“The hegemony of finance and the banks has produced the indebted. Control over information and communication networks has created the mediatized. The security regime and the generalized state of exception have constructed a figure prey to fear and yearning for protection—the securitized. And the corruption of democracy has forged a strange, depoliticized figure, the represented. These subjective figures constitute the social terrain on which—and against which—movements of resistance and rebellion must act.” StatesSocialDemocracySecurityFiguresInformationMovementStrangeCommunicationCorruptionProtectionResistanceFinanceExceptionRebellionRegimesYearningSubjectivePreyDemocracies HaveForgedTerrainHegemonyIndebtedInformation And Communication Author:Michael Hardt
“Indira Gandhi had been this very powerful, dominating, ambiguous mother figure. Ambiguous because she was tyrannical, she had imposed...she had suspended Indian democracy for a few years but she also was the woman who had defeated Pakistan in war at a time when most male politicians in India had secretly feared fighting that war, so that here in India even today Indira Gandhi is called by Indian nationalists the only man ever to have governed India.” MenYearsWarTodayMotherFightingPowerfulDemocracyFiguresPoliticianIndiaMalesIndianDefeatedPakistanVery PowerfulAmbiguousSuspendedDominating Author:Aravind Adiga
“Either we figure out how to keep corporate cash out of the political system or we lose the democracy.” PoliticalLosesDemocracyFiguresCorporateCashPolitical Systems Author:Molly Ivins
“We're just trying to figure out what being a good citizen is, what participating in a democracy is, what taking responsibility for being an American citizen in a global context means to us.” TryingMeanResponsibilityDemocracyFiguresCitizensTaking ResponsibilityParticipatingAmerican CitizensGood Citizen Author:Cecily McMillan
“The question is, how do you stop the power elite from doing as much damage to you as possible? That comes through movements. It's not our job to take power. You could argue that the most powerful political figure in April of 1968 was Martin Luther King. And we know Johnson was terrified of him. We have to accept that all of the true correctives to American democracy came through these movements that never achieved formal political power and yet frightened the political establishment enough to respond.” KnowsEnoughJobsPoliticalPowerfulAcceptingDemocracyFiguresMovementKingsArguingDamageMost PowerfulFrightenedEstablishmentElitesFormalTerrifiedLutherAprilJohnsonPolitical PowerAmerican Democracy Author:Chris Hedges
“People who thought that she was busy going around trying to stir up difficulty where there was none or less than she imagined, were quite critical of her. She was, we must never forget, a public figure. And in democracies, public figures tend to attract criticism as well as praise. The most dangerous thing would be if anybody were regarded as above criticism. And Eleanor Roosevelt is, in recent years, getting there.” PeopleIfsTryingYearsWellsWould BeForgetDemocracyDangerousFiguresCriticismDifficultyPraiseBusyCriticalNever ForgetDangerous ThingsEleanorPublic Figures Author:William A. Rusher
“I think he [Vaclav Havel] is one of the great figures of the 20th century. He is one of the people that was able to be a part of overthrowing a dictatorial system by talking to people and understanding what the elements of democracy really are and respect for each other and elevating.” PeopleThinkingAbleUnderstandingTalkingDemocracyCenturyFiguresElements20th CenturyElevating Author:Judy Woodruff