“The history of man so far is nothing to brag about, from the standpoint of our ideas - and what I mean is, that in comparison with most other societies, our present-day American society has achieved things which are remarkable: material wealth, greater than for any other nation; a relative freedom from oppression; a relative mobility; a spreading of art, of music, of thought, which is also rather unique.” MenMeanArtIdeasNationsWealthGreaterMaterialsUniqueOppressionRemarkableComparisonRelativeStandpointPresent DayBragAmerican SocietyMobilityMaterial Wealth Author:Erich Fromm
“If the Sri Lankan government resorts to state oppression against the Tamils and Muslims, then we will fight.” IfsStatesGovernmentFightingOppressionResorts Author:Velupillai Prabhakaran
“I don't think a white person can write accurately and convincingly about what black people experience of oppression.” PeopleThinkingWritingPersonsBlackWhiteOppressionBlack People Author:Alice Mattison
“The Bible cares about the systems that create oppression. We see this in the Exodus all the way to Jesus' interactions with Zacchaeus and the prostitute in John 8.” WayCareJesusOppressionInteractionExodus Author:Sho Baraka
“I think as an intelligent person you would agree that when you are teaching among oppressed people that they should be relieved of their oppression not 100 or 10 years from now, but right now, you're going to find your talk is going to fall upon sympathetic ears.” PeopleThinkingShouldYearsPersonsFallTeachingRight NowEarsIntelligentAgreeOppressionOppressedSympatheticRelievedIntelligent Person Author:Malcolm X
“In an age where there's so much active misinformation and its packaged very well and it looks the same when you see it on a Facebook page or you turn on your television. Where some overzealousness on the part of, you know, a U.S. official is equated with constant and severe repression elsewhere.” KnowsWellsLooksAgeTurnsTelevisionPagesConstantActiveOppressionOfficialsElsewhereSevereTurn-onMisinformationFacebook Page Author:Barack Obama
“It's almost impossible to separate the actions, or it's also, it's almost impossible to separate the oppression and exploitation, criminal oppression and criminal exploitation of the American negro from the color of the skin of the person who is the oppressor or the exploiter.” PersonsActionImpossibleColorSkinsCriminalsOppressionExploitationOppressors Author:Malcolm X
“I have dedicated a significant portion of my time and artistry to making art that addresses various forms of oppression, including white supremacy, misogyny, and biphobia.” ArtFormWhiteIncludingVariousSignificantOppressionMy TimeAddressesDedicatedPortionsMisogynyWhite SupremacyArtistrySupremacy Author:Vivek Shraya
“Whenever there is injustice, oppression, aggression, violence, it's standard for it to be supported by those we now call "intellectuals," but typically not by all; there is typically a fringe of dissidents. With very rare exceptions - in fact, it's hard to think of any - they suffer in one or another way; how depends on the nature of the society.” ThinkingWayHardFactsSufferingViolenceDependsStandardsInjusticeOppressionExceptionAggressionAnother WayFringeDissidents Author:Noam Chomsky
“It is imperative for US to parent our children and educate them outside of the school systems, as our education system was not designed to lift US out of oppression.” ChildrenSchoolParentOur ChildrenOppressionLiftsEducateImperativesEducation SystemSchool System Author:T.I.
