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Oppression

Chris Hedges Report: Perfect Victims And The Politics Of Appeal

March 13, 2025 Chris Hedges, Scheer Post. , , , ,
Any account of the decades-long occupation of Palestine from a Palestinian is immediately expected to be refined within a specific lens to appeal to the pathos of Western society. Well meaning activists, journalists and politicians may intend to share the stories of Palestinians, but too often end up curating them into a digestible format, one adjacent to the truth rather than one that embodies the whole of it. In other words, society forces Palestinians to justify and format their identities, experiences and traumas in order to be seen. Yet through this process, crucial pieces of their stories are sacrificed.

DEI’s Demise Exposes Absurdity Of Trusting Oppressors To Correct Themselves

February 7, 2025 Jacqueline Luqman, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs did not emerge from Biden’s Executive Order. Many corporate efforts at diversity emerged or were expanded following the 2020 uprisings against racist terrorism sparked by the murder of George Floyd. These corporate efforts claimed to have a goal of addressing the underrepresentation of marginalized groups within their workforces and supply chains. These moves were in response to yet another moment in American history where the deep inequality between white and Black people in the U.S. was exposed as an ever growing chasm, rather than the rose-tinted example of American progress on racism that many believed capitalist success is, or inclusion into the capitalist system that claims to produce equal success for all.

Activists In Philly Have A Novel Approach To Help De-Oppress Society

September 21, 2024 Damon Orion, Counter Punch. , , ,
In 2019, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America reported that one in 1,000 Black men in the U.S. are killed by police. Statista states that between 2015 and August 2024, Black U.S. residents were fatally shot by law enforcement officers at a rate of 6.2 per million of the population per year compared to 2.4 white Americans per million per year. This is an all-too-familiar example of systemic oppression, which the diversity, equity, and inclusion-based software company Develop Diverse defines as “the mistreatment of a social, ethnic, or racial group, perpetuated by governments, schools, health care systems, and other socioeconomic structures.”

Repression Backfires In Pakistan

September 6, 2024 Esha Mitra, Waging Nonviolence. , , , ,
In July, hundreds of thousands of people set out for a national gathering in Gwadar, a picturesque port city on the Arabian sea in Balochistan — Pakistan’s largest, but least populated, province. Making their way through an expanse of mountainous desert were the members of a severely oppressed community, the Baloch, whose population extends into neighboring Iran and Afghanistan. At this first-of-its-kind national gathering, called Baloch Raji Munchi, people were planning to press their demand for an end to enforced disappearances, wrongful arrests and extrajudicial killings — all of which have been rampant across the province since its annexation in 1948.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – The Israel Lobby’s Useful Idiot

August 14, 2023 Chris Hedges, Scheer Post. , , , ,
There is a heavy political price to pay for defying Israel, whose overt interference in our political process makes the most tepid protests about Israeli policy a political death wish. The Palestinians are poor, forgotten and alone. And this is why the defiance of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians is the central issue facing any politician who claims to speak on behalf of the vulnerable and the marginalized. To stand up to Israel has a political cost few, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are willing to pay. But if you do stand up, it singles you out as someone who puts principles before expediency, who is willing to fight for the wretched of the earth and, if necessary, sacrifice your political future to retain your integrity.

‘Liberalism Is Counter-Revolutionary’

September 9, 2022 Kalonji Jama Changa and Roberto Sirvent, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
Black faces in high places are dangerous because the masses get caught up in symbolism and style over substance. They become confused and fall for perceived power over real power. An example would be Plantation Manager Joe Biden. He has appointed close to two dozen African Americans (mostly women with European husbands and wives) to his cabinet and senior advisors—more than any other President (including the one he served under), and there has been no significant changes in the conditions we live under. Yet, because there is a Black Woman Vice President, a Black Woman Supreme Court Justice and Black Woman Press Secretary, many Black people, including activists, somehow equate that to “Black Girl Magic”.

60 Years After His Death, Fanon’s Ideas Remain The Weapons Of The Oppressed

December 10, 2021 Danny Shaw, Toward Freedom. , , ,
Born and raised in what is still France’s Caribbean island colony of Martinique, Fanon was exposed to and shaped by the everyday class and race relations that characterized the island in the early 20th century. Forced to join a segregated column of Black troops, he fought in World War II. Upon continuing his studies in post-war France, he came face to face with the racism that dominates the European world. In his first book, Black Skin, White Masks (1952), Fanon reflects on coming of age in a world, where, “For the black man there is only one destiny. And it is white.” At the time of publication, Fanon had just turned 27. In 1953, the Martiniquais psychiatrist was assigned to Algeria, where he treated patients who were severely traumatized by the violence French colonialism had spun into motion.

Racism Denies Common Prosperity In The United States

September 22, 2021 Danny Haiphong, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
Mainstream U.S. media frequently depicts China as a "closed off" country that treats ethnic minorities with contempt and oppression. The New York Times took this baseless accusation further in an op-ed published on September 9 that claimed China was closing itself off from the world and rejecting the English language. No verifiable proof was offered beyond reforms to the education system that seek to address economic and social stressors faced by Chinese families. The op-ed argued that China's decision to place tighter regulations on its private tutoring and examination process is a sign that the country is closing itself off from the world. Yet China's reforms actually achieve the opposite by adhering to the goal set out by the central government to ensure "common prosperity" for all.

