Kathleen Hanna Quotes

The great thing about 2017 is that, because of the terrible political state that we're in and that America is in, young people are so vocal at the moment about so many issues, from racism to LGBT rights to beyond. I feel like - especially when I look at my fan-base - people are so vocal about their opinions and so vocal about spreading love. That's really important, and I think it's really amazing that people are talking about that. I just want that to keep happening.

I was getting mad at the system or the politicians or the government, and then I realized someone should talk about this stuff, and I have a big, multinational global-youth platform of kids who are going to change the world. So I was like, "I should be doing that. I should be showing this to people. That's my job." And since that time, I've been very happy.

The question is, What type of human do I want to be? How do I want to use my platform? Do I want to be safe, under the umbrella of my white privilege? Or do I want to push back and resist?

We just have to convince other people that they have power. This is what they can do by participating to make change, not only in their community, but many times changing in their own lives. Once they participate, they get their sense of power.

I think being able to identify with young people and...their capacity to change the world and shake things up. I think that's the greatest strength.

Young people are capable, when aroused, of bringing down the towers of oppression and raising the banners of freedom.

I admire young people who are concerned with the affairs of their community and nation perhaps because I also became involved in struggle whist I was still at school.

Art and activism seem to go together naturally, the idea being that if you're an entertainer, you can have a voice, and if you have a voice, you can make a difference. But if I were not an actress, I would still try to extend myself beyond my little micro-universe of my job, family and personal joy.

The only way change will ever happen is if we speak up, and we have to know that it actually has an impact. Because we have a lot more power than we think we do, I think.

Kids really have a lot more power than they think they have. They have the power to change the world. And they should know it.

I never want to sound preachy about youth and feminism, but I feel like there aren't enough young people coming out about their concerns and opinions.

Kids deserve the right to think that they can change the world.

It is people's willingness to take personal risks and confront the powerful by daring to speak the truth, not the truth itself, that ultimately leads to change.

The purpose of influence is to speak up for those who have no influence.

Basic moral values must therefore first be internalized in the hearts and minds of its people before we can hope to enforce legislation reflecting these values

What you learn from my life is, first of all, that anybody can be a leader. You can be a leader. I wasn't born that way - I developed it, I worked at it. And also that the grassroots can organize and take on all the powers that be and defeat them. That is the lesson.

I always say, as an actress, I get to portray the human condition, but as an activist, I get to change the human condition.

Corporations always are controlling things, and we have the ability every day to do something about that. Every day.

I'm still proud of who I am, of my youth, and I feel like now, as individuals, we begin to realise that we can change the future. We all have to participate.

There are people who can look out for other human beings; there are people who can speak up when something is not right and say, 'This is wrong, and something should be done.'

My mother said, 'Did you ever believe you would be an activist?' I said, 'No, not really.' But I just felt in my heart that I needed to step up and be a leader in the forefront.

I started calling anti-child labor organizations, asking how I could help. They told me a kid couldn't make any difference, so I decided to start a movement for young people to fight child labor, and to prove them wrong.

The powers of the teenagers in 'The Darkest Minds' were always meant to represent that inherent drive that young people have to make change, and how the world pushes back against it.

When I went to school, it was radical just to be involved in anything.

We're seeing young people find their own voices and find their activism.