Quotes About Activism

I don't believe war is a way to solve problems. I think it's wrong. I don't have respect for the people that made the decisions to go on with war. I don't have that much respect for Bush. He's about war, I'm not about war - a lot of people aren't about war.

If feminism means anything at all, women with power should be addressing their energies to help the girls and women who suffer the pain of genital mutilation, who are at risk of being murdered because of their Western lifestyle and ideas, who must ask for permission just to leave the house, who are treated no better than serfs, branded and mutilated, traded without regard to their wishes. If you are a true feminist, these women should be your first priority.

Well, you know, I was raised by a 1970s feminist. My mom had a consciousness-raising group. I used to sit at the top of the stairs and listen to them.

They're here, they're queer, get hip to them. ~ B. Ruby Rich

If I focus on being an activist and my job is to be a rapper, I'm not going to be as good of a rapper. I need to focus on hip-hop and focus on making the music, so that when the activists come to me and they need my voice to create a platform, then I've got enough people listening to me. Not because I'm conscious, but because I'm dope.

I don't think rappers have a responsibility, but for me, I gotta say something. I can't just look at injustice and keep quiet.

Grass-roots work is not flashy, and rarely celebrated on the national media level, but that is where change begins.

Writers who are activists are very rarely taken seriously as artists.

Rarely do celebrities and actors speak up for what they believe in.

When George W. Bush was up for re-election, we took part in Rock Against Bush.

One of the more important things the Bernie Sanders campaign did is reach people who are political but not electorally political. They're political in either non-profits or community groups, but didn't see how important it was to get involved in electoral politics.

People start to talk about post-racist, post-feminist. What does that mean? We're clearly not post either. Would you say post-democracy? Clearly we haven't reached true democracy yet.

Non-violent protests have reached a plateau. There is no other way but to get into politics to make your voice heard.

It's been vindicating to see the reaction from lawmakers, judges, public bodies around the world, civil liberties activists who have said it's true that we have a right to at least know the broad outlines of what our government's doing in our name and what it's doing against us.

Quite frankly, I talk about the fact that I'm a feminist as often as I can, and every time I do, it gets huge reaction, and media reacts, and the Twitterverse explodes and things like that, because here I am saying I'm a feminist. I will keep saying that until there is no more reaction to that when I say it, because that's where we want to get to.

In the '80s, Ronald Reagan inspired me to become politicized, because I grew up in that era when everything I cared about was under attack.

Ronald Reagan never did much to make abortion illegal. He did, however, deliver videotaped greetings, fulsome in praise for his hosts, to antiabortion rallies on the Mall.

I have been hung in effigy by the gay community for a long time, from when I was on President Reagan's first AIDS commission.

Hashtag activism is a catalyst, but things have to actually happen in real life.

I think right about now we have to beware of marketed Malcolms and Martins. Real people do real things.

The people I've met through my path in activism, we're trying to bring real people into a leadership role because we are real Americans and know the true pain of having to worry about our children. And there's no force like a mother trying to protect her child.

I'm a real person, and I'm angry. I'm trying to use this celebrity thing to get people some help. AIDS, poverty, racism - I want to be one of the hands that helps stop all that. I'll put it on my shoulders. I'll charge it to my account.

Women born and raised on this fragile planet have more uniting us than dividing us - and it's the job of feminists to help us realise that.

If we are going to realise our ambition of ending the harmful practices of FGM and forced marriage, the role of young people in pushing for change is crucial. We also need to ensure that everyone, from government to civil society, is playing their part.