ACTIVIST
QUOTES
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The positive value of anger is not limited to
peace activists, but is relevant to all who work
for social change. It may be argued that anger
is the personal fuel in the social motor that
resolves the institutional contradictions that
arise in the course of history. As such. it applies
to the activists who rid the world of slavery,
and who moved the political economic systems from
feudalism to capitalism and from capitalism to
socialism, and who are fighting today to rid the
world of racism and sexism.
-- David
Adams
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Conflicts
are fueled by the tendency of the powerful to
exploit the power and the anger and frustration
of the powerless, which turns into violence. International
Solidarity Movement activists are attempting to
confront the exploitation of power and to bring
back hope to the powerless.
-- Ghassan
Andoni
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The focus of activists of color and their constituents
reflects their life experiences of social, economic,
and political disenfranchisement.
-- Robert
Bullard
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"For
most of recorded history, parental violence
against children and men's violence against
wives was explicitly or implicitly condoned.
Those who had the power to prevent and/or punish
this violence through religion, law, or custom,
openly or tacitly approved it. …..The reason
violence against women and children is finally
out in the open is that activists have brought
it to global attention."
-- Riane
Eisler
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"The UN Declaration of Human Rights laid
down what any person might reasonably expect,
yet there are remarkably few people who enjoy
these rights. With cameras in the hands of activists
and meaningful distribution of those images, we
will witness what really goes on in this world
and hopefully want to change it." -- Peter
Gabriel
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"Never be discouraged from being an activist because
people tell you that you'll not succeed. You have
already succeeded if you're out there representing
truth or justice or compassion or fairness or
love."
-- Doris
Haddock (Granny D)
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Being
a humanitarian, supporting animal rights activists,
human rights activists, it's all the same. --
Daryl
Hannah
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moment is an organizing opportunity, every person
a potential activist, every minute a chance to change
the world.-- Dolores
Huerta |
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The Sister Fund supports spiritual women and their
organizations, both grassroots activists for justice,
and national and international social change agents.
-- Helen
LaKelly Hunt
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“The
white, the Hispanic, the black, the Arab, the Jew,
the woman, the Native American, the small farmer,
the businessperson, the environmentalist, the peace
activist, the young, the old, the lesbian, the gay
and the disabled make up the American quilt.”
-- Jesse
Jackson |
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There
can be no peace without justice and respect for
human rights. I passionately believe in the power
of human rights as a set of global values to bring
our fractured and divided world together. Around
the world human rights activists are giving hope
to millions of people - women, indigenous people,
the poor and the marginalised - in their struggle
for equality and dignity.
-- Irene
Khan
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“Let's
concede that we have decided to let our children
grow up in two separate nations, and lead two
separate kinds of lives. If, on the other hand,
we have the courage to rise to this challenge
to name what's happening within our inner-city
schools, then we also need the courage to be activist
and go out and fight like hell to change it.”
-- Jonathan
Kozol
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As
citizen-activists the world over merge, they can
become an irresistible force to create peace and
protect the planet. From here will come a new
movement to abolish nuclear weapons and all weapons
of mass destruction. From here will come the demand
for sustainable communities, for new systems of
energy, transportation and commerce. From here
comes the future rushing in on us. How does one
acquire the capacity for active citizenship? The
opportunities exist every day...Active citizenship
begins with an envisioning of the desired outcome
and a conscious application of spiritual principles.
--
Dennis
Kucinich
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Active
citizenship begins with an envisioning of the desired
outcome
and a conscious application of spiritual principles.
--
Dennis Kucinich
The
activist is not the man who says the river is dirty.
The activist is the man who cleans up the river.
~ Ross Perot
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I
think I'm an actor because I have very strong
imagination and empathy. I never studied acting,
but those two qualities are exactly the qualities
that make for an activist.
-- Susan
Sarandon
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Lovers of freedom, lovers of social justice, disarmers,
peacekeepers, civil disobeyers, democrats, civil-rights
activists, and defenders of the environment are
legions in a single multiform cause, and they will
gain strength by knowing it, taking encouragement
from it, and when appropriate and opportune, pooling
their efforts.
-- Jonathan
Schell |
I
am still a journeyman actor and a peace and justice
activist. I'm a pilgrim trying to win my freedom
and serve as best I can in the time I have, with
this gift I've been given.
-- Martin
Sheen |
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As
it has over the decades, the union movement stands
for the fundamental moral values that make America
strong: quality education for our children, affordable
health care for every person—not just some—an end
to poverty, secure pensions and wages that enable
families to sustain the middle-class life that has
fueled this nation’s prosperity and strength. Union
members and other working family activists don’t
just vote our moral values—we live them. We fight
for them, day in, day out. Our commitment to economic
and social justice propels us and everything we
do.
-- John Sweeney |
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I
want to praise activists through the years. I
praise those of the past as well, to have them
honored.
-- Studs
Terkel
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"More
and more states are realizing the deficit in possessing
nuclear weapons and that nuclear weapons do not
promote economic development in most of the undeveloped
states. These countries are ready to back and support
any initiative that will bring the end of nuclear
weapons in the entire world. They know that the
abolition of nuclear weapons in Europe, the US and
the entire world will only bring help and encouragement
to global economic activities, including globalization.
So anti-nuclear activists should work in this new
field to use economic reasons and alliances to defeat
nuclear weapons. This could be done especially at
economic summits like the G-8 and WTO meetings where
decisions or declarations could be issued to abolish
nuclear weapons. Rather than fighting the WTO like
anarchist environmentalists, we can recreate the
WTO and G-8 to begin working toward zero nuclear
weapons."
-- Mordechai Vanunu |
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