“Be The Change, Not The Caption (Sonnet)
Do good, don't delegate.
Go vital, not viral.
Dare the deed, not drama.
Be the specimen, not a spectacle.
Speak truth, not trends.
Carve meaning, not metrics.
Plant roots, not rumors.
Foster oneness, not optics.
Lend a hand, not hashtag.
Trigger action, not attention.
Stir up lives, not likes.
Be the change, not the caption.”
Source: The God Sonnets: Naskar Art of Theology
“Is the stress of injustice really something we should aim to alleviate? Shouldn't we feel as much of that pain and stress as we can bear so that we're moved to fix it?”
Source: Down with the System: A Memoir
“The dream of building new lives by ending other lives is a misguided dream.”
Source: Dağbozumu
“Activism requires an active audience. It’s easier to get someone standing to run than a human couch anchor to do anything.”
Source: Immortality Bytes: Digital Minds Don't Get Hungry
“The power structure automatically imposes a frame of reference which force people to see things from the Man's point of view. When a policeman shoots a nigger, that's 'law and order.' But when a black man defends himself against a pig, that's 'violence.' The role of the revolutionary is to create public theatre which creates a revolutionary frame of reference. The power to define is the power to control.”
Source: Do It!: Scenarios of the Revolution
“Unwrite Me, You Cannot (Sonnet 1949)
I've written my life on the fabric of time,
no matter how much you try, you cannot unwrite me.
My childhood friends are now parents to children,
while I stand alone as the keeper of humanity.
Even the woman I once dreamt a life with, is now
a mother, yet my struggle continues for eternity.
May they all have a full and flourishing life,
but mine is to die as the lampbearer of liberty.
I took the road less travelled, of my own accord,
so the marginalized could have some tranquility.
There's nothing groundbreaking in a life of comfort,
we break ground by being antidote to animosity.
I've written my life on the fabric of time,
try all you like, unwrite me, you cannot.
You can pin me to the ground or on the wall,
but unsee, unhear, unwrite me, you cannot.”
Source: Azad Earth Army: When The World Cries Blood
“If protest does not reach the people it claims to serve, then it is not protest – it is spectacle. And in the end, who does that serve?”
“A protest should be undeniable. It should not ask the oppressed to become scholars of your rhetoric. It should not demand a prerequisite reading list before it makes sense. A protest is not a lecture series; it is an eruption, a call, a demand. It is a truth so raw that even a passerby, even a child, even the most disengaged person in the crowd should be able to hear it and know, in their gut, what is being said.”
“Lasting change is best achieved when the voices of those who are exploited are able to speak for themselves and are heard when they do so.”
Source: Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives
“Meaningful solutions cannot be devised if they are devoid of direct input from those the solutions are meant to assist.”
Source: Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives