Reclaiming the Romance of Social Change
Canadian protest in support of peace and democracy in Burma.
VOLUME 29, NUMBER 4, NOVEMBER 2007
There was a buzz in the Inter Pares office the morning in June that Martin Khor came to visit.
Martin is famous for travelling without respite, meeting with leaders and experts from the North and South. He is a renowned activist and scholar as well as a storyteller, and his tales were funny, articulate and inspiring. We spoke about many things, including the possibilities and challenges of international collaboration and solidarity.
Martin recalled how, in 1998, activists in Canada allied with organizations in the South to stop the Multilateral Agreement on Investments (MAI), an agreement that would have placed unprecedented amounts of power in the hands of corporations. The power of people in the North, in combination with the mobilizing and advocacy in the South, dealt a final blow to the MAI. We are now faced with the World Trade Organization and trade agreements that, in prioritizing protection for investment, undermine the common good. But, as Martin says, "Never say die. We are part of an historical stream of struggle."
These structures of power are becoming increasingly complex and obscure to grassroots activists and ordinary people. Yet at the same time, international solidarity is making it possible to build the necessary relationships and expertise to challenge the structures of power and inequality that keep people in poverty, that force them from their homes, and that perpetuate violence.
Whether by documenting individual cases of human rights violations, or by taking on a world trading system that puts profit for some ahead of human dignity for all, citizen organizations are increasingly able to do rigorous research and to share it broadly. This enables us all to raise our awareness and increase our understanding of how power works and of the links between local and global struggles. By bringing together people's experiences and knowledge, and factual information, civil society can be a powerful counterforce against injustice. For the past three decades, Inter Pares has offered our political, financial and moral solidarity to organizations and communities around the world. Along with our counterparts in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Canada, we build on a history of action, and we share our learning.
As Arundhati Roy, an activist and writer, once said, "At a time when opportunism is everything, when hope seems lost, when everything boils down to a cynical business deal, we must find the courage to dream. To reclaim romance. The romance of believing in justice, in freedom and in dignity. For everybody. We have to make common cause, and to do this we need to understand how this big old machine works - who it works for and who it works against. Who pays, who profits."
In our search for understanding and transformation, and to help each other put the pieces together, it matters how we collaborate internationally. Hope for a better future lies in the support we offer one another within and across borders. It lies in each of us recognizing ourselves as actors in our own right. It lies in the sharing of ideas and actions, the mistakes no less than the resounding successes. In doing so, we draw inspiration from where our struggles and our learning intersect, where people from various spheres of action meet and act.
The people we describe in this Bulletin have found the courage to dream and take action for justice, freedom and dignity. We all have a role to play in their acts of resistance, and in reclaiming the romance.
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