MAP (Movement Action Plan)

I picked up a copy of Doing Democracy at the library this week and although I haven't delved too far into it there are a few interesting points for those like myself who are interested in making political change. I guess I'm thinking in terms of Newfoundland and Labrador politics specifically but the reality for NL seems to be a great sense of powerlessness and inertia. How do you teach people about the skills they hold in their hands, that is, democratic rights? I can hardly speak as I struggle to be politically active myself. It's not hard to see how involvement in politics - even basic suffrage - was traditionally reserved for the wealthy. You need time money and a sense of comfort in order to be informed and take part in the processes that mark a democratic system.

Realistically though, in Montreal at least, one can live fairly easily on little money and also take advantage of the city's great library and academic resources. There is also a well-developed network of community and activist groups that provide a sense of how-to when it comes to these things. I think my first conclusion in regards to politics is perhaps the one that seems most relevant to the lack of interest and sense of powerlessness that seems to mark NL politics: Feed a person and they'll forget to complain or rebel. That's what occurred to me as a kid when I read about how angry and hungry protesters in Newfoundland would attack Government House when things got bad. Somehow even as a child I realized that people were no longer so angry or insistent on action, because welfare kept their basics covered. What a wise investment on the part of politicians - just give people a few hundred dollars of their own money each month and they'll likely never make noise about things. If you have to bring the state into debt to do it even better - you're banker friends will make tens of millions in interests from the loans.