First Steps

How do you write sincerely about social change? The vocabulary of the subject is so lofty, about changing the world, about ideals and what's wrong and what we should strive for and how to get there. Where do you start to get a handle on issues like that? I've been learning about environmental economics, Gandhi and non-violent protest and how hippie communes failed, feminism, on how social media is changing society and yet I still feel inadequately informed. I want to take action but I've struggled because how do you even start if the tip of the iceberg is more than you can even grasp?

I think being fed up is the starting point for social action. Just as the Occupy Wall Street movement in NYC was starting up two weeks ago, I organised a Turning Point Gathering in Fredericton with the help of a few friends and Leadnow.ca, a Canadian independent advocacy organisation. These gatherings were held across the country in an effort to co-ordinate the efforts of people who are concerned about the direction we are heading. I invited dozens of people at market and the CSA and hundreds more on Facebook. In the end, only nine people showed up on the rainy Sunday afternoon (not one of the 20 confirmed attendees from Facebook came).

I was secretly relieved by the dismal attendance because even with the Host Agenda sent to me by Leadnow, I felt that my amateur organising skills would be easily overwhelmed. And I understand how hard it is to get people to show up to something like this. When you're comfortable, why go out of your way to learn and talk about things that don't seem to affect your life? But I think people are becoming increasingly uncomfortable about our direction.

The gathering was simple. We voiced our concerns for Canada (that we don't know what we stand for, economic inequality, irresponsible environmental policy, increasing lack of transparency and democracy in government), what things give us hope for the future (local public demonstrations, the organic farming movement, widespread accessibility to alternative media sources) and what we think we could do together (writing letters to the editor and signing petitions allows politicians to recognise that their actions and policies are being scrutinised). The results of the meeting were sent to Leadnow as a first step towards mapping where we want to go and how we'll get there.

Across North America, the Occupy Wall Street movement is gathering voices too, in a much more dramatic fashion. The movement started unorganised and without a leader yet their goals are crystallizing through the addition of more opinions and dialogue and their methods are evolving. They want the interests of people to be put before the interests of corporations, for people think hard about root causes of the problems, and they will do it non-violently.

A turning point means a new direction for everyone involved. The event-organising is certainly new and somewhat awkward for me. I'm still learning about alternative modes of thought, about different ways to affect my surroundings. Someone noted at the meeting that grassroots movements have a difficulty because they are organised by people who have jobs and families they care about and limited time and resources to use to organise for change. This is in stark contrast to the budgets that corporations devote towards shaping society. I feel a lot of uncertainty but I believe with enough confidence to act that capitalism has outlived its utility, that the negative far outweighs the positive. A change in direction needs to be considered and I don't know what that looks like or where it leads but now is a good time to start figuring it out.



http://wagingnonviolence.org/2011/10/can-we-be-the-100-percent/

http://occupywallst.org/article/today-liberty-plaza-had-visit-slavoj-zizek/