Best Direct Action Quotes | Short & Famous Sayings

“In reality, the way to topple a dictator is found within ourselves.”

Revolution Empowerment Social Justice Direct Action Collective Action Grassroots Organizing Power Structures Political Resistance Anti Authoritarianism Civic Courage

Book:How to Dismantle a Dictatorship

Source: How to Dismantle a Dictatorship

“Listen, direct action—direct action is the third best feeling in the world.” “What’s the second?” “Peeling off a wet swimsuit.”

Humor Action Lists Swimming Direct Action Best Feeling

Book:The Great Believers

Source: The Great Believers

“Connell doesn't read the campus papers much, but he has still managed to hear about the debating society inviting a neo-Nazi to give a speech. It's all over social media. There was even an article in The Irish Times. Connell hasn't commented on any of the Facebook threads, but has liked several comments calling for the invite to be rescinded, which is probably the most strident political action he has ever taken in his life.”

Action Protest Activist Direct Action

Book:Normal People

Source: Normal People

“I am making a clear and strong stand against the abuse and misuse of terrorism laws to malign direct action protest.”

Terrorism Protest Civil Disobedience Abuse Of Power Direct Action Silencing Dissent Non Violent Protest Abuse Of Public Authority Palestinian Action

Author:Charlotte Church

“The oppressed class, although the ideology of the oppressing class is imposed upon it, nevertheless elaborates religious, ethical and political ideas corresponding to its condition of life; vague and secret at first, they gain in precision and force in proportion as the oppressed class takes definite form and acquires the consciousness of its social utility and of its strength; and the hour of its emancipation is near when its conception of nature and of society opposes itself openly and boldly to that of the ruling class.”

Marxism Proletariat Bourgeoisie Class Struggle Direct Action Cultural Hegemony

Book:The Right To Be Lazy

Source: The Right To Be Lazy

“Anymal liberationists who release fox or chinchillas from fur farms, free veal calves from chains in abysmal crates, destroy transport trucks that haul terrified turkeys and sheep to their premature deaths, burn slaughterhouses that dismember pigs and chickens, or destroy computers in research facilities are not dangerous terrorists. Anymal liberationists simply believe that life is precious, and that an industry designed to manipulate and destroy life for the sake of profits is ethically and spiritually unacceptable.”

Veganism Animal Liberation Direct Action Anymals Animals And Religion Religion And Animals Religion And Ethics Comparative Religions

Book:Animals and World Religions

Source: Animals and World Religions

“Anymal liberationists do not target life—they target industries (and profits) that flourish at the expense of life—and they attempt to rescue the exploited. Terrorists kill randomly; anymal liberationists have never killed anyone. Anymal liberationists exemplify what it is to live into the core teachings of every major religion concerning rightful relations between human beings and anymals.”

Veganism Animal Liberation Terrorists Direct Action Anymals Human Animal Relationships Animals And Religion Religion And Animals Religion And Ethics Comparative Religions

Book:Animals and World Religions

Source: Animals and World Religions

“Dismantling a dictatorship is not easy, but it is a lot easier than holding one together.”

Social Justice Direct Action Grassroots Organizing Power Structures Political Resistance Activism And Protest Movements Dictatorship And Tyranny Propaganda And Reality Control Revolution And Uprising

Book:How to Dismantle a Dictatorship

Source: How to Dismantle a Dictatorship

“[H]istory shows us that when people stand up to injustice, those in power often reach for the same old playbook: label dissent as dangerous, criminalise protest, and try to silence movements for change by branding them as extremists or terrorists.”

Injustice Terrorism Protest Direct Action Extremists Silencing Dissent Nonviolent Protest

Author:Charlotte Church

“If you or I were to see somebody in the street beating a dog, and we said “please don’t beat your dog,” but he carried on beating the dog, we would have to use some force—which could be defined as violence—to stop that from happening. Now would that be wrong? I’d say of course it wouldn’t. And I don’t see the difference, in moral terms, between someone beating their dog in the street and somebody torturing an animal in a laboratory. ~ Ronnie Lee”

Morality Activism Animal Rights Consistency Animal Abuse Speciesism Direct Action

Book:The Animals' Freedom Fighter: A Biography of Ronnie Lee, Founder of the Animal Liberation Front

Source: The Animals' Freedom Fighter: A Biography of Ronnie Lee, Founder of the Animal Liberation Front

“You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.”

