NDP Brings White Fest to Halifax

Where are the purple people and the green with yellow polka dotted people? Maybe there needs to be a quota system where by the keynote speakers need to be 50/50 male to female and of the speakers from each gender - there must be a white, a black an Asian and a first nation - and each of those people should be from a different province (don't forget that we need regional representation) - oh and i guess we also need a quota of keynote speakers who are under 30 and a quota who are francophone and a quota who are disabled and a quoata who are LGBTTQ - did I mention that there are only seven keynote speakers?

so are about 90% of all Canadians - so what's your point?

There will be dozens of people giving presentations and speeches at the convention and i expect that they will be of all colours - but the ONLY criteria for choosing "keynote speakers" should be that they be the best and most inspiring and interesting people to speak before an audience of NDP activists (this won't exactly be getting gavel to gavel coverage on CNN) - how much melanin they have in their skin is of no interest to me.

I don't think 90% of Canadians are white.  We have a larger minority population than that as far as I know.

Boy you guys.  Please send me a notice about the next large-scale undertaking any of you organize, so I can pull it apart and find everything wrong with it too.

That said, I will be surprised if some attention is not paid to the Black Nova Scotian community, and the Miqma'q and Malaseet nations and the Acadian fact of Nova Scotia.  Sheesh folks there's still a month to go yet...

You'd be surprised, once you get out of the major cities, Canada is very white. The "visible minority" population is actually a lot lower than you might think from walking around downtown Vancouver.

Obama's people are coming to the convention to discuss TACTICS that they have found to be effective. Quite frankly, if there was someone from the GOP who had something interesting to share about tactics for winning elections - I'd be interested in hearing about it from them as well. I don't have to agree with every single policy plank for the candidate the person worked for - i want to know about nuts and bolts tactics and strategies that could be useful in the next federal election.

I think diversity is extremely important, but there are many levels of diversity that need to be taken into consideration. You need some speakers who can speak French, you need some from each of the major regions of the country, you need some men and women, you need some elder statesmen and women. I'm not sure how many ways you can slice and dice seven people - we are not talking about a cabinet of 20 people who will run a province for the next four years - we are talking about a few people giving short speeches.

I assume that the speakers list is in a state of flux since i noticed that at one point Stephen Lewis was on the list and now he isn't - so perhaps they are trying to get another speaker or two that has some more melanin in their epidermis.

Even more sad than this oversight is the belief by commenters here that no person of colour in the entire country could be an effective keynote speaker.

I think this is fair comment.

While underrepresentation is not just an NDP problem, it is an NDP problem and one that we have to work on.

That said, obviously the two NDP premiers (including the host) are going to be invited to speak, and they happen to be white and male. And, it'd be hard not to include a revered figure like Ed Broadbent. But why not at least feature one or more of the NDP Provincial Leaders who is female (there are three)? Why not feature Gordon Earle, a past and future MP?

As OO says, there is still a month to work on the program.

Just for the sake of factual accuracy: using the Statistics Canada definitions and the data from the 2006 census, the percentage of people identified as "visible minorities" OR "Aboriginal" (exclusive categories in Stats Can terminology) is just shy of 20%. That number would be higher in big cities and in northern areas with a higher percentage of Indigenous people.

But that is not really the point. No one is arguing for a precise calibration of tokenistic representation according to demographic ratios, except Stockholm's straw man.

If you don't want to not have someone you think you need to hear from then add another slot. The problem is those who think that diversity is not as important as the other list of people. Since you mention the CLC- take a look at their conventions-- they make sure there is diversity at their conventions.

I'm sure they'd be thrilled to get Phil Fontaine, for example. Maybe he was invited and declined. I don't know. David Suzuki could be great but maybe tehy couldn't get him. Who else should be there? And who of the existing speakers should they replace? A sitting Premier? A party icon like Broadbent?

Roberta Jamieson

Pat Dieter

Linda Otway

All three could be great speakers--

All three are experts on women in aboriginal politics-- barriers to women in politics, first nations challenges-- they would be worth the flight ticket-- and I don't care that none of them is AFN leader--

You know, I think Stock has a point here.  When you're picking eight people (there's eight on that website), sometimes you can't have everyone represented no matter how hard you try.  But they tried and they did a good job representing diverse people.  They have a white American, white banker, white hockey player, white union official, white guy named Ed, white premier, other white premier, and white Nova Scotian.  Now that's diversity!

Note the heavy sarcasm, if it isn't apparent.

Again, they will be in Miqma'q territory ... and I'm sure a Miqma'q elder has already been approached as would be traditional and respectful.  What wouldn't be smart is inviting a Mohawk or someone from somewhere else and NOT inviting someone from the local Miqma'q community.

