if you are free, you need to free somebody else" -Toni Morrison
The cycle of systemic oppression is made up of 4 aspects:
Internalised and individual
This refers to a person's prejudice, biases, thoughts and feelings- both
conscious and unconscious. This includes internalised privilege and
inferiority
Interpersonal
The discriminatory interactions (actions) between people
Institutional
This is the discriminatory treatments made up of unfair laws, policies
and practices and inequitable opportunities that occur within and across
institutions
Structural
The cumulative and compounded effects of the oppressive systems,
discrimination across it's institutions, the economy, in politics, in
culture and society
There is many forms of oppression such as sexism and classism, just to name
a few. All forms of oppression exist in the same cyclical pattern and have
the same four interdependent aspects. Each one exists as a system itself;
and the suffix "ism" can also be used to denote such a system.
The phase “all oppression is connected” looks at the intersectionality in
all forms of oppression- such as racism, sexism, transphobia etc- it is the
belief that all these are interconnected and reinforce each other.
This means you cannot effectively combat one form of oppression without
addressing the others. For example women of colour will experience racism
and sexism in unique ways. With the current state of affairs, I want us to
look at the intersectionality in all the crises accruing worldwide.
Palestine, Sudan, Haiti and Congo are all connected. The common denominator
being colonialism, land theft, resource plundering and imperialist greed.
Nelson Mandela, a South African anti-apartheid activist and revolutionist
once said
"Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians".
That is was back in 1997, and the same sentiment still applies today. How we
allow our governments to treat the most vulnerable in our society, sets a
precedent for how they well treat us in times to come.
Palestine and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
Aside from obvious similarities that both countries have experienced
conflict and violence; Palestine being occupied by the illegal state of
Israel since 1967 and the DRC being plagued in civil war and political
instability for decades. Both have suffered human rights abuses such
displacement and have been impacted by resources extraction and
exploitation due to political and economic factors.
Currently human trafficing is taking place in the DRC and this is fueled
by the demand for minerals such as cobalt, cotlan, copper, diamonds etc.
from foregin "investors". Dan Gertler, one of these "investors" is an
israeli billionaire has been exploiting Congolese resoucres and using
shell companies to hide his assets.
This exploitation has led to rebel groups such M23 seizing control of key
mining towns and carrying out modern day slavery.
A lot of the minerals mined in the DRC are used in the production of
electronics, weapons and fuel conflicts. Armed groups are using these
materials to fund their activities, whether it’s directly selling the raw
materials illegally to western countries or these materials are later used
to manufacture weapons that go on to used in other wars such as the bombs
used on Palestinian children.
What you can do to help:
By changing the narrative, you will be influencing the
cultural conversation. Just as before when BLM was once called a
terrorist organisation and now it is common knowledge, we need to do the
same for free Palestine.
You can do this by using the right language; for example by assuming
everyone is already in an understanding that this is a human rights
issue. Language such as "at least we can all admit that this is a
genocide now" this bands everyone together even those who considered
themselves neutral.
Another example “we can see why the ‘complex’ will be studied for
decades" this again includes the individuals who used the word ‘complex’
as reasoning for their complicity. You can use this language in memes,
songs, art etc, the quicker it permeates culture the quicker we change
our behaviour, the quicker brands follow suit, the quicker we change
history.
Open your purse. It is very unfortunate that people in
a war have to pay for their safety. People are having to pay rent for
small tents, occupied by hundreds, having to pay for basic medical
attention etc. You can go the
Protection Olive Branch
spreadsheet and support a family if you can. You can also share the
spreadsheet with others, maybe someone you know has the means to
support.
Put your money where your mouth is: BOYCOTT BOYCOTT
BOYCOTT! One of the biggest factors that caused the downfall of the last
apartheid state; South Africa, was the BDS movement.
If you can boycott companies and brands that support the apartheid state
then we can starve it. For more information on which companies to
boycott, go to the
BDS website.
Click the button below
"the time to act is now,
now while there are still ways that we can fight now because the rights
we have left are still so veey few now because it is the right
thing to do now before you open the door find that they have finally
come for you "
-StaceyAnn Chinn
What you can do to help: