A friend of mine works with young people who are first- or second-generation migrants to New Zealand. Her job is to equip them with the skills they'll need to run campaigns, advocate for their communities, and improve the lives of the people around them. They're 'therapists' of a sort. She has a simple way of knowing whether someone is doing the right thing or not. She asks "Are you kicking up, or kicking down?" By 'kicking up', she means agitating against those people with power, the ones in positions in authority. All too often people find it easier to kick down: taking aim at the people who are easy targets, because they're vulnerable, less powerful, less fortunate. It's the … [Read more...] about Kicking up, not kicking down
The case for ‘caring activism’
A recent review of Peter Limbrick's new book made me think about some of the anxieties many of us are now feeling about the slow bleeding out of publicly-funded healthcare, and what it might mean for the future of professions like physiotherapy. A full review of the book, titled Caring activism: a 21st century concept of care. A proposal for citizens to join together to support vulnerable children, teenagers, adults and elderly people, can be read here, but what particularly struck me were these two opening paragraphs; Peter Limbrick’s Caring Activism argues the case for what he calls ‘a new concept of care I am proposing for vulnerable people in this 21st Century’ (13). Limbrick … [Read more...] about The case for ‘caring activism’
Stephanie Nixon – 30DoS #2 – Allyship
In this post Associate Professor Stephanie Nixon talks about how the idea of 'Allyship' influenced her. Spanish translation provided by CPN Exec member Alma Viviana Silva. Critical scholarship aims to illuminate avoidable inequities that unfairly privilege some and disadvantage others. Within this work, reflexivity about one’s positionality as the analyst is viewed as fundamental. Yet, beyond the recognition of one’s simultaneous positions of privilege and oppression, I have struggled with “how to handle” my various positions of privilege in the practice of this work. Enter “allyship”, a concept advanced within activist communities to offer guidance on how people in positions of … [Read more...] about Stephanie Nixon – 30DoS #2 – Allyship
New: Activism
Many years ago, I was one of the first of the new student reps to attend the CSP’s annual Congress. Back then Billy Bragg was railing against the Miner’s Strike and the IR department of the CSP reigned supreme. It became obvious pretty quickly that people took Congress really seriously. The first motion I remember being discussed was a levy on member’s fees to raise funds for Nicaraguan Freedom Fighters. Sadly the motion went no further after being referred to Council, where it ended up disappearing like gold in the San Juan rivershed. Not long after the Congress I attended an Association for Chartered Physiotherapists in Respiratory Care meeting and was dismayed to hear the keynote … [Read more...] about New: Activism