Anti-oppression in practice

On Monday Nov. 4 members of the Dalhousie University community congregated to learn how as an individual you can decolonize, unpack and reimagine an anti-oppressive society.

The “How to speak anti-o” workshop, collaborated by the Nova Scotia Public Interest Research Group (NSPIRG) and Nivie Singh from Dalhousie’s radio station CKDU FM sought to simplify how systems intersectionally oppress individuals. This workshop was geared to the general public who wants to learn more about what anti-oppression is, and what it looks like.

Anti-oppression is simple in concept. Clark MacIntosh the finance and resource centre coordinator for NSPIRG says “Anti-oppression as a framework is complex, but the ways that oppression and privilege impact each of us in our daily lives is very real. Societies are built on rules, laws, norms and beliefs that guide how we interact with government, institutions each other and ourselves. All of this works together to create an imbalanced system that disadvantages and harms many people. The good news is all these rules and norms were thought up by humans like you and me—which means we can change them to create a society that benefits everyone and reduces harm. That’s the goal of Anti-o.”

Nivie Singh, the Operations Manager at CKDU 88.1 FM and the facilitator of the workshop, explains anti-oppression in a simpler way: “Unpack, decolonize, reimagine.” This model comes from Harsha Walia, a social justice activist from Vancouver. At its core it asks society to relieve ourselves from personal guilt and unlearn the pieces in which we unconsciously participate in oppression, says Singh.

Anti-oppression is a process of self-reflection. “What does it look like for me to step outside of the things I’ve learned?” says Singh. We ask this question so we can “reimagine a world in which we all exist, and we all support each other.” At the core of the workshop was imagination and conversation. For Singh, the most effective way they’ve “been able to unpack [their] privileges [has] been through conversation and processes with groups.” The imaginative work of anti-oppression is effective when one opens their understanding to another person’s radically different experiences through conversation. And so, whenever Singh embarks upon the work of facilitating these workshops, their goal is “always to create dialogue.”

Accessibility is essential to anti-oppression. Alienating those who sometimes feel like “an elephant in a porcelain shop,” as one attendee phrased it, is unproductive. It’s why this workshop was so important, says Singh. “We wanted to make the conversation of anti-o relatable to the most amount of people.” And so, even if those who felt utterly clueless showed up they’d be able to engage in conversations. “It felt really good to have a group of people who were at different places but were there to talk about the same topic,” says Singh. As a group, the goal of generating a conversation of self-reflection and imagination was successful.

Such conversations are restricted at Dal — at least, institutionally speaking. At the Dalhousie Student Union’s Equity and Accessibility office (E&A office), the mandate is to “provide a source for students to file complaints or submit their grievances with the University Administration, Faculty, about other students or societies.” Or, read the Student Code of Conduct, Part C, Offences, Article 1,‘Offences against persons,’ sub-article D: “no student shall engage in a course of vexatious conduct, harassment or discrimination” based on their identity. These policies are, of course, fundamental to ensuring that campus is a liberated space for all its community members. However, they do not guarantee that the proactive work of creating spaces for empathy and dialogue for its students to combat oppression on campus. Therefore it’s up to whoever is in positions of power to influence whether anti-oppression work gets done, and what that looks like.

Maddi Gan, a workshop attendee, agrees. “There’s a lot of things, even not directly spoken but indirectly felt, in [academic] spaces, and things that I noticed but wasn’t able to articulate until I came here.” Being given the language to articulate her identity and her experience of campus life was empowering, says Gan. “Being able to articulate like ‘hey, I acknowledge your feelings, BUT this is how you’re being perceived’ to explain oppressive behaviour is powerful.” Gan says her takeaway from the workshop was finally learning the language to articulate her experience and create more anti-oppressive spaces on campus.

Moreover, Singh says that “there is a sense of urgency to address imbalances and margins and the ways that we connect and interact with each other" in light of the alarming rates at which hatred is spreading in contemporary culture.

In the face of this, Singh believes in the power of facilitation, of creating a space that is accessible and in which vulnerability is possible. This means that while there isn’t an expectation of vulnerability, they say that “is [their] approach, because [...] what’s important to me is to use ‘I’ statements, and try to always speak from a place of myself, and try to do my best to not speak for other people.” The work of unpacking our identities, decolonizing our biases, and reimagining how we can make a better world requires vulnerability. They say that they facilitate using their own experiences “to allow [my] self to be vulnerable, to allow people — even if it’s just in their thoughts — to be vulnerable with [me] in that moment.” From this leap of empathy, the imaginative work of anti-oppression becomes possible.

By: Nelly Bateman

Edited by: Gabbie Douglas