The Kumbaya Doctrine

I have this doctrine… I’m kind of ashamed of it since the reason for it is mostly to cover my own privileged ass: “The Kumbaya Doctrine”.

After the revolution there are two ways to go.

• Up against the wall, motherfucker, vs
• OK, dear former enemy, join us now, we’ll all work together from now on

The Kumbaya Doctrine says that the second option is better.

Now, this Kumbaya can’t be driven by the oppressors. There are few things as gross as the Boss Man handing out snacks on the factory floor kidding himself into thinking he is a chummy co-worker when he still holds the whip.

We don’t want to invoke the Kumbaya doctrine too early, either. That risks leading to “a bad peace”, the premature “color-blindness” where the systematic oppressions are there, just hidden and unspoken and invisible so now you can’t even do anything about them.

The time for Kumbaya can’t be while we’re still investigating and stopping the crime of oppression. The time for the Kumbaya is when we are meting out the punishment for oppression.

Then, the Kumbaya would be a gift from the oppressed to their former oppressors, a gift that they can choose to grant or not grant. We who now have privilege, we who now benefit from oppression, can only hope and pray that they will grant it, not demand it. It’s not our call to make.

The world where this gift is not granted, the world where everyone goes up against the wall until eventually it’s only the last oppressee left holding the rifle, throwing the last stone if you will, that’s a pretty horrible world in some ways. A just and fair world, but not a good world. That’s the price of justice.

Update, written four months later

I thought the following went without saying, but let’s be completely clear here:

The Kumbaya Doctrine needs to go both ways. The oppressors need to sober the fuck up right now and stop oppressing people.

The goal of the Kumbaya Doctrine is for all the world to be on the same side.

When politicians like the Swedish politician Kristersson say sick and messed up things such as “We should reduce childhood poverty in Sweden… by making it more difficult for poor children to come here”, he is violating the Kumbaya Doctrine. He needs to take the boots off.