Hi, I’m glad you found your way here.

If you’re engaged in or thinking of taking positive action, and want to ‘learn a better world‘, you’ll be sure to find something of value amongst these pages.

 

There are writings, videos, educational resources, community events, and opportunities for further learning.

Note: this site is not ‘complete’ yet, there’s a lot of backlog still to be posted, and of course new content that keeps on coming.

Sign up for occasional features in your inbox of good things both from this site and elsewhere (enter your email on right side-bar, or here) and if you do, you’ll receive two versions of a booklet on Aboriginal Understanding I’ve written, one of each is formatted to print into a folded ‘real world’ reading package). Also, you can follow on Facebook for occasional cool things.

And scroll down, or see the links in the right sidebar, for the most recent postings here.

- Greg

I’ve produced this 2-page special edition of the ‘rabble rouser’ with a collection of key articles, photos and graphics for the Occupy movement. It’s for use as an outreach tool you can print, make copies, and distribute in the ‘real world’ to people who might not be tuned in online to all the Occupy social media networks. So please – make some copies and get yourself into street promo mode (and sharing online helps too).

Download the pdf in two versions:

• Canadian version (w/ list of Cdn cities in top-left corner on pg.2)

• International version (w/ quote on what Occupy is about, replacing the city list)

The list of articles includes:

• Statements from the Occupation of Wall Street
• Mainstream media dismissive
• Keeping the Occupy integrity
• Making room for racial justice
• Asking the big economic questions

… and it links to rabble.ca‘s full coverage of the Occupy movement, at rabble.ca/occupy

The rabble rouser was previously published in special editions for the 2011 and 2008 federal elections; you can find all the old issues at rabble.ca/rabblerouser

Featuring 14 videos from the Sept 10th event featuring candidates Wali Farah (NDP), Alex Hill (Green Party), and Yasir Naqvi (Liberal Party) [the Conservative candidate was unable to attend at the last minute due to illness].

The 1st Voice of Muslim Youth Provincial Election Engagement Session aimed at providing a platform for Muslim youth in Ottawa, Canada to become both politically engaged and voice the issues that matter and affect them. This event was non-partisan and invited candidates representing the four political parties running in the provincial election (but not all from the same riding).

Click here for the full playlist of all 14 videos – including a representative of Equal Voice, a number of (both prepared and spontaneous) questions to the candidates, and interviews with two of the organizers. Here is the intro to the event:

The list of videos (again, click here for the playlist):

• Introduction to the Event
• Women Running for Office: Etana Cain from Equal Voice
• Candidate Introductions
• Q: Child and Youth Mental Health
• Q: Academic Standards within the Public Education System
• Q: Youth and the Ontario Criminal Justice System
• Q: Post-Secondary Tuition Fees
• Q: Support and Resources for Private Religious Schools (Q1 & Q2)
• Q: Re-integration Programs for Criminalized Youth
• Q: Involving Multicultural Communities in Political Parties
• Q: Is the Hijab or Niqab a barrier to political participation?
• Interview: Event Coordinator Chelby Marie Daigle
• Interview: Voice of Muslim Youth Coordinator Kauthar Mohamed

a guest post from Julie Rage Lalonde, originally posted as a Facebook note

Being Whole

 

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am an intense person, yes, but I laugh at funerals, use sarcasm when I probably shouldn’t and really do believe in a silver lining.

If you know me well you also know that there is no room in my life for religion or even much of spirituality, either. I call myself agnostic, but really I’m apathetic and really over all discussions of the sort. It just doesn’t interest me in the slightest.

I say all this because the following might seem incredibly out of character but it’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately.

 

I am deeply concerned about activism in my community lately and rather than complain about it, I want to make a call for a better environment and see who is interested.

I’ve been doing activism in an official capacity for about 8 years. Like most people, I’ve done things that would constitute activism for much of my life, but it’s only been since I’ve lived in Ottawa that I’ve made a concerted effort to do activism and to identify it as such. The overwhelming majority of my work has centered around womyn’s lives and in particular, violence against womyn, access to abortion and equity in education.

