Ruminating on the meaning of resistance, I find a troubling element that seems to be inherent to the nature of resistance. When one resists another, is there an act of recognition in that resistance? For example, when one participates in a direct action, arrested, tried, sentenced, and serves time in prison, is there not an apparent willingness to allow or recognize the oppressor's authority? Does that act then participate in the systems of domination we seek to change and reinforce the power-holders position?
It seems to me that in order to understand such an act of resistance as subversive requires a very vocal submission of one's own will to the powers that be. That one is effectively saying: "You are not doing this to me because you have power, but I am allowing you to do it to me because I have power." While there are certainly many Christian theological justifications for this in the model of Christ's sacrifice, many critics can turn to a Nietzchean argument that this giving of the will is a delusion - that one would rather will nothing than not will at all. To this end, does it serve to reaffirm the status quo's consolidation of power?
How does one effectively resist another without giving credence to the illegitimacy of their power?
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