Presenting at the NDP Federal Convention 2018

March On Canada was invited to give a workshop on grassroots, cross-country organizing at the 2018 NDP Federal Convention in Ottawa. I recorded a video that was included in the presentation, about organizing the women's march in Edmonton in 2017 and 2018, as well as Completing the Story, a partner campaign of March On.

Hi everyone. I hope you are enjoying the presentation from Sam and Bianca! I wish I could be there with you. My name is Paula Kirman, and I am an NDP member from Edmonton Centre. I am also one of the grassroots organizers locally with March On.

4000 people outside the Alberta Legislature on a cold January day in Edmonton. It was a sight that was overwhelming and unforgettable. There was an energy in the air that was palpable, and many of the people in the crowd had never been to a such a gathering before.

We were there to proclaim that Women's Rights Are Human Rights, and that we had reasons to gather that were specifically Albertan: to raise the level of public discourse and stop the bullying of women in political office and public life. To support survivors of gender-based violence and the families of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. And, to continue the struggle for equal pay in the workforce. Since January 21, 2017, the March On Edmonton Collective has continued to be active in amplifying the voices of women and other marginalized groups through our social media, our presence at events, and our continued organizing.

For me personally, I have had the opportunity to lead workshops and mentor others, as well as speak to a variety of groups about grassroots activism and the importance of making our voices be heard. I am also very involved with Completing the Story which March On Canada took on as a campaign. 

Completing the Story seeks to increase and improve the visual representation of women in public spaces – things like public art, statues, monuments, murals, and place names. This is important because representation matters. Lack of visibility leads to marginalization. Girls need to learn from an early age that they can be and do anything.

On a local level we are also gearing up for International Women's Day, to be a presence at several events as participants and speakers. And we are currently organizing a #MeToo rally to support survivors and look at ways to go beyond the hashtag.

March On Canada organized anniversary events in cities throughout the country on January 20, 2018. In Edmonton, 1000 people came out on another very cold day. March On is continuing to keep women's rights at the forefront by raising awareness and initiating important discussions about what a safe and equitable society should look like, and how we can all work towards those goals.
Thank you very much. Enjoy the rest of the presentation. March On!

Explaining Chanukah to Atheists

Is Chanukah really the "Jewish Christmas"? Why do we light candles and eat oily food? If a man converts to Judaism, it's going to hurt in the end, right? These, and other questions, were addressed during my presentation about Chanukah to the Society of Edmonton Atheists on December 5. (Spoiler: the answer to the last question is "most likely, yes.").

Documenting Activism: A Practical Guide for Organizers

On August 22, 2017, I presented this workshop on Documenting Activism for the conference Ignite Change: Global Gathering for Human Rights, organized by the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights. The session was attended by people from Edmonton, Vancouver, and Toronto. Below is a video recording of my presentation, as well as my notes.

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Ignite Change Presentation

Documenting Activism: A Practical Guide for Organizers

Overview of Me and My Work

How and why I started doing this

I showed up to my first peace rally in September of 2005 and asked permission to take photos. I just thought it might be an interesting thing to do. I posted the photos later on, on a blog I had, and the reaction to them online was so huge, the server crashed. I realized that I might be on to something – that no one at that point was documenting the local activist scene and that there was a demand for it – a desire to see photos from events afterwards. I got a better website with more server space, and began to hone my skills in photography and social media, and a short time later, videography. I document through photography and videos, and share my work using social media.

Why documentation is important

The importance of documentation has several facets. First of all, it is capturing history, perhaps a part of Edmonton's history that is not and has not been widely examined. It keeps a record of what happened, when, and why. It creates something tangible that can be shared with others, both locally and elsewhere, and perhaps even help to form connections between organizations and individuals. I also view what I do as having an artistic element to it – art and activism are very closely connected in my beliefs, as both communicate messages in visual ways. Also, documenting visually, unless someone intentionally sets about using photoshop or some other program in nefarious ways, are ways of presenting the truth of what happens. For example, I videoed Jane Fonda's talk during a panel discussion on pipelines. A number of people expressed their dismay to local media that a celebrity should come up here and be disrespectful, and were basically criticizing what she said, without actually listening to what she said. I gave them that opportunity.

