“White supremacy. Capitalist. Patriarchy.” A mouthful of discrimination. Tzega Kibrom stepped onto the stage with her partner Till Henning, and explained that first that she would be doing most of the talking during their lecture. Till stayed on the stage, supporting his wife and clapping loudest. Tzega is Eritrean, born in Sudan, and raised in Germany. She lived as a privileged German, but because of her Eritrean roots, always experienced a double life.
Tzega spoke about the spiritual surge she felt in her life, and how she struggled finding the places where spirituality and politics meet. She shared that she had found her absolute spiritual truth, being that we are all connected. However, the political side of the sector focuses its attention on the smaller truths. Tzega admitted her struggles in combing the truths, and she has noticed that with one in focus, the other is often neglected. Tzega also spoke about spiritual bypassing. Do we use spirituality to avoid looking at our reality? “It’s a bit like having a map,” she said, “and pointing at where you want to go without admitting where you are.”
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TZEGA KIBROM & TILL HENNING "FROM GUILT TO RESPONSIBILITY"
Tzega remarked that time was short, and her story tumbled out of her towards us. It was clear while the clock ticked, she still had a lot to say. She spoke about how the hurt we feel for the world. According to her, we need to make peace with these uncomfortable feelings we have, and when we do, they will power us. Some of us have the tendency to numb ourselves when the suffering becomes unbearable. However, when we feel this pain we become more human, and in this way less shallow. Others avoid the pain, and seek constant distraction, yet the wounds are still there and ignoring them only makes it worse.
Before switching to the topic of discrimination, Tzega showed us a video of an unequal opportunity race. The microphone was passed around the audience, and mixed feelings were shared. She then spoke about racism - as depicted in the video - and how it dehumanises people so others can exploit them. She added to this that all isms are connected, and operate according to a single mechanism. Tzega showed this model to us - called the Four Eyes of Discrimination - and explained how the different forms of discrimination are based on ideology, institutionalisation, inter personality, and internalisation. Tzega also spoke about how the privilege and power of the white people is often invisible. We choose not to see it. A question asked to the audience about how to avoid rape on the streets accentuated the different realities one room full of people experience. Finally, Tzega opened the conversation to the audience and gave them a chance to ask her questions and voice their concerns.
“Make peace with feeling unconfortable“
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-Tzega Kibrom
