Table of Contents
Significant Speeches Over the Last 4 Years
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Activist Valarie Kaur Speech at the National Moral Revival Poor People’s Campaign Social Justice Watch Night Service
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James Baldwin’s Answer to the 1965 University of Cambridge Debate Question, “Does the American Dream Come At the Expense of the Black Americans?”
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James Baldwin on the Dick Cavett Show
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Howard Zinn from the film #ReGENERATION reflecting upon social activism
(less than a year before he passed away)
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Howard Zinn Democracy Now Tribute. Full tribute here.
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Howard Zinn’s Speech on Writing “The People’s History of the United States“
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Poet Nina Mariah reading her poem, “Nasty Women” which became a highlight speech of the 2017 DC Women’s March
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Rhiannon Giddens Singing at the NYC Occupy Wall St Movement Camp
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Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around (Famous Civil Rights Song ) – Aria Saudade
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Maya Angelou, “And Still I Rise” remastered for the 2017 Skoll World Forum
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The Love – Black Eyed Peas and Jennifer Hudson
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Ilhan Omar’s speech about silencing women of color during a rally dubbed, “Black Women in Defense of Ilhan Omar” planned in response to the whitelash of political attacks and death threats by Conservatives and Trump in an attempt to silence Omar for speaking up against white supremacy, Islamaphobia, anti-Semitism, anti-Palestinian, patriarchy, xenophobia, neocolonialism, neoliberialism, etc
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Ilhan Omar Explains Why She Stands for Palestinians Amid Political Attacks
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MLK Jr. Last Speech The Night Before his Death on April 3rd, 1968. Full speech here.
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Martin Luther King, Jr 1967 “What Is Your Life’s Blueprint?” speech to students at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia.
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MLK Jr’s Speech before the Poor Man’s Campaign on the Government Supported Inequalities in the US
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Collection of Martin Luther King, Jr. Speeches on Income Inequality and Redistribution of Wealth + James Baldwin Commentary
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Malcolm X “By Any Means Necessary” Speech
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Malcolm X Speech: Self Hate-Like The Roots Of A Tree
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Angela Davis – What it means to be a Revolutionary (1972 Interview)
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Angela Davis on Violence and Revolution
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Fred Hampton Speech during the Mock People’s Trial, where he articulates why the Black Panther Party was being viciously targeted by the US government. He suggests the most formidable threat from the BPP (in the eyes of the power structure) was not its willingness to take up arms in defense, but rather its focus on the “proletarian” class struggle shared by “poor people of all descents.”
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Fred Hampton Revolutionary Speech
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Mario Savio, Member of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, Speech on the “Operation of the Machine”
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Montage of Bernie Sanders 2016 Speeches
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Harvey Milk Hope Speech
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Wangari Maathai Humming Bird Speech
(Watch her full documentary, “Taking Root” here)
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HoodiniDidIt: The Price of Keeping Our Heads Down
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Author Kimberly Jones on the fallacy of “Black people shouldn’t be rioting”
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Doc Rivers Delivers Emotional Speech On Jacob Blake
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Letetra Widman, sister of Jacob Blake who was shot 7 times in back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Full Response to Rep. Ted Yoho | NowThis
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A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
What if we actually pulled off a Green New Deal? What would the future look like? The Intercept presents a film narrated and co-written by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and illustrated by Molly Crabapple (via The Intercept)
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Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s Inspiring Women’s March Speech
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AOC Calls Out Billionaires at MLK Day Event | NowThis
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11-year-old Naomi Wadler’s March For Our Lives speech for black women gun violence victims. Check out other amazing speeches
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Emma Gonzalez, Survivor of the Douglas High School Massacre Calls Out Trump, the GOP & NRA for profiting off blocking gun reform
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Food + Justice = Democracy: LaDonna Redmond at TEDxManhattan 2013
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Voices of a People’s History: Jesse Williams reads Howard Zinn “The Problem Is Civil Obedience”
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Voices of a People’s History: John Legend Reads Muhammad Ali
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Voices of a People’s History: Danny Glover reads Frederick Douglass, “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro”
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Voices of a People’s History: Speech on Patriotism by Emma Goldman read by Sandra Oh
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Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman”: Nkechi at TEDxFiDiWomen
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Charlie Chaplin Speech in the movie, “The Great Dictator”
(Chaplin plays a Jewish barber that just escaped from a concentration camp by being mistaken for the “Nazi-like” dictator, who he looks just like, and is forced to give a speech on the front lines)
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Trailer for 2014 Ukrainian Revolution Documentary, “Winter on Fire“
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During Ukraine’s Revolution, a piano was set up near a line of special police, while protesters, including the Piano Extremist, played the piano, police blasted back their own recorded music.
