Building a People of the Global Majority Community in Continental Europe
I recently led the RC International People of the Global Majority in Continental Europe Workshop. I am the People of the Global Majority (PGM) coordinator in continental Europe, and this was the first time I had led a workshop. It was an opportunity to articulate and make visible my vision for liberation.
Thirty-seven PGM of different ages and backgrounds participated. We were African, Asian, and mixed heritage and lived in seven different European countries: Portugal, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands.
We needed a place where we could meet each other, listen to each other, connect with each other, hang out [spend relaxed unstructured time] with each other, and do our liberation work. We were excited to make new relationships and strengthen already existing ones.
Several of us met before the workshop and helped to organize it. Many people were involved. The workshop was possible because of everyone’s effort and commitment.
At the workshop there was a relaxed atmosphere. There was a feeling of “coming home” and of breaking the isolation that many of us feel in RC Communities in which there are only a few PGM. It mattered that all of us were there. It felt like a celebration. We danced, sang, and played games. As a leader, I felt supported and connected throughout.
MY LEADERSHIP
Many people encouraged me to lead the workshop. Beforehand I spent many sessions dealing with old fears. I felt how my educators, in their confusion, had been barely able to clap and cheer for that Catholic girl with her childlike spontaneity, wonder, innocence, creativity, and expectations. Their confusion had been a result of imperialism, colonization, and racism. It had been so great that they had often criticized, humiliated, and belittled me.
The history of slavery had been internalized and unintentionally passed on from generation to generation. People had done their best, and they’d loved me, too. However, they’d had no idea how to raise me without transmitting the hurt they had internalized. I was one of another generation to grow up with fear and distrust that I could not discharge at the time it had been installed. That had made me vulnerable to all kinds of oppressions, including racism and sexism.
In my sessions over the last few years, I have been reaching out for my “little one.” Slowly but surely, I go to her and discharge her feelings of being alone and abandoned. The more often and closely I can reach for her, the more I can feel my deep chronic pain. The girl who comes out from behind and underneath the pain is more visible and can use her voice. Sometimes she dives back into the pain for a while, but I now know that she is there waiting for me. I know and now feel that the pain is not bigger than my natural self. As I discharge it, I can more often experience my original strength and self. That is why I could decide to lead the workshop.
Prior to the workshop I visited some ongoing RC classes in countries where there are PGM participating in RC. Zoom made it possible. We met and discharged, and I, together with the class leader, personally invited the PGM to register for the workshop. That worked well. I also encouraged PGM who were not in classes.
I decided before the workshop not to work in isolation. I asked several PGM leaders to be part of my support team. By being with them, I could discharge and decide what was important to do at the workshop.
A second important decision was to lead the workshop in Dutch. Papiamentu is my first language, but I can express myself better in Dutch. I discharged beforehand about language oppression. When I was young, the white colonizers had prohibited the people on the island where I was born from speaking Papiamentu. Dutch had become the obligatory language.
Discharging allowed me to think better about language liberation and how to lead a group in which most of the participants did not have English as their first language. During the workshop, Dutch was interpreted into English, and I encouraged everyone to discharge in their first language.
I had thought about what I wanted to talk about. Some of the participants had not been active in RC for a long time; others had more Co-Counseling experience. There was some basic theory, and I talked about how important it is to look for the child within us—to meet that child, to reach out to and connect with the little one and welcome them into our lives.
MIGRATION
Many of us, our parents, our grandparents, and/or our great-grandparents migrated to Europe from different countries or areas. There were many reasons—economic, to find protection and safety, to study, to love, and so on. We said goodbye to our country, our family, and our traditions. This was not easy. We then built a “new” life, adapted to the new country, learned a new language, met new people, made friends, and learned the customs of the new country and made them our own, sometimes at the expense of our own dignity, culture, and individuality.
The adaptation and assimilation were difficult. They often restimulated pain that had already been installed on us. As a result, many of us went silent. We became invisible.
We had to live with Europeans, and Europeans had enacted slavery, genocide, and colonization in the countries we were from.
Capitalism and imperialism separate us as humans and pit us against each other. People of the Global Majority and Europeans are not expected to connect with each other. People of the Global Majority are targeted by people who have been oppressed themselves and have internalized oppressor patterns.
We met in migration groups of four people to tell our migration stories and discharge. Other activities included Shabbat and a presentation on Islamophobia.
A GOOD REALITY
I reminded us of what we know in RC—that there is always a good reality. We are inherently powerful, good, cooperative, and intelligent. We don’t have to be quiet anymore. We have our voices and our minds. Our voice comes from our minds, and our minds are creative, brilliant, and energetic. We can be loud and visible. We have our own thinking, which is the most beautiful thing we have! All of the pain that has been installed on us can be discharged.
The workshop went well because everyone did their job so enthusiastically. A special thanks to my support team, the organizers, and the interpreters. I could lead this workshop because of the many connections and relationships I’ve built over the years.
(Thank you for reading this report in English, if English is not your first language!)
Arnhem, the Netherlands
(Present Time 204, July 2021)