Politics

Our contemporary society uses this statistically insignificant variation to support the 'reasoning' behind cultural, social, economic and political practices that cause hundreds of millions of people, every day, to face discrimination.

The movements that sustain themselves the best over time are those that have culture at their core, that use art as a means of conveying a message, and use art-making as a means to mobilise a movement.

Ridicule, mockery and humour are some of the best tools of the powerless, they are weapons of the weak! Finding ways to intervene with levity and humour can build strength and sustain a movement. Humour is one of the most powerful weapons of non-violent resistance.

People often think that the most important gauge of a protest's effectiveness is size, but I don't. The movements that have managed to keep a strong strategic focus, that have been persistent, and bold in their use of tactics, are the ones which make the greatest impact.

History is full of changes that were only made because of direct action. In the US context, you need look no further than the civil rights movement. Racial segregation would not have been dismantled the way that it was, to the extent that it was without the work of grass roots movements who were prepared to take risks and break the law.

The people of the world are gambling for colossal stakes. Two centuries of scientific enquiry, founded in basic physics and powerful evidence, indicate that the risks from a changing climate over the next hundred years and beyond are immense.

Economist & Author of Stern Review on Climate Change Economics

If you offer no vision for the future, someone else will. Our geopolitics cannot tolerate a vacuum, and if you retreat- whether physically or ideologically- someone else will come up with a plan which may not be complementary for democracy.

World Chess Champion & Political Activist Against Russian Authoritarianism

People like Trump rally people behind them by pointing out threats; these may be real, but most likely are imaginary or inflated. Then he says, 'only I can protect you.'

World Chess Champion & Political Activist Against Russian Authoritarianism

History is not linear, like the chapters of a book… History moves through seasons, and so winters are inevitable.

World Chess Champion & Political Activist Against Russian Authoritarianism

It's almost like we have the left eye covering itself up and saying, 'nothing to see here, nothing to do with Islam', and the right eye bursting a blood vessel saying, 'it's all Islam, it's all Muslims', and Islamists saying that the divine inspiration for them is from above.

The question I always ask them is '…what has our foreign policy got to do with Muslims travelling thousands of miles to go and kill other Muslims in Iraq and Syria?'

Salman Abedi, Khalid Masood, Khuram Butt, all of these people and the people in ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, Al-Shabaab… We tend to think sometimes that they are extremism. But the reality is they didn't breed extremism. Islamist extremism bred them.

Extremism is the desire to enforce illiberal views which are in a dichotomy to the liberal values that we all adhere to in a Liberal secular democracy; and you can have non-violent or violent extremism.

Freedom without struggle is an illusion. I love problems. How we deal with problems defines who we are and what values we stand for.

Chinese Artist & Dissident; Prominent Human Rights Activist and Political Critic

Power is seized with the gun and maintained with the pen. Controlling public opinion through propaganda and misinformation is the most critical task of an authoritarian power.

Chinese Artist & Dissident; Prominent Human Rights Activist and Political Critic

The strongest characteristic of art is that it belongs to the individual. Art is an expression of individualism and the opposite of oppressive dogma.

Chinese Artist & Dissident; Prominent Human Rights Activist and Political Critic