PowerU 60 - Navigating the Power Matrix

#PowerU 60 - I’ve been on the road for work and was having trouble carving out time to record this. Then, in the time between recording this two hours ago and getting to a computer to post it, the BC government announced they’re reintroducing legislation to gut DRIPA tomorrow. I thought about not posting but honestly it just proves the point of #PowerU 60, which is about the wild ride BC Premier David Eby has been on with his on-again, off-again support for the legislative framework for Indigenous rights in BC called DRIPA and what a power literacy lens shows us about who is winning, who is losing, and why. The short version: when MLA Joan Phillip and others in the NDP caucus pushed back, they were facing a premier who had made this a confidence motion, meaning if you don’t vote for this you bring the whole government down. But they didn’t back down - not because they had more positional power (they didn’t). They won that round because they understood and used every kind of power available to them. Their positions as MLAs, their referent and reward power from the networks that got them there, their expert power from lived experience, and ultimately using coercive power to refuse powerlessness. Premier Eby relied on only one (positional power), and inadvertently showed how fragile his power is. Power literacy isn’t abstract. It’s essential. As for the new vote: every NDP MLA sitting in caucus right now would be so much stronger if they heard from you that their voice is louder than they think. Even under threat of losing whatever positional power they have - especially under threat of that - they have way more power than they think. And what’s the point of them having power at all if they’re not going to use it for something bigger than preserving their own power? UPDATE: as of 6:30 pm PT Sunday, Eby’s office has put out a statement saying that they have now backed off introducing legislation this session and are now planning an Eby presser on Monday morning to outline next steps. #PowerU #PowerLiteracy #DRIPA #BCPoli #Leadership #SystemsChange