I know readers might be sick of hearing torture described as ‘abuse’, so let’s talk about a form of abuse that even the abused describe as abuse: domestic abuse.
I want to talk about two examples. First, is an article that came in the email. I’m not sure where it was published, so I’m posting it below as an appendix. It’s by Mel Gilles, who is an advocate for victims of domestic abuse, who makes the analogy between abuse and politics. It is an interesting piece on political psychology. I really don’t like analogies to domestic abuse or rape generally. I feel that some things ought not to be made analogies of. But this one, perhaps because it comes from someone who really understands abuse, isn’t like most of the superficial parallels that are drawn. All of it is quotable and it is a nice short piece, so read it. But I’ll just give you a flavor:
They beat us because they are abusers. We can call it hate. We can call it fear. We can say it is unfair. But we are looped into the cycle of violence, and we need to start calling the dominating side what they are: abusive.
Having recommended that, I want to tell you of a case of real abuse and its bizarre handling by the various immigration systems of the world. I heard of this case from OCAP and I am pasting their appeals on it below.
This is the story of a mother and an 11-year old boy, Daniel Isakov and his mom Irina. They tried to claim refugee status, coming here from Israel. They are Russian jews who came to Canada to flee from Daniel’s abusive father. They’ve been in Canada 6 years. Canada refused their claim and then their appeal. Meanwhile Israel, it turns out, has a policy of stripping people of citizenship if they apply for refugee status. This is obviously a policy designed to try to take citizenship away from Israeli Palestinians who might be fleeing persecution, but an automatic policy is an automatic policy and Israel has applied it to the Daniel and Irina. To quote OCAP’s appeal:
Being forced to return to Israel has always been Irina and Daniel’s greatest fear. When they arrive in Israel on December 1st, they will have no money and no place to live. They have no family or friends there and Irina has no prospects for employment. As well, Daniel has excelled in school here. The Israeli public school system caters strongly to Hebrew-speaking Jews. Daniel does not speak Hebrew and does not practice Judaism, given this, it will be very difficult for him to find appropriate public schooling. Irina has tried desperately to negotiate their return to Russia instead, where at least her mother and sister live and they have a home to move into. Immigration Canada refused to do even this.
It’s now December 3. Were Daniel and Irina deported? No:
Last night, December 1st, 11 year old Daniel and his mother were supposed to board a plane to be deported to Israel. They did not show up for their deportation. Instead, they joined the estimated 200 000 Immigrants living “underground” in Canada.
This is how people who are abused can be abused again by cold bureaucracies and racist policies. See Appendix 2 for details.
Appendix 1 : Mel Gilles’s article
Deride and Conquer
The Politics of Victimization
[By: Mel Gilles, who has worked for many years as an advocate for victims of domestic abuse, draws some parallels between her work and the reaction of many Democrats to the election.]
Watch Dan Rather apologize for not getting his facts straight, humiliated before the eyes of America, voluntarily undermining his credibility and career of over thirty years. Observe Donna Brazille squirm as she is ridiculed by Bay Buchanan, and pronounced irrelevant and nearly non-existent. Listen as Donna and Nancy Pelosi and Senator Charles Schumer take to the airwaves saying that they have to go back to the drawing board and learn from their mistakes and try to be better, more likable, more appealing, have a stronger message, speak to morality. Watch them awkwardly quote the bible, trying to speak the new language of America. Surf the blogs, and read the comments of dismayed, discombobulated, confused individuals trying to figure out what they did wrong. Hear the cacophony of voices, crying out, ‘Why did they beat me?’
And then ask anyone who has ever worked in a domestic violence shelter if they have heard this before.
They will tell you, every single day.
The answer is quite simple. They beat us because they are abusers. We can call it hate. We can call it fear. We can say it is unfair. But we are looped into the cycle of violence, and we need to start calling the dominating side what they are: abusive. And we need to recognize that we are the victims of verbal, mental, and even, in the case of Iraq, physical violence.
As victims we can’t stop asking ourselves what we did wrong. We can’t seem to grasp that they will keep hitting us and beating us as long as we keep sticking around and asking ourselves what we are doing to deserve the beating.
Listen to George Bush say that the will of God excuses his behavior. Listen, as he refuses to take responsibility, or express remorse, or even once, admit a mistake. Watch him strut, and tell us that he will only work with those who agree with him, and that each of us is only allowed one question (soon, it will be none at all; abusers hit hard when questioned; the press corps can tell you that). See him surround himself with only those who pledge oaths of allegiance. Hear him tell us that if we will only listen and do as he says and agree with his every utterance, all will go well for us (it won’t; we will never be worthy).
And watch the Democratic Party leadership walk on eggshells, try to meet him, please him, wash the windows better, get out that spot, distance themselves from gays and civil rights. See them cry for the attention and affection and approval of the President and his followers. Watch us squirm. Watch us descend into a world of crazy-making, where logic does not work and the other side tells us we are nuts when we rely on facts. A world where, worst of all, we begin to believe we are crazy.
How to break free? Again, the answer is quite simple.
First, you must admit you are a victim. Then, you must declare the state of affairs unacceptable. Next, you must promise to protect yourself and everyone around you that is being victimized. You don’t do this by responding to their demands, or becoming more like them, or engaging in logical conversation, or trying to persuade them that you are right. You also don’t do this by going catatonic and resigned, by closing up your ears and eyes and covering your head and submitting to the blows, figuring its over faster and hurts less is you don’t resist and fight back. Instead, you walk away. You find other folks like yourself, 56 million of them, who are hurting, broken, and beating themselves up. You tell them what you’ve learned, and that you aren’t going to take it anymore. You stand tall, with 56 million people at your side and behind you, and you look right into the eyes of the abuser and you tell him to go to hell. Then you walk out the door, taking the kids and gays and minorities with you, and you start a new life. The new life is hard. But it’s better than the abuse.
We have a mandate to be as radical and liberal and steadfast as we need to be. The progressive beliefs and social justice we stand for, our core, must not be altered. We are 56 million strong. We are building from the bottom up. We are meeting, on the net, in church basements, at work, in small groups, and right now, we are crying, because we are trying to break free and we don’t know how.
Any battered woman in America, any oppressed person around the globe who has defied her oppressor will tell you this: There is nothing wrong with you. You are in good company. You are safe. You are not alone. You are strong. You must change only one thing: stop responding to the abuser. Don’t let him dictate the terms or frame the debate (he’ll win, not because he’s right, but because force works). Sure, we can build a better grassroots campaign, cultivate and raise up better leaders, reform the election system to make it failproof, stick to our message, learn from the strategy of the other side. But we absolutely must dispense with the notion that we are weak, godless, cowardly, disorganized, crazy, too liberal, naive, amoral, ‘loose’, irrelevant, outmoded, stupid and soon to be extinct. We have the mandate of the world to back us, and the legacy of oppressed people throughout history.
Even if you do everything right, they’ll hit you anyway. Look at the poor souls who voted for this nonsense. They are working for six dollars an hour if they are working at all, their children are dying overseas and suffering from lack of health care and a depleted environment and a shoddy education. And they don’t even know they are being hit.
Mel Gilles at 07:31 PM on November 07, 2004
