Mediacheck

Prorogation Provokes Online Uprising

Fast-growing Facebook group is organizing rallies nationwide.

By Monte Paulsen, 11 Jan 2010, TheTyee.ca

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Harper has shuttered Parliament until March.

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A Facebook group called Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament has sprawled to more than 148,000 members, spawning plans for "Get Back to Work" rallies in more than 30 cities.

The social media group has become a national town square where Canadians are venting their frustration over Prime Minister Stephen Harper's decision to shut down Parliament until after the close of the Olympic Winter Games.

In its first week, the virtual protest went from being mocked by the nation's newspapers to being cited by them as part of the reason Harper is sinking in the polls. And as the group enters its second week, its creator -- a 25-year-old graduate student -- is calling on Canadians to take to the streets.

"Facebook is just a tool that we're using to connect with each other," Christopher White told The Tyee. "Unless we actually get people on the ground, doing work in their communities, the Facebook group will mean nothing."

'Indicative of a much larger issue'

White, an anthropology student at the University of Alberta, is neither an activist nor a political partisan.

"I am not a card-carrying member of any political party... I have never volunteered for a candidate or party," White said in an e-mail. "The last rally I went to was five years ago during my undergraduate degree to protest tuition increases."

He was, however, profoundly frustrated when he learned that Harper had prorogued Parliament for the second time in two years.

"To me, prorogation was indicative of a much larger issue in Canada -- of how disconnected many of us are from politics, and how our elected leaders use that to their advantage," he explained.

"We elect our politicians to represent us, and when they negate on their responsibility it is a betrayal of democracy," White said.

He started Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament on Dec. 30. The group grew quickly. And dozens of local chapters were soon organized across the country.

The group's discussion boards brewed a curious gumbo of thoughtful debate and partisan harangue. Members posted both the letters they wrote to their MPs and the (often boilerplace) replies they received. Discussion topics include: "We need our MPs to stop towing party lines and stand up for the people," "Jean Chretien... King of Proroguers," and "Maybe our governments can't do the right thing?"

White attributes the group's success to its simple message: "Get Back To Work."

"This has far exceeded what I had envisioned," he said. "It started out with me sitting angrily in my desk, and very soon it will be Canadians marching in the street."

'Facebook protests are not protests'

Canada's mainstream news media initially dismissed and disdained what may be the first social media movement of the new decade.

Early news reports tended to scoff at the group's membership count -- then in the tens of thousands -- citing it as too small to matter. Several bloggers and pundits snickered that the group's members (then) represented less than one percent of the 13.8 million Canadians who voted in the 2008 federal election.

"So. Parliament has been prorogued," Macleans columnist Andrew Coyne blogged on Jan. 5. "Certainly there's no evidence the public is up in arms about it... the 38,000 plus who have subscribed to that Facebook page are indicative of very little -- most, I would bet, are opposition partisans."

The National Post published an editorial on Jan. 6th that scoffed at "a new-fangled website called Facebook" and chided the Toronto Star's decision to publish a news article about the group.

"For the sake of context," the National Post suggested, "let's look at some other causes that also got a six-digit response. Almost 300,000 people have joined a group encouraging rocker John Mellencamp to quit smoking. Another hundred thousand people have joined a group encouraging random people to move to Finland. And then there's our personal favourite: A group called 'If 100,000 people join this group, Laura will name her son Megatron.'"

And the Toronto newsweekly NOW published a column entitled "You call that a protest, Facebook?"

"Facebook protests are not protests -- or at least they're incredibly lazy ones," NOW writer Joshua Errett argued. "I think adding your name to a Facebook protest is a quick and easy way to feel like you've done something to help the cause, and then continue on your way. It takes no energy, and no commitment."

But late in the week, polls by Angus Reid and Ekos showed a majority of Canadians are opposed to prorogation. And the pundits quickly began to change their tune.

Coyne was among the few who did so openly.

"Well, now. The Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament Facebook page now has over 127,000 signatories... The government's overall numbers are on the slide, even before the demonstrations planned for across the country later this month," he blogged.

"Could it be, in other words, that I was, um, you know, what I mean to say is, er... wrong?"

