Abdurrahman Wahid Quotes

Power to the peaceful!

All of my life I have stayed away from violence and the instruments of violence, and have seen a legal, democratic struggle as the only means to achieve change.

We are not afraid of their guns. Honduras army pattern is just 7000 men. If we take up arms, we would quickly run away so few soldiers. But our goal is to allocate the regime in a peaceful and honorable way. Women, children, youth, students, workers -- we all have united in a civic front against the coup. Even my 80 year old mother went to the streets and practiced non-violent resistance.

Nelson Mandela was a terrorist. And then he wins the world peace prize and becomes president of South Africa. That's how change happens. It's very important not to differentiate protest from the democratic process.

The survival of democracy depends on the renunciation of violence and the development of nonviolent means to combat evil and advance the good.

If humanity is to progress, Gandhi is inescapable.

Procedure is the bone structure of a democratic society. Our scheme of law affords great latitude for dissent and opposition. It compels wide tolerance not only for their expression but also for the organization of people and forces to bring about the acceptance of the dissenter's claim....We have alternatives to violence.

I cannot think of a tactical alliance with the Left because I represent the idea that there is a peaceful, nonviolent way to dislodge a dictatorship... A tactical Left alliance damages my argument. If I succeed with them, we will never know if peace can really produce freedom.

Gandhi held no formal position of authority. Nor was there an organized army standing behind him. What he did have were his core beliefs and the audacity to speak truth to power.

You know in democracy you can protest peacefully and I'm sure you know it will have at least some kind of impact. You need to raise your voice. If you can't do much, you know, but at least raise you voice. Raising your voice is something you need to do.

Actions always speak louder than words, especially when they're peaceful actions.

Peaceful protest is a hallmark of our democracy. It has been in impetus for social change throughout our history.

The force generated by nonviolence is infinitely greater than the force of all the arms created by man's ingenuity.

I don't have much time for real violence at all. I think there are infinitely better ways of changing the world than using violence. Sitting round a table talking is a pretty good start.

I think we brought to the world, the United States anyway, the whole idea of boycotting as a nonviolent tactic. I think we showed the world that nonviolence can work to make social change.

The weapons of the positive revolution are not bullets and bombs but simple human perceptions. Bullets and bombs may offer physical power but eventually will only work if they change perceptions and values. Why not go the direct route and work with perceptions and values?

The use of violence is justified only under a tyranny which makes reforms without violence impossible, and should have only one aim, that is, to bring about a state of affairs which makes reforms without violence possible.

I don't accept armed struggle. Maybe it was the way in the '50s and '60s, but we want a democratic revolution.

In a world built on violence, one must be a revolutionary before one can be a pacifist.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.

Nonviolence to be worth anything has to work in the face of hostile forces.

Satyagraha thrives on repression till at last the repressor is tired of it and the object of satyagraha is gained.

All I’m saying is that perhaps we can make a revolution without violence.

[A.J. Muste] never engaged in violence but he believed, as [Mahatma] Gandhi did - and he knew Gandhi slightly - he believed that a pacifist had to be active in the community.

My method is conversion, not coercion, it is self-suffering, not the suffering of the tyrant. I know that method to be infallible.