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Incubating social activism

Generating energy and enthusiasm for social and environmental change in the Trump era
20170223 OPIRG ro
An incubator of activist initiatives.

Crackdowns and Creativity is the title of the third annual Social and Environmental Justice Symposium, organized by OPIRG-Guelph. 

The symposium is all about organizing for social resistance in the current political climate, especially in light of the election of Donald Trump as US president, and what is seen as a resurgence of explicitly white nationalist and other hard-right groups.

The symposium runs Mar. 4-5 in the MacKinnon Building on the University of Guelph campus. There will be 12 panels and over 40 speakers. Akio Maroon of Black Lives Matter Toronto will give a keynote address.

According to OPIRG, recent times have seen progress on social and environmental justice in the West, but many fear that the Trump presidency is regressive in nature, a threat to justice, and a sign of repressive measures to come.

The symposium will explore the many ways to respond to the shifting political climate, whether through working on land defense, Indigenous solidarity, migrant justice, and other important causes.

In a recent email exchange, symposium coordinator Melody Mikhail said the symposium is a “convergence of academic and community research, activism, and art focused on social and environmental justice issues.”

She said there is a lot of flexibility in the focus of the symposium, and it welcomes a broad range of research and perspectives.

“The role the symposium serves is to create a space for the exchange of research that is useful to community-based campaigns and projects working for social change, by bringing together folks from the campus and broader community,” she wrote. “Our goal is to help develop ideas and connect people by creating a sort of incubator for social and environmental change.”

That incubatory environment provides a space for established and novice organizers, advocates and researchers to come together, share knowledge and generate energy and enthusiasm for activist initiatives, Mikhail said.

“It is an event that welcomes everyone, from all walks of life,” she added.

The election of Trump, she said, has a global impact. Whatever happens politically in the US affects the world economically, socially, and ideologically because of the interconnectedness of nations.

In the age of social media and open source knowledge, Trump’s “hateful policies can be felt on a personal level by most any individual,” she said in the exchange. 

Learn more about the symposium here or on Facebook.

The event includes an alternative book and information fair. Admission is free and lunch is provided. There will be on-site childcare, and an active listening room.

OPIRG (Ontario Public Interest Research Group)-Guelph was founded in 1976 on the U of G campus. It is part of a North American wide network of PIRGs launched by social activist Ralph Nader. 


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Rob O'Flanagan

About the Author: Rob O'Flanagan

Rob O’Flanagan has been a newspaper reporter, photojournalist and columnist for over twenty years. He has won numerous Ontario Newspaper Awards and a National Newspaper Award.
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