What I use

I use YouTube and Flickr for videos and photos, respectively. I find them both intuitive to use and make my work easy to share. I post my work, then share it on Twitter and Facebook. The sharing/retweeting capacities of these social media platforms help spread my work to a wide number of people in a relatively short period of time. I have been using Instagram more and more, because I like how it enables someone to take a photo then send it out to a number of social media platforms at once. For blogging and simple websites, I really like Wordpress because it is so intuitive, but I have also used Blogger.

Documentation conversations

There have been conversations about the efficacy of the use of social media when it comes to activism. There is agreement about it being a great way to get messages out, but also it's important to be cautious: such as, not accepting any and all friend requests, being careful about sharing personal information, and issues of privacy and permission (photographing people in public places taking part in public events in fair game in Canada (mostly – laws are different in Quebec), but there may be times when it would be appropriate to ask permission. Also, photographing the police is fine as long as you're not interfering with their ability to do their work. Laws can be different in different parts of the world – be sure to research and know before you whip out a camera at a protest somewhere else, to avoid getting into legal trouble.). And there have been conversations about the subject matter itself, discussing different sides of the issues, which is really what we want to do: foster discussion about issues concerning conflict and human rights.

Concrete examples of my work and its impact

a) In June of 2015 Justin Trudeau was in Edmonton to help launch the campaign of Amarjeet Sohi, who was running for MP as a Liberal in Edmonton-Mill Woods (he was subsequently elected). The Edmonton Coalition Against War and Racism (ECAWAR for short), of which I am a part, was organizing a series of pickets against Bill C-51, which the Liberals voted in favour of, with the promise that if elected, they would revise some of the more problematic parts of the bill (we're still waiting for this to happen). All of the media was inside the banquet hall – except me. I was filming the protest. All of a sudden, I heard a lot of screaming coming from behind me, and I turned around, and there was Justin Trudeau himself. He engaged in an argument with Peggy Morton, and ECAWAR organizer, and I got the whole thing on video and it went viral across the country – I was doing interviews about it with media outlets, and that video is still doing well. This experience really hit home to me the importance of what I was doing – no one else captured this moment – and also how a large part of doing this job I am doing is simply showing up and being in the right place at the right time.

https://youtu.be/wmLwjjcvIeQ?t=6m30s

b) I was a co-organizer of the Women's March on Washington – Edmonton Solidarity Event on January 21. If anything shows the power of social media, it is this. Combined with the international media coverage the sister marches were getting (the main march was in Washington, of course), our event page, Twitter, and Instagram went viral. Documenting this was also important to us, so I was doing triple duty as an emcee, videographer, and photographer (we did have an official photographer as well). We saw the numbers on Facebook getting bigger and bigger up until the day itself, when over 4000 people packed the north side of the Legislature grounds. I and one of the other co-organizers, have decided to try to keep the momentum created by the march going and are using social media with a new Facebook page, new Twitter and Instagram accounts (@wmwyeg), and a website (wmwyeg.org).

https://youtu.be/ojY-PG7vFoQ?t=4m58s

https://youtu.be/373lc__Q2lg

How documentation impacts the community

Documentation, the way that I do it, gives every day citizens a voice and a platform they may not otherwise have had. Mainstream media often does not cover progressive and activist events at great length, if at all. I am putting up entire speeches or at least more than just 30-second soundbites. This also impacts the community in that it creates resources for future actions and the ability to start dialogues on the different issues presented.

Documentation: The Practical Stuff

Why document?

