Hundreds of millions have taken it to the streets in recent years.

#FridaysForFuture. Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Protests. Women’s March. Occupy. #MeToo. Black Lives Matter. The list goes on. 

I spend most of my time in Ottawa (well, right now, all of it). Typically, not a month goes by where I don’t witness people taking it to the streets, to Embassies, and to Parliament Hill. They take their voice, their anger, perspective, personal experiences, stories, and emotion. All through modern history, social movements and street expressions have taken a number of forms — from individual fasts to mass demonstrations. Social movements have been the catalytic fuel that has advanced women’s rights, civil rights and gay rights, exposed systemic injustices toward Indigenous peoples, and changed how we take care of the planet.

Anger has played an instrumental role in advancing social wellbeing and calling for action on injustices, but what do social movements look like in the era of physical distancing? How do we get angry, and fight for what we believe in at this time when we can’t take it to the streets? 

Recently, Direct Diplomacy published a report on citizen campaigns, and in particular their impact in the digital era. The report looked into what motivates citizens to act and participate in social movements, and what encourages their continued participation in order to achieve both impact and longevity. Digital social movements have transformed activism in the last decade alone. GPS, smartphones, and the internet have reinvented the way movements are organized, curated, led, and mobilized.

At a time when COVID-19 is crippling social impact organizations of various kinds, if we don’t collectively do something to support social service agencies, social purpose businesses, non-profits, volunteer-run organizations, arts and culture organizations, and community co-operatives, we’re facing a world that will be dominated by more inequity and inequality, more people at the margins, fewer people and communities thriving, and a new level of planetary stress. 

Which leads me to a question: Are the federal government’s emergency relief measures truly designed for social impact organizations? 

There is anger. And with physical distancing, there are mass digital social movements erupting pushing for a swifter, more optimal, and equitable response to COVID-19’s economic and community effects. From neighbourhoods mobilizing to save their local food bank to a pan-Canadian movement to save small business to non-profits sending letters to their MPs, the online mobilizations are getting louder and stronger. Although Prime Minister Trudeau announced an updated relief package with a 75 percent wage subsidy on March 27th, at the time of this writing, we are still left wondering if it actually includes non-profits and charities. 

The social impact sector professionalized so rapidly in the last few decades that we may have forgotten about the role of anger and the value that street expression has played in shifting minds and hearts, exposing injustices, and moving public policy. While a number of organizations in recent years have begun to support employee activism, it is still seen as “against their mission” for many. 

This is the time to mobilize your anger for good. There, I’ve said it, and feel much better for it. We need to be positive and optimistic but we’re also allowed to get angry as we work through this and collectively mobilize for the best possible relief. 

The CEO of a well-known non-profit once said to me, “We are all activists. But we don’t like to use that word because it doesn’t sound professional.” Now that our professional lives are under stress, time to value our anger and bring out the activist in each of us. 

Vinod Rajasekaran

Publisher & CEO

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