Political Activists

"even in the apartheid times, although there was segregation, there was all these laws that"

"Lack of public housing, poverty, illiteracy, street violence, rape, lack of opportunities and entrenched corruption are all aspects of the Morocco that Oum Hamza is fighting against."

"Moroccan women’s battle for their rights has been an uphill one. Yet, they fought it with valor, steadfastness and self-abnegation."

"This type of grievance cannot be resolved by legislation only or by paying lip service to women’s rights in the most solemn of ways. The resolution of these issues requires realpolitik and practical results."

"The man and the woman enjoy, in equality, the rights and freedoms of civil, political, economic, social, cultural and environmental character, enounced in this Title and in the other provisions of the Constitution, as well as in the international conventions and pacts duly ratified by Morocco and this, with respect for the provisions of the Constitution, of the constants of the Kingdom and of its laws. The State works for the realization of parity between men and women. An Authority for parity and the struggle against all forms of discrimination is created, to this effect."

"We have to be alert because it’s possible that there will be danger. The important thing is to know that this stage is not easy and that we are still in the beginning.”"

"I may be a woman, but women’s rights are not my only focus. I want the rights of all Egyptians."

"I think it’s good to talk about everything. It’s not good to try to cover the truth,"

"we did it through the revolution and we’re doing it again by telling the whole world that Egypt, like every other country, has a real chance for change."

"It was very difficult [to talk about gender equality] because we were in a corrupt political system,"

"I don't believe there's any secrecy involved. The president's office clearly stated that he was in Paris for medical treatment and that his condition is not serious. His personal doctor has also provided detailed information about his illness, which is quite different from the situation in 2005 when the president was ill and sent to Val de Grace Hospital in Paris without much disclosure. This transparency is important to dispel any rumors."

"We believe this is not an important issue to discuss now. More important issues to discuss are political developments and the struggle to defend our national sovereignty, because Algeria is targeted more than ever."

"We are against limiting the presidential terms, because this will not help establish democracy, and will not provide the people with a guarantee that they will be able to exercise their sovereignty."

"Anyone who knows politics knows that all countries which suffered from foreign debt and were put under structural reform programs were forced to appoint ministers accepted by the international bodies."

"We have decided to change the social nature of this movement to be political, and we call for the regime to step down."

"And she’s not alone in that fight. It might look like quite a few people are interested in seeing her fail, but there are also many who want her to succeed."

"The overlapping authorities and the parliament’s inability to fight corruption were all reasons that contributed to the spread of the phenomenon."

"We are beginning a new era. If there hadn’t been a revolution, I would never have run in the presidential elections.""

"We believe that the freedom to run for the office is for everybody, without restrictions."

"We take stances on principle, and fight for everyone’s right to stand [for election], because that is the way to guarantee the people’s sovereignty in electing whomever they want."

"Women's emancipation cannot be discussed in terms of the veil and customs; instead, we must provide them jobs."

"Fifty years after independence, it is disheartening to observe that women veterans remain underrepresented in this office. We stood shoulder to shoulder with men in the maquis, fighting with the same vigor and commitment. Now, we seek our rightful share, as guaranteed by the Constitution, which upholds gender equality. It is our plea that the sacrifices made by women veterans be acknowledged and represented accordingly. The struggle for equality was not limited to the battlefield, and it should reflect in the recognition of our contributions today."

"How we did it I really don’t know, but it came off and it was a beautiful event"

"I stayed on after the coup that brought Houari Boumediene to power in 1965"

"For anyone living in Paris, the Algerian war was inescapable."

"In the 60s, we had the impression that what we did could have an impact"

"We felt that we were on the edge of a new world. It was the end of colonialism; the Cold War had only begun."

"I organized the international conference in Accra, and as a result I met these people from all around the world."

"Our role was to convince the world that Algeria had to be independent and France had to stop this crazy war"

"The beatings begin. His name is Ismail... he is an Arab... They ask him the name of the operation, he shouts in Arabic: I don't know, the tortures are getting more and more and the torturers are shouting "impure! Speak Persian." The sound of torture is so painful that it hurts me too."

