Election Coverage – Liberation societies know how to represent themselves

[dropcap]A[/dropcap]s a person of colour, I am more than used to hearing offensive, rude and inexcusable words thrown around me. I have become used to these aggressions, both micro and macro, and I have adapted different techniques for dealing with them.

I have my infamous side-eye which is generously applied in seminars where my peers (and teachers too, sadly) are needlessly problematic, I have lovely friendship groups where I can vent about these things and receive the support I so need to have the strength to carry on at times when I rightfully feel like the world is against me.

And I have WARSOC at the university, which has been my number one creative platform and source of learning and development this year.

As a person of colour, I am more than used to hearing offensive, rude and inexcusable words thrown around me

As said before, I have developed an armour of sorts, and many coping strategies to deal with this kind of nonsense. However, I am still a human being, and as jaded and sceptical as I am, I do stumble across a situation every once in a while that leaves me baffled at just how backwards this university and its students can sometimes be when it comes to issues of liberation. And sadly, one of those few moments happened a few days ago when a group of WARSOC members, myself included, decided to attend a public hustings for the SU-election.

One of said hopefuls, which I won’t mention by name, was asked what they would do to support liberation societies, such as WARSOC, in their constant battle for funding. Now, to contextualise this to those of you who are unfamiliar with liberation societies, funding is ALWAYS a constant source of stress and anxiety for societies that strive to shake the status quo and that bring up ‘uncomfortable’ issue to the table.

Funding is ALWAYS a constant source of stress and anxiety for societies that strive to shake the status quo and that bring up ‘uncomfortable’ issue to the table

As liberation societies, it is our jobs to be independent and therefore critical of mainstream politics in every way. It is part of our founding purpose to fight for our members’ rights to exist in spaces where their bodies and identities are deemed deviant. Therefore, finding ethical ways for funding our campaigns is hard, and getting the university to help us work to cover for what they deliberately ignore and swipe under the matt, is at times even harder.

So imagine my surprise and shock when the answer to said question was something along the lines of “I will make sure they know how to represent themselves”. Now, if you are privileged enough to not care about liberation work, then I don’t fault you for your ignorance.

So imagine my surprise and shock when the answer to said question was something along the lines of “I will make sure they know how to represent themselves”

Not everyone is capable nor suitable for this kind of work, and although we do so much for the university community, our good work is often ignored by those whose bodies are made norm on this campus and beyond. I cannot say I respect the choice not to engage with these issues, but I understand the reluctance to be involved in something they deem “not their fight”. However, to claim that members of liberation societies do not know how to represent themselves is crossing a line which borders on the crude.

As mentioned earlier, by merely existing, bodies such as mine are branded deviant and wrong. My whole existence in this space and many other which I call home are often called into question and I am asked to justify, explain and make people comfortable with their prejudices against me and other people of colour. My mere existence in spaces that are hostile is a feat of representation, so no dear SU-candidate, I don’t think it is within your power to teach any of us how to ‘represent ourselves’.