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A friend just sent me this link, where I'm once again being used as the poster-boy for middle-class white privilege. I don't care about that (I'll explain why below), but I do want to make an important point about what these articles are really about. https://news.sky.com/story/climate-activists-say-shock-protests-need-to-evolve-to-get-people-of-colour-involved-12207783
First, let me say that I'll always try to listen to POC who say that they're being sidelined or that their voices are being ignored. That has sometimes happened in XR and we need to be vigilant to make sure it doesn't happen.
But that's not what articles like this are really about. Someone who feels that their voice has been marginalised in a social movement will (rightly) complain within that movement, or will join another movement. They're unlikely to get in touch with a journalist from Sky news ...
And yet Sky news and other Murdoch media and other sections of the press regularly feature articles like this one. Why? As a means of delegitimising protest.
In the case of climate change protests, the majority of the public agree with the cause. So rather than attacking the cause, the editorial position of those who oppose change is to attack the participants and their methods.
The more successful the methods of protest are in getting the public's attention, the more important it is to seek to delegitimise those methods.
The spectacle of middle class white people in suits getting arrested attracts some attention, so it's important to divert that attention away from *why* those people are getting arrested to instead focus on identity issues.
It's curious that noting that protestors are middle class and white should function as some sort of criticism, given that most UK adults probably fall into this category. But none of this is about logic, it's about othering, in whatever way works.
Thus, protesters are simultaneously criticised for being middle class & privileged and for being unemployed pariahs. Depending on the protest, they're too white or too black. They're laughably meek and mild hippies or dangerous unruly anarchists. Naive & misguided or calculating.
The specific descriptions will vary across articles, but the message, dear reader, is that they are not you. Normal, good people don't act like that. They're deviants and so it doesn't really matter what their message is.
The white privilege angle is one that might play well either among those who don't care about race but will respond to any apparent taint of hypocrisy, or among white liberals who know that white privilege is something that must be called out.
Of course, these articles always airbrush out the POC who protest and get arrested. *Their* stories are not conducive to the real message of the article. Contrary to the ostensible message, none of this is about racial inclusivity or centring the voices of POC.
If you *really* care about white privilege and/or middle class privilege, it's unlikely that the "privilege to get arrested" is going to be top of your concerns. It's sometimes raised by those who have concerns about getting arrested. But here it serves a different purpose.
When you see articles like this one, look for the real message. It's not too hard to find here. It's this:
You should stick to letter writing.
Don't engage in disruptive protest that's hard for politicians to ignore. (It's middle-class. It's racist).
You should stick to letter writing.
Don't engage in disruptive protest that's hard for politicians to ignore. (It's middle-class. It's racist).
If you support activism, whether as part of BLM, women's rights, indigenous rights, climate justice, etc. please show solidarity with each other. We're all trying to bring about change as best we can. Don't play into the hands of - and amplify the voice of - the status quo.
Whether or not you identify as middle class (whatever that means) it's not helpful to propagate an idea that may discourage the participation of the largest segment of the population and those who are often most able to engage in protest. They *should* exploit their priviliege!
Lastly, let's consider why photos of me have been used in multiple independent articles about middle class privilege. I'm not that photogenic. Did anyone stop to ask me about my social class? No. There's one reason only: I'm wearing a suit. https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/extinction-rebellion-protests-theres-privilege-3102306
It's a cheap suit I bought for weddings, protests and funerals. It also comes in handy at trials. But essentially - it's a costume. Why did I choose this costume? Two reasons.
Reason 1: To draw the attention of onlookers & the press and suggest that "respectable" middle class people are now being driven to civil disobedience. (Whether I'm really respectable is irrelevant, I just had to play the part).
In adopting a potent symbol of middle-class authority I was playing with a double-edged sword, and I probably did provide fodder for the MC privilege genre. But this is just another instance of the activist's dilemma - one can get attention, but one can't control the narrative.
Reason 2: Whether or not I was successful, I wanted to pay homage to past heroes of civil disobedience (as seen here, for example, having apparently missed the memo that people of colour can't be arrested).
