The Dangers of Not Speaking Up…
This poem is an apt warning to the dangers of political apathy and inaction when someone other than yourself is being persecuted…
First they came for the Communists,
- but I was not a communist so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists,
- but I was neither, so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Jews,
- but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Catholics,
- but I was not a Catholic, so I did not speak out.
And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me.
This poem is attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group. For more info, take a look at the wikipedia entry here.
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