Fighting for Hope: Organizing to Realize Our Dreams

Raj S. Gandhi is a sociology professor at the University of Calgary.

The cheapening of the meaning of “community” reflects a destruction
of human relationships. As economic development—free-enterprise
style—has progressed, its corollary has been the pillage not only of
natural resources but also of natural relationships. Fighting for Hope
begins with an analysis of these forces and the ways in which resistance
against them has been managed and suppressed. Activists in Canada have
experienced dismal setbacks, unexpected victories, and carefully planned
successes. This book finds the common threads and weaves them into a
guidebook for anyone who cares about social change.

Starting from the experiences of ordinary people, Kuyek looks at how
“scientific management,” in the form of political systems,
educational systems, and communication systems, works to diminish
Canadians’ power and ability to determine their own futures. In
Fighting for Hope there are sections on building the core group,
structuring it, creating a vision, raising money, choosing strategies.
There are descriptions (with examples) of various kinds of
community-organizing activities, from popular education to civil
disobedience to alternative investment funds.

Throughout, the book is infused with an understanding of how hard it is
to keep a group together and motivated, but the message is clear. Even
at this moment in history, when so many are struggling, Fighting for
Hope shows that the best efforts of ordinary people to build a better
life can be expanded and woven together to create a world where they do
not have to fear for their children’s future.