Matthew Funke

“Our revolution is not a public-speaking tournament. Our revolution is not a battle of fine phrases. Our revolution is not simply for spouting slogans that are no more than signals used by manipulators trying to use them as catchwords, as codewords, as a foil for their own display. Our revolution is, and should continue to be, the collective effort of revolutionaries to transform reality, to improve the concrete situation of the masses of our country.”
― Thomas Sankara

“The final proof that this alien indoctrination which begins in nursery
school is based on the splitting of the family is that those working class
children who arrive (those few who do arrive) at university are so brainwashed
that they are unable any longer to talk to their community.
Working class children then are the first who instinctively rebel against
schools and the education provided in schools. But their parents carry
them to schools and confine them to schools because they are concerned
that their children should “have an education”, that is, be equipped to
escape the assembly line or the kitchen to which they, the parents, are
confined. If a working class child shows particular aptitudes, the whole
family immediately concentrates on this child, gives him the best conditions,
often sacrificing the others, hoping and gambling that he will carry
them all out of the working class. This in effect becomes the way capital
moves through the aspirations of the parents to enlist their help in disciplining
fresh labor power.”
― Mariarosa Dalla Costa, The Power of Women and the Subversion of the Community

“From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were- I have not seen
As others saw- I could not bring
My passions from a common spring
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow, I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I lov'd, I lov'd alone.'

I tried to read the words in a flat sing-song tone without feeling, so none of the kids would understand what his poem meant to me, but their eyes were already glazed with boredom. I dropped my gaze and walked back to my seat. Mrs. Noble squeezed my arm as I passed, and when I looked up I saw she had tears in her eyes. The way she looked at me made me want to cry, too. It was as though she could really see me, and there was no criticism of me in her eyes.”
― Leslie Feinberg

“Always remember that the people are not fighting for ideas, nor for what is in men’s minds. The people fight and accept the sacrifices demanded by the struggle in order to gain material advantages, to live better and in peace, to benefit from progress, and for the better future of their children. National liberation, the struggle against colonialism, the construction of peace, progress and independence are hollow words devoid of any significance unless they can be translated into a real improvement of living conditions.”
― Amílcar Cabral, Return to the Source: Selected Speeches of Amílcar Cabral