oppressor

Wherever there is power imbalance, such as exists between men and women, white and black people, rich and poor, boss and employee, then that power can breed oppressive behaviour. Silence and acceptance from the weaker player is the grease that keeps these wheels turning. We have got to call time on the bullsh*t that makes us feel as if we are powerless, the bullsh*t that tells ordinary people they have a defined place in the world and should put up with their lot. The bullsh*t that means the same people always end up with the same jobs. The bullsh*t that says we just have to tolerate a rising tide of hatred and division. The bullsh*t that says the laws are just the way they are and you should live within a system that was designed for someone else. Forcing people to be silent and give up is the most powerful tool any oppressor has in their arsenal. 'What's the point, I won't get anywhere,' is the victory call that brings joy to the ears of every person or institution that ever sought to control you. Whether on a big global platform or just in your office, speaking truth to power is not necessarily done so that the powerful change; it is rarely that simple. Speaking truth to power is, in fact, mostly for the ears of the oppressed. It speaks to everyday people, offers them the comfort that they are not alone and gives them hope that things can change. A small act of personal resistance viewed by someone else changes the way that they feel about speaking up themselves.... Speaking truth to power has the effect of activation and solidarity.

Adolf Hitler: An Overlooked Candidate for the Nobel Prize.

During the Cold War, widespread alcoholism was always seen in the West as evidence that life under Communism was so dismal that Russians needed large quantities of vodka to get through the day. Under capitalism, however, Russians drinks more than twice as much alcohol as they used to - and they are reaching for harder painkillers as well. These are stories from the past, but they are still echoing now, in the present. As I write this, Russian forces are using rape as a weapon of war against Ukrainian women; deported mothers are being separated from their children in the US; border walls are being built and fortified at an unprecedented rate across the globe (there are currently seventy-four in existence). But this much is clear: when walls are built, people will find a way over or under them; when families are separated, they do everything in their power to be reunited; and when women are victims, they find the courage to speak up, to band together, to survive. But it also declares that political paranoia is “the preferred style only of minority movements”—and, just to marginalize that minority some more, that it has “a greater affinity for bad causes than good. Could a religion started by a Jew ever be free of the Jewish taint? This is perhaps the ultimate example of how difficult it is to transcend anti-Semitism; you can literally be Jesus Christ and it won’t be enough for some people.

Perry has become mere audience. He had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes moments before, when Evelyn had blithely claimed, 'Australia is such a racist shithole.' He cannot abide this tendency of middle-class Australians to endlessly deride their own country. He finds it jejune, ignorant of the world. But Christ, he scolds himself, that's the habit of the bourgeoisie the world over - he is being unfair. In the sanctuary of the bathroom, Perry gives vent to his rage. Safe: how he has come to hate that word! As if the world can ever be free of risk and danger. And the sanctimony of Cora's voice as she delivered her tirade as if her grievances were commensurate with the pain in the world. She, who can marry the woman she loves, raise children independently, who has completed two university degrees and who has blithely escaped the strictures of tradition. As if his own heart doesn't thump when faced with a dark alley and an approaching loud group. He should never have come back. Their childishness floors him. He hates it here - precisely because it is safe.