The Mind of the Oppressor….
“The Victim Is Never Fully Human In The Mind Of The Oppressor.”
Maybe a better title could have been “Do you think like an oppressor?”, or “Are you an oppressor and you don’t know it?”. Or oppressed if you like…
I’ve had several discussions about our beloved Sudan (its past, its future and its women) with Sudanese from almost all walks of life. It does not surprise anymore when self-proclaimed secular Sudanese make remarks without having the slightest clue that they sound and reason just like an oppressor. Maybe in more occasions than one, I have acted, thought and behaved like a person who is being oppressed or is oppressing although I’d want to believe that I have liberated myself from the control and conditioning of the oppressor. But how can one tell?!
The other needs you to survive…
One typical belief of an oppressor is that, once free, the oppressed can not survive without him (The ladies have to excuse me from here onwards for referring to the oppressor/oppressed as male). The oppressed, in the mind of the oppressor, is not learned enough and not capable to be the captian of their own destiny. Thus, it is his duty as the oppressor to care for the oppressed. According to the oppressor, the oppressed does not know the difficulties that awaits him, so he the oppressor will not let him free, even if he the oppressor has to use force to prevent the freedom of the oppressed! In other words, the oppressor believes he is the sole custodian of the fate of the oppressed.
If you don’t know this already, Khartoum has been trying to sell this idea to every mind willing to receive their lies that the South (or even Darfur if it chooses to separate) can not run their own affairs if it decides to break free. Unbeknown to most Sudanese, the ideas of the oppressor are like viruses that take over your brain if you are over-exposed to them, and will continue to spread to other brains. That is why you still hear the same arguments coming off Sudanese who are partially possessed by the alienator?
Which brings us to the next point: in order to liberate the oppressed, you must also liberate his oppressor.
Most oppressors use and only understand one language: aggression. To liberate their selves from the yolks of their oppressor, the oppressed usually resort to the use of force, a fight for freedom or a war of liberation. But victory is never complete when only the oppressor is chased away, killed or overthrown. The task and role of the oppressed is to liberate not only themselves, but also liberate the oppressor from their mentality of being a superior race, class, religion or culture.
Are you still with me? Good. Let me repeat that: the oppressor needs to be liberated from their mentality of being a superior race, class, religion or culture.
Coming from being a victim to a savior of a the criminals that did you wrong, this added role of a liberator to liberate his ex-oppressor is definitely not an easy task. Most liberators would prefer to put the ex-oppressor on the receiving end by avenging the evils done to them, thus becoming the oppressor over the ex-oppressor. The true and real freedom fighter fights for the rights of all, the oppressor included.
So, where do you stand so far?
Are you possessed by the oppressor demon? Wanna test if you are oppressed?
Steve Biko once wrote “Merely by describing yourself as black you have started on a road towards emancipation, you have committed yourself to fight against all forces that seek to use your blackness as a stamp that marks you out as a subservient being.“
Reminds me of Kizzie’s post about inferiority complex and acceptioning being who you are. Let me leave it here for now. Let’s continue in the comments.
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Power struggles, different forms of oppression etc, is absolutely one of my most favorite subjects. I can rattle on this stuff forever. As a woman, who is absolutely aware of different forms of oppression (and some absolutely internalized and is trying to break free from) I find myself more sensitive to issues that face women. However at the same time I extend a hand to other folks who are discriminated against. Because, I whole-heartedly believe that in order for a free society to truly exists, all of it’s citizens have to be free.
One of the interesting things about being an oppressed group is that as soon as we gain some voice, we turn around and oppress others. A product of internalized oppression. We start to mirror what was done to us.
It’s a creepy cycle.
Dude, I just woke up. Chances are high I didn’t make sense. I’ll revisit this later.
oh yay. Ok, now that I’m awake. I agree that in order to break the cycle of oppression, the oppressor needs to also be “freed.” Which proves to be a difficult act. For example, try to tell a white person that they are privileged and that their privileges very much play into keeping a racist structure alive and kicking, therefore their privilege plays a role in the oppression of others. woooh.
