Joris Lechêne on unmantling systems of oppression

Pakhuis de Zwijger

In this episode, Annick van Rinsum interviews Joris Lechêne. Joris is a trainer, facilitator, consultant, and social commentator on cross-cultural understanding, overcoming unconscious and implicit biases, and a specialist in Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion issues. The constant factor in all of Joris’ work is centering the marginalized experience. When he familiarized himself with critical theory, he gained the words to express what he had already felt inside while navigating the world through his multiple marginalized identities. In order to bring about change, Joris underscores the power of the collective, of which he sees himself as just a part. His own role is to educate and commentate on the workings of oppression in the system as it functions now. He warns that awareness about injustice and oppression is not enough to change systems. Instead, to effect change, we need to collectively alter the functioning of those systems through an ecosystem of change.