“I remember the president-elect [Donald Trump] saying that I`m going to do something to dramatically, positively change communities, particularly in urban areas, and I think we`ve got to hold his feet to the fire to all those issues as well as all the issues that you addressed, you and many others addressed yesterday as it relates to criminal justice, as it relates to voting oppression.” ThinkingWellsRememberPresidentCommunityJusticeIssuesFireFeetTrumpAreasCriminalsYesterdayOppressionRelateVotingUrbanPositivelyCriminal JusticeUrban Areas Author:Al Sharpton
“The reason I joined the struggle against Apartheid was because you had this system of oppression, which affected everybody who was black. Whether you were old or young, man or woman, in a village or a town, it didn't matter.” MenMatterReasonYoungBlackStruggleTownsOppressionYoung ManAffectedVillageApartheid Author:Thabo Mbeki
“I think it's important not to view Martin Luther King Jr. in a narrow political manner. His fundamental commitment is to a radical love of humanity, and especially of poor and working people. And that radical love leads him to a radical analysis of power, domination and oppression. What's difficult is to situate him ideologically under a particular category.” PeopleThinkingImportantPoliticalHumanityDifficultPoorViewsParticularKingsCommitmentFundamentalsOppressionRadicalAnalysisCategoriesDominationLuther Author:Cornel West
“I don't think [governments] use [religious repression ] as a weapon, they use it as a as a means of - of oppression. To stifle opposition. To mute resistance.” ThinkingMeanUseGovernmentReligiousWeaponsResistanceOppressionOppositionRepressionMute Author:Elie Wiesel
“I would hesitate to give advice to the Dalai Lama and his people because they are suffering. The Dalai Lama suffered from exile and the people in Tibet suffer from oppression.” PeopleGivingSufferingAdviceOppressionExileLamaTibetDalai Author:Elie Wiesel
“Just as the children of Israel were directed by God to depart from the land of their oppression with its tyrannical monarch, cross a great sea, and establish a new nation, so, too, the children of Great Britain were led by God to leave the land of their religious oppression, cross a great ocean, inhabit a promised land, and, eventually, resist a "tyrannical" George III and create a new nation in "God's American Israel."” ChildrenNationsReligiousSeaLandOceanCrossesIsraelOppressionBritainMonarchsGreat BritainPromised Land Author:Daniel L Dreisbach
“Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.” MotivationalBeliefCommitmentToleranceOppressionBrotherhoodIntolerancePersecutionReligious ToleranceInjustice And OppressionPolitical OppressionTolerance And RespectCommitment To ExcellencePatience And ToleranceLack Of Commitment Author:John F. Kennedy
“A certain inequality in regard to property still exists in a socialist society. But in a socialist society there is no unemployment, no exploitation, no oppression of nationalities.” StillsCertainRegardPropertyOppressionInequalityExploitationSocialistUnemploymentNationality Author:Joseph Stalin
“Real liberty exists only there where exploitation has been annihilated, where no oppression of some peoples by others exists, where there is no unemployment and pauperism, where a person does not tremble because tomorrow he may lose his job, home and bread.” MayPersonsDoeHas BeensRealHomeJobsLosesLibertyTomorrowBreadOppressionExploitationUnemployment Author:Joseph Stalin
“We cannot be liberated as women in a society built on class oppression or gender oppression or religious oppression.” ReligiousClassBuiltGenderOppressionLiberated Author:Nawal El Saadawi
“Religion has gotten a bad rap for good reasons. Often, there are a lot of people - women, LBGT, and others - you know, hierarchical monotheism has been a real source of a type of oppression.” PeopleKnowsHas BeensRealReasonSourceTypeRapOppressionMonotheism Author:Van Jones
“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.” WayFeelsKindForceNumbersMonthsOppressionRegimesLightersInterveningLiberators Author:Bruce Cockburn
“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.” ThinkingReasonMightWaitingStepsOfficeOppressionFearfulStep UpPublic OfficeRetaliationVengeful Author:Reid Hoffman
“Like many resisting oppression, Palestinian Gandhis are likely to be found in prisons after being repressed by Israeli soldiers or police or in the hospital after being brutally beaten or worse.” FoundPolicePrisonSoldierOppressionHospitalsPalestinianBeatenIsraeliResistingRepressedIsraeli Soldiers Author:Yousef Munayyer
“There are topics which are common to men and women. I think that if a woman speaks of oppression, of misery, she will speak of it in exactly the same way as a man. But if she speaks of her own personal problems as a woman, she will obviously speak in another way.” IfsThinkingMenWayProblemSpeakCommonMen And WomenMiseryOppressionTopicsAnother WayPersonal Problems Author:Simone de Beauvoir
“Anyone who endorses violence, hatred or oppression is not welcome in America and never, ever will be!” AmericaViolenceHatredWelcomeOppression Author:Donald Trump