• To have an historical record
• To protect yourself/colleagues by having recorded details that the memory may otherwise lose
• To share your movement and experiences online and connect with like-minded groups/individuals and grow beyond your borders
• Helps build grassroots community locally and beyond through the sharing of resources.
• Helps attract others to the movement by presenting who you are and what you do. Pictures (and videos) speak volumes beyond just written descriptions (but writing is important too, as we will discuss later).
• Be the media: cover important gaps in coverage. Citizen journalism is a “thing” - there are unprecedented opportunities in today's world for our voices to be heard.
• For yourself: just like there are those people who always take pictures at family gatherings, events and protests can make important memories for us as well.

Photos and Videos

• Can be an issue of access/privilege (equipment – you need a camera, and ideally you need a computer)
• However, one does not need a fancy camera – a smartphone/tablet can suffice. Technology has come a long way.
• Most phones can also take video, most cameras (DSLR and point-and-shoot) can take video, and some video cameras can also take decent stills.
• Benefit of the above: items can be shared immediately via data or wifi (be careful about eating up data plan). You can even edit in your phone or tablet now with apps.
• Instagram & Flickr, Facebook & Twitter, YouTube – all places to post immediately. Don't forget to tag and add hashtags. Tags are like keywords; hashtags use the # symbol and also work as keywords that can be clicked on to be taken to materials using that same term. Eg. #yeg in Twitter for Edmonton-related posts.
• Photos should tell a story. Include backdrops, crowds. Don't always focus in one individuals without context or else you end up with photos that look like they could have been taken anywhere. Eg. Festival photo of family on grass that could have been taken anywhere.
• No issues in Canada taking photos and videos at and posting photos from public gatherings on public space. However, respect it if a colleague does not want his/her photo taken and posted. Could be a job-related issue, family issue etc. Or, maybe they just don't like their picture being taken. Legal issues vs. moral/ethical issues in this case err on the side of caution.
• Children: if singled out in a photo, always a good idea to get permission from parents/guardians. Again, morality/ethics should take precedence over legality.
• In Canada, police/law enforcement can be photographed. They, nor anyone else, have the right to tell you to delete photos.
• I'm not a lawyer – my information comes from my experience and what I believe to be true, but don't take anything I have said here as legal advice.
• Editing: I try to shoot in a way that would require minimal editing, if at all, afterwards. Depends what you are trying to do. Documentation, to me, means being true to what I see, so I don't want to change or enhance it much. You can crop and make some adjustments right in your phone. Most computer operating systems come with a basic photo editor (as well as a video editor).

Writing

• Captures the moments, describes them, another way of sharing information.
• Photo captions/descriptions
• Blogs: Wordpress, Blogger. Wordpress is better for making full-fledged websites. If you just want a plain blog, Blogger might be more intuitive to use for some.
• Facebook posts: keep succinct, add hashtags (a more recent development on FB)
• You don't have to be an English major or wonderful writer.
• Be descriptive, be succinct.
• Letters to the Editor at newspapers – don't be surprised if you don't get published or it gets edited way down. Keep as short as possible – increases chances of getting printed.
• Contributions to activist websites. Usually are hungry for submissions because they can't pay.
• Work as a team; have someone edit your work
• Be careful what you write: “say it and forget it, write it and regret it.” Nothing ever really permanently vanishes from the Internet (eg. Deborah Drever). You don't want something coming back at you down the road.
• Published work online usually has a unique link that can be shared on social media.

Best Practices

Photos: General (this can be applied to video as well)

• Seems like common sense: make sure batteries in phone and cameras are charged.
• Carry charger and battery packs for phones.
• Some camera batteries are proprietary; have a spare (if economical) and/or make sure it is charged in advance.

Photos: Instagram

• Good descriptions
• Lots of hashtags
• Settings to share on other social media like FB and Twitter

Photos: Facebook

• Don't tag people who are not in photos. Pet peeve of many; good way to get defriended.
• Respect it when people don't want to be tagged. Easier now that people can remove tags themselves.

