Activism and Our Big Breasted Barrier

Activism has become the new black. It's rebel chic at its finest, and the best way to get street cred. However, activism in its many forms has become a perverted delusion of self-righteous rhetoric pimped by the gatekeepers of power and influence. They preach, and we throw our money into the offering plate without any questions asked, hoping to get a piece of what lies beyond that gate. We resort to wreckless reconciliation within ourselves that consists of hypersensitive self-awareness about who is thinking, speaking at looking at our every movement. We are indeed a self-conscious breed.

Live 8 generated attention of historic proportions, but still many feel that the leaders of the Group of 8 (G-8) are missing the point. The Canadian government has agreed to double its support in the eradication of poverty, but the 2015 goals are "unreasonable" to achieve. I am in no way an economist, so I cannot dispute this. I can, however, wonder why our reaction is only to cry foul, instead of taking the financial mobilization into our own hands. I think I have the answer to this, and it's sitting right on my chest. The movement to secure the necessary funding and supports to eradicate poverty is having little impact on our leaders because everyone and their mother is too busy supporting breast cancer.

Privilege determines our access to the daily necessities of life. This same access is what also provides people with the ability to receive the necessities of life that will ensure North America's definition of "success". In our culture of sink or swim capitalism, the most aggressively "marketed" cause makes the final cut.

For the past 12-15 years breast cancer has made the final cut. While the issue is extremely important and requires attention to address the issues of prevention and treatment, I wonder why so many corporations jump on to the breast cancer bandwagon. There is the CIBC Run for the Cure sponsored by Ford Motor Company Canada, Nygard, The Running Room, Ganong Brothers Limited, New Balance, Revlon and Canpar and supported by a whole bunch of other corporations. Then there is Princess Margaret Hospital's Weekend to End Breast Cancer with similar sponsors (CIBC, CityTV, etc.). The list continues, but supporters remain as majority white, middle-class individuals. That is until hip hop, decided to get a piece of the pie.

Marc Ecko has decided to take the mission of breast cancer fundraising and awareness to the hip hop community. Isn't it ironic that hip hop, the genre fuelled by individuals who live in impoverished states, are being rallied to support a cause that is considered a disease of the middle-class? Why do we need to shuck and jive (see Live 8) to remind people that the issue of poverty is still real and devastating our world? More importantly, what will it take for people to admit that this is happening in our own backyards? People are running, walking, cycling and fundraising without a true understanding about what they're running for, or who their throwing their money at.

Have supporters actually assessed what is needed to find the cure for breast cancer? Yes, money is needed, but what infrastructure, research, programming, community mobilization and outreach need to be done? How much of the money they raise goes into finding a cure and what percentage does the organization take out for coordinating the event? These things are important to combat the many criticisms about the fraudulent war against cancer. The successful branding of breast cancer has resulted in $21.4 million for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. That's a great leap from the $85,000 only 13 years ago. All this while the National Anti-Poverty Organization struggles to stay afloat in delivering programs and pressuring our governments about the "true North's true (impoverished) problem".

Ecko's decision to utilize a known impoverished community to support an issue that mainly impacts middle-class, leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It seems that public image trumps good intentions. This means that when a desire to help the community that the rich have benefited from isn't deemed important by society's high culture socialites, attention becomes fixated on where the crowd is; in most cases it's at the starting line for the 5k, 10k,20k bike, walk, or run breast cancer research fundraiser. In my humble opinion, this kind of support is a misnomer for publicity and shameless self-promotion that is often masked in the phrase "I am giving back to the community". Armchair activism has never been so comfortable. We are indeed a self-conscious breed.

Just wanted to get some things off my chest...