Krystalline Kraus speaks on behalf of Lateral Violence within (Indigenous)Activists Communities. "According to the Indigenous community group KweyKwey Consulting, “Lateral Violence occurs within marginalized groups where members strike out at each other as a result of being oppressed. The oppressed become the oppressors of themselves and each other. Common behaviours that prevent positive change from occurring include gossiping, bullying, finger-pointing, backstabbing and shunning.” In the smaller, subgroup of Indigenous sovereignty and resistance, lateral violence is understood as, “Inter-generational wounding caused by residential school, oppression and marginalization has caused a hardening amongst people that is evidenced by the way we communicate and relate to each other and our children.” That’s a really good way to describe it; that within a community there must be constantly hyper-vigilant against oppression so the community does not fall prey to the very thing it seeks to protect itself against. Because lateral violence is a personal problem as well as a community problem, it needs to be dealt with from those two perspectives. Often the bullying is done in private and the aggressor will actually react with a nervous defensiveness when the victim/survivor seeks help from the larger community and brings the abuse into the light of day. Often, the perpetrator will hide behind the excuse that they are the only ones willing to ‘tell the truth’ about a certain community member or about a risky situation. They will clothe themselves in a righteousness or at least the sense that they are just ‘doing their job’ by exposing a person’s faults to public scrutiny, potentially ruining lives."
Posted on: Wed, 10 Jul 2013 14:24:29 +0000
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