Spatial Oppression

The space in which we live has become politicized; controlled for the furtherance of powerful interests. When we stand at a cash machine in a mall we are unknowingly conforming to the politics of that space; we subconsciously stand behind the line where the tiles on the floor change colours while waiting for our turn. We obey seemingly irrelevant and arbitrary symbols and words restricting access to various spaces in the places we live. Spatial oppression has become a norm in our times – we are told where to live, where to eat and where to walk. We are being oppressed by the words, lines and symbols which have become, in their own right, agents of control.

During the apartheid regime in South Africa, the National Party adopted a divide and rule strategy – a well known tenant in the Oppressor’s Handbook. They dictated where the indigenous African’s lived – pushing them into tight corners within the country. They controlled the majority by transforming them into several minorities – they told them where to eat and where to walk. How then, is our time any different? We are only happy because we are not subjected to torture and violence, and are kept in relative safety but in perpetual fear. We don’t see direct aggression perpetrated on fellow human beings so we don’t think about it until our memories are jogged by the odd news report which we talk about at the water cooler for a week (‘shame,’ we say, ‘did you hear about that?’) and then forget about for another fifteen years. And we are happy, conforming to symbols of our oppression, standing behind our lines where we are safe, and not daring to step over them.

Peace, love and revolutions