Social Justice, Karma Yoga, and Expectation

Here's my recent spiritual quandary.

Over and over again in ancient texts from the East, we are encouraged to act without attatchment, without expectation, and without being concerned about the results (or fruits) of our actions. Take this text as an example:

"He who does the task dictated by duty, caring nothing for the fruit of the action, He is a yogi...Nobody can practice the yoga of action (Karma Yoga) who is anxious about his future, or the results of his actions." (Bhagavad-Gita)

The basis of such says that the world will always have suffering, and so we are to act simply because we are full of love, not because we are expecting some sort of outcome.

I find this a paradox of sorts, because I then find myself asking: what would have happened had the Civil Rights movement acted without determination, resilience, or expectations of results? Or women fighting for the right to vote? Or those pushing the abolishment of slavery? What if they would've have "acted" - done their duty - and then said: "Well, we've given it a valiant effort, and yet our actions have not gotten us our desired outcome. But that is ok, because we are to act without any expectation of what will come out in the end."

So, in particular, I'm suppose I'm wondering what this philosophy of acting without expectations or attatchments means in the arena of Social Justice (and how determination can co-exist with the concept of 'not expecting a certain result'). To answer that question myself, the following bullet-points are as far as I can get:

Non-attatchment and the cessation of expectation means...

• You no longer WORRY or have ANXIETY about the results.
• In the end you realize that somehow in this web of existence everything eventually works out for the good despite our personal efforts (Or does it? Are we co-creators with God, or not?)
• When you act without attatchment, you're acting not for selfish purposes (such as praise from others or for good feelings of accomplishment and righteousness) but rather from a TOTALLY unselfish and non-egocentric vantage that says: I am simply a conduit of God to ease suffering and promote justice in the world. I suppose that in such a scenario, there is still a place for determination???
• Or is this a philosophy that needs challenged? Is this a place where East Meets West yields greater results and completes the total picture: East provides the Mysticism, West provides the Social Justice.
  

I'm looking for some feedback and wisdom here. Anyone is certainly invited to respond, but I'm specifically looking for responses from those of you who are familiar with Eastern Philosophies (Jon, Meredith, Isaiah, Jaxun, etc.)