“A Haiku About My G20 Arrest” by Tommy Taylor
In Toronto heat
all in cages of fire
bestowed by Harper
“How To Elect a Dictator” By William Brian MacLean
Click to see the larger originals:
How to elect a dictator:
Stephen Harper, American wannabe:
“Stephen Harper with an ornamental gourd on his head” and “Ice” by Lily S. May
Ice
His eyes are ice.
If they ever melt, it’s not for us.
He’s our big Daddy,
and he loves to control us,
to scare us.
He wants to spank us.
We can think what we like
as long as we don’t say it
out loud,
as long as we’re quiet
and scared
he’s got us where he wants us.
He should be handsome,
but he’s not.
We admit we think about his looks
only in our dreams,
except for his eyes,
which we talk about openly
as we see him calculating,
wary,
ready to pounce.
Oh yes, he’s our big, bad Daddy
and he wants our votes for his party.
He wants his party to win so big
he can have his way with us for the next four years
and there’s not a thing, he likes to think,
that we can do about it.
And he’s probably right,
I mean that he could rule
like the stern Daddy he is,
because our democracy only goes so deep.
and we, struggling to live,
shouting at injustice,
shouting out our pain in moments of bravery
would only see the reflections of shards of ice
in his eyes.
And yet,
and yet
he cannot control the unexpected
and we are patient, if nothing else.
We wait and we watch.
We know he is weak inside.
We hear it on the other side of his righteousness
and see it in the skin
he would rather not inhabit.
We wait and we plan.
We hold to the light he would deny us.
We find we are braver than we thought.
We are amazed, after all the brainwashing,
that we can think at all for ourselves.
And we do.
And his eyes are running now.
So You Think Canadian Youth Are Apathetic About the Election?
The idea that Canadian young adults are apathetic about the election keeps coming up but we don’t believe that to be true. And we can prove it. Actually they are proving it. Everyday there is a new flash mob, video, viral campaign, Facebook group, etc. that is surfacing from this underrepresented group. The overwhelming message is that they want to be taken seriously, they care about the country, they are frustrated with the leadership and are pining for a leader they can truly believe in.
This group of voters is marginalized through a variety of means. Here are just a few:
- The continued methods of pollsters to only call landlines excludes many of us but this group in particular, as few have, or ever will have landlines. This shifts the polls and ensures that issues concerning this demographic are not even on the table.
- Despite the success of Nenshi and Obama’s digital campaigns, which brought out record numbers of young voters, the Canadian political parties are only using social media in very rudimentary ways. In fact, the Tory’s are actually using this against the young voters when they do things such as them out of Conservative rallies for posting pictures of themselves with leaders from other parties. This is not congruent with how they use these media, nor with their worldview.
- The issues themselves are not directed towards this group. Not one mention was made during the debates about the younger voters or issues that are important to them. Most of the issues seem directed towards a middle class, middle aged, suburban population.
- There is no official push towards getting the youth to vote. Voting is at an all time low, and this demographic is among the lowest, yet all the efforts I see for getting the youth out to vote are not coming from the government but through outside sources. This isn’t to say that other groups shouldn’t be encouraging or educating the youth to vote BUT our government should be a big part of a pro-vote movement as well.
Rick Mercer talked eloquently about the situation and his part in getting the youth to get involved:
Rick Mercer Talks About The Youth Vote
Here are a few youth based initiatives that are focusing on the 2011 election. Please feel free to add to the list:
SHIT HARPER DID
WHAT WE DO:
Your Message (Concern for others) + A Few Jokes (Humour) + Packaged Within Social Media (Friends)
WHO WE ARE:
We assemble a diverse team of creative & technical talent for every project. The client is on the team & the intended audience is on the team. Our services are unique because we are unique. We are, professional campaigners, filmmakers, comedians, marketers, web designers, animators, actors & musicians.
THEIR MAJOR EVENTS:
Hilarious videos and a website encouraging the youth to get out and vote and outlining the ‘shit Harper has done’.
Stephen Harper is an Evil Astronaut
VOTE MOBS
Across the the country university groups are organizing vote mobs to get their fellow students to the ballot box. Here are a couple of examples but there and more everyday – and if you consider that they are in the midst of the year end exams I think it gives you the idea that they do care and are willing to get out there.
University of Victoria Vote Mob – Respect
University of Guelph Vote Mob – Dog Days are Over
APATHY IS BORING
Revolutionizing democracy through art & technology.
Apathy is Boring is a national non-partisan project. Our mission is to use art & technology to educate youth about democracy.
Apathy is Boring aims to meet the following Youth in Democracy Goals:
Increase youth voting rates.
Increase youth engagement in their communities.
Build a sustainable dialogue between youth and elected officials.
LEAD NOW
Leadnow brings generations of Canadians together to take action for our future and hold politicians accountable.
Leadnow was founded in 2010 by a group of young people who care about a wide range of issues and wanted to create a new way for people to participate effectively in our democracy.
