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Activism Quotes

Browse 1768 quotes about Activism.

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Activism Quotes

“Going high is about learning to keep the poison out and the power in. It means that you have to be judicious with your energy and clear in your convictions. You push ahead in some instances and pull back in others, giving yourself opportunities to rest and restore. It helps to recognize that you are operating on a budget, as all of us are. When it comes to our attention, our time, our credibility, our goodwill toward and from others, we work with a limited but renewable set of resources.”

ActivismDiscernment
Book:The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times
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“Going high is something you do rather than merely feel. It’s not some call to be complacent and wait around for change, or to sit on the sidelines as others struggle. It is not about accepting the conditions of oppression or letting cruelty and power go unchallenged. The notion of going high shouldn’t raise any questions about whether we are obligated to fight for more fairness, decency, and justice in this world; rather, it’s about how we fight, how we go about trying to solve the problems we encounter, and how we sustain ourselves long enough to be effective rather than burn out.”

Activism
Book:The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times
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“Leadership has never been an exact science. But it has always found itself particularly challenged when tasked with elevating one segment of a society onto a level more politically, socially, and economically equitable with another.”

EconomicsEqualityActivismAdvocacySocial ScienceCoexistenceAntiracismPolitical TheoryLeadership TheoryDay Of Service
Book:Splendid Literarium: A Treasury of Stories, Aphorisms, Poems, and Essays
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“Going high is work—often hard, often tedious, often inconvenient, and often bruising. You will need to disregard the haters and the doubters. You will need to build some walls between yourself and those who would prefer to see you fail. And you will need to keep working when others around you may have grown tired or cynical and given up.”

Activism
Book:The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times
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“Your grandmother and I (and many others) would have had to be more extreme people than we were, during that critical period, to have done whatever it was we should have been doing. And our lives had not prepared us for extremity, to mobilize or to be as focussed and energized as I can see, in retrospect, we would have needed to be. We were not prepared to drop everything in defense of a system that was, to us, like oxygen: used constantly, never noted. We were spoiled, I think I am trying to say. As were those on the other side: willing to tear it all down because they had been so thoroughly nourished by the vacuous plenty in which we all lived, a bountiful condition that allowed people to thrive and opine and swagger around like kings and queens while remaining ignorant of their own history. What would you have had me do? What would you have done?”

ActionHistoryDemocracyActivismGrandparentsMobilization
Book:Liberation Day
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“Protesting problems doesn’t really bring solutions. It just brings more problems. We reap what we sow. If we want to reap happiness, we must sow happiness. And that happiness inspires, strengthens others and builds bridges. If we want solutions, we have to think about solutions and be detached from the problem. Otherwise, [if we focus on the problem] we take the problem with us, [keep it active,] and poison the future. If we want to reap love, we must love. With no ifs and buts. And, we need to do it OURSELVES instead of asking others to do it. This is freedom. This is empowerment. This is our own solution from the problem, from our sorrow, frrom our pain. And the more people detach themselves from the unwanted, and walk the path of love, and [focus on] the joy of the wanted, the more solutions we achieve for the world.”

ActivismProtestActivistManifestingStop ComplainingProtestsFocus On PositiveFocus On SuccessProtestingPower Of Focus
Author:Elke Heinrich
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“Negroes have proceeded from a premise that equality means what it says, and they have taken white Americans at their word when they talked of it as an objective. But most whites in America in 1967, including many persons of goodwill, proceed from a premise that equality is a loose expression for improvement. White America is not even psychologically organized to close the gap—essentially it seeks only to make it less painful and less obvious but in most respects to retain it. Most of the abrasions between Negroes and white liberals arise from this fact. White America is uneasy with injustice and for ten years it believed it was righting wrongs. The struggles were often bravely fought by fine people. The conscience of man flamed high in hours of peril. The days can never be forgotten when the brutalities at Selma caused thousands all over the land to rush to our side, heedless of danger and of differences in race, class and religion. After the march to Montgomery, there was a delay at the airport and several thousand demonstrators waited more than five hours, crowding together on the seats, the floors and the stairways of the terminal building. As I stood with them and saw white and Negro, nuns and priests, ministers and rabbis, labor organizers, lawyers, doctors, housemaids and shopworkers brimming with vitality and enjoying a rare comradeship, I knew I was seeing a microcosm of the mankind of the future in this moment of luminous and genuine brotherhood. But these were the best of America, not all of America. Elsewhere the commitment was shallower. Conscience burned only dimly, and when atrocious behavior was curbed, the spirit settled easily into well-padded pockets of complacency. Justice at the deepest level had but few stalwart champions. A good many observers have remarked that if equality could come at once the Negro would not be ready for it. I submit that the white American is even more unprepared.”

