Citizen Action: Challenging the Limits
VOLUME 27, NUMBER 4, NOVEMBER 2005
How many of us have asked ourselves, what difference can one person make? How many of us have wondered "how can I help to preserve and sustain a community in which I and all others feel at home, and where people have secure livelihoods, children receive a good education, and the elderly live with dignity?"
As Inter Pares marked our 30th anniversary over the past year, reflecting with colleagues, counterparts, and many of our supporters across the country, we have shared many stories of struggle against great odds, of learning from our mistakes, and building on our strengths.
When we reflect in this way on our place in the wider world, the challenges we face often seem beyond our individual strength, knowledge, and power. We are confronted with obstacles that seem to be immovable and beyond our control. What do we do about the unrelenting assault on the natural environment that sustains our lives? How do we change the fact that so many fellow human beings are excluded from the bounty that a small minority enjoys in abundance? What do we do about the fact that the liberties and opportunities of most of the people of the earth are limited not by their own imagination and effort, but by social and political systems that discriminate against them on the basis of their gender, class, and race?
These are the questions that millions of women and men wrestle with, in different ways, in every country on earth. But when individual people share their questions and concerns, as friends and neighbours, as fellow human beings, we often discover that we are not as alone as we might think. We discover shared fears, but also shared dreams. We also discover the wisdom of our experience, affirming that what we know and what we care about matter. At some point, that sharing leads to action, and we realize that as citizens acting together, we can make a difference.
Inter Pares was created in 1975 by individuals who wanted to make such a difference in the world by working with others. For the past thirty years, we have worked with counterpart organizations in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Canada to promote and support citizen action for a better world. This citizen action has taken many forms – from fisherfolk managing coastal resources in Guinea-Bissau, to women asserting their rights to health and security in Sudan, from the creation of community clinics in the slums of Manila, to the participation of indigenous women in local governance in the highlands of Peru. By building political and financial support for this action in Canada and around the world, we have been promoting strong civil societies within just and democratic countries. We have brought these lessons home, not only through sharing our learning with others, but also through connecting struggles in other places to struggles here in Canada.
In this action over thirty years, we have witnessed how often the ideas and courage of a few determined people provide the opportunity for many more to make a significant change in their lives. And we have seen how the success of one group can inspire others – whether in a neighbouring village, or another continent – to challenge the limits of the present and make a difference for the future.
During this 30th anniversary year, we have been honouring the people in Canada and in many other parts of the world who have been part of our history. We tried to do this by looking toward the future together. We have discovered that sharing the stories of thirty years of learning and working with others around the world provides more than inspiration. The sharing of history also sharpens our vision and strengthens our endurance. And it reminds us that the answer to the question "What difference can one person make?" is – all the difference in the world.
| Reviewed November 3, 2005 |  |
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