Are you for or against us? The ‘battle
cry’ of political commitment or sometimes nothing more than a declaration of
war.
If the left loses the war (define
them as you wish), they can be found turning on non-voters, utilising trite
cries of denigration ‘if you didn’t vote then you cannot complain’. This punitive
castigating is victim blaming for the lefts inability to engage honestly with
those they wanted to gain votes from. It is a smokescreen for lies dished out
as promises. A vote for us is a vote for sanity whilst the political left courts
the middle-classes promising them the fruits of the gods and distancing themselves
from the great unwashed, yet spouting catchphrases and slogans that make them
appear that they do really care about the disenfranchised.
Well this voter is over it. I have had enough of post-election
blame – I am sick of the catch cry ‘if you don't vote you can't complain’ or
any of the victim blaming that has washed facebook since election night.
In the 1980’s Andrea Dworkin explored the fight or flight of
women in the face of violence in Right
Wing women” The politics of domesticated Females (1978). She explained why many women colluded with the
patriarchy - bottom-line: women bought into male stereotypes of womanhood to
avoid the violence of men. This violence as many women know is so embedded in
society it is impossible find solace from it. Conformity therefore meant
survival. She went on to state that unless women could speak their truths about
violence then this violence would continue. However, when women did speak they
were ridiculed – threatened back into silence, “…buried in a cultural silence”.
Her solution - to entirely supplement patriarchal language with a women focused
language that identifies woman’s experiences of the world.
It was this theorising that made me consider the plight of marginalised
peoples in Aotearoa New Zealand and the discourse of blame from the left, right
and centre . As the great neo-liberal experiment became a permanent fixture in
our everyday lives those closest to its fallout - workers, the unemployed and marginalised
communities suffered the full brunt of its devastating effects. As unions sold
out or collapsed under the weight of consecutive governments anti-union laws, as
benefits stagnated and wage increases became a thing of the past a tiredness amongst
the poor set in. A tiredness that has become rooted in 30 years of bombardment
and the need to survive, to make what little is left in the fridge stretch.
An essential component of neoliberalism is its castigating discourse.
It portions out blame on those who have not reaped the rewards of this grand
experiment. People are reproached for not trying hard enough, for not saving
hard enough, spending too much, not spending enough and not understanding the
long term goals of tightening their belts. Just listen to Mike Hosking’s who between
whinny breaths, blames the poor for a) not investing in housing and b) thinking
that a state house or rented property is theirs to call home. ‘Tut tut’ he says
‘…you have misread the fine print, a home is a white middleclass man’s castle -
be away with you’.
30 years of being punished many New Zealanders have become a
silent, like an abused child – afraid to raise their heads to high. Linda
Tirado in Hand to Mouth points out:
“Living on minimum wage… means being on your feet for eight hours at a stretch,
having to ask permission to go to the loo and walking miles to work if your car
breaks down. Worse than all of this, however, is the assumption made by
wealthier people that Tirado and her peers just aren't trying hard enough.”
Dammed if you do dammed if you don’t.
Returning to Andrea Dworking’s argument - fear of violence –
violence that has become embedded in society for centuries brings about a state
of fight or collaboration. The only hope
was the recalibration of language in the hope that all women’s voices could be
included and heard. Until this occurred women had only two choices - fight or collaborate.
Those of us who call ourselves social justice activists need to take up a
similar challenge. We need to cease blaming the poor for our loss. We need to rethink
how we speak our truth and the truths of those we fight with and for. Our
language needs to be one of inclusion.