More indicator than instigator

"When the prorogation of Parliament was announced, the story came and went in the news media in what seemed like the blink of an eye," UBC professor Alfred Hermida observed.

"It this had happened in Britain -- if Gordon Brown had suspended Parliament while under such intense scrutiny -- there would have been an intense outcry in the news media," added the BBC News veteran.

"Here it was like, 'Oh well. No Parliament. Moving on.'"

Hermida, who studies the impact of digital communications on journalism, said social media has emerged as a powerful political organizing tool.

For example, Facebook provided a springboard that helped propel Barack Obama to the front of a large pack of better-known politicians seeking the U.S. Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Twitter provided anti-government demonstrators in Iran with a way to coordinate protests in a nation where political organizing is forbidden.

At the same time, he warned against expecting too much of Facebook.

"By itself, social media is not going to overthrow the Harper government," Hermida said.

"This sort of group may be better understood as an indicator of social change than an instigator of political change," he said.

"This group indicates that there are a significant number of Canadians who are not happy with what is being done in their name. And that has brought it back to the attention of the news media. If nothing else, the members of this group have returned the topic to the forefront of public discussion," he said.

Hermida compared the online anti-prorogation effort to the flood of social media outrage that came in the wake of the decision to exclude Green Party leader Elizabeth May from the leaders' debates in 2008.

"As we saw," he said, "a week later that decision was reversed."

'First step in the engagement ladder'

And yet, transforming indicators into instigators is precisely what Christopher White and the dozen or so volunteers who have coalesced around Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament are trying to do.

There are 31 rallies already in the planning stages across Canada, including 15 in Ontario, five in the Prairies, four in the Maritimes, three in B.C., two in Quebec (where the English-language Facebook is not as widely used) and one each in Whitehorse and Yellowknife. There is even a protest planned in London, England.

Sean Devlin is an organizer of the Vancouver chapter.

"We will certainly be able to translate the Facebook group into boots on the ground," Devlin told The Tyee. "There will likely be some drop-off, but that's to be expected. However, the bigger the group gets, the bigger the turnout on Jan. 23."

The Vancouver chapter counts more than 700 members online. About two dozen of those showed up at its first flesh-and-blood organizing meeting last weekend, according to Devlin, who said the Vancouver rally will "focus on the work that is not being done while Parliament is prorogued." Local groups are also forming in Kelowna and Victoria.

Devlin, who was part of a climate day team that turned out 5,000 people on the Cambie Bridge last October, said the latent power of this group lies in the fact that political newcomers outnumber the usual suspects.

"The biggest problem we face in this country is apathy, plain and simple. If we're going to see positive change we need a citizenry that is positively engaged. This issue is doing just that," Devlin said.

"The Facebook group is the first step in the engagement ladder. Showing up at a rally is the next step," he continued. "If this Facebook group results in 1,000 people volunteering during the next election, that will be a significant impact." [Tyee]

Monte Paulsen reports for The Tyee. He plans to talk about the topic of this article today (Monday) at 10 on CKNW.

28 Comments:

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  • dgiVista.org

    2 years ago

    Moving to action beyond Facebook

    The Facebook group is nice, but for people to do more than join a group and let it be, there needs to be some real organizing.

    People running Facebook groups can't email everyone if their membership is over 5,000.

    That's why all the regional Facebook groups have formed and sites like http://NoProrogue.ca to allow real interaction and engagement beyond just clicking "Join" in Facebook, which alone doesn't bother Harper at all.

  • Glen Murtz

    2 years ago

    Numbers

    Some time in the next few hours, those numbers will likely climb above 150,000 Canadians.
    But were you to ask a certain G&M columnist, Canadians aren't doing jack squat. Strange to me that they could say that with any legitimacy.... so I suggest they...

    Ask some of the Canadian military in Afghanistan how they feel defending a government that runs away from tough questions.
    This is the most disgusting abuse of Prime Ministerial power I've seen in my life. Yes, the Trudeau War Measures was scary - but this, this is just pure gutlessness and cowardice.
    While Canadian soldiers offer by their service to bleed out their guts on the battlefield, our Prime Minister and his caucus run away whining and terrified at the prospect of answering a few questions from old white men in bad business suits.

    Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his party have committed one of the most grotesque and indefensible acts of any parliamentary party in Canada's history - they literally ran away from performing their duty.

