Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Founders of Idle No More to attend People's Social Forum in Ottawa

Activists from across the country will be coming together this weekend in Ottawa to unite their movements against the right-wing policies of the Harper government. They are joined by two of Idle No More's founders. Jessica Gordon and Sheelah McLean are scheduled to address the meeting at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday January 26th.

At a general assembly set to take place at the University of Ottawa on January 26th and 27th, a number of activists from national social movements plan to launch a process that will pave the way towards a countrywide Canada-Quebec-Indigenous People’s Social Forum scheduled for 2014. The forum’s purpose is to establish a structure for uniting social movements against Harper’s conservative policies. This weekend’s assembly will feature Jérémie Bédard-Wien, spokesperson for the militant Québec student organization ASSÉ, as well as many representatives from national unions (Postal workers, Public Sector, Communications and Energy, etc.) and labour federations (Ontario Federation of Labour and Québec’s FTQ, CSN and CSQ). The co-founders of the Québec branch of Idle No More, Widia Larivière and Mélissa Mollen Dupuis, will also be in attendance.

Almost a year ago, Quebec was deep into the Maple Spring. Today, the red feathers are sweeping the country. Both movements have been drawing closer, demonstrating the general will amongst social movements to join forces together and fight against Harper’s policies.

“The student unrest we saw last year has really inspired us. We figure if collective anger can make a Premier disappear, then maybe it can have the same effect on Harper.” - Mélissa Mollen Dupuis.

“Their movement [Idle No More] is an inspiration to Quebec students. It’s clear that both movements can work together to defeawhat affects us both” - Jérémie Bédard-Wien (ASSÉ).

Michel Lambert, Executive Director of Alternatives, a national and international solidarity organization that is at the source of the project adds "our objective with this Ottawa gathering is to have social movements converge in order to create the largest alliance ever seen in Canada to oppose the most reactionary government in our history."

Original Article
Source: rabble.ca
Author: rabble staff

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