Comments on: Martin Luther King about Power and Love

By: Reclaiming Power | Niall Cooper

Reclaiming Power | Niall Cooper — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 16:18:46 +0000

[...] over people, we rightly recoil. But power can be a force for good, as well as for ill. As Martin Luther King once said, “Power is the ability to achieve a purpose… It is the strength required to bring [...]

By: Alain B. Volz

Alain B. Volz — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:25:39 +0000

The quote is from dr. King’s speech
Where Do We Go From Here? (1967)
Address to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (16 August 1967)

More of dr. Martin Luther King on my weblog http://alainvolz.wordpress.com/2011/09/12/martin-luther-king-using-ghana-as-an-example/

By: Eva Schiffer

Eva Schiffer — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 12:00:17 +0000

I’m sorry, I found it floating on the internet and also don’t know where it comes from.

By: Looking for Reference

Looking for Reference — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 14:54:00 +0000

Can anyone tell where this quote of MLK’s comes from? a speech? a book or article, etc?
Thanks.

By: 40zen

40zen — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:06:58 +0000

I recommend you read Adam Kahane’s book – Power and Love – it is about social change. He posits that both are needed in a generative way. It was published Jan 2010.

By: A

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:38:13 +0000

Mannn, How true!

By: Eva Schiffer

Eva Schiffer — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:00:24 +0000

What I see in practice is that mostly things happen when someone (group or individual) takes leadership and responsibility for it. Unstructured groups of people where no one takes something up and says: “Ok, let’s make it happen.” rarely get anywhere. I agree with you that sometimes people get up to make something happen that is against the interest or the goals of the majority. But I also see that to shy away from power and responsibility out of political correctness often makes us achieve nothing – or at least far less than we could. And I sometimes experience that these discussions are so much more important for us outsiders than for the villagers: Their first priority is the new well or the improved road. If you ask them whether they were content with the process of getting it, they will most likely look at the infrastructure and if the thing is working, they’ll say yes…

By: Prakash Kashwan

Prakash Kashwan — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 18:14:51 +0000

Eva, I wanted to suggest that “power over” operates more frequently in traditional societies as compared to “power to”. If I understand your friend’s statement right, “whose word count” means who is influential in getting his/her way over others. or whose opinion matters (more than others). In that sense, “power to” when concentrated in a few hands, becomes “power over” others. And, this discussion is interesting precisely because in local collective action, village leaders have ‘power to’ bring together the rest of the community but the reason that they can do that easily many a times is to do a lot with the fact that they have power over other users etc. Your thoughts?

By: Eva Schiffer

Eva Schiffer — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:47:34 +0000

So, Prakash, you would say that in traditional societies there is a better understanding of “power over” than of “power to”? Interesting… A friend who worked in India said that the expression “whose word has weight” was a generally understood concept on the village level and I think this does include the “power to”…

By: Prakash Kashwan

Prakash Kashwan — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:50:38 +0000

These are fascinating questions. The debate points towards classical thoughts about “power over (others to make them do things they otherwise wouldn’t do)” and “power to (achieve)”, with the latter emphasized quite a bit in the communitarian tradition of collective action, and liberty. I would like to register that social-economic and political context in traditional societies offer plenty in terms of “power over”, which many a time may overshadow the “power to”. It is important to differentiate between the two as well as to consider that none of them can be ignored. Indeed, there is Luke’s “third face of power”.