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ziq wrote

This is something that comes up a lot on anarchist forums when white people oppose violence towards nazis / police, or even oppose 'violating their free speech'.

I was hoping the article would actually be a guide to explaining white privilege to people that don't see themselves as holding privilege, but it's not really, it just addresses white people's anger at being told by people of color that they're privileged.

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An_Old_Big_Tree OP wrote

It's not a play-by-play but I think it does give two bits of food for thought;

Pointing out out some reasons why a broke white person might want to reject the idea, e.g. the section where they talk about the "points on the list that I felt spoke more to the author's status as a Middle Class person than a White Person".

And I thought the point about introducing the idea of intersectionality and how you can be very privileged in some ways and very not in others, was a good thought to take forward.

I wonder if meaningful guides exist or if this is it? I feel like we've got to be as informed as we can and tailor our responses to the specific people and context we're addressing.

For the sake of continuing the conversation:
For one thing depending where we are in the world the history of whiteness is going to be super different. For example, (as I understand it) there are very few actual white people in Botswana. But because of a cosy american imperialism, and postcolonial debts, there's an invisible international whiteness imposed on the country as a whole, even when there aren't tangible white people around doing the imposing. Trying to explain whiteness in that context is real different to explaining it in Zimbabwe, or South Africa, because their relations to whiteness are so hugely different. Even in different parts of the same country it's different, and I'm always surprised at what random white people consider to be relevant factors in defense of their privilege.

Personally I'm trying to figure out the relevant history of whiteness for where I am, and then using that in conjunction with the general theory that exists, to try to engage with people around me.

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