JusticeRaceInjusticeEqualityActivismAfrican AmericansBlacksRace RelationsWhitesActivists
Book:Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?
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“A final victory is an accumulation of many short-term encounters. To lightly dismiss a success because it does not usher in a complete order of justice is to fail to comprehend the process of achieving full victory. It underestimates the value of confrontation and dissolves the confidence born of a partial victory by which new efforts are powered.”

ChangeJusticeVictoryActivismLong Term GoalsShort Term Goals
Book:Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?
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“He understood that each individual group’s liberation was inextricably linked to the other—that justice and liberation could only be had if we all stand together and fight for the rights and liberties of the next individual or community. - Talila A. Lewis "For Ki'tay D. Davidson, Who LovesUs”

RightsActivismDisabilityAdvocacy
Book:Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-first Century
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“When it comes to wanting to make a difference in the world, I find that it can also be useful to break down those gigantic, all-or-nothing goals into their component parts. This way, you are less likely to get overwhelmed or exhausted, or crash into feelings of futility. None of this is defeat. What becomes defeating is when great becomes the enemy of good—when we get so caught up in the hugeness of everything that we stall out before we’ve even started, when the problems appear so big that we give up on taking the smaller steps, managing what is actually in our control.”

ActivismPersistence
Book:The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times
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“When our country was erupting in protests and marches, asking for the end of injustice against African American men and women, I was somewhat chastised by many of my followers for not speaking out against systemic racism. That was the first time it really occurred to me that I had a voice on this new platform. I had a strong voice. A voice that people wanted to hear...There is an old Southern expression: "I don't got a dog in that fight." But I immediately realized that was never going to be the case when it comes to standing up to racial injustice. We all "got a dog in that fight.”

HumorActivismLgbtq
Book:How Y'all Doing?: Misadventures and Mischief from a Life Well Lived
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“Even those too lazy to vote feel it their birthright to blast our elected representatives from every direction. We complain bitterly when we do not get all we want as if it were possible to have more services with lower taxes, broader health care coverage with no federal involvement, a cleaner environment without regulations, security from terrorists with no infringement on privacy, and cheaper consumer goods made locally by workers with higher wages. In short, we crave all the benefits of change without the costs. When we are disappointed, our response is to retreat into cynicism, then start thinking about whether there might be a quicker, easier, and less democratic way to satisfy our wants.”

GovernmentResponsibilityDemocracyActivismCitizenshipCosts
Book:Fascism: A Warning
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“Some may view this book and its title as alarmist. Good. We should be awake to the assault on democratic values that has gathered strength in many countries abroad and that is dividing America at home. The temptation is powerful to close our eyes and wait for the worst to pass, but history tells us that for freedom to survive, it must be defended, and that if lies are to stop, they must be exposed.”

AmericaDemocracyLiesActivismDivisionFascismFalsehoodsDemocratic Values
Book:Fascism: A Warning
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“The aggregation of LGBTQ groups offers a response to when small numbers is used as an excuse for an action. however, if research is conducted into the experiences of LGBTQ people, and the number of cases is smaller than anticipated, organizations might also use data to Halt initiatives or cut funding. small numbers therefore presents multiple dangers for the analysis of data about LGBTQ people.”

ActivismDataLgbtq
Book:Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action
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“Gilborn et al. have described how the provision of too few ethnic categories [too much lumping] produces meaningless results but the provision of too many categories [too much splitting] can be almost as bad. … [with too few people in each category] the school reported no significant difference in attainment between ethnic groups.”

ActivismData
Book:Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action
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“What is your end goal? The collection and analysis of gender, sex and sexuality data is not an objective in itself, nor is the ambition to gather ‘good data’ or fix the numbers. While paying attention to the potential for methods to misrepresent or exclude, such as strategic essentialism, ensure that data about LGBTQ people is ultimately used to construct a social world that values and improves LGBTQ lives.”

