Being the "change" we want to see in the world

By Karl Hardy

Creating our own ideas of citizenship, “doing” politics, and the Michiana Social Forum

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or maybe just decided to go on a “media fast”), chances are you’ve heard about the great desire for “change” among American presidential primary voters. Pollsters and pundits have hyped “change” so much that all of the major party candidates have tried to claim that they, in fact, are the “candidate of change.”

Of course rarely, if ever, does anyone stop to discuss what exactly is meant by “change.” And without any substance behind it, “change,” means little other than something - anything - other than what we experience as the status quo. So, a bunch of wealthy, professional politicians from both major parties can try and convince the American public to vote for them because, obviously, none of them are George W. Bush.

Fair enough. I can agree that not being George W. Bush is a start.

But what concerns me is how small, passive, and insignificant this whole “change” fad makes me and other regular people out to be. The sort of “change” that I want isn’t being talked about by any of the major candidates. - Yes, some have made vague statements about issues I care about. No, I’m not saying that there’s no difference between the major parties either. - But the idea that by simply casting my vote for one politician or another, we will truly bring about the change I believe is so vitally necessary… ? Nope. I don’t buy it. And I think a lot of other people don’t buy it either.

See, I’m convinced that in order for us to tackle the grave ecological problems we face (global warming, species extinction/reduction of biodiversity, shortages of both food and energy, pollution, etc.), we must also address our social problems. I believe the two are inter-related; one alone can’t be fixed – it’s going to take creating a more just, more ecological society if we human are to live sustainably on Earth.

In order to create a more just, more ecological society, we’re going to have to flatten it. By “flatten” I mean we’re going to have to make it more egalitarian and less hierarchical. So long as there’s so much power at the “top” of our society, the ills that plague our society (poverty and, more generally, economic inequality are at the top of the list) will work to keep us from making the truly necessary changes so important to heading off future environmental catastrophes.

Rather than placing my faith in the largely passive act of voting for political candidates who get to run for president, senator, or the US House of Representatives precisely because they are at the “top” of our society, I believe we must take matters into our own hands. If we want a “flatter,” more just, and more ecological society, we’re going to have to build our own organizations, institutions, and resources without looking for help or approval from the elites in our communities or society at large.

But there is a lot of cynicism, frustration, and hopelessness about being an “activist” these days. The powerful forces at work in the world seem so huge, the stakes so high, and, honestly, activists have developed a bad rap over the years.

Some of this is justified, some of it isn’t.

Some activists can be irritatingly, even arrogantly, self-righteousness while others can be so passionately focused on their individual concerns that they seem out of touch or even insensitive to other points of view.

I do, however, think we need to remember that the old “divide and conquer” strategy works very well. By playing people off of one another, those who stand to benefit the most from the status quo keep would-be allies arguing amongst themselves, draining energy away from the important work of bringing about real change.

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Over the past few months I’ve been a part of what started as a small group of activists - representing a handful of our community’s civic advocacy organizations - that got together to talk about ways to overcome this “divide and conquer” problem and inspire everyday people to go beyond the hype of “change” surrounding the presidential election cycle. A few of us had heard about and studied something called the World Social Forum and wanted to try to build our own “Social Forum” right here in Michiana.

The World Social Forum is an annual international meeting of people with many different interests, backgrounds, and ideas for change all coming together under the idea that “Another World Is Possible.” Since 2001 the WSF has met in Brazil, Kenya, India, Venezuela, Mali, and Pakistan and inspired many regional and national “social forums” with the first ever US Social Forum taking place last summer in Atlanta. The WSF is unique in that it is an attempt at creating a ­commons – an open, “flat,” free space without any overarching authority – no politicians or bureaucrats posturing in an attempt to win votes - where democratic discussions and decision-making can happen and people can build international relationships.

There are several other important aspects to the WSF:

1) It’s an ongoing, imperfect process – and this is recognized and celebrated. The idea is that by working to keep social forums an open space, over time we’ll learn to correct the mistakes we make along the way.
2) An emphasis on building networks of solidarity between peoples and organizations that may have historically been divided. This includes people working to re-think their ideas to be more sensitive to others’ experiences and interests.


Locally, we decided to call our start-up effort the “Michiana Call to Action” to highlight our shared belief in the importance of everyday people acting for change. We worked to coincide our Call to Action week with the World Social Forum’s Global Call for Action culminating on January 26. During the week leading up to the 26th we had events and actions centering on peace and anti-militarism, labor rights, global warming and the environment. One of the highlights for me personally was watching as representatives of Jobs with Justice and the Sierra Club stood side by side in to proclaim their solidarity in a “Blue-Green” alliance of environmentalists and organized labor, two groups who have long been portrayed as at odds with one another.

But what was perhaps most exciting and hope-inspiring was seeing approximately 75 people turn out on a cold, snowy Saturday afternoon at the downtown South Bend public library for our “Michiana and the World Social Forums” event. After hearing “report backs” from students who had attended the US Social Forum last summer, attendees listened as representatives of local advocacy organizations described their respective groups’ efforts. Each representative also talked about what it meant to be part of a diverse coalition of change agents.

This had the effect of helping each of us in attendance to begin to relate to each other as citizens - citizens of our local Michiana community, citizens of a global human society, and citizens of a worldwide web of ecosystems. Relating to one each other as citizens didn’t mean ignoring our differences – be they based on age, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, religion, economic or, educational status. We were also transcending the conventional sense of nation-state citizenship that is too often the result of cynical, politically-charged policies that give and take away rights based arbitrary national borders.

The last part of the day’s program was a break-out session where we split into small groups to try to answer three questions: What unites us? What divides? Where do we go from here?

Skeptics might say that all this amounts to is a lot of talk- but I think this is neglecting the real importance of building trust and constructing a very different way of “doing politics” – instead of choosing from among a group of polished, professional politicians, we were laying the groundwork for future actions and beginning to re-build the institutions of civil society through face-to-face discussion. That, I truly believe, is what real change is all about.

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The Michiana Social Forum is calling a follow-up meeting to continue the process and build towards the possibilities of “another Michiana.” Please consider joining us on Sat. Feb 23 at IUSB from 1030am to 1230pm or visit our website at http://www.michianasocialforum.org/ for more information.