Shailene Woodley: 'I will fight fascism tooth and nail in 2017'

Actress Shailene Woodley plans to battle fascism in 2017, revealing she will be active in grassroots campaigns throughout the year.

The Divergent star became one of Hollywood's most active activists last year (16), campaigning for politician Bernie Sanders in his failed bid to become the Democratic nominee inpresidential race, and she was arrested in October (16) for protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline on the Sioux tribe's Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota.

But backing Bernie's failed bid and spending time behind bars isn't going to stop her from doing the exact same things in the months ahead.

"I'm going to do every single thing I can to stand up against fascism, because that is not what I believe in," Shailene tells Elle.com. "That is not what I am here in this world to support and to birth new children into."

Although the 25-year-old holds progressive social values, she thinks it's important for everyone to engage in dialogue with other people who may not share the same point of view.

"I stand against hate, I stand against greed," she declares. "I stand against patriarchy. I stand against anything that puts another down in a negative way. But I do stand for compassion and I do stand for empathy. Even if I don't understand why you believe certain things, I want to have a conversation about why you do."

And she lists some of the things she'll be asking herself and encouraging others to consider, adding, "Why is racism such a big deal in America? Why does that systemic problem exist and how did it start? How do we address that at the root cause of the problem?

"Same thing with feminism. Same thing with LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) rights."