"Even if instead of me and Ismail, you put all five thousand Hafttepe workers in front of the camera and force them to confess with whips and batons, it will still not detract from the essence of the story that you are oppressors and corrupt."

"Nothing I have experienced prepared me for the very public and relentless implosion of my father’s life,"

"Between June 1945 and September 1946, fifty-six African American veterans were lynched. The actual death toll was far greater. The Klan, as part of and in league with the police, had developed a terrible new weapon. Outspoken Blacks simply disappeared."

"The myth of Minnesota liberalism made the reality of rigid segregation in the city all the more unbearable, but since they knew very little of the fight for freedom raging through China, India, the East Indies, Indochina and the Philippines, they could only imagine a fight within the system."

"The Abu Sayeds, the Mugdhos, they never die. They live in our hearts, from generation to generation….'"

"Sir! Sir, we need you very much right now! All your contemporaries are dead, but you are immortal. Your tomb, our inspiration. We are manifested in your consciousness. Those who are in this generation, you too will die someday according to the laws of nature. But live with backbone as long as you live. Support the unjust demand, take to the streets, stand as a shield for the students. You will get real respect and honor. Don't get lost in time immediately after death. Foreveryou will live on as a Shamsujjoha. 'At least it is much more joy, honor and pride to die a "Shamsuzzoha",'"

"A call to countrymen: Dear Countrymen, As you all know, my son Abu Saeed was brutally martyred on 16/07/2024 by the dictator Sheikh Hasina's aide. Through the social media Facebook, we have come to know that some people have taken the initiative to build the sculpture of Shaheed Abu Saeed. We believe that you have taken such an initiative out of love for Shahid Abu Saeed. We respect your love. But you have seen how painfully my son was killed. I don't want my son to suffer as much in this world as in the hereafter. We are Muslims. I believe in Allah and the Hereafter. As Islam prohibits the making of all idols, sculptures or portraits, I respectfully ask that no idols, sculptures or portraits of my son be made anywhere in the country. I request you, if you want to do something for my son, then do something for the welfare of the people that Abu Saeed will find in his grave. Above all, we ask you to pray for Shaheed Abu Saeed, may Allah grant him Jannatul Firdaus. Pray for us too. Humble, Maqbool, Date: 08-08-2024 Eng (Father of Shaheed (martyr) Abu Saeed) Md. Abu Hussain (Elder Brother) Ramzan, Bokul"

"The steps toward the emancipation of women are first intellectual, then industrial, lastly legal and political. Great strides in the first two of these stages already have been made by millions of women who do not yet perceive that it is surely carrying them towards the last."

"I am socialist. [...] I think both my political commitment and historian known position developed simultaneously. And one supported the other. Because of my ideology I understood documents I saw in the archives the way I understood them, and because of the documents in the archives I became more convinced in the ideological way I took. A complicated process! Some colleague told me I ruined our cause by admitting my ideological platform. Why? Everybody in Israel and Palestine has an ideological platform. Indeed the struggle is about ideology, not about facts. Who knows what facts are? We try to convince as many people as we can that our interpretation of the facts is the correct one, and we do it because of ideological reasons, not because we are truthseekers."

"The debate between us is on one level between historians who believe they are purely objective reconstructers of the past, like [Benny] Morris, and those who claim that they are subjective human beings striving to tell their own version of the past, like myself. When we write histories, we built arches over a long period of time and we construct out of the material in front of us a narrative. We believe and hope that this narrative is a loyal reconstruction of what happened — although as was discovered by historiographers Morris had never bothered to read — we can not ride a train back in time to check it. Narratives of this kind, when written by historians involved deeply in the subject matter they write about, such as in the case of Israeli historians who write about the Palestine conflict, is motivated also — and this is not a fault but a blessing — by a deep involvement and a wish to make a point. This point is called ideology or politics. Zionist historians wanted to prove that Zionism was valid, moral and right and Palestinian historians wished to show that they were victimized and wronged.... I had a different point to make: I condemned the uprooting of the Palestinians and the violence inflicted on them, as well as the de—Arabization of Jews who came from Arab countries to Israel, the imposition of military rule on Palestinians in Israel before 1967 and the de—facto Apartheid policies put in place after 1967."

