Be The Victory You've Been Dreaming Of

Despair is easy when fascism, the foe we thought we’d defeated nearly a century ago, is back from hell and rampaging across North America and the world. Still, we beat it before, and we’ll do it again. But how? Without question, the best-funded and most powerful tools are in the hands of governments. But 20^th and 21^st Century history teaches us that we can’t risk assuming that governments—even social democratic ones—will engage this fight effectively, or at all. 

So what must we do? And while organizing to defeat this evil, how do we simultaneously engineer the world we want and deserve? In other words, how to we move beyond the myopia of anti- to embrace telescopic vision of pro-? 

Citizens and citizen organizations, regardless of support or opposition from government forces, must begin with a frank analysis of why we must discard the flimsy notion of “allyship” for the clear and unmistakable terms of formal alliances. We must broker and expand intercommunal connections to create a common vision-action plans. We must practice asymmetric activation through pro-social innovation competitions, especially to seize control of the digital commons. And through our most powerful and best-funded organizations—labour unions—we must create expansive solidarity endowments to thwart the long-game of Koch Brothers-style social engineering to systematically build a better world. 

Malcolm Azania is a long-time community organizer and teacher, particularly in the areas of Africentric education, racial justice, peace, and anti-fascism. In addition to being an award-winning novelist and print journalist, he has been a community radio host-producer, national television host and associate producer, and writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta. To access articles and links related to his keynote, visit his Selected Writing page (content to be available beginning November 20).