John McDonnell Quotes

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

The really critical thing isn't who's sitting in he White House, but who is sitting in the streets, in the cafeterias, in the halls of government, in the factories. Who is protesting, who is occupying offices and demonstrating ? - those are the things that determine what happens.

I have never been an activist for anything.

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

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

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.

You cannot do anything without rousing the masses to action.

Amazon's capitulation to those opposed to their expansion in New York City is an epic moment for people power over an enormous corporate bully.

Progressive, radical, or even revolutionary change has always come from below.

I think voting is the lowest form of political action that you can do. A lot of times, it keeps people from doing stronger things.

The big dividing line is not and has never been between those who advocate more or less militant forms of resistance, or between mainstream and grassroots activists. The dividing line is between those who do something and those who do nothing.

I think direct political action, civil disobedience, in particular, is something to be taken very seriously.

What we have ignored is what citizens can do and the importance of real involvement of the people versus just having somebody in Washington make a rule.

Since the start of the Occupy Wall Street movement, CODEPINK activists have joined the frontlines of the non-violent Occupy movement across the country.

I'm totally down with insurrection in the street. I've had a great time with that over the years. Insurrection in the voting booth is the other part of the equation.

You know, I was a community activist, so I'm used to standing out in front of an elected official's office and protesting.

Occupy is anything but a protest movement. That's why it has been so hard for news agencies to express or even discern the 'demands' of the growing legions of Occupy participants around the nation, and even the world.

I got interested in politics during the civil rights movement and then Vietnam.

I'm an anarchist and I do think things such as Occupy Wall Street are about getting a little closer to the solution.

But as for activism, my parents did what they could, given the constraints, but were never involved in the causes I think of when I think of activists.

Activism has been very productive in our society.

Activism isn't beautiful and easy, or a bunch of people getting together and picketing; it's a lot more complicated and difficult than that.

You have to try to build support around causes. It is uniting to campaign on a single issue, and it is never just a single issue; it's always more than that.

Activists set the agenda for the practitioners.

You can’t change Washington from the inside. You can only change Washington from the outside.