Mike Hudema
Encyclopedia
Micheal George Henry Hudema is a Canadian activist who has worked for advocacy organizations including Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...

, the Rainforest Action Network
Rainforest Action Network
Rainforest Action Network is an environmental organization based in San Francisco, California, USA. The organization was founded by Randy "Hurricane" Hayes and Mike Roselle in 1985, with the financial help of Fund for Wild Nature....

, Global Exchange
Global Exchange
Global Exchange is an advocacy group and non-governmental organization , based in San Francisco, California, United States. The group's mission is to promote human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice around the world.-History:...

, the University of Alberta Students' Union
University of Alberta Students' Union
The University of Alberta Students' Union is the student society that represents undergraduate students at the University of Alberta. Originally established in 1909, it is a non-profit corporation that operates under the authority of the Post-Secondary Learning Act...

, and the Ruckus Society
Ruckus Society
The Ruckus Society is a nonprofit organization that sponsors skill-sharing and direct action training camps for activists from impacted communities working on social justice, human rights, and environmental justice...

 . He is best known for his work opposing the development of the Alberta oil sands and reliance on fossil fuels in general, but has also engaged in civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...

 and student activism
Student activism
Student activism is work done by students to effect political, environmental, economic, or social change. It has often focused on making changes in schools, such as increasing student influence over curriculum or improving educational funding...

 , and has sought elected office as an Alberta New Democratic Party
Alberta New Democratic Party
The Alberta New Democratic Party or Alberta NDP is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada, which was originally founded as the Alberta section of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation...

 candidate. He is the published author of a book on direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...

 tactics.

Background

Mike Hudema was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta
Medicine Hat, Alberta
Medicine Hat, known to locals as "The Hat", is a city of 61,097 people located in the southeastern part of the province of Alberta, Canada. It is enclaved within Cypress County along with the nearby Town of Redcliff, although neither is part of the county....

 in 1976 from Ukrainian origin parents and attended Crescent Heights High School
Crescent Heights High School (Medicine Hat)
Crescent Heights High School is a high school with approximately 1,300 students in grades 7-12 in Medicine Hat, Alberta. The school is part of the Medicine Hat School District No. 76 and is one of four high schools in the city of Medicine Hat, Alberta supporting a population of some 60,000 people....

. He graduated from the University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...

 with a bachelor of education, majoring in drama, and a law degree, specializing in labour and environmental law. During his university career, he went on an exchange to southern India, which he credits with awakening him politically. During the exchange, he recalls seeing 20,000 people "getting together to debate the village budget for the next year", and says that the contrast between that and the models of representative democracy
Representative democracy
Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principle of elected individuals representing the people, as opposed to autocracy and direct democracy...

 in use in Canada affected him and shaped his views on political involvement.

Environmental activism

Hudema is best known as an environmental activist. He protested the opening of the Cheviot mine near Hinton, Alberta
Hinton, Alberta
Hinton is a town in west-central Alberta, Canada.It is located in Yellowhead County, northeast of Jasper and about west of Alberta's capital city, Edmonton, at the intersection of Yellowhead and Bighorn Highway, in the Athabasca River valley.-History:...

 in 2004 by setting up a mock open pit mine on the lawn of Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan
Anne McLellan
|-...

's constituency office. He has also opposed the harvesting of Alberta's boreal forest, and in 2004 followed logging executives down the Athabasca River
Athabasca River
The Athabasca River originates from the Columbia Glacier of the Columbia Icefield in Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada...

 as the executives took a boat trip as part of a logging conference.

In 2005, Hudema was hired as the Freedom From Oil Director for Global Exchange
Global Exchange
Global Exchange is an advocacy group and non-governmental organization , based in San Francisco, California, United States. The group's mission is to promote human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice around the world.-History:...

, and relocated from Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...

 to San Francisco. In this capacity, he helped lead the "Jumpstart Ford" campaign (a joint initiative between Global Exchange, the Rainforest Action Network
Rainforest Action Network
Rainforest Action Network is an environmental organization based in San Francisco, California, USA. The organization was founded by Randy "Hurricane" Hayes and Mike Roselle in 1985, with the financial help of Fund for Wild Nature....

, and the Ruckus Society
Ruckus Society
The Ruckus Society is a nonprofit organization that sponsors skill-sharing and direct action training camps for activists from impacted communities working on social justice, human rights, and environmental justice...

) which pressured Ford Motors (who Global Exchange claimed had the worst fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas
Greenhouse gas
A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...

 emissions record of any major automaker) to eliminate tailpipe emissions from its vehicles by 2020. The campaign was later expanded to include all automakers, and renamed "Freedom From Oil". As part of this campaign, Hudema interrupted General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

 CEO Richard Wagoner at the keynote address of a Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 automotive show and asked him to sign a commitment to make General Motors vehicles the most fuel efficient in the world by 2010 (Wagoner refused to sign, saying that his "speech spoke for itself").