Drama Activism Negotiation African Americans Blacks Confrontation Direct Action Demonstrations

Book:Why We Can't Wait

Source: Why We Can't Wait

“I don’t think we’re as far apart as you say. I mean, when the shit comes down, we’ll both be on the same side of the barricades.’ ‘The shit is already down.’ ‘I mean when people are dying in the streets.’ ‘Kate, people are dying in the streets. It’s not the movies, where the world divides into freedom fighters and brownshirts. Here in New York City there are people who take action and people who do nothing. Doing nothing is a position. It means giving approval without having actively to say so.”

Privilege Activism Direct Action

Book:People in Trouble

Source: People in Trouble

“When the democratic deficit is so enormous, people are left with very little option but to take peaceful, non-violent direct action.”

People Littles Action Left Direct Democratic Violent Enormous Peaceful Deficit Non Violent Direct Action

Author:Caroline Lucas

“Men and women ... do you not realize that the State is the worst enemy you have? It is a machine that crushes you in order to sustain the ruling class, your masters. Like naïve children you put your trust in your political leaders. You make it possible for them to creep into your confidence, only to have them betray you to the first bidder. But even where there is no direct betrayal, the labour politicians make common cause with your enemies to keep you in leash, to prevent your direct action. The State is the pillar of capitalism, and it is ridiculous to expect any redress from it.”

“Direct action is the logical, consistent method of Anarchism.”

Action Direct Method Consistent Logical Anarchism Direct Action

Book:Anarchism and Other Essays

Source: Anarchism and Other Essays

“What I say is, that the real non-resistants can believe in direct action only, never in political action. For the basis of all political action is coercion; even when the State does good things, it finally rests on a club, a gun, or a prison, for its power to carry them through.”

Believe Doe Real States Action Political Gun Direct Bases Prison Good Things Clubs Coercion Political Action Direct Action

Book:Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius

Source: Exquisite Rebel: The Essays of Voltairine de Cleyre -- Anarchist, Feminist, Genius

“It is our experience that the nation doesn't move around questions of genuine equality for the poor and for black people until it is confronted massively, dramatically in terms of direct action.”

People Action Moving Nations Black Term Poor Direct Genuine Black People Direct Action

Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.

“When that devil's bullet lodged itself inside the body of Martin Luther King, he had already begun an astonishing mobilization of poor, Black, white, latino Americans who had nothing to lose. They would challenge our government to eliminate exploitative, merciless, and war-mongering policies, nationwide, or else "tie up the country" through "means of civil disobedience." Dr. King intended to organize those legions into "coercive direct actions" that would make of Babylon a dysfunctional behemoth begging for relief. Is it any wonder he was killed?”

“In no way have we contemplated the intervention of the army in tasks that belong to police at the different levels of government. What is contemplated .. is support from the army in these tasks but not in direct actions that correspond to municipal, state and federal police.”

Way Different States Government Action Levels Support Tasks Direct Army Police Contemplation Intervention Different Levels Direct Action

Author:Ruben Aguilar

“There is one central characteristic of anarchism on the matter of means, and that central principle is a principle of direct action - of not going through the forms that the society offers you, of representative government, of voting, of legislation, but directly taking power.”

Mean Matter Government Action Form Principles Offers Direct Characteristics Voting Representatives Legislation Anarchism Direct Action Representative Government

Author:Howard Zinn

“Strike is always a form of direct action. With the strike, too, you are not asking government to make things easier for you by passing legislation, you are taking a direct action against the employer.”

Government Action Form Easier Direct Asking Strikes Passing Passings Legislation Employers Direct Action

Author:Howard Zinn

“The idea of direct action against the evil that you want to overcome is a kind of common denominator for anarchist ideas and anarchist movements. I think one of the most important principles of anarchism is that you cannot separate means and ends. Anarchism requires means and ends to be in line with one another. I think this is in fact one of the distinguishing characteristics of anarchism.”

