Crackdowns and Creativity
Organizing and Resistance in 2017 and Beyond
“Are we ready, many millions of us, to rally, not just on the streets, but at work and in schools and in our homes, in every decision we take, and every choice we make? Or not just yet … ?”
— Arundhati Roy, War Talk
In the West, we’ve seen what looks like important progress on social and environmental justice fronts. Through social media and the resistive resilience of community organizers, Liberation movements such as The Movement for Black Lives (BLM), Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS), and resistance to pipelines (such as Stop Line 9, noDAPL, and others) have successfully gained traction, heightening collective awareness of certain political struggles. At the same time, the election of the Trump administration and the resurgence of explicitly white nationalist and other hard-right groups has served as an urgent reminder that progress is never linear and that lessons from history must continually be heeded.
As social and environmental justice organizers, how do we respond to this shift in our political climate, a shift that many have characterized as deeply alarming? Does it demand a different approach? If so, what could such approaches look like? Do we need to rethink the struggles into which we are putting our energies altogether? How should we proceed as organizers, whether it be through work on land defense and Indigenous solidarity, migrant justice, rape culture, prison abolition, or any other areas?
The OPIRG Guelph’s Social and Environmental Justice Symposium is a convergence of academic and community research, activism, and art focused on social and environmental justice issues. We are aiming to make research more accessible to all and to foster deeper relationships and idea sharing between academics and community activism.
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| Save the Date! | Learn about OPIRG! | Contact the Coordinator |
| The OPIRG-Guelph social and environmental justice symposium is happening this March 4th and 5th, 2016. To find out how to get to the location, please click here | The Ontario Public Interest Research Group is an on-campus organization that focuses on social and environmental justice. To find out more, please click here | To get in touch with the coordinators, please send an e-mail to the following address: symposium@opirgguelph.org |