A Homeless Perspective on the Refugee Situation

Yeah. I read the news a lot. I also have social media accounts that I utilise. I voted in the last federal election. And I personally support bringing in refugees. Of course, some people are opposed to this. Some of them are opposed because of bigotry (which is not okay). Some of them are concerned about the U.N. Screening process, or about the costs to the taxpayer (which are okay if these are your genuine concerns, and you're not using them to mask your bigotry).

But in letters to the newspaper editors, comments on blog posts and in social media, I'm seeing something disturbing: People trying to pit the homeless community against the refugees. I'm seeing people saying we shouldn't take the refugees in because we should focus on helping the homeless. I'm seeing them use us as homeless people as an excuse to oppose refugees.

Excuse my language but:

Who the fuck are you to speak for the homeless? And where the hell have you been for the past ten years, which have been among the most oppressive for the homeless population?

Seriously, I've read letters sent to homeless charities stating that decades-long donors will pull their funding unless the charity publicly opposes bringing in refugees (which, by the way, I'm pretty sure could be argued as to the partisanship of the charity), I've seen comments on blogs and online news sites, full of swearing, complaining about how we should be helping the homeless and not take in a single refugee.

We are not your tools to justify your hatred.

Now, the homeless community itself partially shares your sentiments. From those I've talked to, we're not all on the same page obviously. It's a contentious issue with diverse views. Two things I've learned though are that we mostly recognise when someone needs help, and that it's unethical to order people to help us in exclusion to others in need. And secondly, that this is an opportunity. If we're capable of helping refugees in need, then we have the resources to help the homeless too, and to deny the homeless their basic fundamental human rights is no longer going to be excusable.

And a third that I'm coming to realise is that we're aware that for the first time in ten years, the mass public is suddenly interested in helping us. And we're pretty upset that it took a crisis in Syria for that to happen, and we do want to know why so many people who talked down to us, mocked us, said we deserved our lots in life, perpetuated the systemic abuse and denial of our dignity, suddenly think they are our allies and speak for us.

And we are going to want answers.

I personally, once again, welcome all our refugees to Canada, and wish you nothing but safety and good will. But to those who oppose refugees coming in for any reason, please, do not use us as your excuse to justify your views, and let homeless people and their advocates and community speak for themselves.

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Standpoint Feminism: What I've Learned and why I need it.

Today marks the 105th celebration of International Women's Day, and with my work in poverty reduction and homelessness rights, I wanted to acknowledge how feminism has contributed to the work I do, and why female or male, we all need feminism.

Anyone who has seen me speak at length knows I am a huge fan of Standpoint Feminism. Despite the fact that standpoint theory goes well beyond feminism, and applies to all areas of marginalization, it's roots in Marxist-Feminist dialogues laid the foundations to establish a framework for liberation to all who are oppressed.

While standpoint feminism is rather complex, the simplified version as based on the idea that a woman's experience puts them in a better position to objectively view the flaws in society. Let's say I draw Society as a circle:

Now, let's put a dot in the center of the circle. This dot represents a person that has every possible advantage, "Privileges" if you will. These privileges vary depending on region, but in most Western countries, it's male, white, anglo-saxon, Christian, middle class, heterosexual, able-bodied.

The person who is in the center of the circle represents the "ideal." Now, let's put another dot on there. This dot represents someone experiencing some form of marginalization. Now, there's a reason why I still call this Feminist Standpoint Theory, and that's because while what is considered marginalizing - dominant religion, dominant race - can still vary from region to region globally, but women experiencing some form of marginalization is pretty universal. There are virtually no places on earth that haven't been impacted by patriarchy in one way or another, and despite our best efforts to overcome this and foster an environment for equality, the history of patriarchy in the west still has some lasting effects, so women at this time are never going to be placed in the center in any existing culture.

Here's the dot representing a white, anglo-saxon, christian, able bodied, heterosexual, middle class woman:

Of course, we can add even more. We can add an Arab male who is Muslim:

And let's also place a dot for the most marginalized: Let's place a dot for, an Indiginous woman, who practices an Indigenous religion, lesbian, who has a disability and is also homeless:

I should also note, in a suspiciously specific denial, that the colors of the dots represent nothing, and only serve to differentiate between the other dots.

Notice that the less an individual has that fits the societal norm, the fewer privileges, the closer they are to the edge of society? This represents marginalization. They are literally closer to the margin of the circle in this visual aid.

That said, the more someone experiences marginalization, the better positioned they are they are to objectively view the flaws in society. This can also be visualized in the graph. Let's take a look at how much each person on the chart can objectively see:

Now, being self-conscious of my poor art skills, the white dot, the one located in the center, can only see about 1/6th of the circle. The pink dot, the woman, sees everything the white dot sees, and a little bit more, perhaps about 1/4 of the area of the circle. The green dot sees about half the area of the circle and the red dot sees almost the entire circle. 

Now, Standpoint Feminism is more complex than just this, but hopefully this serves as a visual aid for those unfamiliar with the basic premise.

While I encourage more women to enter science, engineering, business management, and other areas traditionally male dominated, never underestimate an education in gender studies folks. Everyone needs feminism and this theory has created the framework in which I attempt to view liberation theory and understand all oppression. This explains why all people experiencing marginalization need feminism.

Of course, there are other reasons why we need feminism too, and a lot of it comes out of this framework. When we acknowledge each other's oppression, we can support each other's oppression. This doesn't always mean always agreeing on everything on every issue, although that would be nice.

It does mean using our experiences and viewpoints and how we see society to work together because we are all in better positions to objectively view society and it's flaws. It's important that in seeking our own liberation, we also seek the liberation of others. Dr. King focused not only on race, but on gender and on class. I work not just with the homeless community, but with the disability community and staunchly ally myself with the LGBTQ community. I cannot ethically say "This group deserves justice, and this group deserves oppression." I can't. When you do that, you aren't liberating.

Feminism doesn't just make a great ally strategically, but are among the most experienced of the liberation movements, along with African American rights groups. There is much we can learn from them. And because we can more objectively view society's flaws, we can all work together to come up with solutions, and to take an active role in fixing them.

Because I am homeless, and don't want to see another friend die on the streets, I need feminism.

Because I am a male who grew up in foster care, I need feminism.
Because I am poor, and see my friends also in poverty struggle, I need feminism.
Because we are marginalized, we need feminism.

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