Seven Oaks Magazine.

Ellen Woodsworth is a Vancouver city councillor with the Coalition of Progressive Electors. She recently participated in the fourth World Social Forum, held in Mumbai, India, January 16 to 21, 2004.

1. The slogan of the World Social Forum is “Another world is possible.” From the activists that you met in Mumbai, what are some of the real signs of progress towards another world?

Well, the two slogans that I heard at the conference that I really liked were the globalisation of struggle and also the globalisation of hope. I think that the proposal for a global peace demonstration on March 20 is very, very important. I think it’s important in Canada because we have to show the prime minister that we oppose any attempt to work with the American military program. I think it’s important that we make it clear to him that we want to remain working within the United Nations, and that the occupation of Iraq is an illegal occupation. I was very moved by the Focus on the Global South’s proposal to oppose the WTO meeting proposed for Hong Kong and to start working with organisations around the world on what a fair trade agreement would be. I was also very impressed by the meetings about water sovereignty, and the efforts that Vandana Shiva and the Council of Canadians are taking to oppose the privatisation of water. It’s something we need to pay very close attention to in Vancouver. There’s already been an attempt to privatise here and under the NAFTA agreement we need to make sure that there isn’t bulk exportation of water.

2. Why do you think it’s important for cities like Vancouver to be part of the World Social Forum?

I went to the World Social Forum as an individual councillor with the endorsement of the peace and justice committee. It was not by motion of council that I went. I just want to clarify that. I think it’s extremely important that cities are involved with issues regarding peace and justice because it is cities that overwhelmingly face the impact of war and any disruption of civil society. When over 12 per cent of the federal budget is spent on defence, and I think it’s actually much more than that now, it means there isn’t money available for health, education, housing, welfare, for needs that have become more and more important for all the big cities across Canada. Clearly, we’re not meeting our mandate to take care of the peace needs of our citizens. And when we start to support a country like the United States, which is very aggressively taking a role in the world, which is an illegal role in the world, and spending billions of dollars of their own taxpayers money on endeavours that they want to draw Canada in to, we need to at the local level say not only that we don’t support it, but that there are other needs for that money and that that money is our money, Canadian taxpayers’ money, and that Canadian taxpayers have a right to say how it gets spent.

Mumbai is a city of 15 million people. Two million of those people literally live on the streets, and 70 per cent of families live in one-room tenements. So it’s a city that really epitomises the inherent contradictions of capitalism, where you have extreme wealth -- it’s the city where Bollywood is situated, they produce over 200 films a year -- and yet it’s a city of extreme poverty and it’s a city of extreme pollution and extreme homeless and housing problems, problems of transportation, etc. It’s also a very, very beautiful city. It has beautiful old heritage buildings. It has exquisite arts, exquisite crafts. The people are extremely warm and welcoming.

4. March 20 is the next global day of action, it’s the one year anniversary of the war in Iraq. Why is it still important to be out in the streets?

I think our role a year ago was very significant. I think had we not massively mobilised across the world, the UN would have capitulated and supported the U.S. invasion. I think had we not rallied massively in Canada, Chrétien would not have been given the support he needed to refuse to join the United States in the invasion. And I think of everything that’s come out since then -- that in fact there were no weapons of mass destruction, that 75 per cent of people in Canada do not like Bush -- confirms that we were the tip of the iceberg. It’s very important for people to march, to state their opposition, and be seen by politicians. Also, because the mass media is controlled by the corporate agenda, this is a way that we can meet with each other, get support, get updated about what’s happening, and build our resistance. And there are very few other ways that we can really get a sense of how many people are very opposed to what’s going on, so I urge everyone to get out on March 20. It’s really important that they march, and get their family and friends and organisations out.

5. You were an activist for decades before becoming an elected official. Can you fight City Hall from inside City Hall?

I think that social movements are absolutely essential to the election of progressive city, municipal, provincial, and federal governments. And it’s absolutely critical for elected officials to continue to work with social movements. Because if social movements and elected officials don’t work together, there is absolutely no way we can maintain the movement of progressive social ideals. I mean the city of Vancouver is an organisation of 8,000 people. It’s an established organisation that’s been going for a long time, it’s not something that you can even understand overnight let alone change overnight, but you can do a lot with it and I think that we have been able to do a lot. Everything from purchasing Woodward's to passing motions opposing the two-year time limit [on welfare], to just last Tuesday we passed a motion protesting the fact that anyone over 65 is not covered under the B.C. Human Rights Code, to opposing the privatisation of liquor stores, to supporting the school board in their meeting yesterday against the cuts in city schools. So there is a lot of things we can do, but it’s very important that social movements stay in touch with their elected officials, support us when we’re doing the right thing. That’s important, because we do get hundreds of emails criticising us when we don’t what people think should be done. It needs to be a two-way street that continues to build, not something static where you elect someone and they go about their business by themselves.

6. What were your formative political influences, whether a book, an individual, or a movement?

I guess it’s a combination of factors. I grew up in a left-wing family. My graduation in Grade 8 shows me wearing a nuclear disarmament button, and I helped form High School Students for Nuclear Disarmament. But Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth, Simon de Beauvoir’s Second Sex, Du Bois’ book Black Reconstruction -- just on the top of my head -- those were some pivotal books that I read. I remember thinking how unjust what the American government was doing to Cuba was, and being very aware of the injustices to First Nations people, being aware of the black civil rights movement.

I love to go kayaking and I love to read. And I take pleasure in being with my friends and going for a walk. Being an elected councilor is grueling. It’s very, very hard work. You’re working seven days a week. You’re working easily 60-hour weeks, week after week after week. There’s tremendous pressure and criticism from the media constantly -- I have to say, very little support. The left tends to be, as a body, very critical. You often hear when you’ve done something wrong, and not enough when you’re doing something right. It’s an isolating job, so when I’m not doing it I have to really be with people who can be supportive and understanding about the extreme demands of the position.