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Bringing Down a Dictator (Full Movie about the protest movement that brought down Slobodan Milosevic)
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This is How To Handle Tear Gas
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Inspirational Photos
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Poland’s biggest protests in decades stand against an abortion ban
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A protester takes a knee during a San Jose protest, one of many uprisings across the country after George Floyd’s murder. Photo credit: www.daisugano.com
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French firefighters paint their faces like the ‘Joker’ during Paris demonstrations against pension reforms and for better work conditions. These demonstrations are a continuation of the Yellow Vests Movement against neo-liberalism.
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Chile Uprising
Over a million people take to the streets to protest neo-liberalism
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The Sudan Spring
Top Picture: Alaa Salah, a 22-year-old Sudanese woman, has become an icon of the 2019 Sudan uprising where hundreds of thousands of Sudanese (70% women) took to the streets to nonviolently protest for months for removal and an end to his 30 year brutal authoritarian rule.
Bottom Picture: Protestors celebrating in the streets after the military arrested caused by hundreds of thousands of Sudaneses taking to the street to nonviolently protest for months for removal.
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2 Symbols of Tearing Down Patriachy and White Supremacy
Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib awaiting their turns to question Michael Cohen (top) and Iconic Women’s March “Clean Dream Act Now” Poster (bottom)
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A soldier in the female YPJ Kurkish unit fighting ISIS, Turkey and patriarchy in a Democratic Revolution in a place in Northern Syria called Rojava.
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Protestor in a Dress at a Black Lives Matter rally protesting against the fatal police shooting of Alton Sterling
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Picture of Ferguson protestor Edward Crawford throwing tear gas back at a militarized police
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Abu Amro, during the 13th attempt to break the 10 year Gaza blockade during the “Great March for Return” protest. Israel killed 189 Palestinians and wounded over 6000 during these protests. Vast majority killed and wounded were peaceful protestors including children and clearly marked medics and reporter
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NYC Anti-Trump women protest sign. Click here for more amazing protest signs
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The “Kindness is Everything” sign, which donates all sale profits to the ACLU, captures the enormity of current progressive fights
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Protestor Saffiyah Khan smiled in defiance, at a far right Islamophobic English Defence League protester, becoming a symbol of standing up against the English Fascism after Brexit.
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Standing Rock Water Protector Facing Off Against Militarized Police
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Two photographers, Rich Allela and Kureng Dapel, recreated portraits of Mekatilili wa Menza, a celebrated Kenya leader who fought against British oppressive colonial policies in the early 1900s.
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Young protestor facing off at a riot policeman during a protest that mark the 43rd anniversary of Chile’s 1973 military coup that led to the brutal dictatorship Augusto Pinochet.
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Greenpeace activists hang giant ‘Resist’ banner near White House To Protest Trumps running list of anti environment policies
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The “Fearless Girl” statue, installed on the 2017 International Women’s Day, to defiantly face the Wall St Charging Bull, to symbolize the resiliency of women in the face of gender inequality.
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Protest Art Celebrating the National Park Service resistance against President Trump’s Climate Change Censorship
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Tess Asplund defies 300 neo-Nazis at Swedish rally
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Tommie Smith and John Carlos 1968 Olympics Black Power salute during the Star Spangle Banner to bring international attention to the US Civil Rights Movement
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2014 Ukrainian EuroMaiden Revolution Protestor/Revolutionary
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Markiyan Matsekh plays his piano in front of riot police during the 2014 Ukrainian EuroMaiden Revolution
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Tahir Square Protest Movement Against Mubarak: This is what a protest movement that removes dictators looks like. Check out Netflix’s Documentary “The Square”
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1989 Tiananmen Square photo of Tank Man standing ground against tanks that attacked protestors
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Back to Top
Inspirational Quotes
When the 16 year old Palestinian activist, Ahed Tamini, played her documentary about living under the brutal oppression of Israel’s occupation at an Apartheid conference in South Africa, many people in the audience were moved tears. She responded with this,
“We may be victims of the Israeli regime, but we are just as proud of our choice to fight for our cause, despite the known cost. We knew where this path would lead us, but our identity, as a people and as individuals, is planted in the struggle, and draws its inspiration from there. Beyond the suffering and daily oppression of the prisoners, the wounded and the killed, we also know the tremendous power that comes from belonging to a resistance movement; the dedication, the love, the small sublime moments that come from the choice to shatter the invisible walls of passivity.
“I don’t want to be perceived as a victim, and I won’t give their actions the power to define who I am and what I’ll be. I choose to decide for myself how you will see me. We don’t want you to support us because of some photogenic tears, but because we chose the struggle and our struggle is just. This is the only way that we’ll be able to stop crying one day.”
Ahed Tamini is currently one of the hundreds of Palestinian children in Israel jails, many of them experiencing legalized torture and force confessions. She’s in jail because she slapped an Israel solider on camera who came to raid her house the day after they shot her 14 year old cousin in the head severely wounding him. When an Israel judge asked her how she slapped a soldier she said, “Take off my cuffs and I’ll show you how.”