by Jobie Wayara
The solidarity that comes with community is something that needs to be nurtured, now more than ever. The world we wake up to is in a phase of late-stage-capitalism where the economic gap has grown to unprecedented distances; this historic inequality casts ripples of apathy, fuelled by the wealthy’s growing monopolies on the mundane. However, this means the acts of empathy and joy are something that everyone should prioritize and protect.
With the arrival of the fresh sea of undergraduates, the grim news of humanity’s future was digitally airhorned throughout social media: mankind’s premature extinction through the same products and investments, most notably generative artificial intelligence software, that the wealthy have harshly pushed for the past half-decade. The information lingered through the first weeks of school. Nobody had to say it, ask who did it, or what it was to understand the weight the report brought with it. It felt like the universe was telling me in the worst way possible that all my choices were wrong. That I should have taken better advantage of my opportunities and time. With the added layer of pursuing creative endeavours, the weight of studying our passions only to be replaced, our work stolen, and our voices discarded, it feels like we are all collectively working to meet an absolute end.
In times as dire as these, it’s easy to be consumed with the inevitability of what is being pushed online, typically negative. A notable point in time I can remember was during the pandemic. A variety of devastating news combined with communal restrictions was the perfect brewing of mass passivity. These are algorithms we are strategically fed so that we roll over and become malleable in the interests of those in power. However, in times of societal uncertainty, the acts of organization, persistence, and resistance have remained. Throughout every historical or small change lies the backdrop of the organization of tens, hundreds, thousands, or millions of people. This was made clear with recent protests around our campus and the AGO regarding Canada’s Investment Summit; Prime Minister Mark Carney invited global investors for talks of long-term investments and potential changes to our country behind closed doors. Walking through the campus with friends the evening of the protest, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of solidarity and comfort. Even if the protest did nothing but give Mark Carney a headache, it started a conversation and a spark of resistance.
Although protests can be a grand way of showing empathy and resistance, unsubscribing to the sentiment that “nothing matters” because of the inevitable is a small act of resistance. If “nothing matters,” then everything matters. I try to hang out more with friends, go on long walks, create art, sit by the window during a storm; everything that fosters care and joy are something to be cherished and encouraged. In the face of the wealthy pushing mass passivity, holding space for care is the biggest sign of protest. To care is to be human.
Sources:
Amladi, Divya. “How Are Billionaire and Corporate Power Intensifying Global Inequality?” Oxfam, 22 Sept. 2026, www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/stories/how-are-billionaire-and-corporate-power-intensifying-global-inequality/.
The Associated Press. “Gap between Rich and Poor Nations Is Growing Even Wider, UN Report Says.” CTVNews, 11 Apr. 2026, www.ctvnews.ca/world/article/gap-between-rich-and-poor-nations-is-growing-even-wider-un-report-says/.
Canada, Service. “Canada Investment Summit 2026.” Canada.Ca, Gouvernement du Canada, 2 Sept. 2026, www.canada.ca/en/campaign/canada-investment-summit-2026.html.
Jingnan, Huo, and Shannon Bond. “New Study Shows Just How Facebook’s Algorithm Shapes Conservative and Liberal Bubbles.” NPR, NPR, 27 July 2023, www.npr.org/2023/07/27/1190383104/new-study-shows-just-how-facebooks-algorithm-shapes-conservative-and-liberal-bub.
Nosta, John. “Artificial Intelligence and the Passivity Problem.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 12 Feb. 2026, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-digital-self/202602/artificial-intelligence-and-the-passivity-problem.
O’Brien, Abby O’Brien, and Sheila Reid Reid. “Protests Target Mark Carney’s Global Investment Summit as It Kicks off in Toronto.” Toronto Star, 15 Sept. 2026, www.thestar.com/news/gta/protests-to-target-carney-s-global-investment-summit-as-it-kicks-off-in-toronto/article_d2c7d1a2-4138-4d49-a842-42499e7b1a53.html.
van den Berg, Amy. “Over 1,000 Protesters Demonstrate against Carney’s Investment Summit in Toronto, 2 Arrested | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 15 Sept. 2026, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/canada-investment-summit-protest-city-hall-9.7343317.