Several Hollywood celebrities such as Joaquin Phoenix, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Susan Sarandon appeared at the January 10 “Fire Drill Fridays” event, a weekly climate action protest organised by actress Jane Fonda in Washington, DC.
But it was actor Martin Sheen, known for his work in the likes of Apocalypse Now and The West Wing , who inspired the most, quoting Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore during his speech to the crowds present. He was arrested by the police, along with the other actors, and later released.
During his speech, Sheen who followed Jane Fonda to the stage, remarked, “Clearly, the world will be saved by women. Thank god they outnumber us men.”
He then motivated the crowd, to take action for something in their lifetime that can lift upto the nation to the point, “Where the heart is without fear, and the head is held high,” using inspiration from Tagore’s poem Where The Mind Is Without Fear.
He continued to recite the full poem:
“Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”
Sheen also an Irish moral tale during the course of his address, and his speech was received to thunderous applause from the crowds present. He was later arrested by the police, along with the other actors and protestors. Capitol Police said it arrested 147 people who were charged with crowding, obstructing or incommoding. All the protesters were later released.
