Harry Belafonte Quotes

Without an advocate for the poor, without a new state of mind in America, the country lies on the brink of anarchy.

I believe in the power of media. I really do. It's my soapbox. And I do have an agenda, because I'm enraged by the limitations forced on people - by poverty, oppression, hatred, fear - and I'm saddened by the kind of loss we all experienced due to the contributions that people cannot make because of their circumstances.

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.

Social paralysis is strong and stands firmly in the way of change on the ground level. As allies, we have to prepare ourselves to step into the fire when necessary, even - and especially - when said fire is merely a still-lit cigarette tossed carelessly onto the street.

Political evils must be sorely felt before they can be removed.

It takes a lot of punishment to be able to do anything to change the social order.

The protestor I think will speak up for the world's poorest.

Whatever I do, it will be fighting for social justice.

Oxfam is part of a global movement for social justice. We mainly work to fight for economic and social rights for people without a voice or people who are oppressed.

I'm really interested in social justice, and if an artist has a certain power of being heard and voicing something important, it's right to do it. It could still be done in such a way that it's not aggressive or overly didactic. I'm trying to find that form.

You can only watch injustice go on for so long until you're compelled to say something. To speak out against it.

I grew up in Sydney in a very political household, where we were all for the underdog.

Protest and anger practically always derives from hope, and the shouting out against injustice is always in the hope of those injustices being somewhat corrected and a little more justice established.

I am going to fight capitalism even if it kills me. It is wrong that people like you should be comfortable and well fed while all around you people are starving.

Awareness in our society has flipped all types of injustice on its head.

When we live in a world that is very unjust, you have to be a dissident.

I like to be able to raise people's consciousness, yes. And to remind that those of us involved in the receiving end of the oppression, we have a duty.

Without alienation, there can be no politics.

Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.

Everything I do has an underlying political question.

The margins don't get erased by simply insisting that the powers-that-be erase them.

Acceptance does not mean that you placidly acquiesce to the myriad injustices that are all around you. In fact, that you are incensed about these injustices is the very reason you need to try your level best to 'right' these 'wrongs.'

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

We will have demonstrations until the injustices that have caused them are eliminated.

I'll continue fighting as long as these social injustices exist.