Dal teaches students activism

Students are graded for organizing rally against global food crisis

Demonstrators marching to the farmer's market, Huish is second from the right. (Photo: Ezra Black)

On a sunny Saturday morning, a group of students armed with placards and bongos descend on the Halifax Seaport Farmer's Market.

Over banging drums, students chant, "the poor can't eat profit," while a crowd of onlookers snap pictures with cell phones and cameras.

This is no ordinary protest, these students are rallying for marks. They're taking a new course at Dalhousie University that teaches them how to be activists. The organization and execution of the rally counts for 15 per cent of their final grade.

The finer points of protest

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Huish addresses the crowd at the farmer's market. (Photo: Ezra Black

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As part of his International Development and Activism course, Bob Huish marked his students on their ability to plan and implement a protest. The protest last Saturday was worth 15 per cent of their mark.

IDS 3102 is a third-year international development studies class. According to the syllabus, the course will give, "the ability for committed individuals to change the behaviour of the world's most powerful institutions."

Its creator, Robert Huish, thinks his course is the first where students are marked for participating in a protest.

According to Huish an effective protest is more than an "organic accident." He thinks activism is a skill that can be taught. He says these skills are important because protesting is an integral part of a working democracy.

"Methods of activism can be taught and trained and embraced," he says.

Huish teaches students peaceful forms of protest, which he says are the most successful in bringing about change. Over the course of a semester students learn about non-violent resisters like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.

Huish says he's trying to change the perception that some people have about activism. "Some folks might take the words activism and student and quickly conjure up images of the G20. These are the kinds of stereotypes we're trying to bust," he says.

During the G20 protests in Toronto last summer, cars were torched and windows were shattered in the downtown business district. The demonstrations led to thousands of arrests and caused millions in damages.

But Huish wants to do things differently.

He chose to protest the global food crisis because it's an issue that was unlikely to generate much controversy.

Marching against hunger

Students contacted the Halifax Regional Police for a parade permit and warned businesses along the route.

Before marching to the farmer's market last Saturday, Huish told them to stay on the sidewalk. They were also told stop chanting as they walked by a hospital because patients might be upset by the noise. Students were even told to disperse if they were confronted by anyone who opposed their cause.

Huish says it took a few blocks of marching for everyone to warm up and get into the spirit. Some students had experience with marches before, while others had never protested, let alone voted.

"Protests are fun, but they're kind of scary too," says Charity May, a third-year student in international development studies. "You get to thinking, am I going to get in trouble for this?"

Huish says that demand for the course came from students who wanted a practical way to communicate their disapproval to people in power. They focused on ways to engage members of Parliament and invited a police officer to one of the lectures to give tips on lawful ways to protest.

"We said, come in, we want to know how to lobby you," says Huish.

He says the university was initially skeptical about a course that teaches methods of activism, though he wouldn't elaborate.

But he says reaction from the community has been positive.

Community supports activists

Tamara Lorincz, is the spokeswoman for the Halifax Peace Coalition and has organized countless demonstrations, most recently an anti-war protest in October. She says Huish's course is a "fabulous idea."

"I definitely think that activism should be encouraged and promoted because it's a fundamental aspect of citizenship," she says.

Halifax MP Megan Leslie sent a letter to Huish saying she thought it was "amazing" that he could connect students to the community.

Several students said they are inspired to keep advocating and demonstrating after they complete the course. "It definitely makes me want to get more politically active," says third-year student Dana Mestechkin.

Dalhousie recently approved the course as a permanent credit for next year. Huish says he's pleased with the protest and thinks there's a bright future for teaching activism in universities.

"I think we made a small ripple," he says. "We'll see if it becomes a wave."

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