In Politikal Theatre, silence in the face of someone else’s struggle is not neutrality—it is structural consent.
Silence is how harm stabilizes. It is how the system delegates its violence to the bystanders.
Definition of Silence in Politikal Theatre (in someone else’s struggle)
Silence is when you see the harm, understand the pattern, occupy a role—and still opt out.
It doesn’t mean you caused the harm.
It means you absorbed it without interruption.
And in this doctrine: that makes you structurally responsible.
Silence Enables These Things:
- Harm to repeat without resistance
- Power to claim "no one complained"
- The harmed to feel isolated, not failed
- The institution to act “within policy” while producing injustice
In Politikal Theatre, silence is never personal. It’s procedural. It is part of how harm is designed to succeed.
Crew Response to Silence:
When harm occurs and you… | That silence becomes… |
Say nothing at a meeting | A license to escalate |
Don't log it | A hole in the Memory Kit |
Don’t speak for the record | A denial of pattern |
Look away in debrief | A seed for recurrence |
Avoid conflict in public | A shield for the institution |