grassroots | thesil.ca

The Global Citizenship Conference (GCC) is typically held in March, but this year’s has been re-scheduled for September. For the conference’s planners, this reflects a long-discussed need for change.

Founded in 2006 by McMaster students, the GCC aimed to engage students in global and local issues and develop passionate activists and advocates. In its inaugural year, Dr. Phil Wood, Associate Vice-President of Student Affairs, referred to GCC as “the most impressive student event I have seen in my past 30 years at McMaster.”

Past speakers at the GCC included Council of Canadians chair Maude Barlow, AIDS activist and former McMaster Professor Stephen Lewis and former Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff.

Shanthiya Baheerathan, GCC Co-Chair of Logistics, explained how over the years the March timing has just not fit well into the student calendar and leaves little room for follow-up after the conference.

“The idea of having it at the beginning of the year is to build a community early on and to have a thread of student involvement continue for the whole year.”

This year, GCC has been hosting smaller but regular panel series on topics such as Idle No More and Think Global, Act Local. On March 5, they will host a panel on Refugee Health.

Shahana Hirji, Co-Chair of Programming, described how the GCC wants to put a higher emphasis on grassroots forms of engagement. Recent panel topics and local activists and instructors chosen to be on the panel are a result of the community focus.

Baheerathan also discussed funding issues that may have precluded a large-scale conference from occurring this semester. She reiterated that in addition to faculty-based funding, the GCC team will be looking to apply for external funding and community grants for the September conference.

In the past, the GCC promoted to other universities and high school students, which attracted more conference attendees.

Baheerathan wants to try to attract more students in a new way by leveraging the already large network of student clubs on campus.

“We want to establish GCC as a hub for social justice clubs on campus. Mac has a lot of different groups, and the GCC wants to create a more cohesive movement where the GCC supports clubs,” said Baheerathan.

But in order to do this, the planners recognize they will need to rebuild the GCC’s brand on campus.

Fariha Husain, Co-Chair of Networking, described how there has been diminished support for and knowledge of the GCC. Husain also emphasized how the current group is working hard to expand the GCC base and recruit students for the conference team.

“We will be looking for conference team planners around mid- to late-March for the September conference. We want to promote heavily through social media to make it a staple event. This is something that requires student interest and a robust discussion amongst student members.”

Dan Fahey is not your typical MSU presidential candidate. To start, he’s the first student of the young iSci program to run. But most notably, he’s not from McMaster. Fahey is an exchange student from the University of Leiceister in England.

“I’ve not met a single person who has had a problem with it,” he said of his being an exchange student. “Hamilton is really similar to back home, it’s almost like another part of England. It’s very similar, culturally.”

Fahey is a radical candidate not only in his background, but in his platform. Upon coming to McMaster, he was “shocked” by the state of student government, and cites a feeling of “democratic responsibility an obligation” as his reason to run.

“You’ve got all this community and stuff going on, but then the governance is disconnected. It seems weird,” he said.

While other candidates look to make more minor changes within the MSU, Fahey is vocal about his plans for radical reform. He wants to see the election of the three VPs, and a larger, more open SRA that better represents minority groups at Mac.

But as noble as his plans may be, Fahey’s emphasis on democratic restructuring is unlikely to resonate with a disinterested student body. Presidential voting turnout hit a peak last year, even though just a third of MSU voted. His message of student mobilization and activism calls to mind the Quebec protests of 2012 – an association he welcomes, in designating the red felt square as his campaign marker.

In his mission to cater to underrepresented and often marginalized campus groups, including students who are female, racialized, first nations, queer or with disabilities, Fahey neglects the bigger picture and the average student. His platform fails to address the more common issues of the average student, which include campus capacity and mental health. The kind of change he wants to make is undeniably positive, but the kind of grassroots movement he hopes for won’t come to light if the majority of students are ignored.