"Speaking truth to power" is a non-violent political tactic, employed by dissidents against the received wisdom or propaganda of governments they regard as oppressive, authoritarian or an ideocracy. The phrase originated with a pamphlet, Speak Truth to Power: a Quaker Search for an Alternative to Violence, published by the American Friends Service Committee in 1955.
Practitioners who have campaigned for a more just and truthful world have included The Hebrew Prophets, Apollonius of Tyana, Vaclav Havel,[1] Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mahatma Gandhi, Bacha Khan, and the Dalai Lama.[2]
- ^ Havel, Václav; et al. (1985). Keane, John, ed. The Power of the Powerless: Citizens against the state in central-eastern Europe. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe. ISBN 0-87332-761-6.
- ^ Nan Richardson (ed), Kerry Kennedy and Eddie Adams, 'Speak Truth to Power', Umbrage, 2003, introduction.
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