Thinking Want Kind Mean Important Ideas Ends Facts Action Evil Lines Common Principles Movement Direct Overcoming Characteristics Anarchism Anarchist Common Denominator Direct Action

Author:Howard Zinn

“A grand and almost untrodden field of inquiry will be opened, on the causes and laws of variation, on correlation of growth, on the effects of use and disuse, on the direct actions of external conditions, and so forth.”

Use Action Law Causes Growth Conditions Effects Fields Direct Inquiry Variation Correlation Direct Action

Book:The Annotated Origin: A Facsimile of the First Edition of On the Origin of Species

Source: The Annotated Origin: A Facsimile of the First Edition of On the Origin of Species

“For the child whose impulsiveness is indulged, who retains his primitive-discharge mechanisms, is not only an ill-behaved child but a child whose intellectual development is slowed down. No matter how well he is endowed intellectually, if direct action and immediate gratification are the guiding principles of his behavior, there will be less incentive to develop the higher mental processes, to reason, to employ the imagination creatively. . . .”

Source: The Magic Years: Understanding and Handling the Problems of Early Childhood

“I believe it's time for direct action on climate change, standing together as ordinary Australians to take control of our shared future.”

Believe Action Together I Believe Change Ordinary Standing Direct Climate Climate Change Take Control Direct Action Standing Together

Author:David Pocock

“Each of us contributes our own piece to the whole, each in our own way, each in our own time with the gifts and talents that are ours. You ask about possible vehicles for change: question, stand, speak, act. Engage in unruly behavior. Disturb the status quo. Take direct action. Commit civil disobedience. Make art. Build community. Dance. Sing. Farm. Cook. Create something beautiful and then give it away. Find your own monkey wrench and use it with the force of love. Sharpen your pencil. Vote.”

“Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with an its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.”

Humans Long Light Action Natural Opinion Alive Air Conscience Direct Medicine Injustice Creator Surface Tension Covered Exposed Exposure Ugliness Direct Action Covered Up

Book:Why We Can't Wait

Source: Why We Can't Wait

“For some of the large indignities of life, the best remedy is direct action. For the small indignities, the best remedy is a Charlie Chaplin movie. The hard part is knowing the difference.”

Hard Action Differences Knowing Direct Remedy Charlie Indignity Chaplin Direct Action

Book:Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion

Source: Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion

“Education without direction is a one-sided social value. Direct action without education is a meaningless expression of pure energy.”

Action Values Energy Social Expression Pure Direct Meaningless One Sided Direct Action Social Values

Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Non-violent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored... I am not afraid of the word tension. I have earnestly worked and preached against violent tension, and there is a type of constructive tension that is necessary for growth.”

Action Growth Community Creative Issues Type Direct Crisis Violent Tension Not Afraid Ignored Constructive Non Violent Direct Action Creative Tension

Book:The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Source: The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:

“Marches work, rallies work, civil disobedience works, direct action works, voting works, writing letters works, speaking to churches and schools works, rioting works.”

Writing Action School Church Direct Letters Voting March Disobedience Civil Disobedience Direct Action Rioting School Work

Author:Cleve Jones

“We are a representative democracy. But how did we get there? We got there through direct action. And that's enshrined in our Constitution and in our values.”

Action Values Democracy Direct Constitution Representatives Direct Action

Author:Edward Snowden

“If the government or the parties won't address our needs, we will. It's about direct action, even civil disobedience.”

Ifs Needs Government Action Party Direct Addresses Disobedience Civil Disobedience Direct Action

Author:Edward Snowden

“Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

“We who in engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive.”

Action Alive Direct Creator Surface Tension Protest Disobedience Civil Disobedience Direct Action

Book:Why We Can't Wait

Source: Why We Can't Wait

“Yet what you need is not marches, demonstrations, rallies or wide associations, all of them are important. What you need is direct action. The sooner people understand that, the sooner we'll begin to change things.”

