Maajid Nawaz Quotes

There are no globalized, youth-led, grassroots social movements advocating for democratic culture across Muslim-majority societies. There is no equivalent of Al-Qaeda without the terrorism.

No fundamental social change occurs merely because government acts. It's because civil society, the conscience of a country, begins to rise up and demand - demand - demand change.

Democracy comes alive not when government does anything, because government cannot be depended on to rectify serious injustices. It comes alive when people organize and do something about it.

We cannot imagine democracies without a vibrant civil society.

We live in the age of communication. Write letters to the editor. Speak to your congressman, to your senator. If you are young, especially young people are taken by this human rights activities. They should organize the universities.

I say that democracy can never prove itself beyond cavil, until it founds and luxuriantly grows its own forms of art, poems, schools, theology, displacing all that exists, or that has been produced anywhere in the past, under opposite influences.

Democratic reform, depends less on legislative amendments than on creating a climate of democracy.

The first priority is to make the change from a revolutionary mentality to a civil society in which there is respect for law.

Change never comes from the White House. It comes from your house and my house.

Many women feel that they are so unimportant that their action can count little for good or ill, but it is the mass of individuals that makes up public opinion and public opinion is what runs a democracy!

Iran does not have a cuoture of passive citizenship despite the best efforts of its rulers, past and present, to produce one.

In a democracy, in a functioning democracy, what would be happening is that popular organizations, unions, political groupings, others would be developing their programs, putting them forth, insisting that their representatives implement those programs.

Hillary Clinton is the problem; she is not the solution to Donald Trump. We are the solution. We are the ones we've been waiting for. This is our moment. Together, we do have the power to create an America and a world that works for all of us.

We strongly believe that individual advocates play an important role in developing a civil society.

Nineteen sixty-eight was one exciting moment in a much larger movement. It spawned a whole range of movements. There wouldn't have been an international global solidarity movement, for instance, without the events of 1968. It was enormous, in terms of human rights, ethnic rights, a concern for the environment, too.

You know the voice of the people is a very, very powerful tool.

Freedom will not prevail because of historical forces; it will only win, if it does, because of historical actors. In other words, us. Those like me who came of age around 1989 used to take democracy for granted.

We can't wait until elections to fight for what we care about. We can't hope for a benevolent leader who may choose to listen to us. We need a network that lets the best ideas and leaders rise to the top through an open, inclusive democratic process.

We can't sit around waiting for big government, big business, big religion etc. to save us. We need to get informed and take inspired action.

The only continent where social movements have led to political parties that have pushed through serious social and political reforms is in South America.

'The Sound of Silk' will serve as a lens for larger questions about cultural identity in a global society and the potential for individuals to act as catalysts for change.

The rise of civic society is not a negation of politics, but marks an opportunity for the involvement of the people.

Courage is the lifeblood of democracy.

We the voice of the young world. We the voice of the people.

Africa Rising is as much about improving standards of governance as it is about an increasingly confident youths and civil society. It is also about businessmen and women who are stepping beyond national borders and going global.