Debate often rages with regard to the role activism and protests play in a globalized society.

Increasingly, though, it shows itself to be a redundant exercise that does not produce progress regarding serious issues like poverty and the environment.

Except for the odd victory here and there, like a 25-cent-an-hour increase in the minimum wage, the piecemeal and anti-business attitude among many within the social justice community highlights the limits to how far activism and awareness can go.

A case in point was the Greenpeace activists who scaled the West Block at Parliament Hill before the Copenhagen Environmental Conference in 2009 to protest the Canadian Government’s lack of commitment to the Kyoto Protocol.

Other examples include the seemingly weekly protests at the Manitoba Legislature, conducted by activists who call on government to solve every social ill in the world.

These examples seem like a very inefficient use of time for two reasons.

First, activists’ standard tactics only seem to talk down to people – this is not a good way to win support.

Talking to people and asking what they want and what is wrong is a better strategy to create concrete solutions to social problems.

The second issue is that many activists do not articulate concrete alternatives.

While I can agree with the excellent critique of large corporations and their human rights abuses, neglect for poverty and the environment, government cannot do everything.

Given the tight fiscal constraint and globally competitive environment we face, governments often have their hands tied.

It is time for activists to look at new ideas and channels of communication.

There are many examples of people within the social justice community around the globe who have taken a more nuanced and pragmatic approach to achieving social justice goals.

One good example comes from Bangladesh and Muhammad Yunus’s Grameen Bank.

The Grameen Bank was created in the mid-1970s. Yunus, a graduate of economics from Vanderbilt University and head of the Economics Department at Chittagong University, spoke with people about their concerns and how they would like to improve their lives.

“ The fact is that the piece-meal and anti-business attitude among many within the social justice community highlights the limits to how far activism and awareness can go

Rather than just taking to the streets to protest poverty, Yunus gave a bunch of small loans to villagers to start micro-businesses.

The idea was a success, and Grameen has grown into other departments, including sections for renewable energy (Grameen Shakti) and cell phone service (Grameen Phone). It even teamed up with a French dairy product in 2006 to provide healthier food alternatives to poor Bangladeshis.

The microfinance movement has roots with credit unions in Canada, which emerged as a movement in the early 20th century as a way to fight usury and pool resources together for those who could not receive credit from other monetary institutions.

The credit union movement has flourished in Manitoba, and holds a 40 per cent market share in the province.

Microfinance and credit unions offer a middle ground between those on the left and right of the political spectrum.

Those on the left like it because it supports solidarity and the idea of social justice, while those on the right like it because it supports strong market principles.

Yunus’s Grameen Bank and the credit union system in Canada offer an alternative that activists can use – working with, rather than against, business (especially those in the small-scale format).

Going out to talk to the average rank and file citizen and learning what they are concerned about, and melding that into a concrete and pragmatic platform for social change, is much more effective than yelling at the Legislature for more money.

Adam Johnston is an economics and rhetoric and communications student at the University of Winnipeg who focuses on environmental economic, poverty and technology issues on his blog at http://moderneconomicstechnologyenvironment.wordpress.com.

Published in Volume 65, Number 19 of The Uniter (February 10, 2011)