The Moral Anguish of Privilege - Miki Kashtan, NGL

<p>This podcast is part of a series called <a href="https://medium.com/@juliash/confronting-complicity-in-capitalism-dfa0a303a9f9" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Confronting Complicity in Capitalism</a>. </p><p>As Elena and I come toward the end of this phase of confronting our complicity in capitalism, there is one loop we keep getting stuck in - shame, specifically the shame of privilege. And there is one person we wanted to speak to, a mentor of ours: Miki Kashtan. </p><p>Miki is the seed founder of the Nonviolent Global Liberation (NGL) community where Elena and I met, the author of many books, and importantly she walks the talk of nonviolence - including offering her entire body of work entirely on the gift economy.</p><p>And in this conversation - the longest and most vulnerable podcast I’ve ever published - she helps me and Elena make sense of what she calls the ‘moral anguish’ of privilege, and move through it in a way that’s soft, practical, transformative.</p><p>THE IMPACT. <a href="https://mikikashtan.org/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Miki Kashtan</a>:</p><ul><li><p>is a practical visionary pursuing a world that works for all</p></li><li><p>applies the principles and tools of <a href="https://www.cnvc.org/trainers/miki-kashtan" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nonviolent Communication (NVC)</a> to social transformation</p></li><li><p>is the seed founder of the <a href="https://nglcommunity.org/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nonviolent Global Liberation (NGL) Community</a> </p></li><li><p>is the author of The Highest Common Denominator and Reweaving Our Human Fabric, and The Little Book of Courageous Living. Miki also writes at <a href="https://thefearlessheart.org/mikis-books/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Fearless Heart</a></p></li></ul><ul><li><p>holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from UC Berkeley</p></li></ul><p>THE JOURNEY. Some gems of wisdom that Miki takes us into:</p><ul><li><p>Judgment. We judge people relative to where we are. Anyone who is further outside the system is a radical fanatic, anyone more within the system is complicit. Anybody who recycles more is a fanatic; anybody who recycles less doesn't care about the Earth.</p></li><li><p>Systemic shame.  What is leading me to shame? Who is benefiting from my shame? The shame makes it look individual. So I had a good job, I am a problem. I have family intergenerational wealth, that is something wrong about me