What is wrong with me?

I think I will stick with Oxfam. Not because I think it is the best organization, but for the sake of choosing one.


I feel an insurmountable disconnect between me and enviromental/social injustice but yet I know the issues are important. Name just about any serious human rights violation, for example the Bhopal chemical disaster, and I would tell you that those people are very unfortunate and I hope that things change for them. But somehow, I struggle to believe that little me, over here in Canada, would have any effect on their fight to survive and receive the compensation they deserve. I'm not sure I even believe that a whole group of mes would have any effect.

I went to a talk by US presidential candidate Ralph Nader in late 2008 at the University of Waterloo and he spoke about getting involved in civic action. He mentioned four key obstacles to this: time, knowledge, fear and helplessness. The first two are self explanatory. Fear refers to fear of ridicule and opposition. Last is the one I am experiencing and that is helplessness. By joining Oxfam, I hope to observe that individuals and NGOs are not helpless and are in fact very influential. I have a hunch that this can be true in certain cases, but I need to see how it works.

He also talked about how sensationalism affects involvement. A highly sensational issue (eg fire) is very motivating. A more abstract issue (eg global warming) requires a more intellectual understanding. Being capable of abstraction, I'm joining the fight purely on the knowledge that it is important and not, so far, because I have a desperate (even emotional) need for it.

Things matter to me when I begin to understand how they work and one of the biggest barriers between me and serious action is that I don't know how activism works. I see activists try, I see their optimism and sometimes they report successes. But this is the way any corporation works. They will continually announce success until they give up completely, rationalizing their failures and presenting them in a positive light. I need to see these stories first hand or I will always be cynical about them.

My goals for the time being are to read up on Oxfam's initiatives and be able to represent them adequately at their tables.