    Gutless and spineless - not a single P.C. MP has what it takes to do the job before them and not a one has any damned business talking up our military.

    Not a shred of credibility the next time these a**holes talk tough about *anything*.

  • Bob Watts

    2 years ago

    What?

    Maybe its better Harper is off, and not doing any harm other than stealing a pay cheque and the federal Liberals voting for the HST for BC, what the hell is that about?

  • MichaelT

    2 years ago

    I think a lot f us were

    I think a lot f us were simply pissed off with the simple dismissals that were proffered by both right wing media folks and the CPC - they both attempted to say it doesn't matter as a way to make that real (spinning).

    I am certain anger at the dismissal was one of the key factors in getting people to sign up ... and I do note that many of us are happy to see some of the awful legislation die, mixed feelings for me for one.

  • Ramona777

    2 years ago

    Little Thought Required To Click A Button

    I still maintain that joining a Facebook group means little. How many of those who signed on know the issues?
    People who answer pollsters' questions often don't know of what the speak. This is in the same domain.
    When the same number of people show up at the rallies as signed the page, I'll be convinced.
    But then again, back in my protest days, there were many who thought it would be something neat to do for the afternoon. They had no understanding of the issues and it was merely a one-off.

  • Van Isle

    2 years ago

    I still think that the Cons

    I still think that the Cons don't give a tinkers damn what Canadians think. In a couple of months after the dust has settled and the olympics are over Harper will let his professional liars loose in the PM's office and pundits like Coyne will be writing sweet things again.

  • shepsil

    2 years ago

    Van Isle is right, and we still have this Facebook group.

    Good Morning VI, Last week this time, Monte Paulsen wrote that the Facebook group had 23,000 members and all the other media outlets were starting to notice and argue mostly that the Facebook site Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament was irrelevant. In 6 days, we are now standing at over 150,000 members. Almost guaranteed is the number of 1/4 million by this time next week!

    We all hear the Obama social media success stories, in particular the 6 million Facebook members. So if we Canadians have 1/10th the US numbers, our Facebook number would be 600,000 and I think this is more than doable by April.

    Steven Harper can ignore this group if he wishes, and I hope he does, because to argue that it will have no effect on his desired outcome is equivalent to his sticking his head the Facebook sandbox.

  • cdn

    2 years ago

    Canadians for Democracy Network

    The Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament facebook group has seen Canadians working together in exciting and powerful new ways. We need to bring this same level of mobilization to a broader set of issues on an indefinite basis.

    Please join the Canadians for Democracy Network facebook group and keep the community alive:

    http://tinyurl.com/y923wbc

  • RickW

    2 years ago

    NOW writer Joshua Errett:

    Quote:
    "Facebook protests are not protests -- or at least they're incredibly lazy ones"

    I would suggest that Mr. Errett is incredibly naive about this. Consider that the only really effective public protest would be a mass turnout on Parliament Hill. Then consider that Canada is in reality a nation about 7,000 kilometres long and 100 kilometres thick (sort of like Chile), and with a transportation system that doesn't easily accommodate such lengthy travel. Also, consider that most Canucks find themselves completely occupied making a living.

    So how then does the average Canuck effectively protest?

  • RickW

    2 years ago

    About the only thing to marr this anti-proroguing protest.......

    .....are the Liberal attack ads -- AFTER the Libs & Ignatieff found out about the groundswell building.

    Tweedledum & Tweedledee...........

  • NicS

    2 years ago

    Special thanks to PM Harper for Proroguing Parliament

    Media around the country is writing about this issue, people are being educated around federal politics and the PM is losing points in the popularity polls.

    Tommy Douglas on Fascism: “Once more let me remind you what fascism is. It need not wear a brown shirt or a green shirt it may even wear a dress shirt. Fascism begins the moment a ruling class, fearing the people may use their political democracy to gain economic democracy, begins to destroy political democracy in order to retain its power of exploitation and special privilege.

  • Amelia Bellamy-Royds

    2 years ago

    Re: 'Facebook protests are not protests'

    I have also traditionally been dismissive of facebook group numbers as a sign of political involvement, for the same reason argued here -- signing up is a low-effort, and often low-thought, action.

