Patriarchy as a Metasystem
by Mariam Irene Tazi-Preve: More information
Lecture
- Language: German
- Duration: approx. 30–40 minutes plus discussion
- In person
What’s it about
It is generally assumed that there is a distorted understanding of feminism, one that suggests there are no alternatives to the current social model. The only thing to do, it is claimed, is to ‘improve’ conditions. At the same time, we are witnessing how feminism is being reduced to absurdity by certain propagated discourses and diverted from the real problems women face. I take as my starting point the theory of critique of patriarchy, which casts a radical meta-perspective on the conditions of civilisation. The key and starting point here is the acceptance of violence at both the micro and macro levels. In fact, we are dealing with the escalation of violence at the individual, political and economic levels. The aim is to understand patriarchy as a meta-system that remains untouched. This explains why the politically dominant ‘equality feminism’ cannot bring about any change to the structures themselves. Consequently, all the concepts relied upon in politics, economics and academia must be scrutinised – the understanding of democracy, the belief in progress, the supposed normality of the nation state, the belief in the nuclear family, and others. All these systems have emerged in accordance with patriarchal parameters – hence women are excluded by definition and must always ‘fight for their place’. We must therefore think far beyond this to create a new world. New forms of society based on responsibility and solidarity, where theory and practice are brought together, already exist. This applies, for example, to the revolutionary social model in Rojava in north-eastern Syria, where an egalitarian society is emerging. It also applies to matriarchal societies, as they have been historically and are still practised today in many parts of the world. They exist worldwide and have now been well researched; examples include the Mosuo in southern China, the Hopi in the USA and many others. Matriarchal societies share similar social, political and economic characteristics. They are all based on the fundamental principle of responsibility for one another and the rejection of domination and violence. Solidarity implies a prior division of people and societies, necessitated by the desire to dominate them, followed by the need to reunite. The paradigm of responsibility for one another and interaction with nature, on the other hand, precedes this and is reflected in individual indigenous societies which – although they live within patriarchal nation-states – have been able to preserve such a way of life.
Aim of this contribution
Falling away from the faith