John McDonnell Quotes

Activism could be defined as activities engaged in by individuals to change there of others situation.

Activists set the agenda for the practitioners.

Social movements are at once the symptoms and the instruments of progress. Ignore them and statesmanship is irrelevant; fail to use them and it is weak.

I think voting is the lowest form of political action that you can do. A lot of times, it keeps people from doing stronger things.

I am not naive enough to believe that voting is the only way to bring about transformational change, just as I know that protest alone is not the sole solution to the challenges we face.

Activism, to me, I don't know if it really works. It may work for somebody else, but it does not work for me.

You know, I was a community activist, so I'm used to standing out in front of an elected official's office and protesting.

Activists are generally doers - rather than watching television and thinking about the world they will put there energies into doing something 'active' to change the (political) situation.

We are at the point where we can mobilize all of this righteous indignation into a powerful mass movement.

Rallies, marches on Washington, protests, et al. are pointless if there is no action to make them mean something.

It was clear to us that social movements and activism can only take us so far in our mission.

One doesn't have to be an activist and start a movement.

Change only takes place through action, not through meditation and prayer.

I have donated money to campaigns. And I have been known to take to the street in protest. But I am more committed to my immediate politics than general politics.

The great thing about social movements is everybody gets to be a part of them.

I've never been involved in any kind of political movement.

Traditionalists will have to master techniques of sustained activism formerly monopolized by the left.

More people, especially young people, are realising that if they want change, they've got to go about it themselves - they can't depend on a particular person, i.e. me, to do all the work. They are less easy to fool than they used to be, they now know what's going on all over the world.

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.

Activism has been very productive in our society.

Activism isn't beautiful and easy, or a bunch of people getting together and picketing; it's a lot more complicated and difficult than that.

You have to try to build support around causes. It is uniting to campaign on a single issue, and it is never just a single issue; it's always more than that.

An activist is someone who makes an effort to see problems that are not being addressed and then makes an effort to make their voice heard. Sometimes there are so many things that it's almost impossible to make your voice heard in every area, but you can sure try.

Nothing counts but pressure, pressure, more pressure, and still more pressure through broad organized aggressive mass action.

In politics, demonstration not description is the name of the game.