their power and ours

There are at least three kinds of power.

1. Power over, which we might also call dominance, violence or force. This is the kind of power we normally associate with the term, because it is everywhere in our world. It's the kind of power that bosses and the state use to keep us under their control: the ability to extract a price for disobedience. In its milder form it may be the threat of being fired from one's job; in its more virulent strains it is imprisonment, torture, political murder. It is not quite accurate to think of this type of power only as violence, although violence is at its root. Really it is force and the threat of force, combined and working together. The threat of force has kept far more people in line than any actual act of violence.

2. Power with, which we might also call solidarity. The power of communities united in struggle, of collective self-activity, self-organization and self-defense. The practical application of the maxim "An injury to one is an injury to all." Solidarity is not just a slogan; it's a concrete weapon against attack by those with power over. Solidarity means both the most vulnerable and the most visibly militant are protected. A high degree of solidarity means a low number of collaborators, which is why oppressors will always do everything in their power to destroy solidarity--to break up communities, stoke divisions and mistrust, apply pressure to the weak and make examples of the strong.

3. Power within, which we might also call will. We're not talking here about the willpower not to eat that cookie (life is short--eat the damn cookie!) but about political will--the strength to keep fighting in the face of the various punishments those with power over can deliver. This is not an abstract quality delivered in a fixed measure to a person at birth, but something that can be nurtured and developed.

Will and solidarity are the secret weapons of the oppressed--the weapons that those who rule by force will never understand and therefore always underestimate. They are unlimited, renewable, and indestructible. They are shareable and giftable, available for use by any who are willing to share the risks of struggle. They may be smothered under the weight of repression for years or even generations, but they're never completely extinguished.

Will and solidarity are mutually reinforcing. We draw strength from others' strength, from the support of our friends, allies, comrades and community, from the knowledge that we're not fighting alone but are part of a whole much greater than us. Individual acts of courage and defiance inspire others, and communities keep individuals strong in the face of repression. This is why oppressors work so hard to isolate leaders, organizers and agitators--through prison, exile, intimidation, smear campaigns, etc. They understand that activists rooted in communities have a power far beyond their own individual actions.

This not to say that our side, the side of the oppressed and exploited, cannot or should not use force. I'm not a pacifist. I think if you're being attacked you have a right to defend yourself by any means necessary. It's not that we cannot use the tools of force--it's just that much of the time, we don't need to. Violence is not the last word when it comes to power. Even in situations of armed conflict between oppressed and oppressor, the oppressed side is never going to be able to match their oppressors gun for gun and bomb for bomb--the lion's share of the means of destruction will always be on the oppressing side. We make up the difference with the other weapons we have.

When dictatorships fall and empires collapse, the people who run them are often genuinely surprised. That's because they don't understand that there are kinds of power other than their own. Seeing only the value of power over, utterly convinced to the very last moment of the unbeatable supremacy of their array of tanks, guns, bombs, prisons and torture chambers, they have no idea that those they oppress could have weapons of their own, weapons more powerful than any they wield. They never realize, until we prove it to them and to ourselves, that we are stronger than them. 

Hat tip to Lisa Fithian, from whom I stole the basic framework for this post.