The Dandelion Insurrection Quotes

“We live in a pivotal juncture in time - a time when it is essential that we grow out of our adolescent, egotistical, and destructive ways, and blossom into the kind of people we have always yearned to be.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“Over the years, I have learned that Americans are the fattest and richest people on earth, but they are all starving for kindness. It is a tragedy. There is so much goodness locked in the hearts of the Americans. The people of this country could truly make this the greatest nation on earth . . . if only they were not caged with fear.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“The Internet should be free, open, uncensored, and self-governing," Tucker declared, his face shining with passion. "No one should have the right to control it, corporatize it, manipulate its truth, or own it. It is a being. And, like people, like animals, like plants, and like the Earth itself, this being has rights.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“An Oath Guardian," Mack told them, "is a soldier, a cop, or any other security officer who refuses to enforce unconstitutional laws. They took an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States and they aren't about to let scumbag politicians use them as pawns in their power games. Not against their own people.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“Human spirit connected through the beat.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“People won't stand for it," Charlie had once argued with Bill, "they'll revolt." "You think those in power don't know this?" Bill had replied. "They've got the laws in place for mass arrests, civilian murder, indefinite detention, military tribunals, and martial law. The people, for the most part, are clueless." He swept a gesture to the nation. "Lambs at the slaughterhouse! Jews on the way to the Holocaust!”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“Everywhere the concrete of control paved over the goodness of the heart, the Dandelion Insurrection sprang up through the cracks.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“when we stop blaming Them and take responsibility for our actions . . . when we consciously withdraw our cooperation from injustice . . . that is when real change begins to occur.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“Do you want to prune the problem down a little," Zadie asked, "or pull it out by the roots?" "The roots, of course," Inez answered immediately. "Then we've got to tackle greed," Zadie said. "If we don't address it as a spiritual and moral failing, no amount of revolution will bring lasting change. The greed of our society must be uprooted, or we will grow into that which we despise.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“I'm not scared, Charlie's not scared, and if you run into someone who is, your job is to look for what is hidden under the fear.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“Humans hadn't even fully acknowledged the equal rights of each other, let alone those of animals or the planet. Animal slavery was as common as housecats and feedlots. Subjugation of ecosystems for natural resources ran as rampant as the rape and abuse of women. The same mentality that sought to possess and extract from the land also sought absolute dominance over the Internet and computers. And now this current corporate-political regime strove to shove humanity back into the dark ages just when our survival depended on recognizing the equal rights of all creation.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“No!" Zadie exclaimed. "All my contact numbers are in there! We can't destroy it without getting those, Charlie.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“Todd turned on the television at a low volume. "That won't give you any real news," Charlie snorted. "No," Todd agreed, "but it's always good to know what lies they're telling.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“By the time the power fails, we will have the people assembled. We will tell them what little we know, and plant the seed of suspicion by alerting them beforehand. We will prevent panic, keep people connected, and set up support systems for this time of crisis.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“You see, the rich treat the poor like cattle in their stockyards. They keep us alive only as long as we continue to bring them profit. They starve us out for jobs, so our sons and daughters are conscripted by the poverty draft and sent to die as soldiers in their wars. They poison us with their cheap food, so then we must slave in their debt-camps to pay for their expensive medical care. They convict us for crimes of survival and then tax us double to lock our brothers and sisters into privatized prisons! Too much money is made from the suffering of the poor!”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“People wanted to smash storefronts when we could no longer buy bread, but we did not. We smashed the pavement of an abandoned lot in the middle of winter and said our greatest revenge would be to live. And not just to live, but to organize.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“Don't believe everything you hear on TV," she snapped. "The middle and upper classes are terrified about the anger of the poor. There have been plenty of advertisements about what to do in times of unrest; how to call the police to report people, how to barricade your door, board over your storefront quickly, hide from the drug-crazed violence of the lower classes. Hah! When was the last time anyone came into my neighborhood, huh? No one comes down here. They are all scared. They think we're huddled on the street corners ready to attack. They imagine that we walk by their grocery stores with rocks in our fists, ready to smash in the windows and loot the shelves. They have nightmares of us raping them, kidnapping their children, stealing all their money.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“Well, it's the same as worshipping our soldiers and glorifying the profession of murder," Zadie said passionately.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“Every time we idolize the wealthy and try to become rich like them, we're perpetuating the suffering of billions.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“Charlie thought of the flea-ridden couch, the bare bulb of the bike shop, and the gaunt lines in Spark Plug's face. He thought of his own dark nights when he felt the creeping hand of the government tracking him. Better men than he had cast morality aside to live in the mouth-watering world of wealth. Smarter men had seduced themselves into positions of power with half-truths and shoddy rationales. He had never been offered a chance to live in this Garden of Eden, but if he was, he suspected that the shiny red fruit of knowledge would send him tumbling away from the paradise of the wealthy. Charlie knew worried fathers who could not feed their families. He knew mothers who worked two jobs only to send their children to bed hungry. He had peeled apart the intricate layers of a socio-economic system that was riddled with rotten deals that screwed people over. He had tasted the bittersweet fruit of truth and his understanding of right and wrong barred the gate to a blissful existence in this garden.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“I'm starting to understand why Spark Plug felt powerless," Charlie muttered. "These people don't care about the masses of people in poverty. They don't even know they exist.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“We have to stop seeing guns and start seeing people. We've got to connect with each other, human to human. Not just in the movement, but everywhere. The police officers need to see that we're not statistics; we are as alive and worthy of life as they are," Charlie said. The mind was the first defense against tyranny. As long as the people kept playing the role of the faceless masses, they were never going to succeed. He nodded to the officer on the corner. The uniformed man gave him a startled look before quickly hiding it under a scowl.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“It works. And it's the only thing that's going to work. Our fear and hatred isn't going to create a better world than the one their greed is working on right now. In a time of hate," Charlie quoted, "love is a revolutionary act.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“You can't make me hate you," Charlie said, so quietly that only Spark Plug could hear. "You can't make me angry. And you can't stop me from feeling only love toward you.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“Violence is the strategy of shit-ass cowards without the balls to do the real work.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“When fear is used to control people, love is how we rebel.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“Nonviolence, create connections, use our civil liberties, and keep humanity and the planet alive .”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“This system has been called leaderless," Zadie said, "but I see it more as leader-full. If every person thoroughly understands the overarching strategy and is empowered to lead, then you've got innovation and organization working together effectively, creating a tremendous explosion of activity without a chain of command.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“Violent unrest is exactly what the power elite wants. They're prepared to deal with it. They expect it. It gives them an excuse to tighten the reins and use military force.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -

“Many obstacles needed to be overcome; culturally ingrained apathy, fear of retaliation, the general ill health and drug addiction issues of the populace, the tremendous misinformation spread by the corporate propaganda machine, and the current set of repressive laws.”
― Rivera Sun, The Dandelion Insurrection - love and revolution -