Really, people just can't wait to pull things out of the air to criticize the party for, when it would have been more constructive (not easier of course, as it would take some effort, and starting a thread on Babble to complain is much less work) to just pick up the phone and call someone in federal office and make an inquiry and perhaps a suggestion or two.

It's the passive-aggressive complaining by non-doers that engenders the irritated responses.

I didn't mean to be dismissive of this topic - but I guess I found the original post with the all-caps headline about an "ALL WHITE SPEAKERS LINEUP" to be a bit over the top and was almost conjuring up an image in my mind of a lineup of people all wearing KKK hoods!

As I mentioned the list of speakers seems to be constantly changing and a few days ago had more people on it than it does now - so I assume that the lineup is still being finalized - so i think its good that this subject has been raised and hopefully the convention organizers are already one step ahead of the game and have been contact with some potential speakers of colour who simply haven't been nailed down yet.

One of the "keynote speakers" is actually described as an "Atlantic Canada Showcase including Alexa MacDonough" - it may well be that this segment will include such people as Percy Paris, Lorraine Michael and Leonard Preyra - so let's wait and see, the speakers list is far from complete

Yeah, can't have two indigenous speakers.  That would be like having two white speakers!

Better to be raising this now when the convention is still a month away than to be making a stink at the convention itself.

and btw: I find the title of this thread pretty offensive. There are perfectly legitimate points to be made about how the list of speakers at the convention should be more diverse - but referring to the NDP as bringing a "white fest" to Halifax makes it sound like this was some sort of calculated salute to white supremacy out of Pretoria circa 1950!

For the love of mike, that's not what I said at all and please don't put words into my mouth.  There were no Miqma'q names on Sean in Ottawa's list, but a lot of Ontario names.  As I said, it would be considered rude if in Miqma'q territory not to thank the elders for welcoming you there, but meanwhile to invite someone else to address you.

I take it you just want to be generally argumentative rather than having any particular knowledge about these things, or look for the most charitable explanation for what someone is saying.

I'm amused by the idea that ethnic diversity is something you can cobble together every two years for ceremonial occasions by making a few phone calls to non-whites who have no real connection to the party (like Fontaine, Suzuki, Jamieson). That's the way the Liberals and Tories operate, of course.

The real problem with diversity for the NDP is that it does not have strong alliances with the struggles of minorities, and its leadership layers at the provincial and federal level are overwhelmingly white. Naturally, if you are going to  have keynote speakers who are drawn from the likes of premiers and ex-premiers you are going to be reflecting the lack of diversity that actually exists in the party. 

I can't decide whether it's better to have speakers that reflect the pathetic reality of the party, or to try to put lipstick on the pig and put on a show for the non-whites, US-style.

Maybe Obama's crack election strategists could give the NDP some tips in that regard?

So Spector, how good a job have organizations you are involved with done with diversity?

And point of information, in the case of the NDP having more diverse keynote speakers would not be a case of "something you can cobble together every two years for ceremonial occasions by making a few phone calls to non-whites who have no real connection to the party."

Rather it would be a case of the keynote speakers being representative of the diversity that does exist in the NDP- which itself needs a lot of improvement, but is not non-existant.

The point you make in your opening post is more relevant than you, like Spector, wanting a totally different NDP than the one that exists.

And by the way, if the NDP was "less cliquish"... if it was more open, chances are by far the greatest that it would be MORE likley to be 'cautious' arond Gaza and other popular struggles.

Unless of course it is to bring in different cliques. That would do the trick.

Hey, Corvin, I think we hit a nerve.

One person it would be good to hear from in some capacity (if not convention speaking then at one of the cultural events) is George Elliot Clarke, the Nova Scotia poet.  He used to work on the Hill ages ago for Howard McCurdy, and has gone on to incredible success.

ETA: I didn't mean to suggest that the last two points were in any way related ;-)

You flatter yourself Spector.

While agree that it might be quick to jump given a speaker list that is changing- still, its whiteness left us wide open and fair game for the opening post criticism Corvin made.

But as to the general criticisms of the NDP that both of you made- those are easily sloughed off. Corvin ran them together and I just wanted to differentiate between them.

Its interesting that the original posting criticizes the NDP BOTH for having a lineup of speakers that are all white and also for highlighting links to Barack Obama - the first black President of the US!

This is probably doomed to get esoteric, but we are both more or less correct.

There is a practical difference between 'the membership'- the real membership that is, not the abstraction people speak to.... and the cadre who attend Council and Conventions.

