We’ve grown up with the idea that real change comes from protest—that confrontation is more authentic than collaboration, and standing outside the system is more honest than working within it.
Better to affect change within the system than try to completely change the system itself.
I'll give you my real world example.
In 2003 in my last Environmental Science seminar at Dalhousie the graduating class was asked how they as individuals would use their education in the real world. What are your plans after graduation? Where would you like to work?
One by one every single student said they would prefer to work for Greenpeace or Ecology Action Center. It was what they were taught was the "right answer".
When it finally came around to my turn and as a mature student, single parent I told them all I would like to go to Alberta and work for one of the large oil producers there.
There was so much shock and anger that some actually stood up arms waving.
When the crowd finally stopped attacking me the professor asked me why.
I answered calmly that I felt that's where I could affect the most change.
Within the system! I hoped to be able to use my knowledge to help them become a better company with respect for the environment.
Silence.
No debate. Just shock.
I will never forget what that taught me.
The education system is flawed and it's gotten much worse. I hope some of the students in the room took that with them as well.
I don’t always agree with you on your takes but when I don’t my impulse is to add to the discussion and I secretly want to buy you a beer and talk further about what you have written lol! It is the nature of social media to get the kind of troll-like responses you have had, unfortunately. Best to just ignore them.
On this topic I am in general agreement. I am a member of a political party and volunteer during campaigns. I have joined our local community organization to help plan and volunteer for events. Democracy requires engagement to be successful.
Democracies are not inevitable though and can become corrupted as we are seeing in the US—a long slide toward authoritarian governance greased by too much money in politics.
In our (mostly) well-functioning democracy in Canada, we still do not do a good job of representing all points of view in parliament due to the “first past the post” voting system. When there is no representative voice in government the only path to be “heard” is protest.
I think where we are at right now is that far too many people feel alienated from politics generally and would rather criticize than participate. Social media feeds this and amplifies division for clicks.
Turning off our screens would be the greatest act of protest and maybe we would connect more with each other as a result.
One again, I mostly agree with you. Building is hard, being for something is harder than being against something, and there is a misdirected virtue in standing outside of politics. But. But.
Most of us in this province have our heads down, working our 60 hour weeks and multiple jobs to pay our bills and make ends meet in this glorious supportive system called capitalism- and it's only when we are threatened that we have the luxury of taking a moment to pause our Herculean efforts to stay afloat and engage. Against something. The people who have the time and space to engage with political parties, attend municipal meetings, build organizations... there is a certain degree of privilege that comes with that. Most people only have the luxury of engaging when the outcomes are dire and it affects them directly. Some examples: taking away midwives, closing rural schools, poisoning our watersheds with uranium mining. No one has the TIME to join the school advisory committee, attend months of board meetings, lobby Department of Education... they are too busy clothing, feeding and caring for those children. So once the threat is real- protest is immediate. It can be effective. It is galvanizing. It ALSO takes a lot of effort and often once you're done, successful, you don't think to yourself "oh good I can drop out again", you think- imagine what we could accomplish if we didn't have to fight our government for taking away basic rights and services, but instead could work to build something?? But you're tired, and the immediate danger has passed, and now you put your head back down to try and pay your bills so you don't foreclose on your mortgage.
I would also caution anyone who reads this to remember that protestors- in the act of trying to change something when the wall of bureaucracy seems impenetrable- are always told to protest nicely, in the right ways, not to disrupt, not to inconvenience, never with violence, or you will be met with violence at worst and simple dismissal at best. Be a perfect protestor for the system and play by their rules.
I write this as someone who has the privilege to work to build something, who knows the hard work of organizing, fundraising, volunteering, putting my name forward, digging into policy, etc. ( All things which also build community!). But I also write this as someone who has performed my outrage in a democratic way- in the streets, loud, and angry.
You’ve laid out what I hoped someone would: the hard truth that for most people, engagement is not a hobby or a calling—it’s a luxury. And you’re right. The privilege of being inside the process—attending meetings, joining committees, fighting from the policy side—often belongs to those with time, money, flexible schedules, or jobs that reward that kind of civic effort. That’s real.
