Building beyond uncertainty
“We have to understand the emergency of the situation. Our leadership has failed us. Young people must hold older generations accountable for the mess they have created. We need to get angry, and transform that anger into action.”
~Greta Thunberg (age 16), Swedish Activist
“For when elites assume leadership of social change, they are able to reshape what social change is – above all, to present it as something that should never threaten winners. In an age defined by a chasm between those who have power and those who don’t, elites have spread the idea that people must be helped, but only in market-friendly ways that do not upset fundamental power equations. Society should be changed in ways that do not change the underlying economic system that has allowed the winners to win and fostered many of the problems they seek to solve…
“Much of what appears to be reform in our time is in fact the defense of stasis. When we see through the myths that foster this misperception, the path to genuine change will come into view. It will once again be possible to improve the world without permission slips from the powerful.”
~ Anand Giridharadas, author and former columnist for The New York Times
“The generation that destroys the environment is not the generation that pays the price. That is the problem.”
~ Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of humankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,
Whereas it is essential, if humanity is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,
Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,
Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom…
“It is only through examining history that you become aware of where you
stand within the continuum of change. You may find you are the ‘voice
crying in the wilderness’ who will have to walk alone. Or you may find
only a few devotees who will join you throughout the whole period of
your activism. This does not mean your work is not important. It means
the part you must play is simply different than those leaders who stand
at the front lines of a mass movement. Every contribution is important
to the work of change…”
~ John Lewis, Civil Rights Leader