Our Approach: Tackling the Intersectionality of Oppression

MataHari: Eye of the Day operates with framework that women of color and immigrants are living at the tenuous intersections of sexism, racism, xenophobia, classism, heterosexism, and able-ism amongst others, and thus, at risk for oppression.

This worldview is so eloquently articulated by INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence in its framing of an integrated philosophy that succinctly describes our mission and vision:

“Women of color who survive sexual or domestic violence are often told that they must pit themselves against their communities to address their experience of violence. Communities of color, meanwhile, often advocate that women keep silent about sexual and domestic violence in order to maintain a united front against racism. Furthermore, women of color also experience institutionalized violence such as law enforcement violence, incarceration, and sterilization abuse. Although the anti-sexual/domestic violence movements have been critical in breaking the silence around violence against women, these movements have also become increasingly professionalized and de-politicized, and consequently are often reluctant to address sexual and domestic violence within the larger context of institutionalized violence and oppression. It is impossible to seriously address sexual/domestic violence within communities of color without addressing these larger structures of violence, such as militarism, attacks on immigrants’ rights and Indian treaty rights, the proliferation of prisons, economic neo-colonialism, and the medical industry.”

RECENTERING VS INCLUSION
Why is it crucial for us to work on all forms of oppression in our movement for social justice?
We are often asked why MataHari chooses work at the intersection of various social justice issues, rather than just focus on one element of oppression.
The answer is both simple and complex. MataHari carries a vision of a world where oppression is a thing of the past. In order to embody that vision, we must take on an inclusive, holistic focus and strategy to achieve our goals.
Like our sister organization INCITE!, MataHari also stresses “the importance of transcending the “politics of inclusion” to address the concerns of women of color. Inclusivity has come to mean that the sexual or domestic violence prevention model, developed largely with the interests of white middle-class women in mind, should simply add a multicultural component. An alternative approach to “inclusion” is to place women of color at the center of the analysis of organizing against violence. That is, what if we do not make any assumptions about what a domestic violence program should look like, but instead ask: What would it take to end violence against women of color? What would this movement look like? When we shift the center to women of color, the importance of addressing state and institutional violence becomes evident. This perspective benefits not only women of color, but all peoples, because relying on oppressive institutions to end violence in our communities is not an effective strategy for anyone.
Women of color urgently need to build our collective organizing power to address the unique ways in which violence manifests in our lives. Therefore, MataHari focuses our grassroots efforts on the way in which sexual/domestic violence connects with state violence, especially in the lives of immigrants and women of color.

Individual Identity
Our identities as individuals goes beyond our gender, race, color, caste, immigration status, class background, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, able-bodiedness, soundness of mind, the work we do for a living, or educational background. Our identity is a complex fusion of all of these elements and more, and therefore we may face challenges in a multiple ways that require support in various ways. When we look at ourselves and our communities as whole and embrace its rich and complex diversity, we can better help facilitate our integration of mind, body and spirit of the human being and restore the healthiness of the society in which we live in.

Internalized Oppression. Institutionalized Oppression.
MataHari’s work is primarily with immigrants and communities of color. Communities of color sometimes go to battle against each other in the classic design of the oppressor’s “divide and conquer”. The struggle and fight of people of color amongst each other, for the “piece of the pie” or a “place at the table” for basic respect can often become a blinding quest, at the expense of our solidarity. Our work therefore is complex in self-examining, naming and then cleansing ourselves of our internalized oppression, while fielding external challenges.

Culture of Fear & Xenophobia
In this country’s current climate of fear, hysteria and xenophobia are acutely felt in immigration policy debates and heightened security measures. Immigrants are being viciously labeled as “national security threats” and “common criminals”, and dehumanized as “illegal aliens”. Immigrant rights supporters are publicly vilifed and reduced to labels of criminal sympathizers or criminal elements themselves. We are thrust into yet another phase in US history of severe oppression and limitations on personal freedoms and civil liberties. Whatever headway in social justice this country might have made in the last two decades has virtually been obliterated since the rise of this rhetoric of fear and proliferation of the war machine. Due to advancements in technology, immigrants are vulnerable in new ways and are driven further underground to stay under the radar. This further isolates or silences them from being an active part of community and attaining basic human rights. Immigrant survivors of violence have no where to turn to for help, options for safety through public services are sometimes closed to people due to their immigration status or language barriers, families fear or face deportation when calling for assistance, neighbor is turned against neighbor when they buy into the rhetoric that their jobs are being taken away by the Mexicans or historically, black folks, the Irish or the Italians. All of this a familiar discourse we hear in varying times over the course of history, particularly in times of economic crisis.

Economic Strife & the Human Machine
The deeply embedded culture of capitalism and the incredibly high cost of living in the city have challenged the community from reaching for connection and solidarity in our contemporary society. As a young migrant woman restaurant worker from Bangladesh recounted, when sadly having to decline the opportunity to participate in an upcoming Global Women’s Forum,

“I am like a machine. I have no time for anything but working. My owner (her description of her boss) picks me up at 5:30 am and drops me off at 7:30 pm. I work 7 days a week. I am tired all the time. And more so now that it’s the month of Ramadan. This life is so hard. I don’t have time for living…not even to visit my brother….”

We are embedded in socio-economic and political conditions that have reduced us to “live to work”. This is especially true for the working poor. Organizing immigrant communities under these conditions is hugely challenging, when the struggle to survive becomes an impediment to civic participation and community engagement. This well-oiled machine has figured out how to keep the wheels turning, while reducing the working migrant to an exhausted heap – too fatigued to even reflect upon being able to better his situation.

It is crucial for MataHari to continue to raise consciousness of our communities to not fall into believing that life is confined to the traps of the gerbil wheel on the machine, otherwise, we can not break through to see beyond to liberation and social justice.

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MataHari: Eye of the Day
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