Anjali Appadurai's Disqualification Symbolises Everything Deeply Wrong within BC's Provincial Politics

Image credit: Anjali Appadurai via Twitter

To start, this article is not based on personal feelings or personal facts. Albeit, it blends the narrative format of social commentary with research, fact checking, and reporting on a range of public opinions, it speaks to information that is crucial for us, as global citizens as a whole, to reflect upon.

On Wednesday, October 19 2022, BC NDP Party Candidate and climate justice activist Anjali Appadurai was disqualified from the leadership race. Her contender, David Eby, MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey, is now automatically the sole candidate representing the BC NDP – and is on his way to becoming the next premier of British Columbia once current NDP Premier John Horgan steps down.

Eby, himself, is a human rights lawyer and former Executive Director of the BC Liberties Association – a provincial organisation that holds those in decision-making positions accountable to do so with the public’s civil liberties and wellbeing in mind.

Appadurai, who in her own right, has been powerfully campaigning for months to run fairly and justly to, at the bottom line, build a stronger foundation for the BC NDP Party, which has grossly been failing at creating effective policies around climate change, and has, instead, had its pockets lined with corporate money from exploiting the environment. The BC NDP’s Chief Electoral Officer, Elizabeth Cull, is also a well-known LNG lobbyist. So, of course it makes sense that the BC NDP has done virtually nothing to reduce carbon emissions and complicitly sits in refusal of acknowledgement of climate change, let alone effectively strategizing against the climate emergency.

Yet, despite this glaringly concerning conflict of interest, the BC NDP has also ignorantly supported the cutting of old-growth trees, which has exponentially increased the amount of carbon emissions being let into the atmosphere due to the wiping out of trees that convert this carbon into oxygen – instrumental and fundamental in combating the effects of climate change. Combine this with the BC NDP’s absolute neglect of First Nation's peoples and land – and you see a party that is already blatantly unfit, inadequate and incapable of leading the province.

Image of old growth forest in British Columbia via the Squamish Chief

In contrast, Appadurai’s campaign and policies included real action around problems the current NDP government has grossly neglected and outright abused – affordable housing, climate change, and better healthcare infrastructure. And she did it in a way that challenged the status quo while also modeling how a political party can recoup, reflect, and realign itself to reflect the best interests of the citizens it serves.

Appadurai’s political organising and messaging have been extremely effective – bringing in an influx of new NDP members, yet, she did not get the chance to run against Eby during the scheduled NDP leadership vote in December. 

In fact, as soon as Appadurai’s campaign gained significant momentum and traction through grassroots organisation, the NDP, as her very party, launched a malignant campaign against her – creating false narratives of dishonesty and claiming Appadurai was involved with the BC Green Party despite fully registering as a BC NDP member and political contender long before these false accusations. During her own campaign to encourage the general public to join the BC NDP Party by September 4th, she was under fire for allegedly breaching the Elections Act. The BC NDP disqualified Appadurai due to her email list sign up, which promoted signing up for the BC NDP party to British Columbians to be able to participate in the voting process to determine the Party’s next leader. And yet, despite Appadurai’s apparent violations, throughout her campaign, the BC NDP Party allegedly suppressed votes of members who were in support of Appadurai.

We at HIMMAT MEDIA, up until yesterday, didn’t write on politics. This is largely because we have worked on multiple campaigns to some form or extent and have had our eyes and ears peeled on the election process for all forms of government as a result. We are aware of the extent to which candidates will lie to receive votes – we are already seeing the result of this no more than 4 days after multiple candidates have been voted into positions of power within the municipal elections in Vancouver, Burnaby and Surrey on October 15, 2022. Unrealistic plans, empty promises and pledges rooted in exploiting emotions and growing desperations instead of concrete action and integrity. We’re a marketing company, after all. That includes PR. We know what sells. And we see right through it.

We don’t do neutrality among social disasters like racism and sexism that have been going far too long without consequence for racialised women on all fronts, leadership and politics included. The narrative against Appadurai by many leading Canadian media companies are a separate article and conversation all together, but largely complicit with the narrative the BC NDP has created. In consequence, the treatment Appadurai has received throughout her campaign from British Columbians and the BC NDP Party has been starkly different from the blinding support David Eby has achieved through major media publications. Because alongside grossly neglecting the future of our planet, Canadian media also works hard to mask the racism embedded into its very social fabric.

