Mission before Competition
This year I have seen at least 3 different holistic self-defense retreats going around social media. None of them have been through my project (Choose Empowerment).
At another moment of my life, maybe I would have gotten offended… Seeing other people taking “my” thing and making it theirs would have generated some sort of discomfort or displeasure.
Of course, traditional capitalist systems teach us that we are each the owner of our creative output, our ideas, our methodology, our invention, or our original design. Under this system, if someone else makes a profit off my “thing,” I am losing out. There is not enough for everyone.
In this case, of course I must jealously defend what is mine, right?
But I have been thinking lately about how this traditional capitalist system is also intrinsically patriarchal, and individualist.
Patriarchal because values such as competition and ownership reinforce existing structures of power, which are deeply embedded in both our external and our internal cultural landscape. Individualist because when I focus more on my personal benefit than on that of my community, maybe I win, but society loses.
Because it is to the greatest benefit to my community if there are many, many holistic self-defense retreats, courses and workshops—if this methodology is accessible to EVERYONE. If I work alone, I will never achieve that goal.
What happens then if we focus not on the benefits to one person or one company, but rather on the collective good? The conversation changes:
Not only do I not care if more people use (and profit from) “my” thing; I also:
- Enthusiastically invite them to do so, and
- Stop thinking about it as “mine.”
Holistic self-defense is, by nature, feminist, collective, collaborative, and anti-patriarchal. (No, that doesn’t mean we hate men. Keep up, please! We believe that the patriarchy causes harm to all of us, and we seek to co-create a different future based on respect, equity, and non-violence.)
Holistic self-defense is profoundly interdependent with the idea of the collective. We choose collaboration over competition, because our safety depends on it. Because we cannot thrive under the same system that has oppressed us. Because we believe that something better, more just, more beautiful is possible, and it is within our reach.
And all of us who work in this field—with Choose Empowerment, with RIA-LAC Abya Yala, with ESD Global, or so many other organizations—put our shared mission first.
We have in our hands a research-backed violence prevention methodology proven by academic studies as well as millions of participants around the world. We have tools and knowledge that we wish for all people.
Why would we want to keep something like that for only a few?
When your “product” is something that can change lives and transform societies, then competition no longer makes sense.
But Toby, you’re going to say, if you are so anti-capitalist, why do you charge for your self-defense workshops and trainings? Well, unfortunately, we still live in a world that requires monetary resources to pay for rent, food, training spaces and materials, etc. If we gave away our work, we would have to spend more time doing things that are not self-defense workshops in order to cover those costs, which would mean less time dedicated to our mission. (This is, incidentally, exactly what happens for many of us.)
It is not enough to be safe. We want to thrive. We want to make a living in service to our mission.
Originally published on Mujeres Fuertes Autodefensa.
By Toby Israel, Choose Empowerment Founder