    But I'm starting to think that's an oversimplification which stems from trying to compare a facebook group with something like a rally or a protest.

    A facebook group is more like a petition, or some kind of opt-in opinion poll. It's a way to reach out to the otherwise inaccessible people in power and let them know what you think. Which I think is what Alf Hermida was saying by calling it "indicator" not an "instigator" of opinion.

    But because it is opt-in, the opinions expressed are more significant than those given when someone randomly calls you at home to ask some questions, and may instigate further action beyond the original opinion. By clicking to sign up to a group, members have identified themselves with that position, and are more likely to follow up, even if they had not thought about the issue at all until a friend sent them an invitation to the group. (It also helps that they have provided more devoted activists a way to contact them.)

    I know I have read (and I'm sorry, but I can't find any references quickly) of studies of human behaviour and politics that show that, if a political candidate gets a person to agree to put a small campaign sign in their yard or window, and then comes back later on in the campaign and asks to put out a really big sign, they will get a much higher acceptance rate then if they tried to convince the person to put up the big sign in the first place. It seems that once you have publicly identified yourself as a supporter of the candidate, it's harder to rationalize against doing so in an open, obvious way.

    Sure, most of the facebook members won't go to the rallies, but maybe they'll still remember it when they next go to a ballot box -- something for politicians and pundits to consider before dismissing a hundred-thousand-plus people.

  • lynn

    2 years ago

    We have to start somewhere......

    Enjoyed reading your comment, Amelia.

    You make a very good point about the "opting-in" aspect of the facebook petition.

    NicS, thanks for posting that Tommy Douglas quote. I have never read it before. He manages to say a lot in those few sentences..... Bells should be tolling everywhere.

  • Jeaness

    2 years ago

    Get back to work!

    Let's get this straight: politicians are elected to run the business of the country. They are paid a good salary, with many benefits.

    They are employees of the electorate. The prime minister is the CEO; the caucus is the executive branch; the backbenchers are those employees who represent various sections of the country.

    What happens when the CEO gives everyone a holiday with pay for two months? Nothing. Important questions are unanswered; work piles up; nothing is done for the growing number of unemployed who deserve the government's full attention to job creation. 

    In a private company, such an action by a CEO would not be tolerated.

    The media claim that Canadians are indifferent to this gross misuse of the CEO's power, being all wrapped up in the coming Olympics. I am not indifferent, and I am not alone.

  • Fish-counter

    2 years ago

    What can we say, other than it is anti-democratic!

    Suspending parliament is a tactic more suited to military juntas. Is this the next step? Could Stephen Harper possibly be more arrogant? He should be nominated for the Nobel Prize, but I don't think there is one for the flagrant disregard of law. He has trashed months of work. It is unfortunate that there is no one to challenge him. Ignatief should go to see Michaele Jeanne. This is totally unacceptable.

    What if....

    Jack and Gilles went up The Hill
    To bring down Stephen Harper?
    Would Jack come down with half the crown?
    Would Mike bellow with laughter?

    Just a thought.

  • asp

    2 years ago

    "Here it was like, 'Oh well. No Parliament. Moving on.'"

    What are you talking about? No Parliament played a great set at 1067 on the weekend!

  • Armistice

    2 years ago

    To the Journalist

    It's "toe (walk straight) the line", not "tow (pull) the line".

    And it's "disdain", not "distain". .

    sheesh.

  • Armistice

    2 years ago

    Other solutions

    Harper could have Adjourned, which would just be a pause, without stopping or shelving any work or committees. Then he'd have this time he says he needed.

    Proroguing was the extreme choice.

    I'd like to see someone write an article to sum up all the protests - including letters from professors, from diplomats; all the protests including the Facebook protest - a sort of timeline, or a history of this occurrence.

    Read: "Afghan Quagmire Silences Canada's House of Commons", by Arthur Kent:

    http://skyreporter.com/

  • David Beers

    2 years ago

    Administrator

    Armistice, you're one for two

    Actually it is valid to use 'tow the line' -- an expression that originally made reference to those who pulled barges along canals. However you are right that 'toe the line' also references another image of enforced conformity, legislators, runners or some other group told to arrange themselves along a prescribed line. Unless my English prof was wrong way back when, both are ok to use.

