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COMMENTARY: Change the world

by Cleve Higgins on

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As a recent graduate of McGill, I’ve been reflecting on the time I’ve spent over the past five years trying to organize for social change in a university context. I have heard people say that universities are fertile ground for this kind of activity, and it’s not hard to see why: thousands of young people in close social proximity to each other, many of them in a new place, encountering new ways of thinking about the world. Often these new perspectives look critically at the injustice and oppression in the world, and they sometimes influence students to figure out what they can do to make the world a better place. I was lucky in my first year to find groups such as the GrassRoots Association for Student Power (GRASPé), as well as various working groups of the McGill chapter of the Quebec Public Interest Research Group (QPIRG). These groups provided me with opportunities to meet friends with similar perspectives, make connections outside of the university, and start trying to figure out how we’re going to make a better world.

I want to describe some of the ways to get involved as a McGill student, for any of you who are new to McGill, or interested in engaging in social change. To start with, QPIRG-McGill supports a number of projects that provide connections between social justice and the work that you’re already doing for school. The Community University Research Exchange (CURE) is a database of research projects that have been proposed by community groups and that students can do for credit. Students get to do projects that are actually relevant, and community groups get access to research that they may not otherwise have the time or resources to conduct themselves. If you’ve already written a paper that you think is connected to social and environmental justice, you can submit it to Study in Action, the annual undergraduate conference at Concordia University. Or, if there’s a topic that you want to focus on academically, and McGill either doesn’t have a class or doesn’t have one worth taking, you can create your own student-run independent study class with the help of the Indyclass collective, a working group of QPIRG-McGill.

Although academics are obviously an essential part of a university education, it’s important to recognize that you can often learn much more by engaging with issues outside the classroom. For example, I started at McGill majoring in international development studies, but found that my clearest understandings of what development is, and how it works, came through my involvement in QPIRG working groups such as Students Taking Action in Chiapas and FAO-Montreal, which allowed me to learn from the Zapatista movement, and communities opposing Canadian mining in Mexico.

Although it can be inspiring to learn from struggles in other parts of the world, there is also much to be learned from what is happening right here in Quebec and Montreal. The Quebec student movement is one of the strongest and most militant in North America, and radical students at McGill have a history of participating through organizations such as GRASPé. Groups such as TapThirst, Greening McGill, and Demilitarize McGill are focussing on changing McGill itself and the way it contributes to larger problems in the world. Barriere Lake Solidarity is a Montreal-based working group that works to support Algonquin people in northern Quebec by demanding that their agreements with the government be honoured and their self-determination respected. These are just a few examples of the many groups that are active at McGill or through QPIRG.

At the beginning of every school year QPIRG hosts Radical Frosh, for new students who are more interested in getting politically involved than drinking a lot of alcohol. On January 21, the first ever RadFrosh reunion will be held, bringing RadFrosh students back together after their first semester at McGill. It’s also for those students who weren’t able to attend RadFrosh this year, or for anyone else interested in social and environmental justice. There are a lot of people at McGill and in Montreal trying to change the world for the better, and if you’re interested in joining them, organizations such as QPIRG are a great place to find out how you can get involved.

Students interested in getting involved should stop by QPIRG-McGill (3647 University, third floor) between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. or visit qpirgmcgill.org

Letters to the Editor, Opinion

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

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An open letter to Students’ Society Vice-President University Affairs Rebecca Dooley by former student Senator Nick Wolf regarding his resignation.

Dear Ms. Dooley,I would be less hesitant to bring my resignation to SSMU if I were not afraid of what SSMU would do with my vacant seat. I, as you know, lean conservatively, when viewed with SSMU as the centre. SSMU is in the grip of radical organizations, and as such is highly likely to choose a successor who reflects the views of these organizations. While it may happen that you go through my faculty association to find my replacement, being the third senator from the Arts faculty I was afraid that your organization would handpick a follower who would more vocally espouse your views. While my fears may be unjustified, I do not believe that they are unfounded.

With services like Queer McGill approving election candidates and meetings being conducted at the behest of fringe organizations, it is difficult for an alternative viewpoint to be heard. And it seems to me, and the students I have spoken to about the subject, that the alternative viewpoints – the voices silenced by the majority at SSMU – are conservative. Most of those who run for SSMU have an agenda that in the real world would be considered extremist. Some wondered why there were four acclaimed positions in the last election. The answer is simple; nobody wanted to work for SSMU.

