Advocacy

I have been involved in campaigning for positive change for a long while now. The common thread in the causes I'm passionate about is the belief that sharing is better than hoarding and pluralism is better than supremacy. Unfortunately going against entrenched interests that benefit from hoarding and division is very very hard. I know firsthand there are a lot of setbacks on the road to a better world.

What keeps me going is the knowledge that my position of relative privilege means the only damage I've suffered is emotional. I do not have the right to lose hope while so many other suffer. It is necessary to rest and recharge from time to time, but giving up is not an option.

Below is a list of just of the few crises that are staining our collective humanity. I wish I could list them all, but more than that I wish we could unite as one human race as that is all it would take to solve them. The only conclusion I have on why this does not happen is that those in power believe the status-quo better benefits their interests.

• Palestine - That the idea of Palestinians being free in their ancestral lands is controversial in the least says a lot about how skewed priorities can be. The interests of any state cannot outweigh people's humanity and their human rights. Here is a list of organizations I support and link to further resources.
  • CJPME
  • IJV Canada
  • NCCM
  • Link to further resources
• Sudan - The Civil war in Sudan that erupted in 2023 is horrific and the civilian suffering caused is unacceptable.
• Congo - The technology that runs our societies rely on resources. In a sane world the people who live near the resources should benefit from the safe and sustainable exploitation of these resources. The reality could not be more different.
• Ukraine - Conquering territories by force is unacceptable in and of itself. To have the invading army target civilian infrastructure is reprehensible. Caring about people over geopolitical entities makes it easy to advocate for Ukrainians.
• Yemen - The people of Yemen have been treated as pawns by more powerful nations for far too long. Whatever disputes there may be between leaders, harming civilians through blockades and bombing cannot be accepted.
• Land Back - The indigenous people of Turtle Island, or North America, where I now live, deserve justice for all that was taken to them. That's what Land Back means, and that's why it deserves everyone's support.

Proportional Representation

I dedicated about a decade of much of my free time to campaigning for Proportional Representation in Canada from 2007 to 2017. As a part of that I was elected to the board of Fair Vote Canada twice and we got very close to victory in the Federal Canadian Election of 2015 where most parties pledged to reform Canada's election system. While I'm no longer a part of Fair Vote Canada, it remains an excellent resource on the topic. My own website on the topic WastedVotes.ca is sadly no longer operational due to the march of time and technology.

It remains a cause dear to my heart.