    But, yes, it is disdain, not distain, that you showed for our editing! And in one out of two cases, you are indubitably justified! We'll fix it and thanks for the catch.

  • soleprobe

    2 years ago

    I hope....

    I hope there won’t be any major calamity during the Olympics. Just the excuse Harper needs to seize emergency dictatorial powers. We could be stuck with him indefinitely.

  • Stephanie

    2 years ago

    I am not indifferent....

    Thanks for your comments Jeaness (we are NOT alone!) and Amelia...

    I, too, do not join FB groups but this time I had to! When I joined this is what I wrote,
    Quote:
    "Checking in from Honduras.... This behaviour is unmitigated crap on the part of the old Reform boys (and girls dammit!)…. Honduras is a country of only 7 1/2 million people and they stood up to the USA, OAS, the IMF, the world and the international media and held their ground for protecting their own democracy.

    A favorite slogan was "We don't have oil, we don't have money but we have Balls!" It's about time the Canadian voters grew some "cojones" of their own and asserted their rights and demanded, demanded! effective representation for their elected officials. And this also applies to what is happening in British Columbia under the actions of "El Gordo"! End Quote

    I am hoping that Canadians will bring their balls to the streets on Jan. 23 and tell Stephen & Co. that we won't play their game anymore!

  • SayBlade

    2 years ago

    173,086 members at 19:55 ET

    I watched it pop up over 173,000 in the last half hour!

    173,115 at 19:56 ET

    173,126 at 19:57 ET

    173,135 at 19:58 ET....

  • Des

    2 years ago

    Don't Forget

    that the person who joins the Facebook coalition does not act alone! The member not only has many, many "Friends" who can be influenced to also join in, but there are parents, siblings and other relatives who are close enough to the member that person-to-person contact can make a difference. It is not just an option to be "clicked" with no consequences to be computed. This groundswell could well become the riptide that cleans out the HoC.

  • Wilfride Laurier

    2 years ago

    And it means nothing

    Anyone can join a Facebook group. But what does it actually mean? Absolutely nothing. Will these people write to their MPs? Will they go out in the snow and demonstrate? Probably they won't because it is just so much easier to point a mouse and click "join."

  • sicntired

    2 years ago

    no big surprise here

    Harper has shown that he has no stomach for a fight and that he finds it much easier to just leave the room.Can anyone remember a time since he took over the reform party,before he changed the name to PC's because people were already on to the kind of racist and ideological politics that group practiced,that he has given a responsible answer to any of the opposition questions?It was a very real possibility that Peter Mackay was going to lose his position over his obvious lies to parliament over the Afghan prisoner hand offs.I have heard no one even mention this aspect of the whole debate.I guess Craig Oliver is too caught up in the Olympic game torch ralley.

  • SayBlade

    2 years ago

    177,734 at 09:35 ET

    @ Wilfride Laurier: Someone already made your point earlier in the discussion.

  • Jeffrey J.

    2 years ago

    And it means everything

    While 'anyone' can join a Facebook group, the issue in a democracy is not what a citizen 'can' do, but what they in fact do. Citizens express our values in many ways, including voting, writing letters, sending petitions, phoning call in shows and joining Facebook groups. There MIGHT be a We Like Harper group (or maybe not), but no-one is joining it by the thousands.

    In democracies, a government represents the public good, determined by citizens wants and needs. In a non-democracy, government elites do what they wish, without regard to the public interest, like proroguing parliament, unilaterally increasing military spending, meeting in secret with industry and corporations.

    It happens all the time around the world in non-democracies. It used to be better in Canada. Under the Harper Regime, things are far, far worse. What a nasty, unpleasant place Ottawa has become.

    Many Canadians are concerned about this. It is indeed time we have a change in Ottawa.

  • Des

    2 years ago

    The Power

    of the internet has yet to be acknowledged by government. The amazing stories about the crisis in Haiti shows that communication is of the essence in dealing with the unexpected. Harper's use of prorogation would have elicited perhaps a few growls from the public in the past, about a leader or a party pulling its chestnuts out of the fire, but the internet (Facebook) is really the public beginning to show its teeth, and politicians may soon feel its bite.

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