Interview with Zailda Chan of the
Bus Riders Union |
|
Zailda Chan is an on-the-bus organizer and a member of the planning committee of the Bus Riders Union. She generously agreed to be interviewed by Community Insurrection back in December. Here it is. Maybe we could start off by discussing the Bus Riders Union (BRU). The BRU has been around for several years now but I’m sure a lot of folks are still curious about what the BRU does in our communities. The Bus Riders Union is a grassroots organization with over 850 members that represents the mass transit and public health needs of the transit-dependent. We fight to put the needs of transit dependent people, overwhelmingly working class, majority women and disproportionately people of colour at the centre of public policy. We are a multi-lingual, multi-racial, anti-racist, anti-sexist, women-led organization that seeks to build a democratic process for bus riders by building the power of poor, working class and historically oppressed groups and nationalities such as women, Aboriginal people and people of colour at a grassroots level. We strategically prioritize the leadership of women, particularly women of colour and Aboriginal women, because our location at the intersection of class, race and gender has the greatest potential to overturn the system and create a society based on principles of justice and health for all. As transit-dependent people and from weekly direct-contact organizing on the buses we know that bus riders experience the daily indignities of high fares, cuts to service, long waits, overcrowded and run-down buses, lack of wheel chair and stroller accessible buses, lack of written and spoken transit information in languages other than English etc. that act as barriers to accessing basic needs such as jobs, education, public services, social networks and socio-political participation in our communities. Our role as organizers is to do political education on the bus and in our communities to listen to and validate bus riders experiences, build our understanding of the root causes of our situations, and rouse their enthusiasm and sense of justice by moving them into a mass-based organization where we take action collectively within a long-term vision of social transformation. Recently the BRU held a weeklong Fare Strike in the lead up to the city elections. What were some of the motivations behind the action? First, it is important to position the Fare Strike within a local and international context where public services such as water, education, electricity and transit are being privatized here and throughout the world. We know that such neoliberal policies impact the poorest communities and Third world nations and [benefit] the elite ruling class as well as imperialist nations like the US and Canada. Our one-week fare strike held from November 14-18 was a form of collective action and civil disobedience come about as a result of 9 months of organizing on the bus under our current campaign “Lower the Fares Now! For Community Health and Social Justice”. This campaign evolved from the “Stop the Fare Increase” campaign, where the Bus Riders Union succeeded in stopping the 3rd increase in 5 years from going ahead. That was later overturned at a TransLink meeting despite overwhelming disagreement from bus riders. In addition to our core work of organizing on the bus over the last year, we have held several public meetings, many presentations at TransLink meetings about the impact of high fares on poor and working class communities, and launched a postcard campaign urging TransLink directors to lower fares. Our campaign was endorsed by the Hospital Employees Union (HEU), Vancouver School Board, Vancouver city council and many other community organizations. We also held a sit-in at Vancouver city hall to expose the role of Vancouver city councillors (who claimed to be progressive) in perpetuating TransLink’s neoliberal policies and to hold them accountable to their false promises made at election time. This collective action of civil disobedience resulted in the arrest of six BRU organizers. So the Fare Strike took place at a mobilization phase of our campaign, where negotiations with TransLink had already been exhausted. We needed to change our tactics with the objectives of heightening conflict with TransLink and hitting their bottom line, opposing and exposing their neoliberal agenda and moving people into collective action to build unity amongst the working class - all of which are necessary to create the right conditions so we can win concrete gains in the future. What did you find the response of bus riders to be like? Over 5,000 people participated in the Fare Strike. We received phone calls and emails from many bus riders asking how they could participate in the strike and who told us stories of how they fare-striked on their own. There was growing support that carried on until the end of the week. We saw the leadership and militancy of women, particularly women of colour, emerging in this action as they were often the most supportive of this civil disobedience, and most determined to get back on the bus when they encountered an unsupportive bus driver, and even publicly defended BRU organizers during the few times we were asked to get off the bus by drivers. So would you say it was a success? I think the Fare Strike was successful in many ways. Our active members whose ages range between 13 and 60 became front line organizers. They handed out leaflets and talked to bus riders about the fare strike. In this way, the action was important in building the confidence, leadership and organizing skills of people who have never before been involved in any form of political action. We saw a lot of our on-the-bus crew organizers stepping up and taking a lot of initiative engaging drivers, giving direction to new organizers and handling difficult situations very well. We were also successful in moving thousands of bus riders into action - even 9 months after the fare increase, which was a great challenge because we needed to create the momentum ourselves to ensure mass participation. Overall, the action left many of us inspired and energized to keep fighting to win concrete gains in the short-term and for total transformation in the long-term. It sounds like the BRU is doing really well. What’s next? We’re going to be assessing our campaign and all the work we’ve been doing this year. We think it’s necessary to step back, assess and evaluate our work - both lessons and successes to make sure that we are working strategically to win gains in the now and as we continue to build the movement in the long-term. Thanks a lot! Thank you for interviewing us!
|