Hugh Masekela Quotes

My early years as a political activist were dominated by the poll tax.

We are on the threshold of a significant breakthrough, and the greatest weapon is the mass demonstration.

The absolute key issue is: how do you create enough political pressure? It's up to us to create that political will and there are tried and tested techniques for doing that. So we're talking about the need for civil disobedience that escalates into a rebellion and uprising.

I believe activism is the true source of change in the world. Pushing to change social structures in communities that you are a part of is critical for making real lasting change.

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

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 love TV, I love writing, but I love movements more.

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.

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

You know, there's a lot of activism that doesn't deal with empowerment, and you have to empower yourself in order to be relevant to any type of struggle.

Organizations don’t make revolutions. People do.

These are the times for real choices and not false ones. We are at the moment when our lives must be placed on the line if our nation is to survive its own folly. Every man of humane convictions must decide on the protest that best suits his convictions, but we must all protest

Government doesn’t always work the way its supposed to. Sometimes you have to use brute force, bring people together …

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

Movements aren’t built on leadership but on the movement itself — of individuals taking that first step from inertia to action, as if passing through a doorway

People have to carry on with their lives, so only so much direct action can take place. Anti-nuclear activism may look dormant from appearances, but it’s there, like magma. It’s still brewing, and the next trigger might be another big protest or political change,

I've played hundreds of protests. I've marched on dozens of picket lines. I've strummed my guitar at innumerable demonstrations.

I can't help but believe that at some time in the not-too-distant future, there is going to be another movement to change these systemic conditions of poverty, injustice, and violence in people's lives. That is where we've got to go, and it is going to be a struggle.

The organizer dedicated to changing the life of a particular community must first rub raw the resentments of the people of the community.

The Adequate Protest demands far more than protests. It calls for Great and Daring Leaps of Integrity and Courage to See.

When I was 19 or 20, the way I was an activist was by regularly meeting with groups, going to protests, and being there on the ground.

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.

Protests have a value in society that I don't think you can quantify.

Being an activist is not easy.

Changes and progress very rarely are gifts from above. They come out of struggles from below.