Quotes About Activism

You can't change the system through violence.

There's no problem on the planet that can't be solved without violence. That's the lesson of the civil rights movement.

Violence is not more efficient than non-violence.

For decades, we resisted violence - until Sharpeville.

We were raised with that discussion about violence and non-violence, and we all pretty much came up on the side of non-violence. That became my foundation with politics and my livelihood.

Take away the violence and who will hear the men of peace?

As legislators and as Members of Congress, it is our obligation to speak up for those who are being ignored in our society. The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) does just that.

The apartheid system renounces no violence.

Hesitating and hand-wringing when confronted by violence discourages the human-rights activists on the front lines and emboldens the enemy.

Sea Shepherd does not condone, nor do we practise, violence.

We always knew when we took on the issue of violence against women that somehow our opposition would come after us.

Many original occupiers believe the political system has become so corrupt that even participating in it, engaging with it, corrupts the movement. I understand what they are saying. But often, change does come more quickly from the inside rather than the outside. My advice: try both. But don't try violence.

In college I studied '60s and '70s radicalism, student activism, forms of political violence, groups like the Weathermen, the Black Panthers, the Symbionese Liberation Army, the New Left.

On some campuses, change is effected through nonviolent or even violent means.

Violent resistance and nonviolent resistance share one very important thing in common: They are both a form of theater seeking an audience to their cause.

When you hear anyone policing the bodies of trans women, misgendering and othering us, and violently exiling us from spaces, you should not dismiss it as a trans issue that trans women should speak out against. You should be engaged in the dialogue, discourse, and activism that challenges the very fibers of your movement.

Black Lives Matter has been viral, and people are taking it, appropriating it, and using it however they see fit.

I'm over here with the French counterterrorism experts talking about the 'Charlie Hebdo' case, how we can stop foreign fighters from coming out of Iraq and Syria to Europe, but then we have this phenomenon in the United States where they can be activated by the Internet, and, really, terrorism has gone viral.

I have to tell you, virtually every country I've gone to, the Catholic church is on the cutting edge of social change. Really extraordinary.

Flags are about proclaiming power... that visibility is key to our success and to our justice.

The activism of marginalized people often comes with visibility and being heard. Which can lead people to believe that recognition and awareness is the actual end point. And it is not.

I am very proud of the role I played in getting legal equality for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, and in helping get rid of the prejudice by being visible about it, helping to block the conviction of Bill Clinton of impeachment.

A highly visible, shared identity can help bring activists from different backgrounds together with a common sense of purpose and push for change more effectively - from the global stage to within their own communities and families.

Harvey Milk was a friend of mine, an important gay leader in San Francisco in the '70s, and he carried a really important message about how important it was to be visible, how important it was to come out, and that was the single most important thing we had to do.