Skip to content

Macleans.ca

Canada’s magazine

How Gandhi, MLK and Facebook inspired a revolution

History buffs and proponents of nonviolent protest never fail to be inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King in their respective struggles against colonialism and prejudice. They mobilzed and through peaceful means overthrew an intolerable status quo and brought revolution and change to their countries. In the past week, we have been witnesses to the events in Egypt that brought down the 31-year dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak. Thousands of protesters peacefully stood their ground for 18 days until the inevitable happened. Gandhi and King would have approved.

All Soap, No Box

There is probably a connection between the utter fatuousness of the campaign so far and the absence of any substantial policy platforms from any of the parties. Which invites the question: where are the platforms? After all, Jean Chretien with the Red Book, and Mike Harris with the Common Sense Revolution, both swept to power with convincing majority governments, buoyed (one presumes) in part by a clear and detailed agenda. In Chretien’s case it was policy-based, Harris was more ideological, but in both cases voters were given a clear statement of intent from the party at the start of the campaign.