Quotes About Oppression

I was the symbol of justice in the court of the oppressor, the representative of the great ideals of freedom,

To overthrow oppression has been sanctioned by humanity and is the highest aspiration

My bans extended to meetings of all kinds, not only political ones. I could not, for example, attend my son's birthday party. I was prohibited from talking to more than one person at a time. This was part of a systematic effort by the government to silence, persecute and immobilize the leaders of those fighting apartheid and was the first of a series of bans on me that continued with brief intervals of freedom until the time I was deprived of all freedom some years later.

A freedom fighter learns the hard way that it is the oppressor who defines the nature of the struggle, and the oppressed is often left no recourse but to use methods that mirror those of the oppressor. At a certain point, one can only fight fire with fire.

The lesson I took away from the campaign was that in the end, we had no alternative to armed and violent resistance. Over and over again, we had used all the nonviolent weapons in our arsenal—speeches, deputations, threats, marches, strikes, stay-aways, voluntary imprisonment—all to no avail,

apartheid turned many otherwise law-abiding citizens into criminals.

it is always the oppressor, not the oppressed, who dictates the form of the struggle.

an immoral and unjust legal system would breed contempt for its laws and regulations.

In South Africa, to be poor and black was normal, to be poor and white was a tragedy.

Se dice que nadie conoce realmente un país hasta haber pasado por sus cárceles. No se debe juzgar a una nación por cómo trata a sus miembros más encumbrados, sino por cómo trata a los más humildes.

The truth is that we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free, the right not to be oppressed. We have not taken the final step of our journey, but the first step on a longer and even more difficult road. For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. The true test of our devotion to freedom is just beginning.

There is no such thing as part freedom.

It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones – and South Africa treated its imprisoned African citizens like animals.

He hated white oppression and white domination, not white people themselves.

In the Afrikaner's worldview, apartheid and the church went hand in hand.

Sólo la educación de las masas, puede liberar al pueblo. Un hombre educado no puede ser oprimido, si es capaz de pensar por sí mismo.

A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones - and South Africa treated its imprisoned African citizens like animals.

Let freedom reign.

portion of the fees the government levied

Un luchador por la libertad aprende, por el camino más duro, que es el opresor el que define la naturaleza de la lucha.

At the university, teachers had shied away from topics like racial oppression,

His life is circumscribed by racist laws and regulations that cripple his growth, dim his potential, and stunt his life.

I discovered for the first time people of my own age firmly aligned with the liberation struggle, who were prepared, despite their relative privilege, to sacrifice themselves for the cause of the oppresses.

I am not truly free if I am taking away someone else's freedom, just as surely as I am not free when my freedom is taken from me. The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity. For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.