Community-based activism and change: the cases of Sydney and Toronto

How do community–based political activists justify the ongoing effectiveness of their chosen location for political activity? How do they describe the shifts in relationships between community–development activism and the state? This article presents findings from case studies undertaken with two community–development organizations based in Sydney, Australia, and Toronto, Canada. The focus of the analysis is 40 in–depth interviews conducted with activists in the late 1990s. The article details how the activists describe the present realities for community–development activism and what they conceptualize as the future for their field of political action. It is argued that by appreciating how activists substantiate the relevance of community–development activism in periods of economic, political, and social change we are able to build a notion of participation that is inclusive of, rather than critical of, everyday activist experiences.