Quotes About Activism

I'm frightened nobody important is going to give a damn because it seems to be happening mostly to gay men.

Julia supposed that there was also a difference in perspective: 'The practical level was another level down [in 1960s social movements] and not so interesting. I don't know much about organizing, but I feel as though, if the reality of the situation doesn't change people's heads, then nothing's going to change their heads. Marches and those things are not the work of it. The work of it is whatever the work is.

Rebellion without reprisal is one of democracy's perks, right?

He liked radical politics and had a fondness for chocolate.

I analyzed hundreds of consumer complaint letters sent to my brother, the consumer activist Ralph Nader throughout the 1960s and 1970s, in the hope that he would do something about their problems. Some of those letters were published in No Access to Law and formed the basis

While Dees was growing up, he had seen that black lives didn't matter, and until they did, there could be no true justice.

The National Rifle Association are the gun nuts of the world.

If she ran off to Washington to join the protests, where would she sleep? How would she stay safe? What would become of her classes, would she be expelled, could she still graduate and go to college?

Viva la huelga [Long live the strike]!

In some cases non-violence requires more militancy than violence.

Non-violence is not inaction. It is not discussion. It is not for the timid or weak... Non-violence is hard work.

The fight is never about grapes or lettuce. It is always about people.

Non sei mica fascista? - mi disse. Era seria e rideva. Le presi la mano e sbuffai. - Lo siamo tutti, cara Cate, - dissi piano. - Se non lo fossimo, dovremmo rivoltarci, tirare bombe, rischiare la pelle. Chi lascia fare e s'accontenta, è già un fascista

Stonewall" has come to mark the origins of gay political activism although earlier groups in countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the French movement that grew out of the May 1968 events cannot be ignored.

As Hoffa put it, "Nobody can describe the sit-down strikes, the riots, the fights that took place in the state of Michigan, particularly here in Detroit, unless they were a part of it." And on another occasion he said, "My scalp was laid open sufficiently wide to require stitches no less than six times during the first year I was business agent of Local 299. I was beaten up by cops or strikebreakers at least two dozen times that year." And

I think we can survive—and resist both US authoritarianism and corporatism while creating a democratic revolution—only if the majority of Americans either become the kind of activist I describe in this book—or support those who do.

Resistance can be symbolic, but at its core it must also be empowering and even shocking, in the sense of awakening the people to the evils of the system and the terrifying end-result if we allow business as usual to continue. Resistance is rage at injustice and at the insanity of institutions that kill and exploit for money and power. Melding that rage with love is the art of activism.

Honk if you hate noise pollution.

Our challenge, as we enter the new millennium, is to deepen the commonalities and the bonds between these tens of millions, while at the same time continuing to address the issues within our local communities by two-sided struggles that not only say "No" to the existing power structure but also empower our constituencies to embrace the power within each of us to crease the world anew.

We are beginning to understand that the world is always being made fresh and never finished; that activism can be the journey rather than the arrival; that's struggle doesn't always have to be confrontational but can take the form of reaching out to find common ground with the many others in our society who are also seeking ways out from alienation, isolation, privatization, and dehumanization by corporate globalization.

activism can be the journey rather than the arrival;

In the 1950s I rarely went to a community meeting without Jimmy and would usually just listen or ask questions. Now, having worked in the city and socialized with Jimmy's friends and Correspondence readers for years, I felt I had something to contribute. I was beginning to feel comfortable with the we pronoun, so comfortable that in FBI records of that period I am described as Afro-Chinese.

Grace Lee Boggs

If you want to make a revolution in the United States, you have to love this country enough to change it.