Exploiting the oppressed

“Violence is initiated by those who oppress, who exploit, who fail to recognise others as persons – not by those who are oppressed, exploited and unrecognised. It is not the unloved who initiate disaffection, but those who cannot love because they love only themselves. It is not the helpless, subject to terror, who initiate terror, but the violent, who with their power create the concrete situation which begets the “rejects of life ... As the oppressors dehumanise others and violate their rights, they themselves also become dehumanised.” Paulo Freire (1921-1997)