I am a student of political science and my Master thesis focuses on rural organizing in my home country, Venezuela. I was born and raised there and travel there regularly for research.
One of my classmates, who has never set a foot on the country, asked me what I thought of the government there. When I presented my position, he proceeded to lecture me on Venezuelan politics and said that I was not representative of the ‘people’ because of my middle class background.
He concluded that my position of privilege prevented me from truly understanding what is going on there.
He seemed completely unreflective on the fact that his own position of privilege as a wealthy and educated American may have something to do with his idealization of social movements in developing countries.
Isabel submitted this to