social movements
Social media, the Internet and new possibilities for social change
The brand new Academy of the Impossible nestles (huddles, coils?) in a low-rise strip of commercial real estate in Toronto's west end among other small, well-meaning enterprises. The space is bare, the acoustics are problematic, but it's already well-wired for Internet activity: social media, gaming etc. It plans to take a step beyond hacktivism toward the integration of online agitation with direct action in the streets, that the Occupy movements have embodied.
The return of non-violence
This is a time of rejuvenation for non-violence. The Occupy movements were built on what one writer called "the courage of young people to fly into conflict on Gandhi's wings." The Arab Spring won its tenuous victories non-violently. A leader of the Tunisian Islamist party said recently, "I wish in the West they would focus on our non-violence when they talk about Islam, how the masses of people did not react to the incredible violence thrown at them." He meant this in contrast to the bloody civil war that Algerian Islamists fell into after being robbed of their election victory in 1992.
The Occupy movement and questions about place
The Occupy movements have largely become dramas revolving around the excellent question posed by The Clash: Should I stay or should I go? It's become a story about a place. Some, like London (Ontario) are gone. Others, like London (England) are on notice. Occupy Wall St. is gone but it's back, in a different form. We'll know about Occupy Toronto, apparently, tomorrow. But it's possible that this is the wrong question. Let me offer another view based on a recent visit to Madrid.
Movement building: Don't Occupy the status quo
Occupy Toronto has joined Occupy Vancouver with the distinction of appealing to the court system for the right to stay encamped in their respective locations. Superior Court Judge David Brown has granted a temporary stay of the eviction order by the City of Toronto, which will be argued in court on Friday with a final decision no later than Saturday at 6 p.m.
In his ruling Judge Brown wrote "The purpose of my interim order is to preserve the status quo as it existed at the time the Notice was served earlier today."
From Tahrir Square to Liberty Plaza, protests are spreading around the world
The winds of change are blowing across the globe. What triggers such change, and when it will strike, is something that no one can predict.
Last Jan. 18, a courageous young woman in Egypt took a dangerous step. Asmaa Mahfouz was 25 years old, part of the April 6 Youth Movement, with thousands of young people engaging online in debate on the future of their country. They formed in 2008 to demonstrate solidarity with workers in the industrial city of Mahalla, Egypt. Then, in December 2010, a young man in Tunisia, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire to protest the frustration of a generation. His death sparked the uprising in Tunisia that toppled the long-reigning dictator, President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.
Lessons from Spain's Camp Sol and the 'Indignant' movement
The Guardian reported Wednesday that demonstrators in Madrid's Puerta del Sol have voted to dismantle the tent city, without "agreeing on a basic set of demands." Does that mean the tent city, and the "Indignant" movement more broadly, have failed?