When Many Voices Come Together

Barbara: The last couple of days have been interesting politically. Here in Toronto, the local mayor presented a budget that would cut millions of dollars from sacred and beloved social services and arts. Everything from libraries to community centres to public pools as well as arts grants and funding were on the chopping block.

(This reminds me of Colin’s Facebook post yesterday: “Thanks … for this quote from Ricky Gervais in Esquire: ‘Churchill's advisors once came to him and said, "We're going to stop all funding for the arts so we can put that into the war effort.’ And Churchill said, ‘Then what are we fighting for?’ EXACTLY!!)

Anyway, here in Toronto, people were outraged, but the mayor pressed on, determined to push the cuts through. Well, the ground shifted in some deep social ocean floor and the peoples’ voices swelled, and a tsunami of protest washed over the dry hallows of city council—not destroying it, but drenching it in good, logical, responsible sense—until councilors representing many of the wards in our city did something unheard of. Going with the population tidal wave, the majority voted against the mayor. As it says in this newspaper article, this was a “stunning rejection”, and if it had “occurred at Queen’s Park or on Parliament Hill, [it] would be considered a vote of non-confidence in the government.” And yet, it happened. Because so many people voiced their outrage about this mean-spirited budget that our politicians were compelled to listen and act.

Yesterday, there was a major internet blackout (you may have noticed no Wikipedia, no Reddit, no Wordpress, etc) opposing SOPA and PIPA, two proposed American bills that would enforce copyright laws to such a broad degree that freedom of speech was close to being forever compromised (…if it's not posted on the internet, does it make a sound?...).

Now Wiki and Reddit and Wordpress, etc, are major powers and I wouldn’t just randomly support them. Also, as a writer and film industry veteran, obviously I consider copyright a serious issue. But we are at a crucial time in our history—we are now determining how we develop, how we progress, and how we communicate, and we can’t just lump our precious freedoms, rights, and innovations together and lock them behind the gates. We need to work toward finding a viable solution that protects both copyright and freedom of speech. 


But I'm not an expert here. For me, the moral of the story is this: Wiki and Reddit and Wordpress, etc. would never have been able to manifest the kind of political reversal that’s happening as we speak without millions of voices rising with them to protest. Here's what was already happening yesterday. Here's another primer, and here's an article about the new order. Special mention goes to a certain loyal blog reader for her helpful links here and for her concerned phone call to her local Rep. Maybe she'll tell her story in the comments section??? 

People, you can do amazing things!! Don’t ever forget that you can—and should—speak out.