Our founding objectives are to deepen our democracy, strengthen our communities, advance social justice, extend economic opportunity and protect our planet. We’ll build an independent community that works together to help set the political agenda, take effective action on important issues, and shift elections.
Still think the youth are apathetic? Or do we all need to work together to make sure ALL our voices are heard by our government…
Five Lessons We Can Learn From The Yes Men.
There are still two weeks left to use your creativity to make a mark.
Last Thursday night Project Democracy & The Department of Culture brought in renowned culture jamming activists, the Yes Men. {more specifically, Andy Bichlbaum, one of the founding duo along with Mike Bonanno} to raise money for Project Democracy as well as to inform, enlighten and entertain us about their actions.
The definitely informed and entertained, but I would like to focus on the ‘enlighten’ part. Artists have long been able to deliver powerful messages through their creations – sometimes overt, as with religious iconography, and sometimes subversive, through means such as the Yes Men deploy.
So what did we learn from the Yes Men:
1. Develop actions that give journalists and the media an opportunity to focus on important issues that don’t get covered. The pranks provide the chink in the armour, and the catchy funny gotcha headline, and then it’s up to the media to pry things open to explore the big underlying systemic stories. The media are always looking for newsworthy stories – give them something important to focus on.
2. How to collaborate for powerful results. The Yes Men often work with activists, artists, and even media outlets to get their projects done. It is through these collaborations that they can pull off such large-scale events.
3. Open up your group and your ideas. The Yes Men have created Yes Labs to open up the process to as many people as possible. There are now not just two Yes Men but many all iterating on the core ideas and values of the Yes Men.
4. Be fearless. In 15 years of publically embarrassing large corporation and governments, the Yes Men have only been sued once. And, even in that situation {which is still in process} they have discovered a large number of groups and citizens who are willing to lend their skills, power and money to the cause. We live in a democracy. We should not be afraid to talk publically about issues that affect us all and we should ensure that companies and governments accountable to the citizens – not the other way around.
5. Imagine a better possible future. Many of the Yes Men’s pranks are so powerful because they give us an opportunity to see what is possible. So often we focus on what can go wrong or ‘worst case scenarios’ but when asking why people don’t vote the answer is often ‘ because non of the leaders are inspiring or have vision’. We as artists can begin to incite the public imagination by presenting better possible outcomes for the future and let our leaders know there are alternative futures.
The Department of Culture believes that through creative means we can all hold our government accountable, highlight inequities and to bring about positive social change in our country. We are seeing this everyday as creatives from across Canada are making videos, music, paintings, flash mobs, and a variety of other artistic messages to address our current national election. If you would like to see what is happening across the country please check out departmentofculture.crowdmap.com where we have been mapping creative actions from across Canada.
However, we want to see more! We have a couple of weeks left during this election to make the citizens get out and vote, the politicians take notice of what the real issues are and to get that damn Harper out of government.
Everything you need to know for the Canadian Federal Election 2011.
Don’t let lack of information keep you, or anyone you know, from voting in the election. Here are some useful links to keep you informed:
1. If you are not sure where or when to vote:
Vote.ca www.vote.ca
2. If you are outside of the country but don’t want to miss you chance to vote, this is how:
http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=vot&dir=reg%2Fsvr&document=index&lang=e
3. If you want to hear the platforms from the horses’ mouths:
Green Party: http://greenparty.ca/platform2011
New Democrat Party: http://www.ndp.ca/platform
Liberal Party: http://www.liberal.ca/platform
Conservative Party: http://www.conservative.ca/policy/platform_2011
4. If you want to hold the politicians accountable and want them to answer the actual questions posed:
Answer the Question http://answerthequestion.ca/
5. If you want some great, in depth viewpoints and information on the election:
Federal Election Blog http://federalelectionblog.ca/
Rabble: Election News for the Rest of Us http://election.rabble.ca/
6. If you are looking for the best Twitter hashtag to follow for up-to-the-minute updates:
7. If the arts vote is important to you dig in at:
Arts Based Voting http://www.canadianartscoalition.com/
8. If you are young, young at heart or just want to be inspired by smart, engaged young adults:
Apathy is Boring apathyisboring.com
Lead Now leadnow.ca
9. if you want some sassy political graphics, Tigana Too has offered to share:
Tigana Too http://www.flickr.com/people/tiganatoo/
10. If you have an ABC {anything but conservatives} leaning, and you need some guidance for how to strategically vote in your riding:
Project Democracy www.projectdemocracy.org
Swing 33 http://swing33.ca/
11. If you think the internet should be for everyone:
Open Media http://openmedia.ca
12. If you want to get inspired by Canadians’ creative reaction to the election, or to submit any work you have made or know about then obviously you should go to:
Department of Culture {yep. That’s us.}
http://departmentofculture.crowdmap.com/main
{this is not an exhaustive list! please feel free to let us know about other initiatives}