With the G20 summit approaching, Toronto’s young activists are rapidly organizing. To activists, the G20 Summit is symbolic of the forces that erode democratic society: colonialism and corporate capitalism. Where some see a jumble of causes, they see a united front against a network of racism, violence, and oppression.
The issues they advocate for are varied. They are for queer rights and against “Israeli apartheid.” They are for legal marijuana and against Palestinian liberation. They are for and against international access to abortion. They advocate for environmental sustainability, animal protection, and class equality.

Johanna Black, an activist and York PhD student, explains. “You have to question your beliefs and [ask]: What statement do I want to make? What side do I want to be on? And who do I want to build solidarity with? It’s really about questioning your privileges and listening to other voices.”

Anyone who has had their political beast awakened will tell you that the ideas and the actions are not so easily married. You have to be willing to argue with your friends, debate with your teachers and disagree with your family.

“What kid doesn’t get in arguments with their parents?” asks Matthew Davidson, a Trent student and Peterborough Mobilization Network organizer. “Just like with any political debate the idea is to win them over...My parents, my brother, my friends, they’re not necessarily coming from that perspective. That’s how we create those alternatives that we’re looking for.”

Perhaps this is why like-minded activists congregate. As a collective, they can form a movement with its own rules of etiquette, sets of beliefs, history, and organizational structure. In short, its own culture.

For these young provocateurs, the sense of injustice and quest for righteousness began in university. Universities should be a safe haven for the type of dissent student activists promote. U of T’s choice to close the university during the G20 Summit signals a worrisome trend. As Black observes, “so much critical thought and so many historical critical movements have been built in the university space...a good proportion of the protesters are actually members of the university, academics and students. And as students and academics this campus is our space.”