Sacred Instructions by Sherri Mitchell

Author:Sherri Mitchell
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781623171964
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
Published: 2017-11-28T05:00:00+00:00

10

Conquest Activism

Conquest is the vehicle that drives colonization. It has been the modus operandi for seventeen centuries. It has infiltrated all areas of our lives. The tendency to overthrow runs deep. The goal of much of our activism has been to topple one system and replace it with another. This practice perpetuates the cycle of domination, and does nothing to help us achieve our broader goal of creating unity within our movements.

One of the characteristics of conquest is domination. The dominator mind-set is linear and based on hierarchies of power. One of the dangers of the dominator mind-set is that it tends to gain its power by disempowering others. The oppressor takes power from the oppressed. In turn, the oppressed oppress others to try to reclaim some of their power. When we fail to recognize our place within these cycles, we are unable to see the way that they are impacting our lives and the way that we do our work out in the world.

People speak a great deal about wanting unity, but unity requires us to meet one another with openness, and a willingness to understand one another and ensure one another’s well-being. When we are operating under the conquest mind-set, even our attempts at unity can be forged in notions of domination. When we’re operating under the domination model, our claims of unity tend to be more about wanting others to fall in line with our way of thinking. This is a position of domination. The structure that guides conquest requires a hierarchy of power. In order for us to feel successful within this structure, we have to elevate ourselves over some other.

There are countless examples of this at play within our society. Our political system is a veritable breeding ground for these types of power plays. One party believes that they have a position that is morally superior to another, so they try to remove that party from office and replace them with their own morally superior party. Of course, this does nothing to further democracy; it simply reinforces the domination model. Rather than evolving toward a meaningful balance, and trying to find common ground, our political parties have become more entrenched and more intent on defeating one another, despite what this battle does to the country or its citizens. This ongoing battle within our government feeds the division within our society, which makes people less likely to focus on the real issues at stake by keeping them focused only on ensuring that their side wins. This allows the domination model to thrive, and helps the patriarchy maintain its hold on the people. There is no way to balance the domination model. It is designed to breed imbalance, inequity, and injustice.

One of the ways that this imbalance is achieved is by manipulating the flow of information. The flow of information within dominator societies is controlled by those who hold power. They determine what will be heard, who will hear it, and when. When information travels up through

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.