"In both books Pappe in effect tells his readers: "This is what happened." This is strange, because it directly conflicts with a second major element in his historiographical outlook. Pappe is a proud postmodernist. He believes that there is no such thing as historical truth, only a collection of narratives as numerous as the participants in any given event or process; and each narrative, each perspective, is as valid and legitimate, as true, as the next. Moreover, every narrative is inherently political and, consciously or not, serves political ends. Each historian is justified in shaping his narrative to promote particular political purposes. Shlomo Aronson, an Israeli political scientist, years ago confronted Pappe with the ultimate problem regarding historical relativism: if all narratives are equally legitimate and there is no historical truth, then the narrative of Holocaust deniers is as valid as that of Holocaust affirmers. Pappe did not offer a persuasive answer, beyond asserting lamely that there exists a large body of indisputable oral testimony affirming that the Holocaust took place."

"[Do you believe that the Jewish people deserve a state?] No, definitely not! The Muslim people don't deserve a state, the Christian people don't deserve a state [...] People of faith deserve that their religion be respected. People, who are part of a national movement, deserve a state. [But] Judaism is not nationalism. Judaism is a religion. Zionism is an ideology that believes that Judaism is a national movement, but most Jews even today don't believe [that...] If it was possible to create a Jewish State not at the expense of the Palestinians and without dispossessing the Palestinians, [...there would be] no problem with the idea of a Jewish state."

"Just as Medina had provided a base for the eventual victory of Islam in Arabia, Pakistan would pave the way for the triumphal return of Islam as the ruling power over the entire subcontinent. The whole of Hindustan would thus be turned into Pakistan just as the Prophet himself had turned all of Arabia into Pakistan."

"[I]n religious matters, the present-day Hindus are the descendants of the Indus valley people."

"Music is supposed to have an effect. If you're playing music and people don't feel something, you're not doing shit. That's what African music is about. When you hear something, you must move. I want to move people to dance, but also to think. Music wants to dictate a better life, against a bad life. When you're listening to something that depicts having a better life, and you're not having a better life, it must have an effect on you."

"It was an unconditional release. That means I have no record—I did not commit any offence."

"Writing pushes me, not to answers, but to questions, criticisms, problems, and possible strategies. It intersects with my activism, makes me look even more closely at the political work I do and why and how I do it. (II. EXTENSIONS)"

"How much easier it is for someone to say simply that she is oppressed-as a woman, a Black, a lesbian, a low-income woman, a Native American, a Jew, an older woman, an Arab-American, a Latina-and not to examine the various forms of privilege which so often co-exist with an individual's oppression. Essential as it is for women to explore our particular oppression, I feel keenly the limitations of stopping there, of not filling in the less comfortable contours of a more complete picture in which we might exist as oppressor, as well as oppressed. (II. EXTENSIONS)"

"The problem as I-and, I think, a great many other Jewish feminists-see it is to embrace the "We" of our Jewish identities without seeing "They" as totally Other. We strive to acknowledge Jewish identity and Jewish oppression as fundamental components of our lives and histories, individually and collectively, and, at the same time, to use what we know of being Jewish-as of our other identities and oppressions-to understand generations of experience that have some parallels, yet are different from our own. This process is complicated, and the history between non-Jewish people of color and white Jews has not made it less so. (III. THREADS)"

"Whatever our differences, efforts to address them directly should always be seen as attempts to break down divisions which are encouraged by-and which benefit-the rich white Christian men who run this country. (II. EXTENSIONS)"