I’ve previously written at length about my feminism and how I came to do the work that I do now, so I won’t get into that.

My issue is that the environment in which I do my activism has become ugly and I have really struggled with how to deal with it.

I know that I am a product of my environment but I am also part of my environment.

As activists, we are not car mechanics or meteorologists whose work is limited by the tools and physical structures available to us. We are the tools and structures. The only limits are our imagination.

So it is frustrating to see how people buy into the idea that we are tangible, objective entities rather than the subjects of our own doing. The rules that govern what we do or how we think are subjective and arbitrary.

There is absolutely no reason why we must treat each other the way we do.

Everyone I’ve ever known to have left the activist community, the feminist movement, social work, etc. did so because of the environment and their colleagues and not because of the actual work. Let me repeat this.

 

People whose jobs it is to listen to horrific stories, to support people who feel hopeless and to advocate for a better world in a political environment that is pessimistic and discouraging, end up leaving the work not because of their clients or because of their ‘enemy’ but because of their so-called allies.

This is often treated as fact; an inevitability.

By setting ourselves up in this way, we are doomed to fail again and again. And every time we do, the enemy wins. And I’m not okay with that.

There is no reason why we must treat each other this way.

I came into this world ‘whole’ and I intend to leave it the same way.

My mother is Native and an incredibly spiritual person. I deeply admire her for this. (The spirituality part, not the Native part. ‘Cause no offense, ma but you had no say in the other part!)

She believes that when someone is deeply hurt in their life, either as a child or an adult, they lose a part of their soul, a part of their ‘being’ and then spend the rest of their life looking for it.

I believe this.

I believe that most of the issues within activist communities stem from people who’ve experienced (or who currently experience) deep, deep pain. Whether that pain was because of the work they’re doing, or is part of the reason they started this work in the first place, they carry that pain with them. Because we’ve set activist communities up as ‘warrior spaces’ where nobody gives up, everybody does 110% and nobody admits defeat, people bury that pain. They bury that pain and bury that pain until they can’t anymore but when they lash out, it is to the nearest person; regardless of whether or not that person has caused them any pain.

As people who’ve spent years and years listening to horror stories of violence against womyn, we do not lash out at rapists, anti-choicers, politicians, or judges. We do not lash out at racist education systems, sexist media or ableist institutions.

We lash out at our comrades.

And this needs to stop.

I am not the least bit delusional about the fact that many activists are damaging to us. Many people who claim to be activists, myself included, have done things (or do things) that are racist, homophobic, ableist, etc. We all need to challenge each other in ways that are productive and about improving the situations and not simply about lashing out.

 

We need to remember that the enemy is not in the room.

I firmly believe in my heart of hearts that anyone who dedicates their life to ending violence, fighting for equitable education, fighting for access to clean water, etc. is an ally and someone who should be worked with, not against.

And so as things get uglier and uglier (and then better and then ugly again, as it goes), I question why I’m here, why I do what I do and whether it’s worth it.

I believe it is.

I do not believe that the revolution will cease without me or that it will fall apart. I believe that there will always be good people in this world who want to fight for a better one and who will step up and replace us all if/when we leave.

But this work is in my blood, it is a fabric of my being and I want to find a way to continue.

 

So this is what I’m proposing:

I want to build a movement based on the premise that anyone who joins does so in good conscience.

I want to build a movement that is a safe space for everyone, including those who have much to learn.

I want to build a movement that refuses all buzzwords, all lip service and all cliches. No more alienating people with academic language, no more preaching self-care but refusing to partake in it or demonizing those who do.

I want to build a movement that recognizes that just as survivors of violence and womyn who’ve had abortions deal with their lives in ways that are unique to them, so do activists. There is no ‘one way’ of doing activism. If you sign every petition and letter that comes across your inbox, hooray! If you march at every protest and raise your fist high, good on you! If you stuff envelopes and write letters behind the scenes, thank you! If you call out your co-workers at the water cooler and take on your racist grandpa at Christmas, you rock!