People Needs Important Action Direct Wide March Association Demonstration Direct Action

Author:Arthur Scargill

“Totalitarianism extends to whatever touches it...psychological technique, as it operates in the army or in a great industrial plant, entails a direct action on the family. It involves a psychological adaptation of family life to military or industrial methods, supervision of family life, and training family life for military or industrial service. Technique can leave nothing untouched in a civilization. Everything is its concern. Technique, which is destroying all other civilizations, is more than a simple mechanism: it's a whole civilization in itself.”

“I have examined the death penalty under each of its two aspects: as a direct action, and as an indirect one. What does it come down to? Nothing but something horrible and useless, nothing but a way of shedding blood that is called a crime when an individual commits it, but is sadly called "justice" when society brings it about. Make no mistake, you lawmakers and judges, in the eyes of God as in those of conscience, what is a crime when individuals do it is no less an offense when society commits the deed.”

“Voting is easy and marginally useful, but it is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct action by concerned citizens.”

Action Easy Poor Democracy Citizens Concerned Direct Voting Thrive Substitutes Direct Action

Book:The Historic Unfulfilled Promise

Source: The Historic Unfulfilled Promise

“Anarchism...stands for direct action, the open defiance of, and resistance to, all laws and restrictions, economic, social, and moral.”

Action Law Social Moral Economic Direct Resistance Anarchy Restriction Anarchism Defiance Direct Action

Author:Emma Goldman

“Change from below, the formulation of demands from the populace to end unacceptable injustice, supported by direct action, has played a far larger part in shaping British democracy than most constitutional lawyers, political commentators, historians or statesmen have ever cared to admit. Direct action in a democratic society is fundamentally an educational exercise.”

Ends Action Political Democracy Exercise Demand Direct Democratic Injustice Educational British Lawyer Historian Statesmen Commentators Democratic Society Direct Action

Author:Tony Benn

“The great social justice changes in our country have happened when people came together, organized, and took direct action. It is this right that sustains and nurtures our democracy today. The civil rights movement, the labor movement, the women's movement, and the equality movement for our LGBT brothers and sisters are all manifestations of these rights.”

“Cryptography is the ultimate form of non-violent direct action.”

Action Form Direct Ultimate Violent Non Violent Direct Action Cryptography

Author:Julian Assange

“Direct action is, ultimately, the defiant insistence on acting as if one is already free.”

Ifs Action Acting Direct Insistence Direct Action Acting As If

Author:David Graeber

“We had no alternative except that of preparing for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and national community.”

Inspirational Mean Body Action Community Cases Conscience Direct Locals Alternatives Preparing Direct Action National Community

Book:Why We Can't Wait

Source: Why We Can't Wait

“We decided to set our direct-action program around the Easter season, realizing that, with exception of Christmas, this was the largest shopping period of the year. Knowing that a strong economic withdrawal program would be the by-product of direct action.”

Source: The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:

“Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has consistently refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue.”

Inspirational Action Community Creative Issues Direct Crisis Tension Consistently Direct Action Creative Tension

Book:The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Source: The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:

“For years now I have heard the word "wait." It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. This "wait" has almost always meant "never."”

Inspirational Years Waiting Heard Ears Rings Familiarity Piercings Direct Action Civil Right Movement Jurists Justice Denied

Book:The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Source: The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:

“The purpose of direct action is to create a situation so crisis-packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.”

Inspirational Action Purpose Situation Doors Direct Crisis Negotiation Direct Action Creative Tension

Book:The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Source: The Essential Martin Luther King, Jr.:

“Most of the harm in the world is done by good people, and not by accident, lapse, or omission. It is the result of their deliberate actions, long persevered in, which they hold to be motivated by high ideals toward virtuous ends... ...when millions are slaughtered, when torture is practiced, starvation enforced, oppression made a policy, as at present over a large part of the world, and as it has often been in the past, it must be at the behest of very many good people, and even by their direct action, for what they consider a worthy object.”

Source: God of the Machine