Quotes on Activism

Activism that challenges the status quo, that attacks deeply rooted problems, is not for the faint of heart.

While acting is what I do for a living, activism is what I do to stay alive.

Every day I get better at knowing that it is not a choice to be an activist; rather, it is the only way to hold on to the better parts of my human self. It is the only way I can live and laugh without guilt.

I'm haunted by the thought of what Ray Anderson calls 'tomorrow's child,' asking why we didn't do something on our watch to save sharks and bluefin tuna and squids and coral reefs and the living ocean while there still was time. Well, now is that time.

Publicity, discussion, and agitation are necessary to accomplish any work of lasting benefit.

Political activism is not failing because people are too busy watching cat videos online, but because of a fundamental collapse of citizen leverage on institutions of power like governments and corporations.

We ought to approach this challenge [of global warming] with a sense of profound joy and gratitude: that we are the generation about which, a thousand years from now, philharmonic orchestras and poets and singers will celebrate by saying, they were the ones that found it within themselves to solve this crisis and lay the basis for a bright and optimistic human future.

I've been involved in social activism my entire life, and I would argue that many people involved in social activist movements have done very little work on themselves.

Imagine all the people Sharing all the world.

Sacred Activism is the fusion of the mystic's passion for God with the activist's passion for justice, creating a third fire, which is the burning sacred heart that longs to help, preserve, and nurture every living thing.

Environmental justice [means that] no community should be saddled with more environmental burdens and less environmental benefits than any other.

If the society today allows wrongs to go unchallenged, the impression is created that those wrongs have the approval of the majority.

I do try to separate my personal activism - showing up at a demonstration or something - from what I write.

Activism is something that no one can fake. You get angry. You cry. But you never throw in your towel, because that anger is what is propelling you to further action.

As you know, when Star Trek was canceled after the second season, it was the activism of the fans that revived it for a third season.

It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.

Joy doesn't betray but sustains activism. And when you face a politics that aspires to make you fearful, alienated and isolated, joy is a fine initial act of insurrection.

When we were walking through the narrow alleys [of the Mathare Valley slums], it was literally impossible not to step in the raw sewage and the garbage alongside the little homes. But at the same time it was also impossible not to see the human vitality, the aspiration and the ambition of the people who live there.

I've always had a really developed sense of justice. As a child, I would rotate my dolls' dresses for fear that they might come alive at midnight and one of them would always have the best dress on. Whatever it was that made me worry about my dolls I suppose has paid off in my career because, really, an actor is all about empathy and imagination. And those are the cornerstones of activism.

Take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.

We have two evils to fight, capitalism and racism. We must destroy both racism and capitalism.