All members of this society grow up surrounded by oppressive attitudes we are marinated in it. No matter how much work you have done on that area of yourself, there is more to be done. Remember that everyone in the oppressor group is part of the oppression.ģ It is ridiculous to claim you are not sexist if you are a man, or not racist if you are white, and so on. Listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen 4. Try to help members of your own group understand oppression and make the links among different forms of oppression. Learn, reflect on, and understand the patterns and effects of oppression, take action with others, take risks, walk towards your fear to find your power. It is important to be a worker in your own liberation struggle, whatever it is. Ģ I hope these observations will be as useful to you as they have been to me when I find myself in the ally role. Therefore, we still find ourselves dealing in most instances with one form of oppression at a time, and in a given setting, we are either in the role of oppressed or ally. Most people in our society do not yet see the connections between different forms of oppression, or even have a general sense of how oppression works.

I can, however, use my growing analysis of the process and my experience to offer some guidelines. Published by Fernwood Publishing, Halifax 'How To'- Becoming an ally Having written that subtitle, I must now admit that I cannot tell anyone exactly how to become an ally. Excerpt from Becoming an ally Breaking the Cycle of Oppression by Anne Bishop. Tim Costello, President, Baptist Union of AustraliaBecoming an Ally is must reading for anyone concerned with understanding and challenging the dynamics, forms, and sources of oppression-whether it is their own oppression, that of others, or both.Bob Mullaly is Head of Social Work at Victoria University, Melbourne Where does oppression come from? Has it always been with us, just 'human nature'? What can we do to change it? What does individual healing have to do with the struggles for social justice? What does social justice have to do with individual healing? Why do members of the same oppressed group fight each other, sometimes more viciously than their oppressor? Why do some who experience oppression develop a life-long commitment to fighting oppression, while others turn around and oppress others? Anne Bishop draws on her many years experience in community work to write this feisty and bestselling guide for activists, community workers and welfare workers.1 HOW TO BE AN ally ? Food for thought: Becoming an ally to oppressed people. Right now in Australia she has the power to lead us as we struggle with questions of guilt, responsibility and patterns of oppression which are 'larger than ourselves'.

Already I have found myself quoting Anne Bishop's wisdom: her simple advice is compelling.

Becoming an Ally by Anne Bishop