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About this quote

What does it mean?
Authority yields only when faced with opposing force, not passive resistance.
In plain terms
Power gives way only when met with equal power.
What can you take from it?
Counter-power is needed to change power.

Where it applies

  • political struggle
  • workplace dynamics
  • social justice

Putting it to work

  • organize collective action
  • challenge authority effectively
  • build counter-institutions

Questions to consider

  • When is counter-power necessary?
  • How do you challenge power?

Another view

It may justify cycles of conflict rather than cooperation.

More from Martin Buber

  1. Leisure is the exultation of the possible.

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  2. Solitude is the place of purification.

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  3. I don't like religion much, and I am glad that in the Bible the word is not to be found.

    Permalink to quote #20

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