quotations about oppression
We first crush people to the earth, and then claim the right of trampling on them forever, because they are prostrate.
LYDIA MARIA CHILD
An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans
In every age it has been the tyrant, the oppressor and the exploiter who has wrapped himself in the cloak of patriotism, or religion, or both to deceive and overawe the People.
EUGENE V. DEBS
anti-war speech, June 16, 1918
Leaders who do not act dialogically, but insist on imposing their decisions, do not organize the people--they manipulate them. They do not liberate, nor are they liberated: they oppress.
PAULO FREIRE
Pedagogy of the Oppressed