Liberation Martial Arts and Politics (Patreon)

[An excerpt from Sam's conversation with Dr. Gregory B. Sadler. This has been edited for clarity.]

DR. SADLER: Let's start with liberation martial arts. What does that mean for people who might not be that into martial arts?

SAM: It's bi-directional. I think what I'm trying to convey is that liberatory politics inform my martial arts, but also, as a martial artist, my lens is bottom-up. It's standpoint epistemology. I'm looking at it from the bottom. I see martial arts as an art form with the intent for the bottom to rise up. To convey the truth of the beaten down. Then I'm also applying that lens from the standpoint I learned from martial arts back onto politics.

DR. SADLER: What do you mean when you say liberation politics?

SAM: We inherit a set of norms and default beliefs. It means becoming aware of those defaults and then challenging those defaults. And in changing one of those defaults—it's not just a new idea in isolation but having to deal with the consequences of having a new idea. Because it often means recalibrating everything that your previous idea impacted. It takes work and courage. What this line of thinking ultimately leads to, or should lead to, is thinking about hegemony. Not just cultural but institutional. Liberation, to me, is about breaking these hegemonies, whether it's things like capitalism, imperialism, colonialism, white supremacy, or patriarchy. It's the breaking of these defaults and recalibrating. It's an act of resistance. Even the physical acts of resistance have to start internally. Otherwise, it's not liberation but chaos.