The power of the neighbourhood

The neighbourhood is the fundamental basis
of political and economic power.

Those with power and money recognize this as
we can well see during this federal election.

Untouchable and unseen political representatives
sheepishly make their way into our neighbourhoods
knocking on our doors in order to take
our vote. They know very well that each of us
'nobodies' count because each of us puts them in
power with each of our votes.

And companies bombard us with their advertisements
because each of us will consume their products
making them the wealthiest companies and
corporations in the world.

The powerful and the wealthy know our power.
So how come we don't seem to get it?

To organize in Parkdale is not an easy task.
People come and go. We don't create our own
long-term door-to-door campaigns to get to
know each other and to work towards pooling
our political and economic resources to create a
strong neighbourhood. While we don't have these
campaigns, politicians and companies do.

We are apathetic because of a system that
seperates us from each other. Our values are
individualistic and yet we are dependent on
the powers that be for our financial and social
security.

Social change is a slow process and the best
place to start is in neighbourhoods.

That's why we here in Parkdale are sticking to
the Parkdale Action Coalition because we recognize
the power of our neighbourhood.