I want to build a movement that understands that sometimes, your organization is a business unlike any other. You just happen to be in the business of kicking ass and taking names. But you still need to spend time making sure you’ve crossed your Ts and dotted your Is. You need to be accountable to your stakeholders, you need to respect different forms of leadership and you need to know your role. A movement that understands that sometimes, you just gotta get the work done and not bog it down with checking up on everyone’s feelings and pussy footing around things that are ‘touchy’.

I want to build a movement that is optimistic, realistic and practical.

I want to build a movement that truly recognizes that womyn are equal, that we are strong and that we need not break down into tears to be heard. We are valuable because we exist and that is enough.

I want to build a movement that rejects martyrdom, embraces creativity and remembers ALL of Andrea Smith’s work (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Smith_%28academic%29). In particular, the parts where she calls out activists for creating a movement that is depressing, reactive and not focused on being proactive and engaged.

I want to build a movement that allows people to enter ‘whole’ and to exit with all their pieces intact.

You with me?

This course is for:

• people who are actively working for social change and would like to explore, learn and reflect upon the different aspects of their work and how to do things better,
  

• also for those who are looking for a comprehensive introduction to the field.

It is now offered as an independent community-based course at a sliding scale cost.

The course will run from Oct 11 through November 15, on Tuesday evenings 7:00-9:00 pm (five sessions, Oct 25 is an off week). It will be held at the Glebe Community Centre (Third Ave at Lyon).

 

This course is to help participants develop a strategic approach and understanding to dealing with various issues/situations in their communities and the larger world. We will explore the problems and opportunities that come up in groups working to bring about change. For over ten years I’ve been involved in community activism/organizing/raising awareness about issues, and the framework of this course is based on the understandings I’ve developed during that time.

That said, this course is not just about my perspective or me teaching you what’s important. It’s about creating a space where people can explore what’s important to them — contributing their knowledge and experience — and where I can assist by offering some structure/direction/things to think about.

If you are interested in my approach to education please check this report from a workshop I led on ‘edge-u-cation’ (includes a video of me talking a bit about how education actually works). I have a background in education, including a degree in teaching, and I feel that this combined with my experience in different grassroots groups and initiatives will contribute to the overall value for participants in this course.

Some of the questions that will be addressed:

• What issues are important to you, and why? How can you develop a deeper understanding around them?
• How can you best take action? How can you ensure that action is both rewarding and contributes to your personal growth, while still making a positive difference?
• What makes some groups more effective than others? Is a group’s approach and perspective in alignment with your own? How can you best fit in a group’s work?
• How do we keep a clear ‘larger-picture’ vision in focus while working on the concrete ‘on-the-ground’ steps towards that vision?  

 

Special guest:

 
Joan Kuyek, long-time activist and organizer, and author of the new book ‘Community Organizing: A Holistic Approach‘, will be joining us for the third class, on Nov 1st.

The book is suggested reading for the course (available at Octopus Books) – and you can also check out the book’s online resource section.

 

 

Registration:

Advance registration is required, and there is an upper limit of 12 participants.

Please contact me via email (greg@equitableeducation.ca) or phone: 613-656-5498 to register or if you have any questions.

I am offering this course on a sliding scale cost. I would ask that at the end of the first class, if you decide to continue on, that you make an up-front deposit (suggested $10-30 or PWYC) — and then at the end of the course, decide the full amount you wish to pay, based on a combination of the value you received and what you are able to afford. *Note: The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board priced the course (for a 6-week session) at $101.

If you do decide to be a part of this, I look forward to meeting and working with you over the coming weeks. And again, please contact me if there’s anything you’d like to know before you make a decision.

 - Greg

 

Testimonial:

“I have known and worked with Greg Macdougall for 3 years. I have also been fortunate to have been in educational workshops he has facilitated and can attest, first hand, to his commitment to an education process that espouses life-long learning, is empowering, and truly transformative. Greg creates an atmosphere of sharing based on respect and models this in his teaching. If you ever have a chance, don’t waste it. Sign up– have your ideas be heard as you listen to others.”
– Sylvia Smith, teacher at Elizabeth Wyn Wood, coordinator of Project of Heart, nominee: Governor General’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History.
 

