Sanctioning Attack Politics
Date: Wed, 28 Jan 1998 18:12:53 PST
Sender:
California InterNetwork of M H Clients
<cinmhc@maelstrom.stjohns.edu>
From: Peter Piper <pisaster29@hotmail.com>
Subject: [CIN] sanctioning attack politics
To the list:
A lot of people understand the problem with the California
Network wrongly, I think. I see many versions 'out there'
of blaming some prominent activist(s) for being corrupt or
for accommodating dysfunctional activism. But I don't think
that the persons who are corrupt totally dominate things,
nor do I think the bulk of the activists are advocates of
low-functioning behavior. In my opinion these phenomena
are real, but they are secondary, and the main problem is
WHAT HOLDS THIS SCENE TOGETHER.
A reason for opposition could be ambition, a desire to
compete to join/replace those in control. This type of
"opposition" is entirely compatible with keeping the 'scene'
going pretty much the same way. The politics of attack,
the abusive behavior that dominates leadership disputes, will
go on pretty much the same even if there is some change in
leadership. The
real question of opposition
is if you
are willing to challenge the entire structure and tradition
of what holds the client political process together.
I never used to think of myself as especially competitive
in the clients movement, because I have never been especially
ambitious. But long and bitter experience showed me that the
people who SANCTION the dominant process, the 'Old Guard', are
absolutely determined to keep things the same way. They tell
us who is naughty and they tell us who is nice, and they let
everything hang out while they manage and TRIGGER at their
pleasure. So I came to see that 'opposition' really means
challenging the arrangement itself which sanctions
the politics of attack - the principles themselves
which govern the process.
This week the matter comes before the CNMHC Board of ending the
probationary status of the Network E.D. and consolidating the
political backsliding known as
'revitalization'.
Supposing that this will indeed happen, for me it will serve as a symbol
of our failure to come to grips with reality, our failure to
overcome attack politics. What is needed is a new politics, a politics
of ACCOUNTABILITY with a new sanctioning arrangement,
where clients take responsibility for triggering other clients.
We are QUALITY human beings, we are not tokens; we are persons
worthy of respect, not persons irretrievably condemned to
disempowerment.
Respectfully
Andrew Phelps