115 Quotes About Dissent

Sometimes it's appropriate to scream at them.

Motorbike - Poem by Malay Roy ChoudhuryI am on motorbike yezdi yamahawhen flanked by horizon gallop backwards through sand blizzardtinsel clouds explode at my feet without helmetand speed-split air at eightyin midsummer simooneach sound-cart recedesonrushing lorries flee in a flashNo time to brood but Yesaccident expected anytimemay even turn into a junkheap in a drought-nursed field.Translation of Bengali original 'Motor Cycle

Overlooked in this ominous depiction might be our country’s best- kept secret: in dealing with the most challenging issues of every gener- ation, resistance to duplicitous civil authority and its corporate enablers has defined our quintessential American story.

To remind him, and perhaps myself, that any hope for the future depends on our ability to reclaim the narrative of a long con- tinuum of resistance that has been the foundation of our country and the bulwark against the very forces that have threatened our democracy since its founding.

The other argument [about the Iraq War] was about argument itself. It characterized any argument about policy (whether, in fact, Iraq did have weapons of mass destruction and whether regime change could be effected through an invasion) as unnecessary, dithering, disloyal, and possibly even deliberately evil, since the correct course of action was so obvious. Major media outlets demonized dissent. In a democracy.

Fourth, resistance, as it has unfolded over the centuries, has claimed a “public commons” for “we the people” to have a voice in shaping the de- fining issues in our most trying times—beyond the thirty-nine wealthy white men who signed our Constitution. This means beyond elections.

Any government's condemnation of terrorism is only credible if it shows itself to be responsive to persistent, reasonable, closely argued, non-violent dissent. And yet, what's happening is just the opposite. The world over, non-violent resistance movements are being crushed and broken. If we do not respect and honour them, by default we privilege those who turn to violent means.

They're called 'facts', and my role is to amplify those, not cheerlead. And I don't care at all what you think of my motives.

When journalists are 'accused' of being 'advocates', that means: challenging and deviating from DC orthodoxies.