Photos: Flickr

• Same as the above with regard to descriptions, keywords, sharing, adding people (the equivalent of tagging).

Writing/Blogging

• Keywords
• Have someone else edit your work
• Fact check
• Share links to your work on social media

Questions & Answers

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Workshop: Ask how many people have smartphones. Break into pairs, with those who don't have smartphones teamed with those who do, where applicable. Take pictures of the room, each other, whatever is going on, video each other talking about what aspects of social justice are important to them. Upload to the social media platforms of your choice, with the hashtag #ignitechange2017. 

Contemporary Peace Movement: Conference Notes

On June 20, I was one of the featured speakers during a session of the Alberta Labour History Institute's conference Uniting in the Cause: Labour and Social Movements.

The session in which I took part was a "story circle" on the topic of peace. It was a panel of different speakers who talked for five or so minutes, and then the floor was opened up for questions and discussion. My role was to talk about the contemporary peace movement in Edmonton, which for me is approximately from the time of the Iraq War through Afghanistan to the present day.

The session was videoed and will appear on the ALHI's website at a future date. In the meantime, here are my notes from which I spoke.

Contemporary Peace Movement

1) Me - Introduction
- Part of the Edmonton Coalition Against War & Racism (ECAWAR)
- Trade unionist by choice: member of Unifor Local 2040 (Freelance Union of Canada)

2) About ECAWAR:
- Got together in late 2002 to organize against Canada going to war in Iraq
- Resulted in two largest peace marches in Edmonton's history early the following year

3) My involvement with ECAWAR
- Started in 2005
- Always been interested in issues of peace and human rights
- Attributed to my personality and not some major event
- However, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan played constantly in the home as a child!

4) Afghanistan
- Issue when I joined ECAWAR was Afghanistan
- Continued for the next 9 or so years.

5) ECAWAR: Unifying Points
- We all believe war is wrong; peace is good
- Opinions on fine points and how to achieve differ
- Rallying cry: Canada Needs and Anti-War Government
- Most recently: rallies, pickets against Harper government
- ECAWAR supports the right to self-determination for all countries, without western interference (imperialism) eg. Syria

6) Palestine
- Am Alberta representative on national Steering Committee of Independent Jewish Voices (IJV): grassroots group of Canadian Jews who oppose the occupation in Israel/Palestine
- Come from different social, economic, etc. backgrounds but all believe occupation is wrong
- Again, differing opinions on specific issues (eg. one or two-state solution)

7) Communication in the Peace Movement
- A major change in the peace movement is how we communicate
- Still use posters, phone, but now a lot of organizing is done via email and social media
- This is perhaps where Labour organizing has changed as well
- Brings in younger people
- Makes people feel more involved and informed (can post essays and links to information when questions arise, as opposed to leaving everything for in-person meetings)
- In-person meetings still important but now momentum can keep going

8) Documentation and History
- Since this is a conference about labour history
- A major role I take in the community is photographing and filming events, posting to my own blog and social media
- Keeps an historical record of events
- In the beginning it was just me, but now the technology is more common (eg. phones that record and from which you can post instantly)
- Labour can employ these methods as well (and I have done the same things at labour events I attend)

Web 2.0 for Activists and Community Organizers

These are the notes I used for my presentation during the breakout session/workshop, "Using the New Media" during Public Interest Alberta's third annual advocacy conference, "Beyond Band Aids and Bailouts: Public Solutions in Critical Times." My actual presentation stayed a bit from what I prepared, as I found myself faced with a number of questions concerning the use of Twitter. As a result, I did not spend as much time on the pros and cons of Web 2.0.

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Web 2.0 for Activists and Community Organizers

Introduction
I’m Paula Kirman and for the past several years I have been documenting the local activist community through photos, videos, and writing. In doing this, I have been utilizing several Web 2.0 applications and platforms to both organize events and publish content afterwards.

