oppressive

The dismantling of the decades-old apparatus behind the oppressive machine of the Assads, such as the country's army and the ruling Baath party, meant the sacking of hundreds of thousands of people.

Likewise, Sweden's justice secretary Gunnar Strömmer said his own country's ban on cousin marriage will liberate women from "oppressive standards of honour".

The Civil Rights Movement demonstrated that when activists fight on all fronts, confront power with moral clarity, and use the federal system to their advantage, even the most oppressive regimes can be overturned.

Some are fleeing oppressive government regimes, repressive cultures or religious persecution.

Nujoma was branded a "Marxist terrorist" by South Africa's white leaders for leading forces that fought alongside the anti-apartheid movement, posing a formidable challenge to the oppressive regimes in several southern African countries.