Power, Privilege and Oppression (Part I): Intention and Thoughts

10 Oct 24

The world has become more free but still oppressive. 

I am so thankful for the entire week. Didi’s a remarkable individual who recognized her potential from a complex institutional place, South Africa, coming to realize that there is a need for a conversation around Power, Privilege and Oppression to happen at YIP. So she actualized her idea and delivered this course in YIP since 2019. This year, she came all the way from New York to Sweden, and dedicated her time for thought-provoking discussions, encouraging a brave space for us to express ourselves, share our stories. Everyday, she offered one-on-one session (30m) for anyone who needs consultation or further learning after the whole 3-hour mornings. I realized I took away 45 minutes of her on that Wednesday. 

Baltic sea, my privilege to be here

Blogging in the garden

Absorbing the stunning landscape

Wondering what duty I should do, and what could I do more? 

The community agreements - languages of belonging and humanity 

YIP YIP YIP 

I am so thankful to be here 

YIP Community Agreement: Love this a lot

My initial question asking at the beginning of the course (on 14 Sep) 

• Farming is a poor and dirty job”, is it an example of oppression in socio-economic context?

• What could we do to deal with the vicious cycle of social inequality?  

• I wonder if you have looked at the oppressed in the wartime, victims who died, tortured, colonized, forgotten on a global scale, and within any nation, how should history be educated for the modern generations to learn from the past? 

• What language or what kind of questions should I use when I don’t know my position with the other person?

  
  

My intention for this week: I want to identify my guiding questions to explore more about this theme, challenge my perspectives with consciousness and how to use the right language to talk about this with other people with compassion and critical thinking?

What stood out to me?

New Terms that spark my interests

• Gender Neutrality 

• Microaggression

Everything else, I couldn’t remember. There were so many terms. 

Naming and the complexities

It’s important to note that language, or being able to name certain issues is useful but imperfect. The language will keep evolving according to the social changes. There is climate anxiety, there are cisgender, cultural appropriateness, intersectionality, etc since the world is more aware of respecting complex identity and socially constructed meanings. There are birth of new terms on a spectrum of positivity, negativity but also complexity. I am still in awe how much penetration of language persisted over time. Yet, oppressive situation can change, like how women have become more active in public, how LGBTQ+ have become more recognized. So positive signals could also arise in the years to come. 

I love singing this song in the morning

I experienced sexual harrashments, gender stereotypes, and microaggressions many times before I heard of the terms coined describing those issues. What matters is my experience, not the terms, and so I deeply care about what it means to be a woman, and what it means to be a young person who wants to express ideas and beliefs in this hierarchical and patriarchal society. All issues have deeply penetrated in everywhere I lived but rarely brought into conversations with my family, local friends and relatives because talking about those issues is not the language of my culture. Due to the lack of acknowledgement from individuals and our culture that they are problems, the problems remain unresolved. The society remains oppressive. 

It's been 2 years since I joined the privilege walk, always powerful for discussion

Gender education for young people

I am also curious to explore how can me, as a 25 year old person, talk to the younger ones including adolescent and children about sex and gender. It reminds me of the book “Eternal Wonder” by Pearl S.Buck. The boy who has enternal curiosity about everything, and able to process things fast that pressed his parents to find ways to respond to his endless questions. The concept of being a gardener who have the role to nurture the garden and give rise and life to seeds. Children are seeds, so they come from parents. “Where?” from an internal part of the mother’s body, as a tool to transfer the energy and lead to the child's birth. “Where?” OMG, I was so in awe with how the father used such an analogy to describe the process, and the role of each parent, and letting the kid know where they are from. 

Talking about sex is already so hard, let alone gender, a complicated topic socially constructed, how to educate or orientate the child to think and be able to make the decision by themselves?

Raising a human being and making them responsible for the choices they made is the hardest job in the world.  (I THINK)

Our debrief circle in the sun

The link between power, privilege and oppression and climate justice? 

Neocolonial becomes so much clearer to me at this point in time. In other words, modern colonialism! Countries that has lower economic power might have to depend heavily on external support, and so lots of our human resources, natural resources, ecological system, the beautiful values are being exploited for little values in exchange. Due to the need to “thrive”, to “grow our GDP”, we would strengthen the “political partnership”. 

I question all partnerships that foster cheap labors, foster “international exports” of famous clothes, shoes, phones, rice,... whatever products that are not owned by Vietnam but “made in Vietnam”. Ridiculously funny. Nike shoes, Decathlon clothes, hightech clothes of Uniqlo, etc are made in Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh, India. That’s a pattern of exploitation has penetrated in all these years since I started caring about development issues in 2016. 

The moon is still there in the daytime.

I haven’t seen a decrease in the migration of people from countryside, who left their farms for a more “stable and better paid jobs”. More and more people no longer want to work in the fields. In Thailand, upfront expenses for farmers are too high but the government offer loan with high interests and little subsidies, and farmers have to deal with unstable market price of agricultural products. Rooted in climate change. Rooted in humans. 

Food poisoning is still a big issue because vegetables are planted with pesticides and fertilizers so that people could make money faster. Many gardeners do not eat vegetables they plant by themselves due to too much chemicals they use. They can sell them to customers but not consume directly.

Where is the love and care in the society in the fight for “money” and “power”?  

Could go on and on about global and local issues in my whole life HAHAHA