But here's what bothers me—and I think maybe you too: we can’t build a better world if our only engagement is reactionary. If we only ever show up when something awful is happening, then the people who showed up on time have to write the rules the rest of us ultimately fight against. Again and again. It’s exhausting. And it's not working.
Governance by emergency is just crisis management, not democracy.
So what do we do? We don’t ask the exhausted to do more. We celebrate the people who show up before the crisis, not just the ones who yell when it hits. And we honour protest not as the only legitimate act—but as one of many essential tools in the democratic toolbox.
Because you’re absolutely right: protest is vital. But so is what happens long before the crisis exists.
And yes. You may have seen my essay about uranium and the rest. It's not happening. Ultimately not because of protest but reality.
There’s a line I used in the essay: government is run by the radical fringe because normal people have stuff to do. It’s a joke, sure—but it's funny because it feels true.
Like what Wilde said, “The trouble with socialism is that it takes up too many evenings.”
It’s a dry, self-aware quip, often used by democratic socialists themselves to poke fun at the endless meetings, committees, debates, and working groups that come with grassroots, participatory politics. It’s not really an attack on socialism as an idea—it’s more a dig at the process of building consensus-driven change through slow, shared effort.
Proper working of democracy is boring, exhausting, and human. But we still need to show up.
I’m not asking anyone to do more than their share. I’m not calling for martyrs or full-time political lobbyists. I’m talking about doing something. Because right now, most good, smart, thoughtful people are contributing nothing. Not voting. Not joining a party. Not talking to their neighbours about the issues of the day. Not writing a single letter that isn’t angry or self-interested. Not even forming a clear opinion on what they’d like to see happen next.
What if every one of us gave one hour a week—a few minutes a day—not to outrage, but to involvement? What if we got ahead of the crisis, not just chased it? What if we joined—not blindly, but critically—into the structures that are already imagining the future?
That’s not giving up the fight. That’s choosing to shape it. Before the next fire starts. Before the next rollback. Before the next protest is necessary.
I'll keep this short and sweet.
Better to affect change within the system than try to completely change the system itself.
I'll give you my real world example.
In 2003 in my last Environmental Science seminar at Dalhousie the graduating class was asked how they as individuals would use their education in the real world. What are your plans after graduation? Where would you like to work?
One by one every single student said they would prefer to work for Greenpeace or Ecology Action Center. It was what they were taught was the "right answer".
When it finally came around to my turn and as a mature student, single parent I told them all I would like to go to Alberta and work for one of the large oil producers there.
There was so much shock and anger that some actually stood up arms waving.
When the crowd finally stopped attacking me the professor asked me why.
I answered calmly that I felt that's where I could affect the most change.
Within the system! I hoped to be able to use my knowledge to help them become a better company with respect for the environment.
Silence.
No debate. Just shock.
I will never forget what that taught me.
The education system is flawed and it's gotten much worse. I hope some of the students in the room took that with them as well.
Cheers JW. Keep on keeping on.
I don’t always agree with you on your takes but when I don’t my impulse is to add to the discussion and I secretly want to buy you a beer and talk further about what you have written lol! It is the nature of social media to get the kind of troll-like responses you have had, unfortunately. Best to just ignore them.
On this topic I am in general agreement. I am a member of a political party and volunteer during campaigns. I have joined our local community organization to help plan and volunteer for events. Democracy requires engagement to be successful.
Democracies are not inevitable though and can become corrupted as we are seeing in the US—a long slide toward authoritarian governance greased by too much money in politics.
In our (mostly) well-functioning democracy in Canada, we still do not do a good job of representing all points of view in parliament due to the “first past the post” voting system. When there is no representative voice in government the only path to be “heard” is protest.
I think where we are at right now is that far too many people feel alienated from politics generally and would rather criticize than participate. Social media feeds this and amplifies division for clicks.
Turning off our screens would be the greatest act of protest and maybe we would connect more with each other as a result.
One again, I mostly agree with you. Building is hard, being for something is harder than being against something, and there is a misdirected virtue in standing outside of politics. But. But.