ActivismDataLgbtqData Analysis
Book:Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action
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“Do your methods present an authentic account of LGBTQ lives? Rather than adopt methods that promise a tidy dataset, recognize that data about identity characteristics is leaky, pluralistic and can change over time. A queer approach involves the use of innovative collection and analysis methods, such as multiple response options and the provision of open-text boxes, to produce a more authentic reflection of lives and experiences.”

ActivismDataLgbtqData Analysis
Book:Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action
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“Who makes decisions about data that impact LGBTQ people? Decisions that disproportionately affect LGBTQ communities should be made by LGBTQ people. Where this is not practical, or there is a risk of overburdening a small number of people, decision-makers need queer data competence and the ability to recuse themselves when deliberations stretch beyond their capabilities. Use these instances to make space for people with knowledge and experience of the issues under discussion.”

ActivismDataLgbtqData Analysis
Book:Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action
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“Does your project create more good than harm? And for whom? Assess what your project intends to achieve and its potential to cause harm; only continue when the potential benefits outweigh the potential dangers. Disaggregate the differential impacts among LGBTQ people to ensure that the project does not only benefit the least marginalized individuals, for whom sexual orientation is the only characteristics that excludes them from full inclusion.”

ActivismDataLgbtqData Analysis
Book:Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action
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“I would encourage everybody listening to involve themselves in public life and politics to some extent. You know, democracy doesn't just function by itself. It needs people to make it work. And so whether that means working in the polls, whether that means joining a party, whether that means running for a local office, whether that means helping somebody else run for local office, think of politics as something that you can be in and you can be part of and you can play a role in because that's actually what will determine the outcome.”

PoliticsDemocracyImpactActivismPublic LifeRunning For Office
Author:Anne Applebaum
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“It is easy to fight power, when you have none, when you feel like the victim. The real battle begins when you start to have a taste of power. It takes an impossible character to stand by their principles till their last breath, rejecting the pressure of oppression, as well as the convenience of power.”

ActivismOppressionDictatorshipPolitical ScienceAuthoritarianismPower CorruptsPolitical PsychologyPoliticians And PoliticsPolitical RevolutionFight The System
Book:Mucize Misafir Merhaba: The Peace Testament
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“Sonnet of Norms It is not patriarchal to hold the door for a lady, It is not cowardly to leave your seat to the elderly. But it is barbaric to harass a breastfeeding mother, And prehistoric to force a woman carry a pregnancy. There are norms that nourish the societal fabric, Then there are norms out of touch with age and times. Beyond both freedom and obedience as a whole being, You ought to realize where and how to draw the lines. The problem is that most do not know when to rebel, They rebel out of boredom to seek adventure not justice. They commit reckless vandalism in the name of activism, And feel proud while committing the most heinous deeds. Norms require careful scrutiny, not headless rebellion. Hence, quite often rebels become the new face of oppression.”

Human RightsFeministActivismCivil RightsAccountabilitySocial StudiesSocial NormsHumanist PoemSocial Justice PoemPolitical Poetry
Book:Esperanza Impossible: 100 Sonnets of Ethics, Engineering & Existence
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“Fever is not actually a sign of sickness, it is a sign that your body is fighting infection. Likewise, revolution is not a sign of disorder, it is a sign that the society is fighting the infection of inhumanity.”

Social JusticeInjusticeActivismOppressionPolitical ScienceSocial StudiesHumanitarian CrisisHuman Rights ViolationSocial RevolutionPeaceful Protest
Book:Mucize Misafir Merhaba: The Peace Testament
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“The book follows the social model of disability, a tool developed by disabled people as a guide for social action. It draws a distinction between impairment and disability. Disability consists of the barriers that a person with impairment experiences as a result of the way in which society is organised that excludes or devalues them. According to this analysis, preferred terminology in Britain is to describe people as disabled - because they are disabled by society - not people with disabilities, which makes no sense from a social model perspective.”

ActivismDisabilityImpairment
Book:The War on Disabled People: Capitalism, Welfare and the Making of a Human Catastrophe
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“The Truth is South Africa is a better country than most African countries. With a lot of gold, diamond, minerals, opportunities, human rights and freedom. But the problem is that most of our African brothers and sisters. They come to South Africa, running away from their country so that their lives can be changed for the better. But when they get here. They are now changing South Africa to be what they had left at home. They don’t respect the law, authority, and people here. Taking advantage of people and the government and doing whatever they want. Bringing all the bad things from their country here. They only see opportunities of doing wrong things. We are becoming ONE Africa. But not good Africa. We are becoming the poor, violent, genocide, corrupt, femicide, terrifying, fighting, racist, xenophobic, afrophobic, raping, molesting, murdering, kidnapping, unemployed, GBD Gender Based Violent, dangerous not safe Africa.”

