Pedagogy of Toxic Paternalism

Pedagogy of toxic paternalism seeks to show how the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Questioning, Queer, Sex-Workers' Movement has allowed comfort and luxurious life to hide the real pains still un-addressed. This has been a barrier blanketing the mission of self determination of marginalized people. 

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Dear all, bring back activism that liberates. The old school kind that promoted collective upliftment whose outcomes were solutions that addressed inequalities. The type that points out the systemic structures entrenching precarious toxicity in movements. The kind that enshrined accountability and provided opportunities for leadership that transformed generations.

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Citizenship rights, social-cultural rights, economic rights, modelling practices and self determination have been hijacked by "leaders" who front commercialism, commodification, and sadly externalization (where by leaders make requests for money to address a given issue "A" e.g. addressing poor adherence to ARVs among LGBTIQQSW, but end up buying luxurious laptops, suits, expensive wines and wrist watches).
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"Citizenship" in this case is the relentless making good use of the political, social, cultural and economical tools so that individuals gain independence, are dependable, reliable and enjoy unencumbered agency. It means striving toward complete humanism and is far grander/larger that the mere having passports used to travel across borders.

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We can gauge outcome using the IMPACT tool. I (Inform decisions for quality life); M (meaningful actions that lead to thriving lives); P (progressive intentions causing change that stimulates better standards of living); A (accessible services that take into consideration inequalities that may arise due to interventions); C (collaboration that promotes market linkage and synergy with other actors); T (transferable lessons and efforts for resource renewal and skills transfer).

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Pride has been abused and if Harvey Milk were to visit the activism temple, he would get his belt off, turn it into a whip and clobber the denizens. The mission has been turned upside down and become a marketplace for the highest bidder and most accomplished who would prefer to boast of jet-set experiences, show off fancy fast cars, photo opps with dignitaries.... than coming up with solutions for a life beset with traumatic experiences. It is a larger dysfunction of a culture that encourages classicism, racism, elitism and hoaxes where the victims are divided into two classes: the poster-victims and  the rest. The poster-victims become the elite, heroes and heroines who are supposed to represent the rest of the victims.

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Our collective sins:

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1. Many have tended to enjoy beer parties and called them activism. We don't question such events. 

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2. Some "leaders"  have blocked access to "funders" and ended up feeding them non-representative issues. They claim to represent the needs of the LGBTIQQSW but in actual fact they are looking for change to build a perimeter wall around their newly acquired high-end mansion.  We have never protested.

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3. We know leaders who have overstayed in positions of power and have not groomed replacements. Or if they have, they are just sycophantic shadows of themselves. We have never raised our fingers to point this out.

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4. We know of people who prefer to ignore emergencies faced by LGBTIQQSW and prefer to go on with their comfortable lifestyles. We don't call them out.

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5. Pride seems to evoke two meanings: There are those who "celebrate" such as those in Europe, America, Australia and the like. But there are those who want to use Pride to remind them of the unmet needs. This is the kind of Pride that liberates Black people. It is the kind that calls out racism, that denounces embezzlement of funds meant for LGBTIQQSW interventionist work and so many other issues.
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6. We know of leaders who claim that the offices of their organizations are rented from external Landladies or Landlords when in actual fact these are their own houses. And still funders give them money to go on with these expensive lifestyles.

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Solutions:

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1. Draw plans to denounce dangerously retrogressive toxic tactics. These negatively affect LGBTIQQSW movements in Africa (I am sure those in Latin America, Caribbean  and Asia have their version of the story). The retrogressive toxic tactics are where funders (mostly White) overlook a pivotal point against corruption when they do not demand asset declaration of those they give funds. Let us not get all mixed up here, officers need to be salaried but they should also spend with their means. The way the so called "leaders" are spending in Africa is sorely regrettable (not all, there are some who have retained their integrity).  As if that is not enough, funders do not demand term limits but rather keep propping up the same faces of so called "leaders" or "poster-activists" most of whom have enriched themselves and are now property-moguls. Funders have ignored to not entrench compassionate growth of the movement. Many leaders on knowing that numbers count, have dominion groups of their own disguised as new or different organizations but they are in fact directly under them and serve the purpose of channeling funds away from the wider movement. Funders have not encouraged  the establishment of accountability structures that promote capacity building and denounce irregularities especially embezzlement of funds.  

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2. Ensure non-white people learn to work together because, unfortunately, "whitism" is killing movements too. It is the tendency of lighter skinned persons to discriminate or stigmatize those who are darker or who are not necessarily "White!"

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3. Black on Black toxicity is rampant. Address it, otherwise all struggles are in vain.

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4. Gender Power Play and dichotomy that is abusive  should be denounced and instead the complementary nature of opposites should be explored without entrenching abusiveness especially in interactions.

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5. Accountability for roles, positions, tasks and callings leadership brings. Share information and have oversight committees look into what you are doing.

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6. Leadership term limits. When you have served for sometime, groom someone who will take over when you move over , step aside or retire.

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7. Encourage mechanisms to promote accountability and Value for money practices. Demand an audit and make it public and enshrine whistleblowing practices within the LGBTIQQSW Movement in Africa.
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Conclusion:

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Pedagogy of toxic paternalism is a warning for  Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Questioning, Queer, Sex-Workers not to take comfort and luxurious life to mean accomplishment. Instead, they can use the money that comes to them through grants to explore and establish emotional regulation institutions that push back against violence, stigma, discrimination and trauma. 

There is need to allow fresh insights into activism. Those who have been around longer tend to gain a habitus (something that is not necessarily bad if used for common good). Habitus is a sign that one needs to step aside or move farther and at the same time take to groom replacements. 

Overstaying in leadership positions negates the meaning of dignity. Indeed, this is a barrier denying the means for self determination by marginalized people. 

We can start by using the IMPACT tool to baseline all our objectives for change.

#liberationactivism

#catalyticactivism