On Choosing Sides

Over the weekend, I was asked by an old friend how I can confidently speak up or take a particular side when it comes to world issues, and my simple answer is to always take the side of the oppressed or marginalized. Yes, every situation has its own nuance, but for the most part I think that we should always seek to understand systemic power imbalances first. Once you understand who wields the power in any given context, it becomes easier to side with those who are struggling against that power. That is my primary criteria for choosing what side of any struggle I should align myself with.

You can apply that way of thinking to almost every situation. Whether it’s the struggle of over-exploited countries in the global south who are trying to hold wealthy western imperialist nations accountable for reducing their emissions in the face of climate change. Or, whether it’s the struggle of Indigenous people worldwide against the settler colonial nation states, corporations, and other institutions who have dispossessed them of their lands, committed genocide against them, and/or restricted their access to traditional ways of life.

For example, imagine spending the past two months watching a US-backed military power carpet bomb a population of two million people, primarily civilians, who have already been forced to live in an open-air prison for the past 75 years, and choosing not to stand on the side of the oppressed just because you think that the situation is too “complicated” to speak about or pick a side?

This is why it’s important to always listen to the voices of those who are on the receiving end of harm, rather than listening to those who already wield all the power and seek to maintain that imbalance in their favour.

In line with this way of thinking, part of my decision-making process — as a generalization — is almost always to side against the western imperialist nations (e.g., The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, NATO and its allies etc.) who wield their economic and military power on a global scale against those in the periphery or global south who may have different goals or aspirations. These countries weaponize their wealth and their power against other nations to maintain their dominance. Power which was originally amassed after generations of theft and exploitation of both the natural world and human lives.

But just because I find it easy to pick a side to stand on, doesn’t mean that the solutions to these conflicts or global crises (such as climate change) are going to be simple. We *can* resolve many of these issues, but only if we seek to first resolve the underlying class dynamics and structural power imbalances that have created these crises in the first place.

We are collectively responsible for shaping the future our children will inherit. If we want that future to be decolonial, intersectional, ecological, feminist, and anti-capitalist etc., then its on us to make it happen.