Media coverage:

In the interests of preserving history, I’ve compiled some content from back in the immediate aftermath of the September 11th 2001 attacks. Consisting of two opinion columns and two articles I wrote, and two PDFs we (the Kitchener-Waterloo Independent Media Centre) put out, they offer a different perspective to the main messages in the media at that time.

• Columns: September 14 and September 21 – the first was written on the 11th or 12th, I can’t remember which (but I can remember seeing an ‘editorial graphic’ in the Globe and Mail on the 12th with a big fist hitting a map of Iraq, so that was the context in which I was writing), and then the next week’s column was responding to the initial response after the attacks. I got some good feedback from people at the time, including someone who told me her household had posted one of them up on the wall in their washroom.

• Articles: Interview on the subject of terrorism with Peace and Conflict Studies director Lowell Ewert, and an article examining the possibility of conspiracy. The interview about terrorism was a week after the attacks, and gave voice to some different ideas about hwo to deal with terrorism, including the importance of actually defining what we mean by it. The conspiracy article examined some questions that have since been explored in more depth with the ’9/11 Truth’ movement, and really I think the best advice I’ve read about how to think about what happened on September 11th, 2001, is to treat it as something we don’t fully understand.

• Blind Spot PDFs: Sept 2001 two-page edition that brought some alternative messages to the fore in a media environment swamped with hatred and revenge – and – Sept 2002 one-page edition featuring the writing of pseudynm ‘Malcontent X’ asking the unanswered questions and demanding a legitimate public inquiry. Blind Spot was a small monthly/bi-monthly paper we put out in K-W from 2000-2003, which featured ‘special editions’ on occasion.

A collection of articles on Indigenous self-determination and sovereignty, rights, resistance, language and culture. In two PDF versions (for either front-to-back reading, or formatted to print doublesided and fold into booklet form). Please share.

When I was living in Kitchener-Waterloo, I had the opportunity to attend and be involved in different things that opened my eyes to ‘Aboriginal Awareness’ (the name of a conference from which come a couple of the articles in this booklet).

This booklet is a collection of writings that cover some of the learnings from that time. As part of IPSMO (Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement Ottawa), and with support from CUPW (Canadian Union of Postal Workers), I’ve been able to get a few hundred of these booklets into peoples’ hands without having to ask for money in exchange.

Now, I’m also making this booklet available online. The intent is to allow people — who’d like to perhaps gain some new perspective, to perhaps find a way to become more  in alignment with some of the teachings contained within — to read the booklet online, or print off their own copy(s).

Testimonials

I was honoured to receive this (somewhat shorthand) email from Romola Trebilcock, long-time aide and assistant to Algonquin Elder Grandfather William Commanda:

“Thank you very much for sharing your booklet with us … When GWC look at it he said it was good to see someone could understand how he thinks.”

It is with great sadness but also a gratitude for all that he brought to the world, that I write here that he has recently passed on. If this booklet can help people understand some of the kinds of values or thinking that Grandfather approached life with, I would love to be able to help it reach as many people as possible.

I think the content it contains is a good way for people with an interest in activism to learn more about Aboriginal culture, and conversely it’s an entry point into activism for people with an interest in the culture.

Also, I received secondhand feedback that someone said she felt that this booklet would be really valuable to get into the school system. (So, if you know someone who works in schools, who might be able to use this in the classroom, please do pass this on).

 

DOWNLOAD THE BOOKLET

There are two versions, both printable, but only the first suitable for reading from your computer:

• Click here for the e-book (aka front-to-back formatting) - or short link:  http://bit.ly/ab-e_book (Right-click either and ‘Save link as…’ to download)
• Click here for the version formatted for printing doublesided and folding into a booklet/zine: – or short link: http://bit.ly/ab-booklet (Right-click either and ‘Save link as…’ to download)

Table of contents - 32 pages (5.5″ x 8.5″) = 16 standard 8.5″x11″ pages (or 8 doublesided)

Cover image by Tania Willard ~ Intro ~ Burnt Church ~ Ward Churchill (article and interview) ~ Violet Shawanda: keeper of the language ~ James Bartelman ~ Aboriginal Awareness conference ~ Shannon Thunderbird ~ Herb Joseph ~ Wolverine ~ Spirit Connections ~ Outro

 

Future plans

I’m planning to update the booklet with some more writings and also feature some videos I’ve made available online – and maybe look more at how to publish it and work on distributing it in the school system. When the ’2nd edition’ comes out, I will likely take the original version down.