Facebook
How many of you are on Facebook? Facebook is popular with activists for good reason. You can create or join groups for organizations and causes. You can organize events by creating a page for the event with all of the details and then inviting people on your friends list. Using one message, you can contact everyone on an event or in a group to inform them of changes or other relevant information. Facebook also allows one to upload photos, videos, and write notes (which are similar to blog posts), but do not have the space allotments, ability to organize, or audience potential of other social networking sites that specialize in these areas. Which brings me to . . .

YouTube
YouTube allows user to upload videos on practically any subject matter. YouTube converts the video file into the proper format for streaming, hosts it indefinitely, and allows the video to be shared with a user’s subscriber and friends list. Videos typically have to be shorter than ten minutes, so longer videos have to be divided into parts.

Flickr
Flickr is a photo sharing website owned by Yahoo. Users can organize photos into sets (based on date or event) and sets can be organized into collections (based on themes, like peace marches, for example). There is an upload limit and limit to the number of sets for free users. Site members have unlimited use of the site for a reasonable fee (something like $25 per year Canadian). You can have a contact list made up of other Flickr users and be notified when they upload new content.

Blogging
Blogging allows anyone, anywhere to be a citizen journalist. You can integrate your photos and videos from Flickr or YouTube into your blog, allowing one to write a full report of an event with visuals. After I upload my photos and videos I will often blog about an event, using embedded visuals or linking to the specific videos or photo sets.

Twitter
Twitter is a microblog. In 140 characters or less, you answer the question: What are you doing? In some ways, it is like the Facebook status update. However, users are taking Twitter to another level by posting short news items, links to articles, and other kinds of timely information that can come across well in a soundbite. I often post direct links to videos, images, articles, and blog posts.

Benefits
·By using YouTube and Flickr I reach a much broader audience than simply hosting videos and photos on my own website.

·Web 2.0 is cost effective for the average person, because most of the applications are free, or have a very small fee. Videos and images take up a lot of bandwidth and private hosting can get expensive.

·YouTube and Flickr allow users to directly post videos and photos to their blogs. The image or video can be embedded directly on the blog post.

·The ability for YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, and most blogs to have content uploaded directly from one’s cell phone or portable device allows a media activist to report on things while they are happening.

·You don’t have to know any programming or formatting languages. All of the formatting functions you need to blog are right there on the screen. This is called “push button publishing.”

·The social networking aspect of these sites allows for user feedback and interaction.

·Some Web 2.0 applications allows one to integrate all of their social networking and new media in one place, such as FriendFeed and Tumblr. If you produce a lot of content, these are extremely powerful tools. Someone can go to your FrendFeed, for example, and get a total aggregate of all of your recent uploads, blog posts, Twitter posts, and so on. Facebook is also excellent for posting thing to from other websites.

Drawbacks
·User Agreements/Content Ownership: we’ve heard a lot recently about Facebook changing their User Agreement to use one’s uploaded content in any way they wish, including after said content has been deleted. This is nothing new – other user-content based sites have similar agreements. This is a concern for many people, myself included who makes a living from my original content like photos. At the same time, we have the use of these websites for free (mostly) so this is the tradeoff.

·Privacy: The more things you upload and publish online, the bigger your online footprint becomes. This can be an issue depending on what you’re putting out there. There are people who have lost their jobs or not been hired because their potential bosses found photos on Facebook of drunken debauchery. So first of all, I would recommend never posting anything that presents yourself in a compromised situation. But in presenting our politics as well, we may be put into positions where we have to explain or defend ourselves, although as activists that is probably something we are used to. In terms of personal safety, on most social networking sites you can set your viewing permissions to only people on your friends or contact lists. I do this on Facebook, which encompasses both personal and professional information. However, my Flickr, YouTube, MySpace, Twitter, and blogs are mostly public because this is how I communicate and present my work – but even with these platforms you can set your permissions to reflect your comfort level which what people can view. Use common sense – don’t post private information (address, phone number) on a public site.