Gert Bastian Quotes

The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny.

Who are we to judge the people of Ecuador? We cannot condemn people when they take to the streets.

It’s very easy to protest when you have a job

Our protest was a cry for freedom and for civil rights. We had to be seen because we couldn’t be heard.

Never Tire of Protesting

I have the responsibility to tell everybody that I am not the only political prisoner in Hong Kong and that there will be more coming.

So I decided the only place I can speak to the world is from outside Israel.

The most important thing my grandfather taught me was that the most noble way to use your skills, intellect and energy is to defend the marginalized against those with the greatest power - and that the resulting animosity from those in power is a badge of honor.

I said we needed to organize women around the world to push peace.

Anybody intelligent enough to realize what America is, is not going to sit around and do nothing about it. They're going to be the same way that I am. They're going to be the same way our fans are. They're going to be pissed.

I have lectured at the U.N. and travelled widely, giving lectures on human rights and gender inequalities in universities. But this is a life I do not wish to live. I don't want to be a showcase, I want to be in a battlefield where I can stand beside the oppressed and the poor.

Until the world in some way changes, then my responsibility is to share what I know and more importantly to behave like I know about the extraordinary work and effort and blood shed for me to be able to sit here.

There's always going to be a need for activism; there's always going to be a need for you and me doing the right thing, being very Lincoln-sonian in looking out for each other.

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.

There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, you can't take part. And you've got to put your body upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop.

Who can protest and does not, is an accomplice in the act.

The oppressed will make surer and faster progress if they eschew violence and depend, as they do mainly depend in their organizing and strike activities, on their solidarity, courage, capacity for suffering and sacrifice, and on non-cooperation where injustice becomes extreme

Political or religious dissenters are the plague of every totalitarian regime.

Oppression costs the oppressor too much if the oppressed stand up and protest.

Agitate, Agitate, Agitate. But only for a good cause and in a proper manner.

If you athletes boycott the Olympics, it will be like a rock dropping in the water. The ripples and waves will be felt all over. You can be that rock. No one will die and that is the way to fight.

Not one of us will have to raise a sword. Not one gun would we need to fire. The great cannon that will be fired is our unity.

We cannot, as a people, remain mute and free.

When the prison, stake or scaffold can no longer silence the voice of the protesting minority, progress moves on a step, but not until then.

I know that we will be the sufferers if we let great wrongs occur without exerting ourselves to correct them.