“I look at racism as one of the social demons. And, in its worst, it's violent and it's a systemic commitment to oppression.” LooksSocialWorstRacismCommitmentViolentOppressionDemon Author:Jordan Peele
“In order to achieve that end goal of equality it is a very gendered oppression primarily affecting women that needs to be tackled.” NeedsEndsOrderGoalAchieveOppression Author:Laura Bates
“To take on the question of race in America and believe that you could transform this country so that it would actually be a place that was welcoming for everyone that was here, including dealing with the history of slavery and the kind of oppression this country is based on, that's an amazing moment to begin to find your own political ideals.” BelieveKindCountryMomentsAmericaPoliticalRaceIdealsSlaveryIncludingWelcomeOppressionRace In America Author:Amber Hollibaugh
“The Islamic world is suffering not only because of external oppression but also because of the loss of its own dignity, of its own heritage, of its own practice of Islam, of its weakening of its own ethics, and many things which are internal to Islam not just external.” WorldSufferingLossPracticeEthicsDignityIslamOppressionIslamicInternalsHeritageWeakening Author:Seyyed Hossein Nasr
“The very essence of the Sufi spiritual tradition requires you to purify your heart, to liberate yourself from your ego and to be courageous in facing any corrupt power, injustice and oppression. Unfortunately, colonial powers pushed an agenda by using Sufism against resistance, and some ulama played that game in the past and in the present.” HeartPastSpiritualGamesEgoTraditionEssenceInjusticeResistanceOppressionAgendasCourageousSufismSufiBe CourageousInjustice And OppressionCorrupt Power Author:Tariq Ramadan
“We know what totalitarian looks like, we know what oppression looks like, we know what the dumb culture of totalitarianism smells like. This is it! It's happening now, and the future of the world is being decided. So, get out there, make your own sites, take action!” KnowsWorldLooksActionCultureHappeningsDecidedSmellOppressionDumbSiteTotalitarianismNow And The Future Author:Alex Jones
“There has to be spiritual transformation among the masses, who have to be willing to recognize that their oppression is not a law of nature. That's what Latin American bishops were doing when they formed base communities. They were trying to get peasants to recognize that you can take your fate into your own hands. That's what the civil-rights movement did here. That's what the women's movement did.” TryingHandsSpiritualLawCommunityFateRightsMovementWillingMassTransformationCivil RightsOppressionLatinLaws Of NaturePeasantsCivil Rights MovementBishopsLatin AmericaSpiritual TransformationLatin American Author:Noam Chomsky
“When it comes to the discussion of oppression in America, we've been experiencing the worst of it for a long time. What's exciting to me is the prospect of going from worst to first in a forward-moving transformation which is going to take groups of dispossessed black folks here and others and make us controllers of our own destiny.” FirstsLongAmericaMovingBlackDestinyGroupsWorstLong TimeExcitingTransformationFolksOppressionDiscussionControllers Author:Chokwe Lumumba
“There are things that you can do on an individual level, even as you continue to fight oppression systemically, that make things a little bit better for an identifiable group.” LittlesFightingIndividualBitsCan DoLevelsGroupsLittle BitOppression Author:Michael Eric Dyson
“In fact, it is the dictatorship's policy that isolates the people of Burma while it reaches out to different countries every year and opens new embassies around the world. It is the dictatorship's policy that kills civilians and makes people poor. As long as the dictatorship is in power, foreign trade and investment in Burma will not benefit people. Instead, it will end up fueling the oppression in Burma.” PeopleWorldYearsLongDifferentEndsCountryFactsPoorPolicyBenefitsTradeInvestmentOppressionAround The WorldReach OutDictatorshipCiviliansDifferent CountriesBurmaEmbassyForeign Trade Author:Zoya Phan
“Spiritual models for me are the communities of Tibetans living in exile in India, or the banjars of Bali, which exist in times of difficulty, oppression. Alternative spaces-perhaps this kind of communication can take place over the Net? Probably only up to a point as the Net's controlled by the military. But the idea is to live outside multi-national, monocultural, commodification prison, outside the grey areas of power-mad, monied collusion.” KindIdeasSpiritualCommunitySpaceMilitaryCommunicationModelsAreasIndiaDifficultyMadPrisonOppressionAlternativesControlledGreyExileTibetanBaliCommodificationCollusionGrey Areas Author:Anne Waldman
“It's no mistake that Harriet Tubman is revisiting us, in different forms, right now, as we travel through a very contentious time in the world. Her spirit is one that we absolutely need today, as we face odds that are akin to the divisive and systemic oppression that we read about in our history books, but it's taken on a modern-day articulation of itself. I almost believe that Harriet Tubman asked God for a leave like, "I'm gonna need to go back down there and take care of some things. They're in trouble."” WorldBelieveBookDifferentCareTodaySpiritMistakeTakenTroubleTake CareOppression Author:Aisha Hinds