So please do take the opportunity while it’s up to take a look, and consider if you know others who might like to see this (there’s a ‘social media sharing bar’ below, or just send an email with the link to this page/website). If you (or an organization you’re part of) would like to print multiple copes for distribution, please do.

To receive notice of the 2nd edition coming out, please sign up for updates in the update form on the right hand sidebar (near the top) – or feel free to contact me via email form

And if you have any comments/feedback, please don’t hesitate to leave them below. And please do consider sharing this with others (there’s a ‘social media sharing bar’ below as well)

Preview of some content for the 2nd edition:

• Indigenous Sovereignty Week builds community based resistance
• ‘Saving the Land, Saving History‘ – regarding the Beaver Pond Forest / South March Highlands (and featuring quote from Grandfather Commanda)
• (video) - Algonquins of Barriere Lake: Fight for Self-Determination and Environmental Protection
• (video) - Breaking Cycles: Tanya Tagaq at Women’s Worlds 2011 plenary (incl. singing)

An article (along w/ podcast & 10 videos) profiling the Multimedia & Multiculturalism Initiative, and it’s Ottawa launch event. The project deals with the problem of misrepresentation in the media through different activities and programs that engage youth and connect different organizations and institutions. This article was published in a slightly revised version on rabble.ca. Links to videos and audio from the event follow the article.

Represent?! – The Multimedia & Multiculturalism challenge

Media that fosters a sense of belonging

by Greg Macdougall | August 11, 2011

When you ask youth – particularly ethnocultural youth – and they say that the biggest missing link to them feeling a sense of belonging in broader society is the media, you (should) pay attention. Maybe even do something about it.

That’s the basis of a new project, the Multimedia & Multiculturalism Initiative (M&M), that operates in seven cities across Canada. It is run by the United Nations Association in Canada (UNAC), which is not the actual UN, but instead part of a federation of United Nations Associations around the world that work to promote and educate around the broader mandate of the UN, issues like good government, equality, diversity, and human rights.

“It’s a three year project that looks at enhancing a sense of belonging among all communities in Canada by looking at how media fails to adequately and proportionately represent multicultural, ethnocultural, visible minority and newcomer communities in the country,” explains the project’s national coordinator, Simmi Dixit.

She continues, “Misrepresentation [is] more the crux of the issue that floored this project. What that basically means is, when we are seeing diversity portrayed in the media, it’s always pretty sensational – ‘oh, a mosque burned down’, ‘oh, it’s Chinese New Year’, ‘oh, check out this great Indian recipe for curry’ – and we’re always seeing multiculturalism being portrayed in these clumps, which pretty much further stereotypes and kind of ‘other’ communities, or exoticizes them. So what we want to see is just more an integrative perspective of multiculturalism, not just see brown people when there’s a brown holiday, or see it as a form of tokenism, but see it as something that’s very naturally and organically woven into news on a day-to-day.”

The Ottawa launch of the project, on July 28, was entitled “Represent!? Exploring Ethnocultural Diversity in Ottawa’s Media.” The project was nationally started in January of this year, and the different cities (Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Regina, Calgary, and Vancouver) have been engaging the public at different paces. They were all on the same schedule for the first phase of their internship placement program, where 20 ethnocultural youth studying in the field (out of 300 applicants) were set up in mainstream or community media organizations for six weeks starting in June. The interns all came together in Ottawa in advance of their placements, for skill-building and to develop a critical analysis they could bring with them, including how to look at discrimination in the workplace and the behind-the-scenes process of producing content. They all come back together following their internships in order to debrief, with plans to share their experiences and new understandings afterwards with others, especially through visits into high schools.

The Ottawa launch was opened by Kate White, UNAC’s executive director, moderated by the M&M Ottawa regional coordinator Chelby Daigle, and featured four panellists from diverse ethnocultural and experiential backgrounds.

