ITS NOT ALL BLACK AND WHITE: HOW DO WE IDENTIFY OURSELVES?

What identity or section do we put ourselves in? We often choose personas to tackle the problems of everyday life and our political responses to exploitation, poverty, war, climate change. How important are identities in this? - do we organise/campaign by defining ourselves racially, by gender, class, nationality or sexual orientation?

And how meaningful are sectional categories? Is race biological or a social construct? – the writer Kenin Malik argues that “race didn’t give birth to racism. Racism gave birth to race”. Why is that radicals feel comfortable with the idea of “Black identity” but not “white identity”? Are gender roles roles assigned through culture, or biologically assigned through DNA? Is our sexuality determined by gender? And last and not least what do we mean by class? Are we middle class for attending a debating group, or our occupations? Or is that a state of mind. What is bourgeoise, petit bourgeois and proletarian, and is that relevant?

Should change focus on individual experiences and identities, or through collective struggle and class solidarity? Are the multiple forms of oppression such as racism, sexism, and homophobia separate and fundamental to our experience, and is class exploitation central or one just one more injustice?

Join us to debate this. We absolutely won’t all agree but that doesn’t mean debating is not worthwhile, or fun for that matter.

https://youtu.be/q55ECndZgJw?si=UVUcpto8x85zY8j7