This week is the National Week of Autonomous Community Action. It’s easy to look the other way when iniquity is not looking us in the eye. I know it ; I do it all the time.
Finally, I give to La guignolée when she asks for it. And I give of my time when it gives way. And above all, I pay my taxes, me, sir! Isn’t that the deal? We donate part of our income to redistribute it where it is needed, and we don’t talk about it anymore.
I’ll admit that I never read the terms and conditions in their entirety, so I may be missing some tips.
What I know beyond a shadow of a doubt is that our attention plays a decisive role in prioritizing social issues, and that in the attention market the demand far exceeds the offer.
Carried by the public interest, a few waves momentarily manage to strike the rock of the status quo strong enough to erode it even a little. The one calling for justice for the victims of sexual violence is the topical example par excellence. Other waves are struggling to build momentum and run aground without a crash, in the shadow of the headlines.
And, while our attention flutters with the news, there is the Autonomous Community Action Movement (ACA) which is staying the course towards a more just society. 4,000 organizations, 60,000 workers and 425,000 volunteers and activists are working to repair, strengthen and extend the meshes of our social net.
Health and education systems have – with good reason – received a lot of attention since the start of the pandemic. However, it is difficult to talk about the crisis we are going through without outlining the essential contribution of the community sector.
It must be said that it is difficult to give social inequity an attractive branding. We associate the community especially with food banks and logos with hands on them (are they a prerequisite for obtaining funding? The question remains unresolved).
Organizations are nevertheless a space for discussion, reflection and mobilization. They are busy responding to imminent needs, but also getting to the root of social problems in order to gain an overview of the reality of Quebec.
The effervescent movement that these organizations constitute is nourished by the hope of a more just society and galvanized by each of the victories to its credit.
Without the ACA movement, the voices least heard in our society do not resonate, and as a result we fail to build a society worthy of our ideals of fairness.
In her feminist essay From the margin to the center, published in 1984, bell hooks explains that it is by first ensuring the well-being of the most marginalized among us that we ensure a level playing field for all.
But when we have the privilege of not needing the services and the spokesperson of the community network, when inequity does not hold our gaze, it is easy to look away. After all, our attention is already divided into diaphanous parts.
In 2001, the Quebec government unanimously adopted a policy recognizing the essential role of community organizations. Twenty years later, when a health and social crisis is shaking all the infrastructures, recognizing and thanking the community network is not enough. We do well to finally give it its fair share of attention… and resources.
What do you think? Express your opinion