Is Your Activism a Sham? An Examination of Solidarity and Liberation Fronts
Summertime boredom. It is a constant actuality for myself during those beautiful and warm summer days. In those times I should be going out and enjoying the day or maybe look for a much needed summer job, but that’s never any fun. So, what do I do when I encounter summertime boredom? Well, I either binge watch a television show or I watch a movie. This past summer, I looked through the “Gay and Lesbian” genre on Xfnity’s movies on demand page. I moved past all of the films I had already seen like Philadelphia (1991), G.B.F. (2013) and The Imitation Game (2014). And then I stumbled upon a film titled Pride (2014).
I noticed Pride had a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so it had to be good. The only issue is before watching it, I found the premise to be relatively boring. The description did not truly appeal to me; it was about a group of gay rights activists in the U.K. teaming up with miners during the 1980s to battle three common enemies: The press, the police and Margaret Thatcher. So, first problem for me is that this wasn’t an American film. Secondly, why should I care about the miners. They’re the tough, stereotypical masculine guys who would probably punch any queer person they met in the face.
But I was bored and craving for a new film to watch and as the saying goes, “beggars can’t be choosers.” I gave the film a chance and it has changed my political mindset significantly. The true story follows Mark Ashton, a young gay Irishman living in the U.K. who is devoted to creating change, along with his fellow gay rights activists. Ashton came to the realization that for whatever reason, the police had not been targeting the gays and lesbians of London. Instead, they had been targeting miners on strike. Ashton, much to the chagrin of some of his fellow activists, decided to grab a bucket and collect as much change and bills he could get to send to the families of miners, who at the time obviously were not receiving any income.
Eventually, Ashton formed Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM). As time went on, LGSM and the National Union of Mineworkers worked together battling the police and raising enough money to provide for both organizations. I’m simplifying everything that actually happened for the sake of not having this post be one long movie summary, so I suggest you all actually watch the film.
Unfortunately, Ashton passed away due to complications of pneumonia, brought upon by AIDS. He was only 26. But he lived a wonderful 26 years of life and has influenced me so much. One quote of his that stood out the most to me was:
“It’s quite illogical to actually say ‘Well I’m gay and I’m into defending the gay community, but I don’t care about anyone else.’ It’s important that if you’re defending communities, you also defend all communities.”
Ashton, who was an unapologetic communist, let it be known that while he was working relentlessly for the liberation of his oppressed group (the queer community), he also wholeheartedly supported the liberation and the basic rights of the working class of the U.K. And this is a mindset we must all follow. It seems like a very simple concept, right? Respect the rights of everybody and fight for equality for all, but do people truly believe that? Many claim to be activists, but they are not truly for the liberation of ALL oppressed groups. And thus, their activism is a sham.
To clarify, that does not mean, for example, that if you are a black American and you live/see the oppression of black people in America and want to join the Black Lives Matter movement, you must devote equal amount of time with BLM as you do with a LGBT rights group, workers’ rights group and so on. Nevertheless, it does mean that you must 100% support the freedom and liberation of those other mistreated groups and express that support whether it be by joining a march, donating money (if you can) or even just wearing a symbol that represents your support.
The truly great revolutionaries of the past 60 years knew what true activism was. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. was not simply fighting rigorously for the end of Jim Crow and discrimination against people of color, he was also a huge supporter of the working class and those of all races living in poverty. In fact, the day he was assassinated in Tennessee, he was there in support for public work employees on strike in Memphis. The history books rarely talk about his planned Poor People’s Campaign. So, what made MLK a truly great revolutionary is that he fought for the end of racial discrimination AND fought for the rights of all workers against capitalism, which he described as flat out evil.
Now, my paragraph above is not to say that workers’ rights and rights for racial minorities are two completely separate entities, in fact they’re very much intertwined, which makes it all the more unreasonable for a member of one of those groups to not support the other. Imagine if in 1950s Mississippi, the white working class actually supported the liberation of black people and joined together with them to challenge a government that was cheating them both. After all, Mississippi was home to the poorest of poor white people in the U.S. However, that was not the case and black Mississippians essentially had to work on their own.
Another example of a true activist and revolutionary was Black Panther Party co-founder Huey Newton. Now, Newton said some controversial things throughout his 47 years of life before being killed in the summer of 1989. However, one thing that will always stand out to me about Newton was his speech “A Letter to the Revolutionary Brothers and Sisters About The Women’s Liberation and Gay Liberation Movements.”
In the speech, Newton gives you the guideline to true activism and solidarity. You can read the full transcript of the speech here, but one particular quote that I loved was:
“I do not remember us ever constituting any value that said that a revolutionary must say offensive things towards homosexuals, or that a revolutionary should make sure that women do not speak out about their own particular kind of oppression. As a matter of fact, it is just the opposite: we say that we recognize the women’s right to be free. We have not said much about the homosexual at all, but we must relate to the homosexual movement because it is a real thing. And I know through reading, and through my life experience and observations that homosexuals are not given freedom and liberty by anyone in the society. They might be the most oppressed people in the society.”
Once again, a perfect example of a revolutionary committing an act of solidarity and supporting the liberation of an oppressed group/s that was not their own. Also, let’s put some context into Newton’s speech. He said these things in 1970. This was even before the American Psychology Association declassified homosexuality as a mental illness. This was not a time that any non-queer or non-female spoke up for the liberation of gays and women. Moreover, lets recognize the fact that Newton said this as the leader of a movement that was perceived as uber “pro-masculinity and toughness,” which is often considered an oxymoron whenever its related to homosexuals and women.
I’m not going to sit here and pretend like I’m a perfect activist. I’ve never been to a march or donated money to a activist movement. Hell, I never even bought a BLM or a LGBT rights shirt, despite the fact that I am both black and gay. I would not blame anyone for reading this and thinking that I’m a bit of a hypocrite. With all that being said, I do think I know a thing or two about liberation movements and the way to go about your activism based on my understanding of history and politics. If you’re an activist for the rights and humanity of people of color, but like to throw around homophobic slurs and believe homosexuality is “ruining the black family,” your activism is a sham. If you’re a gay rights activist, but think the Black Lives Matter movement “goes too far,” your activism is a sham. If you’re a women’s rights activist, but refuse to acknowledge trans women as women, then your activism is a sham. If you fight for the rights of strictly the white working class and never acknowledge the plight of the black and Latino working class, your activism is a sham.
The extraordinary activists and revolutionaries throughout history knew that their movements were only valid if they sincerely supported the liberation of all oppressed and marginalized groups. You can never simply focus on you and your people, you must shed light on all oppression you see and use any privileges you may have to fight against it.