Human RightsCorruptionActivismQuotes And PhilosophyPolitics Or PoliticiansGbvImmigration Or ForeignersGovernment Or CitizensAfrica Or One AfricaAfrican Or History
Author:De philosopher DJ Kyos
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“We are all Expressionists part of the time. Sometimes we just want to scream loudly at injustice, or to stand up and be counted. These are noble motives, but any serious revolutionist must often deprive himself of the pleasures of self-expression. He must judge his actions by their ultimate effects on institutions.”

RevolutionInjusticeActivism
Book:Models of My Life: The Remarkable Autobiography of the Nobel Prize Winning Social Scientist and Father of Artificial Intelligence
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“Vandalism Ain't Activism (The Sonnet) Systemic change is a slow and tedious process, It doesn't happen overnight by vandalizing society. If vandalism and activism were one and the same, Our jungly ancestors would've been the ideal humanity. Change habits, change yourself, submit to no primitivity, The change that you dream of, be the epitome of that change. Obstructing traffic and refusing to let an ambulance pass, You're not fighting any crisis, but being a crisis yourself. Go fly a kite, it is good for the mind as well as body, Get lessons on common sense before appointing yourself king. The line between activism and terrorism is so thin that, Often many go astray without having the slightest inkling. I repeat, systemic change is a slow and tedious process. The more you rush with recklessness, the more you digress.”

RevolutionTerrorismActivismRebellionSocial ScienceHuman Rights ViolationVandalismSystemic ChangePolitical PoetryClimate Activist
Book:Esperanza Impossible: 100 Sonnets of Ethics, Engineering & Existence
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“I vividly recall one of my best friends in university (who was raped) telling me that she was incredibly disgusted by the thought of having a romantic relationship ever again. Rape survivors have complex PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). In fact, it has been medically proven that their trauma surpasses that of soldiers in intense war zones. My friend did not just have fear of men. She had fear of women. She became afraid of everyone. I was the only person she confided in because her mother did not have a close relationship with her. The level of isolation she felt was staggering. It’s heartbreaking beyond comprehension.”

FeminismHuman RightsActivismActivistWomen S RightsRapeActivism Quotes
Book:The News Presents Many Views
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“special dedication and tribute goes out to Jyoti Singh. She was brutally beaten, gang-raped, tortured, and killed. All of this occurred while Ms. Singh was traveling with her male friend on a bus. Jyoti had an iron rod rammed into her vagina. Her intestines were pulled out of her body and she was thrown off of a moving bus. The incident occurred in Munirka (a neighborhood in South West Delhi, India) on December 16, 2012. Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta, Akshay Thakur, Ram Singh (the bus driver), and Mohammed Afroz were convicted. The “juvenile”, Mohammed Afroz, was the rapist who shoved an iron rod inside of her vagina. Since he was 17 years old and six months old at the time of the crime, he was NOT TRIED AS AN ADULT. He was given a maximum sentence of three years’ imprisonment in a “reform facility” due to the Juvenile Justice Act. He is now a cook at a hotel in South India. Why does he get to be pampered while Jyoti suffered such a cruel fate?”

FeminismIndiaHuman RightsActivism
Book:The News Presents Many Views
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“A special dedication and tribute goes out to Jyoti Singh. She was brutally beaten, gang-raped, tortured, and killed. All of this occurred while Ms. Singh was traveling with her male friend on a bus. Jyoti had an iron rod rammed into her vagina. Her intestines were pulled out of her body and she was thrown off of a moving bus. The incident occurred in Munirka (a neighborhood in South West Delhi, India) on December 16, 2012. Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta, Akshay Thakur, Ram Singh (the bus driver), and Mohammed Afroz were convicted. The “juvenile”, Mohammed Afroz, was the rapist who shoved an iron rod inside of her vagina. Since he was 17 years old and six months old at the time of the crime, he was NOT TRIED AS AN ADULT. He was given a maximum sentence of three years’ imprisonment in a “reform facility” due to the Juvenile Justice Act. He is now a cook at a hotel in South India. Why does he get to be pampered while Jyoti suffered such a cruel fate?”

FeminismIndiaHuman RightsActivism
Book:The News Presents Many Views
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