adza\u00adtion, we need to cri\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly consi\u00adder whe\u00adther it is being used as a tac\u00adti\u00adcal maneu\u00adver to construct them\u00adselves as inno\u00adcent and exert power without being ques\u00adtio\u00adned. That does not mean dele\u00adgi\u00adti\u00admi\u00adzing the claims made by sur\u00advi\u00advors \u2014 but rather, rejec\u00adting the fra\u00adme\u00adwork of inno\u00adcence, exa\u00admi\u00adning each situa\u00adtion clo\u00adse\u00adly, and being conscien\u00adtious of the mul\u00adtiple power struggles at play in dif\u00adferent conflicts.<\/p>\n
On the flip side of this is a radi\u00adcal queer cri\u00adtique that has recent\u00adly been leve\u00adled against the \u201csafe space\u201d model. In a sta\u00adte\u00adment from the Copenhagen Queer Festival tit\u00adled \u201cNo safer spaces this year,\u201d fes\u00adti\u00adval orga\u00adni\u00adzers wrote regar\u00adding their deci\u00adsion to remove the safer-space gui\u00adde\u00adlines of the fes\u00adti\u00adval, offe\u00adring in its place an appeal to \u201cindi\u00advi\u00addual reflec\u00adtion and res\u00adpon\u00adsi\u00adbi\u00adli\u00adty.\u201d (In other words, \u2018The safe space is impos\u00adsible, the\u00adre\u00adfore, fend for your\u00adself.\u2019) I see this rejec\u00adtion of col\u00adlec\u00adtive forms of orga\u00adni\u00adzing, and unwillin\u00adgness to think beyond the indi\u00advi\u00addual as the foun\u00adda\u00adtio\u00adnal poli\u00adti\u00adcal unit, as part of a his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adcal shift from queer libe\u00adra\u00adtion to queer per\u00adfor\u00adma\u00adti\u00advi\u00adty that coin\u00adcides with the advent of neo\u00adli\u00adbe\u00adra\u00adlism and the \u201cCare of the Self\u201d-style \u201cpoli\u00adtics\u201d of choice). By reac\u00adting against the fai\u00adlure of safe space with a sus\u00adpi\u00adcion of articulated\/explicit poli\u00adtics and col\u00adlec\u00adti\u00advism, we flat\u00adten the issues and miss an oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty to ask cri\u00adti\u00adcal ques\u00adtions about the dis\u00adtri\u00adbu\u00adtion of power, vul\u00adne\u00adra\u00adbi\u00adli\u00adty, and vio\u00adlence, ques\u00adtions about how and why cer\u00adtain people co-opt lan\u00adguage and infra\u00adstruc\u00adture that is meant to respond to inter\u00adnal\u00adly oppres\u00adsive dyna\u00admics to per\u00adpe\u00adtuate racial domi\u00adna\u00adtion. As a Fanonian, I agree that remo\u00adving all ele\u00adments of risk and dan\u00adger rein\u00adforces a poli\u00adtics of refor\u00admism that just repro\u00adduces the exis\u00adting social order. Militancy is under\u00admi\u00adned by the poli\u00adtics of safe\u00adty. It becomes impos\u00adsible to do any\u00adthing that involves risk when people habi\u00adtual\u00adly block such actions on the grounds that it makes them feel unsafe. People of color who use pri\u00advi\u00adlege theo\u00adry to argue that white people have the pri\u00advi\u00adlege to engage in ris\u00adky actions while POC can\u00adnot because they are the most vul\u00adne\u00adrable (most like\u00adly to be tar\u00adge\u00adted by the police, not have the resources to get out of jail, etc) make a cor\u00adrect assess\u00adment of power dif\u00adfe\u00adren\u00adtials bet\u00adween white and non-white poli\u00adti\u00adcal actors, but ulti\u00adma\u00adte\u00adly erase POC from the his\u00adto\u00adry of mili\u00adtant struggle by fal\u00adse\u00adly asso\u00adcia\u00adting mili\u00adtan\u00adcy with whi\u00adte\u00adness and pri\u00advi\u00adlege. When an ana\u00adly\u00adsis of pri\u00advi\u00adlege is tur\u00adned into a poli\u00adti\u00adcal pro\u00adgram that asserts that the most vul\u00adne\u00adrable should not take risks, the only poli\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly cor\u00adrect poli\u00adtics becomes a poli\u00adtics of refor\u00admism and retreat, a poli\u00adtics that neces\u00adsa\u00adri\u00adly capi\u00adtu\u00adlates to the sta\u00adtus quo while era\u00adsing the lega\u00adcy of Black Power groups like the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army. For Fanon, it is pre\u00adci\u00adse\u00adly the ele\u00adment of risk that makes mili\u00adtant action more urgent \u2014 libe\u00adra\u00adtion can only be won by ris\u00adking one\u2019s life. Militancy is not just tac\u00adti\u00adcal\u00adly neces\u00adsa\u00adry \u2014 its dual objec\u00adtive is to trans\u00adform people and \u201cfun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal\u00adly alter\u201d their being by embol\u00adde\u00adning them, remo\u00adving their pas\u00adsi\u00advi\u00adty and clean\u00adsing them of \u201cthe core of des\u00adpair\u201d crys\u00adtal\u00adli\u00adzed in their bodies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The dis\u00adcur\u00adsive stra\u00adte\u00adgy of appea\u00adling to safe\u00adty and inno\u00adcence is also enac\u00adted on a micro-level when white radi\u00adcals mani\u00adpu\u00adlate \u201csafe space\u201d lan\u00adguage to main\u00adtain their power in poli\u00adti\u00adcal spaces. They do this by silen\u00adcing the cri\u00adti\u00adcisms of POC under the pre\u00adtense that it makes them feel \u201cunsafe.\u201d This use of safe space lan\u00adguage conflates discomfort [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2170,2879,2877,673,2878],"class_list":["post-12250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-quote","hentry","category-non-classe","tag-care","tag-feminisme","tag-innocence","tag-police","tag-securite","post_format-post-format-quote"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testanonpertinente.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testanonpertinente.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testanonpertinente.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testanonpertinente.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testanonpertinente.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/testanonpertinente.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testanonpertinente.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testanonpertinente.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testanonpertinente.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}