Using Collective Action to Create Change
Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.
… settler colonialism will always define the issues with a solution that reentrenches its own power.
These quotes remind us of the importance and vitality of social movements in shaping our world. The current system remains the same despite its many flaws; it is designed to do so. To make change, solutions are needed that do not re-entrench existing power relations. Assata reminds us that movements themselves must grow, and encourages us to ask “What energy and resources are required to enable movements to move?”
Learn more and take action:
- Assata Shakur's biography (external link, opens in new window)
- Black Lives Matter (external link, opens in new window)
- Invasion: (external link, opens in new window) a film about the Wet’suwet’en Nation standing up to the Canadian government and corporations who continue colonial violence against Indigenous people
- The Migrant Rights Network (external link, opens in new window) is building a migrant justice movement and advocating for status for all
No movement can survive unless it is constantly growing and changing with the times. If it isn't growing, it's stagnant, and without the support of the people, no movement for liberation can exist, no matter how correct its analysis of the situation is.