I was pretty excited about our collective venture into these highly charged topics. These subjects continue to shape me and my perspectives.
When I moved to Germany, I was not ready for the rollercoaster ride that the ‘Power and Privilege’ structures had waiting for me. They shaked me up and down, both in an everyday sense and also in the organised scheme of things- like job opportunities,housing and so on.
I lacked the immunity to handle any of this because, before moving to Germany I had a privileged upbringing. So I did not have some already developed roots of resilience, to respond to these invisible systematic forces. I felt like they were consistently de-railing me off-tracks from personal, social, or professional progress.
It is these meetings that create a space for volunteers like us, who are willing to respond to a system that is so contagiously sickening. It facilitates people to come together and cook some immunity boosters as a response. My own understanding of the nuances of how power and privilege play out deepened during this session.
It can be tiresome to label and categorize the several various ways privileges and power systems can creep in and affect us. Yet, in doing so, I clearly understood what certain terms like ‘colourism’ actually meant-instead of just assuming what it meant.
There was an organic broadening of our collective perspectives happening through these exchanges. I found out that ‘colourism’, as opposed to ‘white privilege’, meant discrimination among people of the global majority (BIPOC) in our varying shades of colour. I felt so relieved that this culture of discrimination had a name.
This clarity happened as we started to name the different forms and shapes that ‘power and privilege’ take and wrote them down. We diagnosed symptoms that are still not properly diagnosed-for example, the ways children who have different ways of learning do not conform to a certain way of paying attention and being focused.
We then moved on to a group exercise where we were given a privilege chart to see how the various forms of power and privilege become a reality in our personal experience. It felt like a full-body diagnosis,underlining the different aspects of being ourselves in the context of Berlin.
Why does this help-this diagnosis? For me,it was because the symptom is not invisible anymore, and we aren’t helpless against it. The discussions naturally moved towards collecting resources - for preparedness and responses.
Creating a space of awareness and discussions around these ‘systematic patterns’ and ‘status quos’ that can easily escape our awareness when we complacently “normalize” them allows for articulating them for what they are. This awareness can prepare us better for possible confrontations with them, and to move beyond them. It is empowering!
After mapping out our own privileges on paper, we had a group discussion in which I was affirmed that the ‘Europe-based’ privilege chart we used was only reflecting one aspect of truth. For example, in my group discussions we discovered that ‘ageism’ has two sides to it. My group companions shared how getting older improved their quality of life - they experienced getting older as a privilege.
We discovered deeper dimensions and saw together the expansion of the privilege circle with more nuances and considerations.
We then moved on to a practical, personal, and spatial exploration of how power and privilege actually feel. We took the space of the Blue House to position ourselves according to where we stand when different aspects of privilege play out. When we played it out, we found how it intersects in different areas and how it is not all that black and white.
I found myself moving through the whole spectrum of privilege. I also witnessed the complexity of how the multitude of privileges shows up on different scales for each individual. I also felt seen. It was uncomfortable to be seen in my privilege and in the lack of it. I found this to be very powerful.
The activity added power and feelings, elevating the meeting from being an exclusively intellectual participation.The act of seeing and being seen felt transformative and alchemical-even if the feelings were not always sweet, they were effective.
Afterward,we gathered for a sharing.There was a certain ambiguity in a discussion around one sensitive topic.This led us to a confrontation with our differences. The space felt safe enough to confront this ambiguity head-on for clarity and to voice our differences.
It was interesting to notice that such different perspectives were still present in Hejmo.
We also discussed how ‘power hierarchies’ can subtly play out among us volunteers, interns, and participants.
For me, reflection rounds are ‘powerhouses’. It is a space where the volunteer walks in, with their energies potentially obscured and dulled by everyday marginalizations, discriminations, and isolation. The gatherings return the participants to their fullness-in reflecting, in this act of seeing and being truly seen. We are each other’s social wealth that shatters the walls of isolation in our becoming. We nourish each other with diverse perspectives to feel resourceful and empowered. We become carriers of this awareness into the world.
We are equipped to walk through the sickness of the system with a felt sense of group immunity. And, thanks for the equally empowering food!