The cadre is in general more oriented to the more activist/radical issues than are the membership. They are the legitimate representatives of the membership, but they are not 'the membership'.

The membership in general are even somewhat less radical than are the elected politicians- which is why Caucus can get away with ignoring what comes out of Convention when they so choose. The blunt truth is that at least a majority of the membership generally approves of the positions being taken, whether or not they are even aware that Convention passed something quite different.

Just as the membership is content to let the more vocal and generlly more articulate [and more radical] among them be their reprentatives within the party [which few of the members bother voting for], they are also inclined to agree with the pragmatic approach taken by the elected politicians.

My point was that if the NDP was 'less cliquish'.. that it took an active participatory approach to getting more people involved... not 'just' more momen and more people of colour, but the tougher nut of more people who leave 'taht kind of stuff' to 'others'... then you would find MORE push to uncomplicated pragmatism within the NDP, not less.

For those of you whose experience with the NDP membership is in big cities [let alone for those of you it is all or mostly second or third hand], you may well have an entirely different perception. But there is a lot more of the NDP membership that is in the East, northern Ontario, the Praries and BC outside of the cities.

How about "Nobody knows I'm Stockholm"

Ha! That would be a dead giveaway...

Keep an eye out for someone wearing the Swedish coat of arms!

Actually, what Ken just wrote about the membership vs. convention and council delegates vs. the caucus makes a lot of intuitive sense to me, and is a useful distinction I hadn't thought to draw out in such clear terms.  Good job and thanks for that.

Do you suppose it's too late to order some "I suffer from Stockholm Syndrome" t-shirts for the convention?  I can't be there, unfortunately but would buy one for sure ;-)

Incindentally, making baseless personal slanders at me is againt the terms of conduct of babble and I have lodged a complaint.

Its definitely not the second. And in my opinion, that you read it that way says more about you.

Does weighing the politics and choosing to be as 'pragmatic' as the politicians make you "stupid". I may not agree with the choices, but in my view its not a good starting point to look at people that way.

There is a lot of disengagement, although I would not at all characterise it as "no involvement whatsoever". Thats characteristic of false dichotomies.

But the blunt reality is that there are a lot of members who while they see policy as important- to the degree they are going to put out actual energy its going to be around the gruntwork of trying to elect people. While they would agree the rest of the life of a party is important, they are less motivated to do something about it.

That state of affairs is ultimately the sole responsibility of the NDP, but it would be infantile to not take into account how much of that is a product of the culture, and a lot of the class system, we are all immersed in. Infantile, because you can't just wave a wand and dissapear it.

Don't know how I missed this thread till now - but I'll confine myself to saying how nice it is to see and read Corvin's always thoughtful and principled posts and articles. I just recalled (and linked) your 2006 article about how the youth and LGBT caucuses were shafted at that convention in order to allow the caucus to line up behind Harper's omnibus crime bill and age-of-consent. Keep up the great work!

Did someone say Stockholm was a party staffer?

Good grief, no it doesn't.  It could just as easily mean they're busy with other aspects of their life, like what they see from the caucus, and are content to leave well enough alone.  People go through different phases of involvement at different phases of their life, depending on how much free time they have and what the other demands on their attention are.

Nova Scotia sends record 12 women to Province House in election

After 160 years of old line party rule, it was an exercise in democracy, really.

And much work needs to be done in Ottawa with cleaning up that old white boyz' over 60's club known as the senate.

I'm glad someone agrees with me on that! I mean, the NDP posts an interim list of speakers that doesn't include any visible minorities and the next thing we know we get a thread with a title that makes it sound like the convention in Halifax is going to consist of people in hoods burning crosses. the OP should really change it.

Boom Boom, with respect, I think you're shooting the messenger.

That's true and there are some great women and men in the party, unfortunately they don't seem to be running the party.

One can "politely ask" or angrily confront. The latter is not always inappropriate and helps convince people they've made a grievous mistake.

Point taken. I just think we can push and prod without thread titles that are misleading.

Yeah, I'd love to hear your comments about the 2006 convention and the crime and age-of-consent issue. And about squelching discussion of ending the drug war this time round. The "competing demands on an organization" are the demands of progress vs. the demands of power. The NDP will need to make a radical rupture with the pandering of the present if it wants to demarcate itself and inspire the youth of today the way its predecessors did.

When pushing and prodding towards the obvious needs to occur on a continuous basis, when delegates and members are schemed against to avoid having their progressive issues represented on the floor, when individuals bearing sensible  proposals are essentially hung up on, and when a party that claims to espouse non-discriminatory, representational ideals and practices can organize a list of speakers while overlooking the evident contradictions, wouldn't you agree that the time for politeness has past?  The thread title is a legitimate response.

