Oppression Quotes - Page 27

• Even revolution, which transforms a concrete situation of oppression by establishing the process of liberation, must confront this phenomenon. Many of the oppressed who directly or indirectly participate in revolution intend - conditioned by the myths of the old order - to make it their private revolution. The shadow of their former oppressor is still cast over them.

  Paulo Freire

  Order, Shadow, Revolution

  Paulo Freire (2014). “Pedagogy of the Oppressed: 30th Anniversary Edition”, p.46, Bloomsbury Publishing USA

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• When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty, and property of the people ... and ... becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression ... it is a ... sacred obligation to their posterity to abolish such government, and create another in its stead.

  Sam Houston

  Government, Hands, People

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• There's something quite magical that can happen when a secret is no longer a secret - or is a shared secret or a common secret. By allowing those boundaries to be porous, certain forms of oppression may be lifted.

  Charlotte Cotton

  Secret, Common, Boundaries

  Source: www.guernicamag.com

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• Most of Marx's predictions have failed to materialize, and his labor theory of value and other ideas have been proven wrong. Marx failed to recognize the incentive system built into the capitalist model - consumer choice and the profit motive of the entrepreneur. The irony is that capitalism, not socialism or Marxism, that has liberated the worker from the chains of poverty, monopoly, war, and oppression, and has better achieved Marx's vision of a millennium of hope, peace, abundance, leisure, and aesthetic expression for the 'full' human being.

  Mark Skousen

  War, Expression, Ideas

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• An extensive empire must be supported by a refined system of policy and oppression; in the centre, an absolute power, prompt in action and rich in resources; a swift and easy communication with the extreme parts; fortifications to check the first effort of rebellion; a regular administration to protect and punish; and a well-disciplined army to inspire fear, without provoking discontent and despair.

  Edward Gibbon

  Communication, Army, Effort

  Edward Gibbon (2008). “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.302, Cosimo, Inc.

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• Any kind of civil rights oppression is wrong.

  Bryan Cranston

  Rights, Civil Rights, Kind

  "Bryan Cranston: 'I had to take my character from Mr Chips to Scarface'". Interview with Andrew Anthony, www.theguardian.com. October 27, 2012.

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• We have the opportunity now to look at the two billion people in the world who suffer from the most abject poverty, hunger, disease, and devastation. Add to that another two billion people who are just plain poor. If you look into the world of those caught in economic oppression, illiteracy, disease, and sexism, then you'll understand more clearly what we have to do.

  Harry Belafonte

  Opportunity, Two, People

  Source: www.yesmagazine.org

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• Opting for peace does not mean a passive acquiescence to evil or compromise of principle. It demands an active struggle against hatred, oppression and disunity, but not by using methods of violence. Building peace requires creative and courageous action

  Pope John Paul II

  Struggle, Mean, Evil

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• A number of Iraqis told us they had welcomed the U.S. forces as liberators initially but in the intervening months, they had come to feel that they had swapped one oppressive regime for another. The Iraqis did exchange one oppression for a lighter kind, in some ways.

  Bruce Cockburn

  Numbers, Way, Months

  Source: progressive.org

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• One of the things is when you think, "Wait, I'm fearful of retaliation, I'm fearful of oppression because of someone who is going into a public office, who might be vengeful for their own personal reasons, that's actually not a reason to hide - that's a reason to step up, right?"This is part of what we learned from the 1920s.

  Reid Hoffman

  Thinking, Office, Waiting

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• In the past I have defended the right of the IRA to engage in armed struggle. I did so because there was no alternative for those who would not bend the knee, or turn a blind eye to oppression, or for those who wanted a national republic.

  Gerry Adams

  Struggle, Eye, Past

  Gerry Adams (2007). “An Irish Eye”, Brandon Books

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• I believe that God has endowed men with certain inalienable rights as set forth in the Declaration of Independence and that no legislature and no majority, however great, may morally limit or destroy these; that the sole function of government is to protect life, liberty, and property, and anything more than this is usurpation and oppression.

  Ezra Taft Benson

  Believe, Men, Rights

  Ezra Taft Benson (1988). “The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson”, Bookcraft Pubs

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• When I looked into the story of Soviet hockey and its players, I realized that it has nothing to do with hockey. It was a larger story using hockey as a window into the story of the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian people, with friendships and betrayals, paranoia and oppression, and the meaning of sports to people and nations around the world, and how sports was used as a political tool.

  Gabe Polsky

  Sports, Betrayal, Fall

  Source: collider.com

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• It is for real that injustice and oppression will not have the last word. There was a time when Hitler looked like he was going to vanquish all of Europe, and where is he now?

  Desmond Tutu

  Real, Europe, Injustice And Oppression

  University of Michigan Wallenberg Lecture, October 29, 2008.

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• [U]nless oppressed groups stick together, and on alliances of self interest rather than do-goodism; nothing can be accomplished in the long run to dismantle the apparatus of oppression.

  Shulamith Firestone

  Running, Self, Long

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• There were many groups working for women's rights, but none of them dealt with the root cause of women's oppression-religion.

  Anne Nicol Gaylor

  Roots, Rights, Causes

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• The clergy, no less than the capitalist class, lives on the backs of the people, profits from the degradation, the ignorance and the oppression of the people.

  Rosa Luxemburg

  Ignorance, Class, People

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• This is historically what happens whenever revolutionaries begin to take the oppression and suffering of their fellow beings seriously, whether human or nonhuman. It's regrettable that certain scientists are willing to put their families at risk by choosing to do wasteful animal experiments in this day and age.

  Jerry Vlasak

  Animal, Risk, Suffering

  "The war on scientists in America" by Debra J. Saunders, www.sfgate.com. August 5, 2008.

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• The inconvenience and the suffering of any children or any family members pales in comparison to the suffering and oppression that goes on in these animal laboratories.

  Jerry Vlasak

  Children, Animal, Suffering

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• The paramount duty of maintaining public order and defending the interests of our own people may require the adoption of measures of restriction, but they should not tolerate the oppression of individuals of a special race.

  Grover Cleveland

  Race, Order, People

  Grover Cleveland (2006). “State of the Union Addresses”, p.126, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• For decades, free nations tolerated oppression in the Middle East for the sake of stability. In practice, this approach brought little stability and much oppression, so I have changed this policy.

  George W. Bush

  Practice, Middle East, Littles

  Remarks by the President at the United States Air Force Academy Graduation Ceremony, georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov. June 2, 2004.

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• Oppression breeds the power to oppose it.

  Andrew Solomon

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• The competition is not really friendly or peaceful. It leads to oppression in some ways.

  Michel Gondry

  Competition, Peaceful, Friendly

  "Director Michel Gondry Talks IS THE MAN WHO IS TALL HAPPY?, His Interviews with Noam Chomsky, Using Hand-Drawn Illustrations, and UBIK Adaptation". Interview with Sheila Roberts, collider.com. November 20, 2013.

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• The People of Virginia declare and make known that the powers granted under the Constitution being derived from the People of the United States may be resumed by them whensoever the same shall be perverted to their injury or oppression and that every.

  Henry Adams

  Virginia, People, United States

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• If our history has taught us anything, it is that action for change directed against the external conditions of our oppressions is not enough.

  Audre Lorde

  Taught Us, Action, Enough

  Audre Lorde (2012). “Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches”, p.142, Crossing Press

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