the voiceless.
Politicians and the media also thrive on divisive
tactics, polarising issues and fostering a culture of fear
(think the ‘War on Terror’ and the way people divide
over issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage,
gun control, capital punishment, stem cell research.)
Binary, adversarial thinking is a marvellous tool for
whipping up emotions, obscuring reason, generating
simplistic 30-second grabs, and yes, you guessed
it, boosting ratings and advertising revenue. How
can we prevent differences over specific issues from
becoming a barrier to collaboration around other
issues?
What else divides women, that adds to the problem
rather than the solution?
How united are feminists? Is there any serious division
around notions of privilege, colour, ideology? If so,
how can the goal of solidarity rise above all else? Is
there distracting division or tension between those
women who have kids and those who don’t? Between
those who choose to stay at home and those who
pursue a career? If so, how can unity become first
priority?
Perhaps the most insidious of these divisive factors
are today’s ugly addictions to ‘busyness’ and constant
stimulation. What’s so alarming about such addictions
is that they threaten to divide us from ourselves…
from our time, from our energy and from our sense
of who we really are. They drive yet another wedge
between our genuine desire for meaning, community
and inner peace, and our artificial desire to meet the
absurd, fabricated expectations of society.
Which leads me to ask this question: is this the final
frontier for the ‘divide and conquer’ method? Is
its ultimate victory to split each of us into two: for
much of the time a workaholic robot that wears their
exhaustion as a badge of honour, and for the rest
of the time a hyper-connected texter, tweeter and
tumblr? I may sound flippant, but I’m very serious.
And worried. Because I never want to hear words like
these: “Yes, of course I’d like to save the world, but
I’m too busy helping my boss trash Africa.”
How can all these artificial, divisive wedges be
exposed for the damaging fictions that t hey are? How
can we fast-track the installation of our Unity App? (By
the way, why I’m emphasising women so much is that
it’s predominantly men who are the authors of these
fictions, as well as the lead characters.)
Right now, how close is the women’s movement to a
position where all girls and women across the globe
can hear and live the message, ‘You are not alone.
We will all support each other.’? And how close is the
movement to a place where all who oppose them can
expect the universal response, ‘Touch one. Touch all.’?
Two popular feminist hashtags are #smashpatriarchy
and #destroythejoint. For all of us who wish to heal
both planet and people, it’s essential that we focus
firstly on smashing the barriers to solidarity, and
destroying the obstacles to unity. How best to do
that?
If ‘divide and conquer’ can be used against all of us
men and women who live below the rarefied air of
the old boys’ club, can we also use it against them, to
peck away at their shiny fortress of greed? Yes we can.
And it’s happening. And it’s going to happen a lot
more.
One key strategy is to drive a big spiky wedge
between companies who operate ethically and
those who don’t; spending, investing and working
with the former while ignoring the latter. Another
painfully rough wedge can be inserted between
those organisations that actively support the rights
of women and those who don’t. (Memo to said
companies: if you try to interfere with women’s
reproductive rights via your insurance plan, or sell
computer games where objectified women can
be freely tortured and murdered, then you will be
punished. You will be hurt at the check-out, you will
be named and shamed, your entire brand will be
boycotted. And these actions may flow through to
your sponsors, partners, Board members and senior
executive team. Because, yes, it is that important and,
yes, it really does matter.)
In my view, the healthy future of our world depends
on the rapid erosion of the most damaging aspects
of patriarchy. Any serious, widespread erosion of
patriarchy depends on the rapid rise of women as
an unstoppable force for balance, care and nurture,
as opposed to greed, arrogance and hate … which
in turn depends on the rapid unification of women
worldwide … which in turn depends on the rapid
removal of barriers to solidarity. These barriers are
the first dominos that must fall, and, as they fall,
they will remove the lid of suppression from Earth’s
greatest source of renewable energy: the untapped
potential of a billion daughters, sisters, mothers and
grandmothers.
It’s time to install the Unity App.