In 2006, Hudema implored Canadians to "save hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

" by fighting climate change
Climate change
Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average...

, which he called "the biggest threat to hockey since the NHL labor talks".

In July 2007, Hudema returned to Edmonton to work as the Climate and Energy Campaigner for Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...

 Canada at its newly-opened Edmonton office, which was created to lobby for an end to the Alberta oil sands, which Hudema called "one of the dirtiest, oiliest projects in the world". In this capacity, he ambushed Premier Ed Stelmach
Ed Stelmach
Edward Michael "Ed" Stelmach, MLA is a Canadian politician and served as the 13th Premier of Alberta, Canada, from 2006 to 2011. The grandson of Ukrainian immigrants, Stelmach was born and raised on a farm near Lamont and speaks fluent Ukrainian. He spent his entire pre-political adult life as a...

 several times during the 2008 provincial election. He also made headlines after the election when he and two other Greenpeace volunteers lowered a banner - reading "$telmach, the best premier oil money can buy" - behind Stelmach at a fundraising dinner.

In January 2008, he was briefly banned from the University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...

 campus after he and a group of fellow radical cheerleaders performed a number of anti-fossil fuels musical routines at an on-campus Shell Canada
Shell Canada
Shell Canada Limited is the subsidiary of Dutch-based Royal Dutch Shell and one of Canada's largest integrated oil companies. Exploration and production of oil, natural gas and sulphur is a major part of its business, as well as the marketing of gasoline and related products through the company's...

 recruiting session. After a meeting with the head of the university's campus security service, the ban was reduced to probation.

Hudema is a "climb trainer" for the Ruckus Society
Ruckus Society
The Ruckus Society is a nonprofit organization that sponsors skill-sharing and direct action training camps for activists from impacted communities working on social justice, human rights, and environmental justice...

, and has held activist training camps which teach aspiring activists skills ranging from climbing to blockades.

Criticism

Hudema's actions at the General Motors car show were described as "stupid" by automotive journalist Mike Magda.

Student activism

In 2002, Hudema was elected president of the University of Alberta Students' Union
University of Alberta Students' Union
The University of Alberta Students' Union is the student society that represents undergraduate students at the University of Alberta. Originally established in 1909, it is a non-profit corporation that operates under the authority of the Post-Secondary Learning Act...

, defeating six opponents (two of whom were, as "joke candidates", ineligible to win) after campaigning on a more militant approach to tuition and on increased interaction between the Students' Union's elected officials and its members. His candidacy came after his activities as a member of the Student Worker Action Group, which had been critical of the previous president's more moderate approach to opposing tuition increases, including efforts to support the reduction of tuition increases, rather than insisting on their elimination.

As president, Hudema opposed the university administration's proposed tuition increase, and particularly the portion of the increase that would see students in some programs pay more than those in others. Despite his opposition, the basic increase was approved as proposed, and two of the three program-based differentials were also approved. He also opposed the extension of degree granting powers (which were only granted to universities at the time) to colleges, advocated against the inclusion of education in the General Agreement on Trade in Services
General Agreement on Trade in Services
The General Agreement on Trade in Services is a treaty of the World Trade Organization that entered into force in January 1995 as a result of the Uruguay Round negotiations...

 and Free Trade Agreement of the Americas, and unsuccessfully lobbied the City of Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...

 to stop assessing property taxes on university residences. He expanded the Students' Union's involvement in environmental issues - creating a Students' Union environmental office, spearheading an energy audit of the Students' Union's building, passing an ethical buying and purchasing policy, helping to open a Women's Centre on campus, and founding a car pool registry. He also created the Revolutionary Speaker Series; the speakers that Hudema brought to the series included consumer candidate and American presidential candidate Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....

, environmentalist David Suzuki
David Suzuki
David Suzuki, CC, OBC is a Canadian academic, science broadcaster and environmental activist. Suzuki earned a Ph.D in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961, and was a professor in the genetics department of the University of British Columbia from 1963 until his retirement in 2001...

, author Inga Musico, and Palestinian activist Younis al Khatib.

Despite claiming at the end of his term that he would stay out of the limelight in student politics, Hudema was vocally critical of Mat Brechtel, his successor, for what he claimed was excessive compromise on tuition-related issues. He also helped create a new university course on citizenship and activism, which he suggested should become mandatory for all undergraduate students.

Criticism

Hudema was criticized during his time as president for being too focused on tuition and for fostering an adversarial relationship with the university administration. He was also criticized for politicizing historically apolitical events, opposing an increase in law school tuition despite support for the increase from the law students' association, and for using the campus food bank to make political points. Some observers felt that by trying to achieve goals that had only very limited chances of success, he sacrificed the ability to make real progress on less lofty objectives. His support for the "U-Pass", a proposed discounted transit pass that would be mandatory for all students, was also controversial.

