Anjali Appadurai may be considered an “outsider” candidate but that isn’t stopping the long-time climate activist from going all-in to become the next leader of the B.C. NDP.
Appadurai initially ran in the 2021 federal election, and despite being unsuccessful in her campaign, the environmentalist is applying what she learned to ensure she remains competitive in the leadership race.
As part of her more than a decade in climate and social justice advocacy work, Appadurai worked with grassroots organizations in B.C., along with international counterparts to provide feedback and influence the United Nations’ climate change process.
“I think the field is shifting when it comes to how grassroots movements engage with different systems of power, and so I had always thought of myself as best placed outside of the electoral system,” she explained in an interview with rabble.ca.
But over time, Appadurai discovered the power of harnessing social movements to create meaningful change.
Appadurai admits that she didn’t initially see herself running in the leadership race, particularly on the heels of a hard fought federal election campaign. But she soon realized that the race represented “a once in a generation opportunity” to transform the New Democratic Party, an opportunity she could not pass up.
She noted that one of her goals is to “expose and lay bare the failures of [neoliberalism] and to talk about a hopeful vision for how we could shift governance.”
Looking back on her first run for office, Appadurai learned a lot about how political culture functions, noting that it’s “focused on its own continuation and its own power.” That is something she wants to change.
“My role as an insurgent candidate is to open the door for the voices of community and the voice of the grassroots to be lifted on this platform and to be lifted ultimately into the halls of power,” she said. “We have a political culture right now that is myopic and that has lost sight of people’s lives and of the stakes of the future, and of the well being of people and the planet.”
Creating space for everyone to contribute their best gifts to society
Should Appadurai become the leader of the B.C. NDP and become premier, her approach to lawmaking would take a marked departure from the man she hopes to succeed for the position, John Horgan.
“This government has lost sight of its fundamental job, which is to protect people and the planet from the shocks of the global economy and from environmental harm and from private interests,” she said.
Instead, Appadurai hopes to keep the spirit of the grassroots community alive through a collaborative process, in a way “that manifests our policy-making process.”
What that boils down to, she added, is creating space in legislation for everyone to contribute their best gifts to society.
“Then the whole becomes more than the sum of its parts,” she said.
Part of that work starts at home for Appadurai in building a campaign team that reflects the world she wants to live in.
‘It’s an overall re-prioritization of the economy’ – Appadurai
Appadurai attributes her lengthy resume of climate advocacy experience as the reason “the party establishment” is pigeon-holing her as a one-issue candidate. But part of her campaign, she says, is about building awareness and understanding among the public that climate represents an overarching framework that requires consideration in any and all lawmaking.
“It’s a set of limits within which we have to make trade-offs that put people on the planet first,” she explained. “It’s a set of ecological limits, it’s a set of political limits. It’s a set of economic limits. And the culture of neoliberalism simply does not want to accept that there are limits to growth.”
Pointing out that society can only extract from the earth so relentlessly for so long before the neoliberal capitalist model collapses, Appadurai believes Canadians are already seeing these ramifications in the form of widespread polarization and inequality.
Looking at recent extreme weather events like the devastating 2021 Lytton heat dome and subsequent wildfires, Appadurai believes it’s time to kick into emergency mode when it comes to addressing the climate crisis, something she is prepared to do as B.C. NDP leader.
“It’s not just stopping climate change, it’s an overall re-prioritization of the economy,” she said.
Appadurai noted that as a woman of colour seeking office, there is a lot of “outright hate and vitriol” but there is a barrier that’s even worse.
“What’s more insidious is the subtle paternalism that undermines the actual power and the actual solutions that we bring to the table,” she explained, adding she has to be 10 times more put together and more professional to be seen as a viable, or electable candidate. “I have to show up visually and aesthetically in a way that my male counterparts don’t have to, and I have to answer to subtext around my family not being from here, and I have to continually situate myself as a person whose only home is B.C.”
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Nick Seebruch, editor
