We will not be silent
(Wir Schweign nicht)
"We Will Not Be Silent" is a statement attributed to a non-violent student-resistance
movement in Nazi Germany called The White Rose. It is a statement of purpose, intended to
inspire acts of resistance and dissent against a corrupt government that abuses its power,
and abandons the rule of law.
"We will not be silent" has been put on t-shirts in many languages (among them Arabic, Spanish, French, Hebrew, and Persian) in protest against the U.S. war in Iraq. This shirt, in the English-Arabic version, led, in 2006, to the Iraqi blogger Raed Jarrar's being prevented from boarding a Jet Blue airplane from New York to his home in San Francisco, until he changed his shirt.
However, The shirt's statement is about more than protesting the Iraq war. It is about more than protesting racial profiling. The statement applies to people, whoever and whereever they are. We cannot sit by silently in response to the abuse of power, in whatever form it may take, be it the suppression of the Tibetan people, the slaughter in Darfur, or the simple right to wear a slogan on a t-shirt at an airport. Unless we - the little guys - stand up against tyrany and oppression then we will loose our ability to exersize our inherent rights. Don't be silent! Wear a shirt with the "We will not be Silent!" graphic.
Conal Mac Nachtan
"We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace!" (Leaflet 4's concluding phrase, which became the motto of the White Rose resistance.)
