Ashanti Alston
Ashanti Alston
Ashanti Omowali Alston is an anarchist activist, speaker, and writer, and former member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army. From 1974 to 1985, he spent time in prison for bank robbery, which caused him to become further engaged in politics. He is currently on the Steering Committee of the Jericho Movement to free U.S. political prisoners. Alston resides in Providence, Rhode Islan
"Oppositional thinking and oppositional risks are necessary. I think that is very important right now and one of the reasons why I think anarchism has so much potential to help us move forward. It is not asking of us to dogmatically adhere to the founders of the tradition, but to be open to whatever increases our democratic participation, our creativity, and our happiness."
Ashanti Alston"We are not going to get through some of our internal dynamics that have kept us divided unless we are willing to go through some really tough struggles. This is one of the other reasons why I say there is no answer: we’ve just got to go through this."
Ashanti Alston"When old strategies don’t work, you need to look for other ways of doing things to see if you can get yourself unstuck and move forward again."
Ashanti Alston"Only the People’s full participation can bring true victory. And the People are real individual human beings, like me—with brains, desires, fears, angers, dreams, etc."
Ashanti Alston"One must never stop learning and growing and working for the People."
Ashanti Alston"The people themselves have to create structures in which they articulate their own voice and make their own decisions. I didn’t get that from other ideologies: I got that from anarchism."
Ashanti Alston
