Power, Knowledge, and the Radical Act of Resolve

Together, these quotes explore how systems of power use tools like confiscation, rhetoric, and cynicism to
maintain themselves, and how disrupting these systems requires critical awareness (of power's mechanisms) and a refusal to succumb to despair—actively reclaiming agency and insisting on change.

Quotes

"Once in power, fascist regimes confiscated property only from political opponents, foreigners, or Jews."
(Robert O. Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism)

"Because power is knowledge, and power above all else seeks to sustain itself, we can see that the rhetoric around development knowledge—‘like light’—is not just optimistic but also clearly wildly inaccurate."
(Ben Ramalingam, Aid on the Edge of Chaos)

"Optimism is a political act. Those who benefit from the status quo are perfectly happy with a large population of people who think nothing is going to get any better. In fact, these days, cynicism is obedience. What’s really radical is being willing to look right at the magnitude and difficulty of the problems we face and still insist that we can solve those problems."
(Sam Daley-Harris  Jan. 16, Transformational Advocacy and the Disobedient Self)