Language Liberation and the “Mental Health” System
I shared the following at the recent International “Mental Health” Liberation Workshop to shed light on the distresses of those of us who have been the target of both “mental health” and language oppression:
The capitalist system decides what is “normal” and who falls within that definition and who does not. This includes deciding which languages are “normal” and which are not.
A “normal” language is judged to be useful and valuable. A language that is not “normal” is seen as inferior and useless. You can guess which languages the capitalist system labels as “normal.” Of course, the dominant languages. If we want to have a place in society, we must know how to speak one of the “normal” dominant languages and abandon our relationship with our non-dominant language.
Our language plays an important role in our mind, heart, people, culture, land, and vision of the universe. It connects us to our people and our culture. It makes us sure that we belong to someone and something. This sense of belonging gives us a solid foundation for refusing to collaborate with oppression. It provides us with a powerful link to something that is real, making it easier for our rationality, intelligence, and self-worth to develop properly and be a part of us throughout our life. The closer we stay to our origins, our people, our language, our culture, the more difficult it is for the system to manipulate and confuse us.
Many people do not know what their origins are, because they have had to leave the knowledge about them behind and assimilate into a new culture so that they can survive in it. I think it is time to look back, not only forward (as capitalism insistently tells us we must do), and reclaim our connection with our people, cultures, land, and languages. We may need to discharge about even attempting to do this, because we may believe that doing it is impossible or unnecessary and we have given up.
By looking back and paying attention to all that we have left behind, or think we have lost, we can reestablish the link with our ancestors and the cultural-linguistic legacy they have offered us. That bond will become a safe refuge for our minds and hearts. It is a return home, to our true home. Without it we can hardly be complete and free beings. Without it we can easily identify with the oppressive system and culture, which forces us to conform and assimilate to it or be labeled antisocial, inconsiderate, ungrateful, misfits, dangerous, or “crazy.” We can end up experiencing oppression and oppressive relationships as if they are the air we breathe. They can become “normal,” and we may not remember that our human essence is connection, love, liberating creative thoughts, and powerful innate movement against any oppression.
Basque Country
Reprinted from the e-mail discussion list for RC Community members
(Present Time 206, January 2022)