Citizen Power Quotes

“A nation with a thousand awakened citizens and a corrupt leader, is much more alive than a nation with an awakened leader and a thousand corrupt citizens.”
― Abhijit Naskar, When Humans Unite: Making A World Without Borders

“In the era of angry and aggressive policing, it is an honorable service to your fellow citizens to video record police officers interactions with the common people.”
― Steven Magee

“A corrupt government is born not from corrupt politicians, but from corrupt citizens.”
― Abhijit Naskar

“I want you to write a narrative, a narrative from the future of your city, and you can date it, set it out one year from now, five years from now, a decade from now, a generation from now, and write it as a case study looking back, looking back at the change that you wanted in your city, looking back at the cause that you were championing, and describing the ways that that change and that cause came, in fact, to succeed. Describe the values of your fellow citizens that you activated, and the sense of moral purpose that you were able to stir. Recount all the different ways that you engaged the systems of government, of the marketplace, of social institutions, of faith organizations, of the media. Catalog all the skills you had to deploy, how to negotiate, how to advocate, how to frame issues, how to navigate diversity in conflict, all those skills that enabled you to bring folks on board and to overcome resistance. What you'll be doing when you write that narrative is you'll be discovering how to read power, and in the process, how to write power. So share what you write, do you what you write, and then share what you do.
[...] Together, we can create a great network of city that will be the most powerful collective laboratory for self-government this planet has ever seen. We have the power to do that.”
― Eric Liu

“If every citizen should recite their national anthem daily, you will develop love to serve your country better.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita, Think Great: Be Great!

“Civic imagination and innovation and creativity are emerging from local ecosystems now and radiating outward, and this great innovation, this great wave of localism that's now arriving, and you see it in how people eat and work and share and buy and move and live their everyday lives, this isn't some precious parochialism, this isn't some retreat into insularity, no. This is emergent. The localism of our time is networked powerfully. And so, for instance, consider the ways that strategies for making cities more bike-friendly have spread so rapidly from Copenhagen to New York to Austin to Boston to Seattle. Think about how experiments in participatory budgeting, where everyday citizens get a chance to allocate and decide upon the allocation of city funds. Those experiments have spread from Porto Alegre, Brazil to here in New York City, to the wards of Chicago. Migrant workers from Rome to Los Angeles and many cities between are now organizing to stage strikes to remind the people who live in their cities what a day without immigrants would look like. In China, all across that country, members of the New Citizens' Movement are beginning to activate and organize to fight official corruption and graft, and they're drawing the ire of officials there, but they're also drawing the attention of anti-corruption activists all around the world. In Seattle, where I'm from, we've become part of a great global array of cities that are now working together bypassing government altogether, national government altogether, in order to try to meet the carbon reduction goals of the Kyoto Protocol. All of these citizens, united, are forming a web, a great archipelago of power that allows us to bypass brokenness and monopolies of control.”
― Eric Liu

“Every citizen must pray for its nation.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita, Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind

“A nation can run without government, but it can't run without the accountability of its citizens.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Heart Force One: Need No Gun to Defend Society

“Politicians and police are not the makers and keepers of law, the people are.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Solo Standing on Guard: Life Before Law

“This is my word to the governments of the world - if you want to lift your nation, get your civilians involved.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Mücadele Muhabbet: Gospel of An Unarmed Soldier

“Everybody is a terrorist, till you see the reformist. Bring that reformer out my friend, in its full glory and ferociousness. Once you do, every time a politician or fundamentalist even dreams of doing something inhuman, a voice of caution will strike them from inside - don't you dare, kid - or else, they’ll bring hell down on you - then you’ll have neither the seat, nor the ass to sit on it!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Mucize Misafir Merhaba: The Peace Testament

“When the civilians remember their responsibility, politicians will forget which party they belong to, so will their next of kin. And at the slightest urge for exploitation, a voice of caution will ring in their head - don't you dare, kid - or else, you’ll have neither the seat nor the ass to sit on it!”
― Abhijit Naskar, Corazon Calamidad: Obedient to None, Oppressive to None

“Himalayan Sonneteer Sonnet 100
(Naskar Sonnet 1000)

It's the little everyday acts of justice,
That bring most change in society.
It's the little everyday acts of justice,
That actually eliminate inhumanity.
One big revolution in five years,
Brings no lasting change.
But one small act of uncompromise everyday,
Makes the whole world gain conscience.
Hence, reformation of a nation isn't measured,
By how many big revolutions it has to face.
Reformation of a nation is predicated on,
How many citizens it has who refuse to bend.
So I say - break the chains, take off the blinkers.
The whole world awaits, for it needs to be tinkered.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Himalayan Sonneteer: 100 Sonnets of Unsubmission