Most of us in this province have our heads down, working our 60 hour weeks and multiple jobs to pay our bills and make ends meet in this glorious supportive system called capitalism- and it's only when we are threatened that we have the luxury of taking a moment to pause our Herculean efforts to stay afloat and engage. Against something. The people who have the time and space to engage with political parties, attend municipal meetings, build organizations... there is a certain degree of privilege that comes with that. Most people only have the luxury of engaging when the outcomes are dire and it affects them directly. Some examples: taking away midwives, closing rural schools, poisoning our watersheds with uranium mining. No one has the TIME to join the school advisory committee, attend months of board meetings, lobby Department of Education... they are too busy clothing, feeding and caring for those children. So once the threat is real- protest is immediate. It can be effective. It is galvanizing. It ALSO takes a lot of effort and often once you're done, successful, you don't think to yourself "oh good I can drop out again", you think- imagine what we could accomplish if we didn't have to fight our government for taking away basic rights and services, but instead could work to build something?? But you're tired, and the immediate danger has passed, and now you put your head back down to try and pay your bills so you don't foreclose on your mortgage.
I would also caution anyone who reads this to remember that protestors- in the act of trying to change something when the wall of bureaucracy seems impenetrable- are always told to protest nicely, in the right ways, not to disrupt, not to inconvenience, never with violence, or you will be met with violence at worst and simple dismissal at best. Be a perfect protestor for the system and play by their rules.
I write this as someone who has the privilege to work to build something, who knows the hard work of organizing, fundraising, volunteering, putting my name forward, digging into policy, etc. ( All things which also build community!). But I also write this as someone who has performed my outrage in a democratic way- in the streets, loud, and angry.
Final word: reinstate the uranium ban.
Thank you for this. Truly.
You’ve laid out what I hoped someone would: the hard truth that for most people, engagement is not a hobby or a calling—it’s a luxury. And you’re right. The privilege of being inside the process—attending meetings, joining committees, fighting from the policy side—often belongs to those with time, money, flexible schedules, or jobs that reward that kind of civic effort. That’s real.
But here's what bothers me—and I think maybe you too: we can’t build a better world if our only engagement is reactionary. If we only ever show up when something awful is happening, then the people who showed up on time have to write the rules the rest of us ultimately fight against. Again and again. It’s exhausting. And it's not working.
Governance by emergency is just crisis management, not democracy.
So what do we do? We don’t ask the exhausted to do more. We celebrate the people who show up before the crisis, not just the ones who yell when it hits. And we honour protest not as the only legitimate act—but as one of many essential tools in the democratic toolbox.
Because you’re absolutely right: protest is vital. But so is what happens long before the crisis exists.
And yes. You may have seen my essay about uranium and the rest. It's not happening. Ultimately not because of protest but reality.
There’s a line I used in the essay: government is run by the radical fringe because normal people have stuff to do. It’s a joke, sure—but it's funny because it feels true.
Like what Wilde said, “The trouble with socialism is that it takes up too many evenings.”
It’s a dry, self-aware quip, often used by democratic socialists themselves to poke fun at the endless meetings, committees, debates, and working groups that come with grassroots, participatory politics. It’s not really an attack on socialism as an idea—it’s more a dig at the process of building consensus-driven change through slow, shared effort.
Proper working of democracy is boring, exhausting, and human. But we still need to show up.
I’m not asking anyone to do more than their share. I’m not calling for martyrs or full-time political lobbyists. I’m talking about doing something. Because right now, most good, smart, thoughtful people are contributing nothing. Not voting. Not joining a party. Not talking to their neighbours about the issues of the day. Not writing a single letter that isn’t angry or self-interested. Not even forming a clear opinion on what they’d like to see happen next.
What if every one of us gave one hour a week—a few minutes a day—not to outrage, but to involvement? What if we got ahead of the crisis, not just chased it? What if we joined—not blindly, but critically—into the structures that are already imagining the future?
That’s not giving up the fight. That’s choosing to shape it. Before the next fire starts. Before the next rollback. Before the next protest is necessary.
It’s not about doing everything.
It’s about doing something
that is not reactionary.