Core Concepts
“Social justice is a practice that builds equal economic, political, and social rights and opportunities. Social justice advocates work toward dismantling beliefs, practices, policies, and norms that do not support this view.”
Anti-oppression refers to all the ways an individual, community, institution, or system actively prevents, challenges, and ends power and control over other people. It means standing up for oppressed peoples and addressing the ways they are prevented access to crucial resources, let alone choices. This includes addressing violence, abuse of power, and the ways people are manipulated, limited, controlled, silenced, incarcerated, and erased. Oppression in all its forms can cause mental, emotional, physical and spiritual trauma to individual people, communities, and our environment. Trauma can cause deep and devastating damage, particularly when it is rooted in systemic harms experienced across many generations. Source: Artful Anti-Oppression: A Toolkit for critical & creative change makers (Volume 2: Isms)
The term “oppression” is different from prejudice or discrimination. Oppression is power plus prejudice; a social group with more power suppresses the social, political, and economic influence of another group for its own gain. Oppression is upheld by institutions (e.g., media, government, education, healthcare, religion, financial, etc.), laws and policies, economic systems, and societal beliefs and norms. Anti-oppression activities and actions support the principles of social justice.