Manjit Basi – an Indo-Canadian social justice activist and entrepreneur (former owner of four Body Shop stores in Ottawa) – became a media maker by creating the show ‘Trailblazers’ on local Rogers community TV, where she profiles some of the unsung heroes of Ottawa. Dr. Aliaa Dakroury is an Egyptian-Canadian professor of communications at the University of Ottawa, who has studied and written extensively on the representation of Muslims in the media (and also happens to be the professor of one of the M&M interns).

Ian Keteku, a Ghanaian-Canadian, is the 2010 World Poetry Slam Champion and member of The Recipe, the Ottawa team that won the 2009 Canadian Festival of Spoken Word; he’s also a freelance journalist and former student in Carleton’s journalism program. Vanessa Lee is a Chinese-Canadian journalist in the ‘mainstream’ media (with CTV Ottawa) who got her start in radio, and has done TV work previously in Saskatoon, Calgary, Montreal and Sherbrooke.

The mix of panellists reflected a primary goal of the project: to build bridges between the various people and organizations that are involved with the issues that the project is focused on.

“There’s been a lot of talk [about misrepresentation], this conversation isn’t new,” says Dixit. “But I think that the missing piece is building bridges between schools, between integration organizations, between public interest groups, between media organizations. … Because everyone knows [the problem’s] happening, and everybody’s trying to do something, but when you have segmentation happening, but you don’t have people working together, then you can’t really look at changing an institution as a whole.”

The panellists addressed five prepared questions from Daigle, and then discussed further questions raised from the audience. They offered different perspectives on issues ranging from why recent stories about the Norway terrorism and Amy Winehouse’s death were given more prominence than the devastating famine in eastern Africa, and how important the media is in representing different communities to people who may otherwise have little contact with them, to the way that an ethnocultural interviewer can bring out a different story from an ethnocultural interviewee than a white interviewer could, about being realistic about the type of opportunities and money that are out there for aspiring/beginning journalists, and much more.

After the panel, three local spoken word artists performed, each with a three-poem set (DJ Morales aka Vocab, Sarah Musa, and panellist Ian Keteku). Daigle explained the reasoning behind including spoken word in the event: “Ottawa’s won the national championships for spoken word twice in a row, and the Ottawa spoken word scene is really driven by ethnocultural youth.”

She expressed satisfaction in having many attendees come up to her saying they’d never heard spoken word before – one of her goals had been to expose people to a new form of expressing ideas. She also talked about exposing people to the event venue, Club SAW, that is connected with the SAW Gallery (exhibit space) and SAW Video (support and education for media-making, specifically video) – helping people become aware of and comfortable with various community spaces and resources can help break barriers that prevent participation and inclusion.

The M&M activities are sure to include more such events, as well as other programming that is chosen to fit their local context. Daigle explains that the approach will be different for different cities – examples that factor in to the approach for Ottawa are the large Somali community, the unique situation of having communities of Inuit, Metis and First Nations peoples living in the same city, and also the central role that politics plays in Ottawa (and the traditional disengagement from politics of many youth).

For more on the Multimedia & Multiculturalism Initiative, please visit www.mmunac.org

 

Audio from the event:

• Podcast from the panel (50 min)
• Audio files on the NCRA Program Exchange (for use by campus/community radio show hosts)

Video links from the event: (Youtube playlist w/ all 10 videos)

• Interview w/ Chelby Marie Daigle, Ottawa regional coordinator, on the “Represent?!” event and plans for the project in Ottawa
• Panel discussion part 1:  Opening / intros and panellist backgrounds
• Panel discussion part 2: Are ethnocultural communities adequately and accurately represented in the media?
• Panel discussion part 3: Possible solutions to media misrepresentations
• Panel discussion part 4: Advice for racialized youth interested in media careers
• Panel discussion part 5: Reflections on the Multimedia & Multiculturalism program
• Spoken Word set: DJ Morales a.k.a. Vocab
• Spoken Word set: Ian Keteku
• Spoken Word set: Sarah Musa
• (embedded below) Interview w/ Simmi Dixit, national coordinator, on the M&M project: