{"id":305,"date":"2026-01-05T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.radyfhs.umanitoba.ca\/anti-racism\/?p=305"},"modified":"2025-12-19T09:45:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T15:45:14","slug":"january-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.radyfhs.umanitoba.ca\/anti-racism\/january-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"January 2026: The possibilities and politics of refusal: Mutuality and relational ethics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[Racism\u2019s] \u201cpresence poisons everything we are and everything we hope to become. It makes every moment a moment of danger, not just because of the potential for explosions of violence \u2026, but because of the ruined lives, wasted talents, and corrupt interpersonal and social relations that racism causes. But the very danger that racism represents can serve constructive ends if it motivates us to create new ways of knowing and acting.\u201d<\/p>George Lipsitz, 2006, p. 183.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Delia<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As we \u2018meet\u2019 a new year, I have been thinking about the importance of mutuality and solidarity in light of the many challenges we face in our ongoing liberation and social justice struggles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are undeniably living in a moment of danger<\/em> with the ever-increasing attacks on human rights alongside the undermining and destruction of social justice gains, as white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, capitalism, and settler colonial projects continue to shape our institutions, knowledge systems, and social relations, pitting us against each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of the extent to which we are encouraged – and taught – to see ourselves as equals, and the extent to which are encouraged – and taught – to see ourselves in each other.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The centuries old white settler colonial strategy of \u201cdivide and conquer\u201d has become so ordinary, <\/em>or normalized, that it is rarely acknowledged or questioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anti-racism and social justice work should not be seen a competition to see who has endured the most\/more harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as the various systems of oppression that impact the marginalized are continually evolving, so should our awareness, understanding, and behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consideration of which differences matter is not inconsequential; the issue is one of power and the ways in which multiple systems of domination and subordination are reproduced and sustained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To deny, or even disregard, the violence directed against folx who are not a part of your community is tantamount to a committed indifference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indifference constitutes a harm that not only wounds, it sustains and protects the dominant by normalizing the status quo of injustice and inequality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside inconceivable registers of trauma, loss, fear, and grief, I am thinking about the importance of expanding our vocabulary, and how we might think about and respond to complicated interconnections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just as our oppressions are linked, so too are our social justice struggles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enhancing our literacy (e.g., racial\/gender\/sexuality\/religion\/ethnicity\/ableness\u2026), can also help us expand our imaginations, our ways of thinking about, and responding to, complex and contradictory issues and interconnections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our freedom dreams \u2013 our liberation \u2013 our futures – require that we hear and accept our differences, and not use them to compare ourselves to each other to silence, to disregard \u2013 dehumanize – to construct hierarchy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of years ago I attended a panel discussion titled, \u201cResisting Settler Colonial Violence.\u201d One of the speakers, Dr. Sunera Thobani, asked (I am paraphrasing here): \u2018Where does one look for protection\/support\/affirmation when the state is not only implicated, but in her words, \u201cfacilitating the violence\u201d? Her answer: \u201cWe look to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Thobani\u2019s answer disrupts the scarcity model of engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her response invites a particular kind of consciousness, one that is rooted in mutuality, reciprocity, and a recognition of our interdependence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am thinking of refusal as a form of consciousness and pedagogy, one that is rooted in love, hope, and possibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In looking to each other, we build relationships, we gain knowledge, and we create the conditions to challenge inequality together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is disingenuous to recognize the humanity of some while negating the humanity of others. The care the consideration the commitment can\u2019t and shouldn\u2019t be one way<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Refusing to support hierarchies of humanness\/the dehumanization of others affirms the mutuality of our collective humanness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the words of Aida Davis (2024), \u201cTo refuse is a form of love. Love for yourself, love for others, love for a world that doesn\u2019t love you back\u201d (p. 73)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am thinking about a politic created out of necessity\u2026out of the urgency and danger of this moment. We need to work towards more just futures together: We don\u2019t \u2018get out of here\u2019 without each other\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Refusing the current iteration of divide and conquer \u2013 and instead engaging in an ethic of care and courage – not only disrupts the practice of \u2018exclusion through selective<\/em> inclusion,\u2019 it enables us to begin to recognize places of common or related oppression and struggle, places which could subsequently offer a foundation for coalition work in support of social justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a new year begins, let\u2019s \u2018refuse the assignment,\u2019 and pursue a path that is guided by a spirit of openness and mutuality to enhance our collective capacity to imagine, dream, and build a world that \u201cmight be otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Resources<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Aida Mariam Davis. (2024). Kindred creation<\/em>: Parables and paradigms for freedom<\/em>. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

George Lipsitz. (2006). The possessive investment in whiteness: How white people profit from identity politics<\/em>. Revised and expanded edition. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cherr\u00ede Moraga & Gloria Anzaldua. (1981\/1983). This bridge called my back: Writings by radical women of color<\/em>. Second edition. New York, NY: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christina Sharpe. (2023). Ordinary notes.<\/em> Toronto, ON: Penguin Random House.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Racism\u2019s] \u201cpresence poisons everything we are and everything we hope to become. It makes every moment a moment of danger, not just because of the potential for explosions of violence \u2026, but because of the ruined lives, wasted talents, and corrupt interpersonal and social relations that racism causes. But the very danger that racism represents … Continue reading “January 2026: The possibilities and politics of refusal: Mutuality and relational ethics”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22,33,47,30,1],"tags":[8,10],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.radyfhs.umanitoba.ca\/anti-racism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.radyfhs.umanitoba.ca\/anti-racism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.radyfhs.umanitoba.ca\/anti-racism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.radyfhs.umanitoba.ca\/anti-racism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.radyfhs.umanitoba.ca\/anti-racism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.radyfhs.umanitoba.ca\/anti-racism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":306,"href":"https:\/\/news.radyfhs.umanitoba.ca\/anti-racism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305\/revisions\/306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.radyfhs.umanitoba.ca\/anti-racism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.radyfhs.umanitoba.ca\/anti-racism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.radyfhs.umanitoba.ca\/anti-racism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}