Civil liberties activism

In 2001, Hudema was spokesperson of a group of about twenty people who staged a sit-in at the constituency office of Justice Minister
Minister of Justice (Canada)
The Minister of Justice is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for the Department of Justice and is also Attorney General of Canada .This cabinet position is usually reserved for someone with formal legal training...

 Anne McLellan
Anne McLellan
|-...

 to protest the government's proposed anti-terrorism and security laws, which Hudema claimed would "greatly impinge on civil liberties in Canada." The group "evicted" McLellan from her office - moving her furniture to the front lawn - changed her sign to read "Minister of In-Justice", held community workshops and forums in the area, and set up a hot tub with a banner that read "these bills put us all in hot water". After four days, Hudema and the rest of the protesters were removed by police and charged with trespassing.

Democracy activism

During the 2000 Canadian federal election
Canadian federal election, 2000
The 2000 Canadian federal election was held on November 27, 2000, to elect 301 Members of Parliament of the Canadian House of Commons of the 37th Parliament of Canada....

, Hudema was part of a group calling itself the Edible Ballot Society, the members of which ate their ballots (Hudema stir-fried his) as a protest against what they saw as a lack of true democracy and a system that only asked for individuals' participation once every four years. He was charged, along with other members of the EBS, with "unlawfully and willfully altering, defacing or destroying a ballot or the initials of the Deputy Returning Officer signed on a ballot contrary to section 167(2)(a) of the Canada Elections Act
Canada Elections Act
Canada Elections Act is an Act of the Parliament of Canada respecting the election of members of parliament to the Canadian House of Commons, repealing other Acts relating to elections and making consequential amendments to other Acts....

 thereby committing an offence under subsection 489(3)(e)". The charges were eventually dropped.

In March 2004, Hudema said that he was unsure whether he was going to vote in the 2004 federal election
Canadian federal election, 2004
The Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...

, saying that he went "back and forth" on the question of whether it was more useful to perform a "theatrical" stunt to draw attention to problems with the electoral system or to work to get progressive candidates elected.

Other activism

Hudema was critical of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which he called "an occupation by a rogue state". He has also attributed the invasion to North America's "addiction to oil".

Hudema opposes most trade liberalization, and protested at both the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas negotiations in Quebec City
Quebec City
Quebec , also Québec, Quebec City or Québec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in Quebec after Montreal, which is about to the southwest...

 with the theatre troupe FUNK (Fighting Unaccountable Naughty Korporations) in 2001 and the G8
G8
The Group of Eight is a forum, created by France in 1975, for the governments of seven major economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1997, the group added Russia, thus becoming the G8...

 summit in Kananaskis
Kananaskis Improvement District
Kananaskis Improvement District is an improvement district in Alberta, Canada. It is located within Alberta's Rockies, sharing much of its boundaries with Kananaskis Country.The administrative centre of the improvement district is Kananaskis Village....

 in 2002.

During the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...

 in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, Hudema travelled to China to participate in protests in favour of Tibetan independence. In what he alleges was a pre-emptive move , Chinese authorities entered the apartment he was sharing with fellow activists and expelled him from the country.

Writing and journalism

Hudema is the author of An Action a Day Keeps Global Capitalism Away (ISBN 1896357903), which was published in 2004. It is described as "fifty-two tried and tested actions, one for every week--an action guide for the 21st century."

He is also co-founder and former co-host and co-producer of Rise Up:Radio Free Edmonton, a current affairs show on CJSR, the University of Alberta's campus-community radio station.

Electoral politics

Hudema ran in the 2001 Alberta election
Alberta general election, 2001
The Alberta general election of 2001 was the twenty-fifth general election for the Province of Alberta, Canada. It was held on March 12, 2001 to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta....

 as a candidate for the Alberta New Democrats in the riding of Edmonton Meadowlark
Edmonton Meadowlark
Edmonton Meadowlark is a provincial electoral district in Alberta, Canada. The district is one of 83 mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting....

. He finished third of four candidates with 5.1% of the vote, well behind winner Bob Maskell
Bob Maskell
Robert "Bob" Maskell is a former teacher and provincial level politician from Alberta, Canada. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Alberta from 2001 until 2004.-Early life:...

 of the Progressive Conservatives
Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta
The Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta is a provincial centre-right party in the Canadian province of Alberta...

 and incumbent Karen Leibovici
Karen Leibovici
Karen Leibovici is a city councillor from Edmonton, Alberta.Leibovici was elected to the Alberta Provincial Legislature as a Member of Legislative Assembly in 1993 for the Edmonton Meadowlark provincial riding for the Alberta Liberal Party...

 of the Alberta Liberal Party
Alberta Liberal Party
The Alberta Liberal Party is a provincial political party in Alberta, Canada. Originally founded in 1905, when the province was created, it was the dominant political party until 1921 when it was defeated. It has never been in government since that time...

.
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