This problem plays into sexism, heterosexism, religious privilege, abelism and a shitload of other isms and wide forms of oppression. It is difficult for the privileged to see their privilege, most of the time, due to them never having to live in the shoes of minorities and other underrepresented voices. Which leads them to dismiss (telling the oppressed they are over-reacting/exaggerating, etc), attempt to relate poorly, or just feel like “it’s not their job to do anything about it.”
That’s why I very much attempt to be an ally when it comes to the experiences of oppressed groups that I am not part of. To keep my privilege in check, secondly, I commend ACTIVE anti-racists/sexists and what have you for their allied work, because then they are naturally recognizing their own privilege and are actively attempting to break a cycle.
I have die hard feminist beliefs, lol, but I also try consciously to not internalize any oppression I might face by projecting it into a want to “take away” power from men, for example, but instead….”share power.” Because internalized oppression works in two dominant ways in my opinion. A. It makes the oppressed feel inferior and powerless or B. They want to take over and oppress others.
Yes?
I really like this blog entry. Very nice.
I think I also have succeeded in somehow not relating this to Sudan (bad sudanese me, booo). I’ve broken it down in my understanding of the systems of oppression and how to break it down through an americanized lense (as in what I’ve learned from workshops that I went to, mostly for the free pizza), which dare I say, can’t be too far off when generally applied to other oppressions. Don’t shoot…
Anyway, my biggest concern with south Sudan is how women’s rights will play out. Will we be taken seriously as equals? or treated as fragile beings who need to be saved from themselves by placing 89898989 restrictions? Only time can tell…
Let us know of any developments there…
That being said, I am done spamming your comment box. Peace.
Hello Ms Dalu
Hey there Mr. Sudanese Drima
Hey Ms lil’ Dalu,
This topic really had you going eh? Nice, nice.. Never mind not relating the issue to Sudan in particular, oppression is better tackled at that higher level. It is only at that level that we can understand that liberation from whatever forms of oppression involves “sharing” of power and control instead of “taking away” or “take over” that that created the oppressive situation.
As for the role of women in the south, there are women in positions of authority and they are being looked at with respect. I read somewhere that Africa has more women in positions of power than other continents. So, women are getting there…. who would ever dare challenge ladies like ms li’ dalu, kizzie, daana and the stars of the sudanblogsphere as being inferior just ‘cos are female?
hey, i’m just waking up after a crazy weekend!
“hey, i’m just waking up after a crazy weekend!”
woke up with no shoes on a land strip bordering mexico too, eh?
I hear you.
I will admit that I am generally not very aware of the number of women in position of power in south sudan, so if you ever blog about this subject, I’d be very grateful.
Also, does the power they have effectively help better the lives of their fellow women? I’m not trying to be cynical, I’m just asking actual questions out of my limited knowledge.
Thanks for the compliment. lol *hands you a cyber cookies*
*cookie* not cookies.
I hate misspelling.
my first cyber cookie ever, and yummie, it’s great! thnx
I must admit that I’m not familiar with how the women in power translate their influence for the good of women. I’ll consider doing a story on that once i settle in juba.
Women everywhere,not just in south Sudan, don’t have the same rights as their men. However, the situation is much better in some parts of the world than in others. For example, I personally believe that women in many parts of Western Europe ( Norway, Netherlands, Sweden Denmark etc) fare better than their counterparts in the United States in many respects.
My concern for the fate of women in south Sudan is not their having positions of political power, rather their having access to quality education, and health care so that they can make their own choices on the kind of life they want for themselves and their progeny, if they choose to have any.
Indira Ghandi and Benezir Butto were once the prime ministers of India and Pakistan, but how much had these two women with power done to improve the position of women and girls then? Girls in India and Pakistan are still among the most under-privileged in the region. Even women in these countries favor aborting girls in order to have boy babies. Women in Sudan, for instance, and in other parts of Africa and the Middle East, are today the most active proponents of female genital mutilation.
Quality education and proper legislation in society can help address the phenomenon of dicriminating against women.