The Revolution Will Be Improvised

Canadian Coalition for Electronic Rights

On September 29th, 2011 the Government reintroduced the Copyright Modernization Act, Bill C-11 (previously Bill C-32). The Government which now holds a majority seems poised to expedite the passage of this legislation into Canadian law by taking actions to limit debate and engage in only hasty committee hearings.

It is essential that your Member of Parliament hear from you on this topic and it is to this effect that the CCER has updated its online letter writing tool. This could be your last chance to speak out on this issue so it is imperative that you send a letter to Ottawa today even if you have spoken out in the past. 

Educate and unify:

“They could hold teach-ins all over the country,” says Giroux. “Go to churches, synagogues, public spheres where they can educate and recruit people. Then they have to come together nationally and internationally through student councils or workers’ and community organizations. (In the U.S.) they need to form a new social democratic party that believes in the public good. Don’t just criticize, organize.

Build a social network:

“The Spanish movement set an example,” says activist Judy Rebick, author of Transforming Power. “Public medical clinics were cut back, so they occupied them and doctors and nurses worked with them to reopen. Same with the universities. It was like the early days of the women’s movement when we set up our own rape crisis centres and shelters. The message is we can’t rely on anyone we have to do it ourselves. The protesters have learned that.”

Co-opt authority:

In the 1960s hippies stuck flowers in the barrels of police guns. “If the movement wants to be successful it’ll have to convert those who aren’t on their side,” says Mark Katz of George Mason University, author of Reflections on Revolutions. “If police won’t follow orders and join the protests it would have an incredible impact.” A retired police officer who joined the protesters was arrested Friday.

Speak to power:

“Many of the protesters are anarchists, and they believe the system is broken,” says political science professor Stephen Bronner of Rutgers University, author of Socialism Unbound. “They’ve succeeded in putting their point across. But if they ignore the (U.S.) political system and refuse to deal with it, it could have a disastrous effect on the next election. They may be disappointed in Obama, but they can give him the political will to push for jobs and health care etc. Up to now there has been no real protest from the left, and a general malaise (exists). They can keep up the pressure.”

Target the political system:

In Canada the popular vote may not elect the candidates or parties the majority wants. In the U.S. the system is less democratic. “If they really want to change the way it works they have to dump the electoral college, which is a kind of feudal system that doesn’t reflect the modern world,” says Katz. “And they have to deal with the incredible power of the senate to hold up the political process.”

Spread the message:

Although Occupy has won broader support in Canada, the world’s most powerful country is still skeptical. “The U.S. protests have had some impact among Democratic partisans,” says sociologist Jeff Manza of Northwestern University, who analyses American political attitudes. “But the story that’s emerging is that rising polarization is changing how Americans are responding to the recession. The problem for the Occupy people is that the other half of society isn’t listening to them.”

 Jazz The Vote is a partner of Rock The Vote and Rock Nation