We don’t engage in blind objectivity when it is so evidently clear – through our collective experiences living with climate catastrophes like flooding, wildfires, droughts, smog and unnatural temperatures and scientifically proven evidence that indeed, we are at a breaking point that requires fierce, pragmatic, organised leadership. Not racism. Not sexism. Not disgusting corporatocracy for selfish reasons. Not manipulating positions of power. Real people who will challenge notions of complacency and create innovative, actionable solutions. Stuff, we as taxpayers, pay politicians to do. A job that’s supposed to have our best interests in mind. 

It shouldn’t be this easy for Eby to hold office. Not only have Party members had no say in the matter, but his own involvement in civil liberties begs the question of whether it is even ethical for him to take this spot so easily and eerily undemocratically.

Image of 2021 Abbotsford-Sumas Floods via Global News

Yes, we can totally spread fear-mongering, and call Appadurai a dreamer unrooted in the realities of the current world. There is a risk that public opinion will bring the Liberal Party back provincially. Yet, there is a larger risk of exposing internal corruption and completely turning off the public to the NDP Party – something it achieved with this disqualification decision.

The fact of the matter is, the world is changing and politics need a new approach. Political candidates need to take a firm stance against the very companies that are direct, large perpetrators of climate change as opposed to individualising climate action and setting the onus on the people, who, in comparison, are not doing major damage to the planet. It’s well known that “100 companies are responsible for 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions,” so by default, this narrative that the BC NDP is putting out strategically now, as it concurrently bullies activist and key power players like Appadurai is illogical rhetoric and does not work.

We must challenge the ways the current system works. Because it’s not working. The fact that Appadurai was not given this chance and was undemocratically disqualified speaks volumes about the current interests of political parties and how we, as citizens, need to reevaluate how we participate in this rigged system that has us perpetually convinced of nihilism and doom.

So, we ask you to think about these policies and how they are breached. Who are they really serving? How are they gatekeeping politics?

British Columbians aren’t just headed to a point of no return. We are already there. And amongst a glaringly blatant, critical problem that jeopardises not just the future of the next generations, but our direct present on this planet, we are still dealing with high level corruption in democratic politics. It makes sense that provincial election voter turnout is so low. According to Elections BC, 2020’s Provincial election saw a 28.8% voter turnout as compared to 60.8% in 2017. It is clear that the interest in provincial politics is drastically decreasing. Corruption makes people meek, disinterested and renders us feeling powerless.

BC Wildfires which have extended through the fall into October 2022. Image Credit: DW

If you are a supporter of Appadurai, or if she inspired you to shake off apathy towards provincial politics, this is NOT the time to feel this way. This is not the time to give up hope. Leaders like Anjali Appadurai deserve the backing of the people. We, as a province of people, are just as complicit in accelerating environmental calamity as the NDP Party, who have surrendered democracy and jeopardised the future of Canadians, and the entire world, to selfish companies who profit off marginalisation and blatant disregard for the wellbeing of the planet, when we are apathetic. When we do not stay up to date or take interest in politics. When this happens, anyone can make anyone king. And those in power no longer work with or for the people.

Whatever Anjali Appadurai does next, we are watching and following her actively. We support her unwavering stance and commitment to practical policymaking that goes beyond empty promises. Right now, every single climate action plan makes sense solely on a superficial level due the overuse of climate buzz words and “good PR”. Realistically, no party is equipped to truly deal with climate change, and is not rooted in the reality of the disastrous effects of it – something we urge you, as a BC citizen or someone who may know a BC citizen, to prioritise.

So, whether you support Anjali or not, we encourage you to stay informed, refuse to tune out those who haven’t been cheated into the system, and hold those in power accountable – be it by voting them out of power, educating yourself and getting involved in more grassroots organisation, or utilising your own personal power to stand up against the glaring corruption we are seeing within the politics of this province. The time for change is now – and corrupt politics won’t change that.

This is an independent publication that is not affiliated with Anjali Appadurai or any political movement in any way. For more information on this and the subject matter we choose to write on, view our community policy.