“I think as more people get more aware, people get more defensive. And when I say that, I mean people who are more privileged, like men. People will think that by pointing out patriarchy and an oppression, that means that all men are horrible people, and they'll write that on social media, and I think that's something that's increased.” PeopleThinkingMenWritingMeanSocial MediaHorribleOppressionPatriarchyPointingMean People Author:Rowan Blanchard
“We must talk about how sexism and patriarchy operate in conjunction with state violence. Until we're honest about that, and do something to resist, we're complicit in the persistence of oppression.” ViolenceHonestOppressionPersistenceSexismPatriarchy Author:Marc Lamont Hill
“I didn't know enough about the Civil War or its lingering effects as we all should. It's really easy to think that the Civil War was the end of slavery, and the triumph of our collective conscience and humanity over oppression. Sadly, the oppression and systemic subjugation of people of color in this country still exists.” PeopleThinkingWarCountryEnoughHumanityEasyConscienceSlaveryOppressionCivil War Author:Bryce Pinkham
“The American administration obviously has supported the dictators in the Muslim countries and the Muslims are rising, as you can see their boiling in Libya and Egypt and many other countries and they're rising up against the oppression and the Americans should stay away from trying to, if you like, put another dictator in place, and I don't think the American interest in the current time in the Middle East with their presence, rather they should withdraw their forces, they should withdraw their own personnel, this is a very insecure time for the Americans I think.” ThinkingTryingCountryInterestOppressionDictatorInsecure Author:Anjem Choudary
“When I read Dickens for the first time, I thought he was Jewish, because he wrote about oppression and bigotry, all the things that my father talked about.” FirstsFatherFirst TimeOppressionBigotryDickens Author:Alan King
“I couldn't stand for a flag that represented tyranny and oppression. Not just from a domestic perspective but from a global one. It's supposed to represent equality and justice for all, and I believe the flag is a symbol that's supposed to represent the character of the people. When that character is not in line with what I believe in, then I'm opposed to that symbol. I couldn't see myself standing and still can't.” PeopleBelieveCharacterI BelieveJusticePerspectiveTyrannyOppression Author:Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf
“Why can't we have a voice? What's the difference between an athlete having millions or Donald Trump? Every time a politician talks, they talk about what's wrong with America. Well, he's an athlete who is also saying something is wrong with America. Why is it that when he talks, people say, 'How can he talk about oppression and make millions?' Well, Trump is talking about it. Hillary Clinton is talking about it. And they have more money than most athletes.” PeoplePoliticianClintonAthleteOppression Author:Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf
“Poland is at the center of European civilization. It has contributed mightily to that civilization. It is doing so today by being magnificently unreconciled to oppression. Poland's struggle to be Poland and to secure the basic rights we often take for granted, demonstrates why we dare not take those rights for granted.” TodayStruggleDareOppressionGranted Author:Ronald Reagan
“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.” PeopleChangeSilenceKingsUltimateTragedyCrueltyOppressionGood PeopleBad PeopleMean PeopleKings And LoveGood KingsPolitical Oppression Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” PoliticalPoliticsGivenFreedomLibertyBirthIndependenceCivil RightsOppressionJailOppressed4th Of JulyFreedom And LibertyFreedom Of ThoughtFreedom LibertyOppressorsCivil LibertiesFreedom Of ChoiceBirminghamAmerica FreedomFighting For FreedomIndependence And FreedomDirect ActionAmerican FreedomKings And LoveGood KingsUltimate FreedomJustice Denied Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The immigration system in America today has been misrepresented, misunderstood to mean: "Anybody who wants to come can come. The world is filled with oppression and tyranny, and we are your destination. If you don't want to stay where you are, you're free to come here - and our job and our duty is to accept you no matter what. And the more downtrodden you are, the better. And the poorer you are, the better." It is a total bastardization.” WorldMeanTodayAcceptingDutyTyrannyImmigrationOppressionMisunderstood Author:Rush Limbaugh
“Here in the US, we've built this insane infrastructure of oppression. When it's not run by a Barack Obama - who, by the way, I don't think is a perfect president - but by someone who is off-kilter, like a Carly Fiorina, that could be dangerous.” ThinkingRunningPresidentPerfectDangerousInsaneOppressionBarack Author:Ted Rall