Political Oppression: How it has become a culture over the years.
I have chosen this topic as my research topic because I believe the issue of political oppression is fast becoming stronger and people deserve to know and understand how imprisoned they are. The way the government handles their so-called power has been such a catastrophe and it is about time we citizens begin to know and understand what the problem is so we can stand against it before it becomes unstoppable or intolerable.
Let’s start by discussing “what is political oppression”? According to Wikipedia, it is the persecution of an individual or group for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing their ability to take part in the political life of a society. I am originally from Nigeria and from there I can refer to a lot of examples one of which is the current unrest in the Northern part of the country. The recent kidnapping of about 200 high school girls by an anti-western education Islamic group called “boko haram”. They use this believe to convince their followers and other people from the north, also using the advantage of religion to back it up. This is a clear situation of religious oppression.
This group has claimed they stand for anything western such as education, technology, culture, etc. but each time they perform an operation they come out on the television with a recorded video and claiming responsibility for the act. My question is who invented the video recorder and television device they are using, also I am pretty sure they spend money to acquire all their ammunitions and gadgets but those are also related to western technology. Putting this together it is obvious that they are not exactly what they claim to be...
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...paper gave a technical analysis of the “London” poem by William’s Blake. Careful analysis of Blake’s choice of word. He stated that "The use of the word "charter'd" in the first line is rich in imagery. It introduces imagery of mankind in bondage--showing that oppression, not freedom or individuality is the condition of the London that Blake writes about. "Charter'd" also means hired out, or leased, and shows that the city is in the hands of the merchants, and even the streets and the river Thames is being controlled for profits."
Putting all these together I believe the subject highlighted in this essay is something that students should know about since it has to do with what is happening in our current society. It will help enable student and make them understand better what the system is designed for and how it is meant to enslave and keep the citizens oppressed.
Oppression is not always brought on in a violent and oppositional way, it can take on a peaceful and silent form; however regardless of the way oppression is introduced, it maintains the same characteristics of “imposing belief systems, values, laws and ways of ...
In society, a racial hierarchy is constructed in the form of racism, where each race is classified, such as the whites being the most superior, whereas the blacks are perceived as inferior. Oppression takes formation in several ways and can limit a certain group from excelling in life, and suppressing their own cultural values. In the autobiography of Assata, Skakur depicts how oppression is present in every day society and its impact on Blacks.
In part fictional and part autobiographical novel “A Small Place” published in 1988, Jamaica Kincaid offers a commentary on how the tenets of white superiority and ignorance seem to emerge naturally from white tourists. She establishes this by using the nameless “you” depicted in the story to elucidate the thoughts they have when visiting such formerly colonized islands. This inner mentality of the white tourists reveals how tourism is still a form of oppression for the natives of such formerly colonized tourists as it continues to exploit them. I will be focusing primarily on page 10 of the text to illustrate this.
angered him and inspired him to convey his ideas and feelings through the poem 'London'. In the poem, Blake travels through London and describes what he sees. And as a result, he sees a severely oppressed society that is caused by the authority, such as royalty, and the church. This is as Blake sees. that even the streets and the thames are 'chartered' and governed.
Some would say that fear causes rash acts of rebellion. However, fear of difference actually causes complacency of an oppressed people. Should the fear be on the part of the oppressors, such as in Nazi Germany or 17-19th century America, it is easy to dehumanize the oppressed, claiming that the differences are “wrong,” and that oppression is merely the result of wrongdoing on the part of the oppressed. Claims like this can rally peoples against the oppressed, and places the moral blame on the oppressed, often causing the oppressed to internalize this claim of wrongdoing. If the oppressed are the fearful, their fear of technological, governmental, and religious differences, as seen in colonial Africa, leads them into a place from which it is hard to take a stand: in some cases the powerful oppressors could, in the minds of the oppressed, crush any rebellion. In others, it is hard to know where to stand and fight. In still others, oppressed peoples become intimidated by the way of life of their oppressors, which grants the oppressors a mystical aura of aloofness. Should there be little fear between the oppressors and the oppressed, the victims would eventually revolt. This is easily seen in the Crusades, where the Muslims took back much of the Christians’ newly conquered territory, and in the American Revolution, where American rebels, based on their knowledge of Britain’s government and workings, were able to successfully revolt against Britain and form a stable country of their own.
This group was created in 1978 and continues to expand its power today. It began as a branch of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. This terrorist group has several goals ranging from creating a Islamic state to continuing the armed struggle against Israeli occupation of Palestine territories. Their acts of terrorism to date have included suicide bomb attacks against Israeli civilians to attacks on suspected Palestinian collaborators.
As a people who were born free, futures ripe with opportunities and choices, it’s hard for most in American society to truly imagine slavery. It’s a horrific concept that is ingrained into childrens heads and then thought of as only an idea in a history class, but sadly, the past doesn’t seem to always stay in the past. Many forms of slavery that share a plethora of traits with slavery found back in the times of the civil war, are still very prevalent in the world today, domestic work and exploitation being a very huge problem in several countries.
2) Utilizing Glasberg and Shannon, Chapter 1 Introduction, and the works of Karl Marx explain to the reader the structures of oppression, in reference to power, politics and the state? Utilize the concepts of patriarch, racism and heteronormativity.
Oppression; something that has been around since the beginning of time; Mesopotamia. It is a cruel trait that takes advantage of others for the advantage to conquer and attain a goal in one’s life. From one of the first known literary works “The Epic of Gilgamesh” to William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” Acts 1 and 2, the theme of oppression has been playing out in societies. In relating to these two stories through postcolonial theory we will look at different aspect of oppression. Oppression has shown it is one of a self-sustaining system of power that is used to dis-empower, disregard, silence, enslave and eventually could lead to death.
In many cultures finding your identity is hard. It is even harder to not be labeled for what you look like in society. Currently, people have changed the way that they judge each other and are judging everyone based on the idea of their ethnicity. As I grew up, who I was as a person did not matter because everyone did not bully me based on the color of my skin. I assumed I was just like everyone else. Although when I became a teen things changed. After 9/11, my race and ethnicity mattered more and people treated me differently because I was labeled as a Muslim.
Mason, Michael. Notes to William Blake: A Critical Edition of the Major Works. Ed. Michael Mason. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
The Web. The Web. Blake, William. The. “Songs of Experience: London.”
“Oppression, to divide and conquer is your goal. Oppression, I swear hatred is your home. Oppression, you mean only harm.” -Ben Harper
The point of view in which Blake employs to London is significant to the understanding of the poem. Blake chooses to give the poem a persona, a person who appears to have extensive knowledge of the city and helps give credibility to the poem. (Foster, 1924) The use of first person in all three stanzas allows the poem to be more opinionated and less objective, drawing the reader's attention by making it more personal. Blake's London is to be the reader's London as well. In addition to point of view, Blake further sophisticates his piece by presenting specific tone to each section of the poem. Blake sets the tone early in the poem by using the word charter?d which shows the condition of London as repressive. The speaker refers to the people or ?faces? he meets with ?Marks of weakness, marks of woe.? This diction advocates the probability of the city being controlled by a higher authority. The faces of the people, or the face of society reveals the feelings of entrapment and misery in the population. This in itself could propose, "humanity itself is being commercialized" (Damon, 1965). One of the interesting aspects of Blake's poetry is the layers of meaning his words connote.
William Blake uses repetition throughout the poem in multiple circumstances. The first time he uses repetition is in the first and second lines of the first stanza. Blake repeats the term “charter’d” to describe both the street and the Thames River. Both being described in this way makes the audience have the idea that London is a strict, governed area that may have