Slave Masters – The Oppressors

“Do remember, though, that sometimes the people you oppress become mightier than you would like”. ―Veronica Roth, Insurgent.

Many centuries have passed since the end of the slave trade and its abolition, yet little has changed in terms of actual slavery. Slavery, in its many guises (including contemporary slavery and human trafficking), persists largely undetected and unabated.

It’s past time that we put an end to all forms of systemic oppression, including institutionalised racism and favouritism. The realisation that those on the periphery of society have vastly more potential than the “favoured ones” is the most disheartening finding.

They are bestowed with either human resources, natural resources, or both, which the despots are afraid of. They have resolved to keep in the background, reduce to the bare minimum, or destroy in totality. The oppressors may decide to ‘kill the goose that lays the golden egg’ to achieve their selfish goal. According to Abraham Lincoln, “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.”

Until today, those enslaved or oppressed remain guilty. At the same time, the enslavers, oppressors, or those who annihilate them profess innocence and are even extolled by those who should come to their condemnation. Shockingly, those who parade themselves as human rights champions are ‘the villains of the peace’ and the architects of the ‘law of the jungle’. It may surprise you to understand that “Alliance: In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply into each other’s pocket that they cannot separately plunder a third”. —Ambrose Bierce. Furthermore, the same alliance, ‘the big brother phenomenon’ with their so-called intervention policy, attempts to decimate countries that either have natural resources or disagree with their stipulated conditions and lay down rules, otherwise ‘falling from grace’. But we must muster the courage to ‘blow the gaff’ and ask them ‘what did their last slave die of’.

It is distressing when people who are marginalised and oppressed, including those who genuinely advocate for the right of the tyrannised (to avoid being guilty bystanders), find it difficult to express their state of affairs even in a most reasonable manner, within the ambit of the law. The reason is that they’re afraid of being harassed or victimised and, after that, become ‘prisoners of conscience’. Martin Luther King Jr. (-Letter from Birmingham Jail.) made it clear on the moral responsibility of every individual in the country, saying, “I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws, conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws”.

This issue of oppression and suppression has given birth to different forms of agitations, including rights to self-determination, and will continue until the subjugation is addressed. “In the 21st century”, says Kofi Annan, “I believe the mission of the United Nations will be defined by a new, more profound awareness of the sanctity and dignity of every human life, regardless of race or religion”. Many people have lost their lives, including properties, while others are languishing in different prisons across nations for simply demanding justice, equity, fairness, and their right to self-determination. If there is any conscience left in the mind of these tyrants, the ‘out-Herod Herod’, if there is any human feelings or any justice in their heart, if there is real democracy in any government of the day and fundamental human rights as enshrined in the constitutions, then, “We cannot criminalise what ordinarily should be an exercise of the right to self-determination”. —Inibehe Effiong

 These suppressed individuals, even though they resort to non-violence in seeking redress, are being harassed and maltreated. But even if they ‘fight fire with fire’, without mincing words, “By what standard of morality can the violence used by a slave to break his chains be considered the same as the violence of a slave master?” —Walter Rodney. That’s a question that is begging for an answer. It’s ridiculous that world peace has been in principle, not practice. The tenets required haven’t been considered because the oppressors relentlessly ‘force the oppressed under their throats’, a conspicuous sign of inhumanity. These tyrants engage in a ‘carrots and sticks approach to lure most of the oppressed, those who should join in the struggle for political liberation, because they (the oppressors) believe that “the oppressor would not be so strong if he did not have accomplices among the oppressed” ―Simone de Beauvoir, (The Ethics of Ambiguity)

These oppressors will do anything possible to sustain their grip on the oppressed. In that case, one of the covert strategies of ‘pulling the wool over’ is by changing a country’s map, but if they fail to change the map, they either distort or alter the history to remain the villain and conqueror. There is no doubt that power belongs to the people, but to manipulate and wrestle back power from the masses, they either steam a law or bend the rules. But looking at it, “You can cut all the flowers, but you cannot keep spring from coming.” —Pablo Neruda. While freedom continues to elude many nations and their citizens, agitation for equity, justice, and fairness garner momentum, and the freedom fighters relentlessly register their presence because their pleas ‘fall on deaf ears’.

Those who genuinely advocate for peace do so because they’re aware that “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organised conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.” ―Frederick Douglass. Those who are segregated are compelled by their segregation to ‘fight tooth and nail’ to change their situation. These embittered citizens strive to take their destiny into their hands as their groan of the wounds of exploitation; the ‘cry from the hearts’ is like ‘barking at the moon’. 

Dreadfully as it is that a government of the day could use the state apparatus codenamed “Operation Python Dance”, ‘an action station’ where PYTHONS are trained and ordered to ‘gyrate’ on the life of the citizens because the government has lost direction but remain adamant and resolved to govern unchallenged.

To the suppressed or oppressed individuals: be courageous and tenacious, ‘keep the faith’. Do not relent because ‘it’s between the ‘Tiger and the Hunter’, between ‘the Sun and the Cloud’. “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” – Martin Luther King, Jr. In addition to that, “The flower that blooms in adversity is the rarest and most beautiful of all.” ―Walt Disney Company, Mulan

‘Without fall’, just like a time bomb, it will eventually explode because the oppressors have ‘let the genie out of the bottle’ and many people might ‘let the cat out of the bag’ or ‘blow their cover’.

‘Cut to the chase,

“A ‘Great Reset’ Will Never Take That Long”.

‘If it tarries, wait for it’; it’s worth the wait.

Predictably just as Jacques-Yves Cousteau aptly puts it, “For most of history, man has had to fight nature to survive; in this century, he is beginning to realise that, in order to survive, he must protect it.” And by that time, “those who are chained will be unchained, and the chain used to chain them will be used to chain those who chained them”. J.K. Rowling echoed the same sentiment when she said, “Voldemort himself created his worst enemy, just as tyrants everywhere do! Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realise that one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back!”

Categorically speaking, “It is absolutely essential that the oppressed participate in the revolutionary process with an increasingly critical awareness of their role as subjects of the transformation”. ―Paulo Freire

Take it or leave it, “An awareness of our past is essential to the establishment of our personality and our identity as Africans”. ―Haile Selassie.keep in touch with us.

March 31, 2023 March 31, 2023Categories

Slavery Masters

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