Choices, Changes

Te defining element of privilege and oppression is the availability of choices. The social claustrophobia I wrote about before explains this. Confinement to a limited social space – by economic contract or the exertion of majority rule – prevents the self directed expression of human creativity, and also puts the brakes on any necessary escape routes from interpersonal violence. Even having the option to develop other pursuits is a luxury that improves a shitty work experience. The ability to opt in to social movements like the anti-globalization struggle in Chiapas makes the participation of intellectuals in these movements qualitatively different from the participation of those participating for survival. The material differences in their struggle creates differences in the types of demands they are able to make as part of the movement.

This constructs a topology for struggle. The map should locate sites of struggle where options have been limited already by the material conditions of oppression. Who does globalization leave with no choices for maintaining their existence? Where do populations such as these live? The topology of struggle has to find these points to find space for change.

Duncan