The Black Panther Party’s Multiracial Anti-Fascism

August 30, 2020 Yoav Litvin, ROAR Magazine. , , ,
In the late 60s and 70s, the Black Panther Party (BPP) embodied the vanguard of the revolution and anti-fascist, anti-racist action in the United States. The BPP formed an inclusionary, class-based manifesto, promoted armed self-defense and created an array of community survival programs and services, which included a sophisticated educational platform, free health clinics, breakfast for schoolchildren, teach-ins and more. Further, the BPP utilized art and music, via its newspaper and band, to spread its revolutionary agenda.

Symbolism And African (Black) Men (Mostly) With Guns

July 12, 2020 Ahjamu Umi, A Better World. , , ,
The video was circulating endlessly this past weekend.  Seemingly dozens of primarily African men (with a sprinkling of women) carrying semi-automatic weapons, marching, and chanting, in formation.  Apparently, headed for the Ku Klux Klan headquarters in rural Georgia, U.S.  It wasn’t clear what happened once or if they reached their destination, but its safe to say that the centuries old vision of African people putting the Klan out of their misery once and for all didn’t take place. For the most part, the reaction, primarily from colonized people, particularly African women, was support for this action.  And, for people who have been consistently and brutally assaulted by white supremacists for centuries, its certainly understandable that a symbolic gesture of us fighting back would generate feelings of joy. 

Dear Poor White Trash

April 26, 2020 Kymone Freeman, Popular Resistance. , , ,
Do you know of anyone personally who has died of #TrumpFlu? Do you even know of anyone who has contracted it? Chances are you don’t. And if you don’t and you watch #FoxNews, who legally lies as much as #Trump, chances are you feel like a stranger in your own country. You may feel some economic insecurity, social anxiety, you may be out of work, not sure how you gonna make it, a victim of government overreach and a feeling of outrage and injustice. Or maybe you are a well-intended liberal without a racist bone in your body, except for a few relatives back home, and your greatest social challenge has been your card being declined in a restaurant, so you freaking out right now. Well, take a backseat because Black people know these roads all too well and can offer some valuable insight into how to navigate them.

When We Talk About Cultural Appropriation, We Should Be Talking About Power

October 31, 2019 By Lauren Michele Jackson, Inthesetimes.com , ,
The word “appropriation” gets a bad rap. Centuries old, it denotes an act of transport—some item or motif or a bit of property changing hands. An artist might appropriate an ancient symbol in a painting or a government might appropriate monies through taxes to fund public education. Taking only the root of the word, the meaning seems clear. To make something appropriate for another context. In some circles, the word is still used this way. But colloquially? Not so much.

Climate Justice Means Fighting For All Justice

September 14, 2019 UK Youth Climate Coalition, The Ecologist. , , ,
The climate crisis is recognised by the majority of citizens and scientists worldwide to be the result of human activity. The rampant extraction and burning of fossil fuels is center stage, triggering protests and public dialogue. Meanwhile, headlines on atmospheric CO2 stand alongside those on socio-political unrest, human rights, ecosystem destruction or conservation, healthcare, international politics and market dynamics. It is no coincidence that the most prominent narratives feature hierarchy and exertion of power in some form. We will only make lasting headway in tackling climate change if, alongside the need for decarbonisation, we acknowledge that the climate emergency is an issue of wider socio-ecological injustice and violence. The triggers and impacts of climate change are related to or the same as those in other struggles where domination is exerted over an ‘other’. To face up to one, we must face up to them all.

What Christmas Means

December 25, 2017 Chris Hedges, truthdig.com , ,
In the early 1980s I was in a refugee camp for Guatemalans who had fled the war into Honduras. It was a cold, dreary winter afternoon. The peasant farmers and their families, living in filth and mud, were decorating their tents with strips of colored paper. That night, they said, they would celebrate the flight of Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus to Egypt to escape the slaughter of the children of Bethlehem ordered by Herod. The celebration is known as the Day of the Holy Innocents. “Why is this such an important day?” I asked. “It was on this day that Christ became a refugee,” a farmer answered.

Tearing Down Monuments Of Oppression Is First Step To Decolonization

October 21, 2017 Ashoka Jegroo, www.truth-out.org , , ,
By Ashoka Jegroo for Truthout - One of the most inspiring and audacious direct actions against a racist statue recently was in August in Durham, North Carolina. A group of more than 100 activists from leftist and anti-capitalist groups, such as the Workers World Party and the Industrial Workers of the World physically tore down the Confederate Soldiers Monument in front of the old Durham County Courthouse while chanting "No cops! No KKK! No fascist USA!" Multiple activists were later arrested and charged with felonies for tearing down the statue, the first of whom was 22-year-old student Takiyah Thompson. "I think it's important to think about the position of the Confederate statue in front of the old courthouse," Thompson told Truthout. "Even though that courthouse is no longer in use, it's still a government building, and the fact that it's on the courthouse steps makes a very clear statement to Black people, and people of color more generally, about what kind of justice they're going to receive when they enter that courtroom. People are talking about tearing down history, but it's not history. Not when the legacy is still very much alive." Thompson said that the action started as a response to an uninspiring post-Charlottesville vigil organized by the liberal, pro-Democratic Party group IndivisiblesNC on August 13.
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