I agree.  Crazy.  

One of the guys who was in Obama's inner circle (of about 50 people?) is coming to convention to speak.  therefore he's on board.  Therefore, by extension, Barack Obama is on board.  Which means that, by extension, there is virtually no difference between Barack Obama and Jack Layton.  In fact, Jack Layton is like Barack Obama.  Actually, he is Canada's Barack Obama, bald head and moustache notwithstanding.  

I once danced with a girl who danced with a boy who danced with a girl who danced with the Prince of Wales...

Seriously, the whiff of desperation is in the air... I take it that there may be a few seats without bums at convention...

Note to Federal  NDP... Jack Layton is not, he's really not, he's definitely really not Barack Obama.  Dennis Kuchinich maybe...

BTW, do you have a suggestion of some non-white speakers that could come?  Other than Gary Coleman...

Especially for an event in Halifax!

Out of seven announced Canadian speakers, one is a woman.

That's better than zero!!!!

"Stockholm, besides all the words you're inferring, is there anything Corvin said that wasn't true?"

There is lots that isn't true. First of all he says that 6 out of 7 speakers are male - i count 6 out of 8. He says that there are 18 headshots of men, where??? Also, given that the convention is a month a way and the list of speakers is still changing regularly and is incomplete, it seems like cheap grandstanding that makes me think that he has decided to follow the B'nai B'rish strategy of distorting and attacking EVERYTHING and turning everythng into a straw dog.

Did Corvin actually contact anyone at the NDP to ask if the speakers list was complete? Did anyone in the party respond to the lack of diversity? I assume the answer is no otherwise we would read about it in the OP.

First of all he says that 6 out of 7 speakers are male - i count 6 out of 8

No, its 6 out of 7 - and the 7th is a U.S. citizen. The 8th headshot is that of someone featured in the "Atlantic Canadians Showcase", not a featured speaker.

Actually I think this is one hell of a good thread.

Now, not during the election campaign, when it is important to remain united because of the regular circus created by the msm, but now is the very best time to hash out these glaring party shortcomings. I don't have any stats but it seems to me that a substantial part of the labour movement, and the NDP needs a major diversification program, similiar to the one that has been instituted for women within the NDP. What percent of Canadian society is Asian, and what percent is represented in the NDP caucus? What percent of Canadian society is First Nations, and what percent is represented in the NDP caucus?  The NDP may never be 100% truly representative, but why not rise to the challenge here, instead of acting like a reactionary old party. And while we are at it, what about the NDP caucus representation of youth, and young adults.

Stockholm, if you really support the NDP, can we convince you to spend a week or two defending Iggy's political choices?

Just as well:

Of eight headliners, only one from Quebec.

As noted already, only two women.

Only one from the labour movement.

No one from the home of Tommy Douglas, Saskatchewan.

No one under 30, and no one under 51 except the environmentalist hockey player novelty.

As noted already, no visible minority or aboriginal.

Unionist wrote:

NorthReport wrote:

That's perfect unionist,. By -the-way, is that you in the first row?  

No, I'm just to his left. 

Is that a Rolex?

How about a headliner who is a young woman of 26, from a northern constituency 70% aboriginal, and for bonus points she is fluent in her mother's first language, Greek?

I thought I heard Mulcair to say that Olivia had worked very hard in his riding during the by-election.  And I know that she's spent a lot of time in Vancouver.  I suppose it's possible you don't see her because you're following the english news, rather than the chinese-language news.

Don't know, sorry. As a footnote, Outremont was 3% Chinese visible minority in the 2006 census.

Well, my neighbour, Robert E. Li, swore she never called or left a message. He did vote for Mulcair, however.

How's her French? Serious question. You don't phone "new Canadian communities" in Outremont and address them in English. Trust me on that.

LOL

Seriously, I do find it very disturbing that they have taken up the Barack Obama brand and are attempting to associate it with the NDP.  I can see why many might have done that when he first came to power but given his decisions since then I see no benefit to identifying with him.

I find it more than a little creepy.  Stepford politics.

BTW, do you have a suggestion of some non-white speakers that could come?

AfroHealer! Hmmm, what rhymes with long dreads?...

You also won't have much luck addressing Chinese-Canadians in Montreal in French. I think the idea was for her to speak to them in Cantonese.

Where does it say that the list is "interim"?

Don't you see that if the list has been "in flux" for that long and no POC or Canadian woman speaker has yet been announced, it's even worse?

(Are you working for Iggy too?...)

I agree!  By the way, when is JacKKK Layton speaking? 

Long thread.