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Societal Level Intractable Conflict Threat
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Group Oppression of Other Groups

BI Article
Oppression and Conflict: Introduction
This intro to a 6-essay series focuses on the causes and impacts of oppression and how it can be overcome.

BI Article
The Nature and Origins of Oppression
The beginning of oppression can be traced back to the invention of agriculture. This essay outlines the history of oppression.

BI Article
Forms of Oppression
Oppression can take many forms. Understanding which are being used is essential for remedying the situation.

BI Article
Maintaining Oppression
All four need to be understood and addressed if oppression is to be overcome.

BI Article
Overcoming Oppression: Awakening the Sense of Injustice
Awareness of injustice is a precondition for overcoming it. This essay discusses why people often aren't aware of their own and others' oppression.

BI Article
Overcoming Oppression Through Persuasion
Persuasion doesn't have the risks that come with the use of force, and can be very effective.

BI Article
Overcoming Oppression With Power
How to increase one's sources of power and improve one's power strategies to force the oppressor to negotiate change to the status quo.

BI Article
Fighting Today's Oppression, Not Yesterday's Oppression
It is important that efforts to correct the record of past injustices not distract from or interfere with efforts to address ongoing injustice.

BI Article
On Oppression, Justice, Advocacy, Neutrality, and Peacebuilding -- Part 1
The first in a series of articles exploring the tension that exists between the pursuit of "social justice" and the need to diffuse hyper-polarization and the resulting hatred and social dysfunction.

BI Article
On Oppression, Justice, Advocacy, Neutrality, and Peacebuilding -- Part 2
Bernie Mayer and Jackie Font-Guzmán offer a critique of our focus on hyper-polarization based on their book, The Neutrality Trap.

BI Article
On Oppression, Justice, Advocacy, Neutrality, and Peacebuilding -- Part 3
Heidi Burgess and Guy Burgess defend BI's focus on reversing the hyper-polarization spiral from the argument that this would reinforce systems of oppression (see previous BI newsletter).

BI Article
On Oppression, Justice, Advocacy, Neutrality, and Peacebuilding -- Additional Perspectives
More insight into the complex relationship between social justice advocacy and peacebuilding from Larry Susskind, Louis Kriesberg, Jay Rothman, Ken Cloke, Greg Bourne, Lisa Schirch, and Martin Carcasson.

BI Article
Growing Strawberries on Coconut Trees: The Nature of Peace and Peacebuilding in a Collectivist and Illiberal World
To understand why the peacebuilding field has failed to live up to its lofty ambitions, we have to unpack the world we inhabit today. Peacebuilding is not possible in many societies, and peacebuilders need to understand where their processes can work and where they cannot.

BI Article
More Comments on Growing Strawberries on Coconut Trees
More reader comments and Ashok Panikkar's comments on those comments about the role of peacebuilding, force, and other approaches to the world's current most violent conflicts.