What happened to battles over policy – where students actually had a stake in the issues? We simply do not need another radical voice screaming for radical changes, lunging at invisible oppressors, and disrespecting the very people we are trying to represent.

Having sat on Senate, and in the meeting rooms and committees, I have seen a good deal. SSMU is inherently disorganized. Its policies and its goals are scattered, and forgotten from week to week. There is almost no foresight, and even less hindsight. Different things anger SSMU each week, yet it never makes a real stand on an issue. Sure, you’ll ask “tough” questions at Senate, but they aren’t effective. The administration gets tougher questions from smarter people all the time. Pick a target and fight for it.

If you want people to respect SSMU’s authority, you need to earn that respect, to prove that you are really fighting for what students want. Choose Life was handled poorly. Simply dealing with it internally would have solved a lot of issues. Instead, the executives gave an upstart club with delusions of grandeur the spotlight for weeks. We should be celebrating diversity on campus, not oppressing it. If their events are objectionable, don’t go. Oh, they violated the equity policy? Maybe it is the equity policy that needs to be reevaluated. Why make an internal matter a street brawl going all the way up to the Senate floor?

The university is laughing, but you can’t see it because you’re too blinded by self-righteousness.

Our enemies at the university are highly intelligent, do not suffer from the yearly attrition that we do, have years of experience fighting our predecessors, and have a cohesive plan for every meeting – a real plan, not one stemming from an hour-long caucus where we discuss things and then hug. Where is our year-long plan? What is the final objective? Oh right, we have neither. If there is one, it should be shared with the Senators. Otherwise, if we’re encouraged to think for ourselves, let us represent our constituents, not just SSMU.

So consider this my official resignation from the organization that once represented students at this university. Consider this a call to change, a 95 Theses nailed to the glass doors of Shatner. Student politics have degenerated into ineffectual yelling over stupid issues. Want some advice on how to run a student movement? How to protest? How to kick and scream until the opposition breaks? Ask the administration. They did it right when they were in our shoes, and they are kicking our ass now.

– Nick WolfFormer SSMU Senator

Student Life

Eco-friendly fashion alternatives

by Brahna Siegelberg on

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The green movement has reached makeup, shampoo, and even kitty litter, and at last, eco-aware designers and companies have expanded into the world of fashion. But rather than the billowy hemp clothing last seen on tree-hugging hippies, the new designs are chic and urban – and also happen to be made from sustainable materials.

Ecocentrik Apparel – a recently established Montreal-based online store that operates under the motto “green is chic” – is one such company. With eco-friendly options in men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing and accessories selected from over 30 independent designers, Ecocentrik Apparel aims to combat climate change while still offering trendy, affordable, and wearable fashions.

Manufacturing organic clothing is first and foremost a matter of altering the particularly harmful conditions in which clothing is generally produced.

“People don’t realize how much the fashion industry impacts and damages the environment,” says Patsy Clark, founder and owner of Ecocentrik Apparel. “Regular production is damaging to the environment, to the farmers who grow the cotton because of all the hazardous herbicides and pesticides used, and even to the people who wear the clothes which retain residual chemicals from the dye and the chemicals used to weave the fibre.”

Clark, who is a scientist by trade, has spent much of her life researching sustainability and looking for ways to optimize waste management and energy consumption. Much of the tenets of Green politics are not only about directly helping the environment by finding alternative means of production, but also about curbing the amount of unnecessary waste produced on this planet.

“We can reuse all of the materials that we already have,” says Clark. “We have plenty of materials and old fabrics on this planet already that can be transformed into new and really stylish clothing.”

Producing and providing eco-friendly clothing is also socially responsible. While most clothing is mass-produced abroad – often under appalling labour conditions – the company’s line is manufactured either in Canada or abroad under fair labour practices. In this way, Ecocentrik Apparel is able to simultaneously help the environment and stimulate the local economy – an endeavor that should not be under-valued in these troubled economic times. Additionally, two per cent of all the company’s proceeds go toward local charities.

“Every little bit counts,” adds Clark. “It’s a problem that has gone too far before light has been shed on it.”

While we are facing a situation that appears daunting, and even irremediable, the truth is that this just isn’t really the case. If everybody made a conscious effort to do their part – avoid the urge to throw plastic in the trash, turn off lights, or walk if it’s not too far – we could make an enormous difference to this planet.

Visit Ecocentrik Apparel at www.ecocentrikapparel.com.

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