Tuesday, June 27, 2006
All it Takes
"Direct action case work has always been one of the things I have liked the most about OCAP's approach to social change. Of course it didn't originate with OCAP -- I've heard OCAP members say they model it on actions that were common during the Great Depression in response to evictions and abuses of people who were "on relief", to use the language of that era. The idea is that a person comes forward with some situation in which they have been unfairly treated by the welfare bureaurcracy or a landlord or the immigration bureaucracy or some other authority. OCAP figures out what basis there is for restitution, complaint, or better treatment, sends a polite letter demanding that the issue be addressed, and then backs it up with things like office occupations by lots of unruly activists. This has proven to be very effective over the years, to the extent that often these days all it takes is the initial letter to win appropriate action."
Read more about how anti-poverty activists do things in Ontario:
http://scottneigh.blogspot.com/2006/06/direct-action-case-work-victory-in.html
Read more about how anti-poverty activists do things in Ontario:
http://scottneigh.blogspot.com/2006/06/direct-action-case-work-victory-in.html
