In a packed room in Courtenay on Thursday July 21, seven Comox Valley organizations announced the formation of the Peaceful Direct Action Coalition. The coalition will be providing apparently-eager citizens with education about the history and role of direct action in defending and expanding democracy, civil rights, and justice.
Apparently the message hit a chord, since organizers were surprised at the strength of the response from Comox Valley residents. The Comox Peace Group immediately joined the coalition. Many in the audience represented other organizations, such as the Valley Unitarians, the Denman United Church, nurses, and promised to take the statement (below) to their organizations in order to join. The coalition will be sponsoring a weekend workshop on September 23 and 24th, 2011.
July 7, 2011
Comox Valley coalition to focus on education for peaceful direct action as a democratic responsibility
We perceive our Comox Valley community, the communities of British Columbia and the communities of the nation of Canada to be in grave danger. The danger threatens our long term economic, social and environmental health, the three pillars of sustainability:
The danger comes in the form of eroding economic equality, devastated social programs, attacks on working peoples’ rights and unfettered environmental damage. It comes in the form of privatization of public resources, diminished civil rights, a lack of accountability to the citizenry and an ever-deepening corporate /government partnership that is moving our elected officials farther and farther away from serving community interests.
There is a new mythology that is emerging as a result of decades of effort, and that mythology is being perceived as being true. It includes such myths as:
- – “If it’s legal, it’s okay”
- – “As long as we ‘mitigate’, we can do as we please”
- – “Pretending to hear the people is the same as listening to what they are saying”
- – “The economy is the cornerstone of everything”
- – “Citizen input comes only from special interest groups”
- – “Peaceful direct action is terrorism”
There are many more myths that are being manufactured to support the agenda of our governments and corporations, and like all of those listed above, a moment of serious reflection reveals that they are not true.
According to Socrates, the original democratic thinker, only just laws are deemed worthy of compliance; otherwise, he said, the citizen has a duty to obey a higher authority. Disobedience of the law, he stated, is justified by appealing to the principle of necessity.
Slavery, residential schools, apartheid, military invasions, voting rights only for men, head taxes, DDT, the Vietnam war, the use of chemical weapons, discrimination based on gender, skin colour or sexual orientation were all legal in their day. That does not mean they were ever just or fair. Most of these “legal” abominations were overcome by careful, considerate, peaceful means, including the practise of peaceful direct action.
British Columbia can claim a proud history of successful direct action campaigns. From Ginger Goodwin and his work for miners’ rights in Cumberland to the suffragette movement, to the century-long struggle of the Doukhobors, to the Critical Mass bicycle protests on the streets of Vancouver today, British Columbians have spoken out and acted repeatedly against unjust laws.
In the environmental movement, the arrest and detention of 64 brave souls in Strathcona Park in 1988 led to the creation statute parks in the province. The arrest and detention of more than 800 people in the “Clayoquot Summer” of 1993 ultimately brought a measure of environmental sanity and some “peace in the woods” for a prolonged period of time.
Over the last 20 years governments and corporations, working together, have methodically clawed back these victories and made significant efforts to turn our society away from genuine citizen participation and input. These days, once again, citizens and their opinions, are seen as obstacles to progress, and barriers to unfettered economic growth. The other two pillars of sustainability – social and environmental considerations – are once again being ignored. Therefore, once again, we believe it is time to mobilize the citizenry of British Columbia to take a strong, peaceful stand against the imbalanced and unfair practices of our governments.
Three coal mines in our beautiful community make no sense. A new gas station in the heart of our estuary makes no sense. The gutting of social programs for our most vulnerable citizens makes no sense. Turning our provincial park system over to private corporations makes no sense. Yet, despite every effort by our community to work within “the system” to prevent these things, they are all proceeding anyway.
Countless thousands of volunteer hours have been spent preparing briefs, doing research, attending meetings, participating at open houses, forums and public hearings. We can never be accused of not having worked hard within “the system”. Most of this input has been ignored or overruled. We believe that the only thing left to us is to follow Socrates direction to fulfill our democratic duty to work against unfair and unjust laws and practices.
We will work as a coalition to provide education on peaceful direct action in our Comox Valley community. We hope to mobilize hundreds of citizens to relearn that peaceful direct action is a fundamental democratic right, to remember that when governments are ignoring the will of the people, it is our responsibility to react strongly, collectively and peacefully.
We know that we are far from alone. We are well aware that many others in our community and across British Columbia are also at the end of their patience. We invite other Comox Valley groups, organizations and individual citizens to join us and encourage other communities across the province to organize similar coalitions of their own.
It is time for us to stand up, and stand up together.
Friends of Strathcona Park Comox Valley Water Watch
Sierra Club Comox Valley Council of Canadians
nocoalmine.net World Community Development Education Society
Coal Watch Comox Valley Society Comox Valley Peace Group
