April 07, 2002
the oppressed as restorers of humanity

And this from the book I am reading:

. . . sooner or later being less human leads the oppressed to struggle against those who made them so.  In order for this struggle to have meaning, the opressed must not, in seeking to regain their humanity (which is a way to create it), become in turn opressors of the oppressors, but rather restorers of the humanity of both.

This, then, is the great humanistic and historical task of the oppressed: to liberate themselves and their opressors as well.  The oppressors, who oppress, exploit and rape by virtue of their power, cannot find in this power the strength to liberate either the oppressed or themselves.  Only power that springs from the weakness of the oppressed will be sufficiently strong to free both.

Posted at  03:02 PM | Comments (0)
a feeble hope

It has been a sad and depressing ...week, ...month, ...season?  Life?  I don't know, but I hope this darkness lifts.  And I am glad this man is in the same world as me, at the same time as me—if for no other reason than to reinforce a feeble hope I have that people are all that really matter; that connections between souls are indeed possible; and that the dirty, cheap, puny things we do to each other both personally and globally have not, yet, submerged us completely.

There may be hope.

Posted at  02:51 PM | Comments (0)
dangerous designs
It is not peace that Sharon seeks with the Palestinians but their surrender and expulsion. Oppression and brute force are the only language he knows. The notions of bargaining, accommodation and compromise are alien to his whole way of thinking. For him Palestinian moderation poses a far greater threat than Palestinian extremism.
International Herald Tribune
Posted at  01:17 AM | Comments (0)