Once upon a time when I thought about the plight of our First Nations, I used to think that George Bernard Shaw was right:
"The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them but to be indifferent to them. That is the essence of inhumanity."
But now I see that in Canada we've managed to do both. We were indifferent to them for so long, and now that they cannot be ignored, the hate is extraordinary.
I had always thought that one of the joys of Canadian life was its abhorrence of racism. But judging by some of the email I received and the comments I read online elsewhere, it’s getting a bit Mississippian around here.
The racism unleashed after Chief Theresa Spence’s hunger strike, the Federal Court Métis ruling and the effort to get Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the same room as chiefs and the governor-general? It was extraordinary.
Extraordinary as in appalling, or absolutely disgusting. Made even more cowardly by being aimed at people as poor as these...
I've written several posts about this grotesque racist backlash, and how it has been aided and abetted by some in the MSM, the most recent one last night.
Because it's the worst eruption of blind hatred I have ever seen. And believe me I know bigotry. I've been fighting bigots and bullies since I was a young teenager, and for seven years on this blog. So you can imagine how I feel about this.
Personal safety alarms were given out to students at Dennis Franklin Cromarty First Nations high school in Thunder Bay during a special assembly welcoming them back to a city that one student says suddenly feels more threatening.
The Anishinabek Nation issued a news release on Jan. 10 asking educators to control the potential backlash against First Nations students.“We are seeking the assistance of teachers and school administrators to ensure that First Nations students entrusted to their care are not subject to any bullying or harassment.”
Because that would be the ultimate horror. That is what happens when creepy bigots are allowed to run wild. And if their violent words turn to violent actions, as they so often do, this country will explode.
Why is why I hope the aboriginal movement can resolve its differences and unite. The Chiefs need to listen to the people, but we need everybody to form a mighty front, confront this latest threat. And make the racists pay.
Because whether you're native, or black, or gay, or whatever, the bigots and bullies don't care what you think, they just hate you for who you are.
And until we ALL unite to defeat Stephen Harper's bully regime NOBODY will be safe. There will be no justice for the First Nations, and other poor Canadians. The racists will run wild, and our land will be slowly poisoned.
As Heather Mallick says:
Watch out for humblebraggers trying to lure you into companionable anonymous cowardly racism. Don’t fall into their hateful trap.
Or as I say, don't let the creepy bigots intimidate the First Nations, or bully their children...
Hammer those old racists, and the bastard Cons harder than ever.
Tell them the decent people of this country have had enough.
And we are Idle No More...
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11 comments:
"Thomas Mulcair endorses conservative efforts with First Nations"
This a.m.-Toronto Star headline
Like I said before, if your boy Mulcair doesn't start showing some real leadership qualities really soon, we could see another Ignatiev scenario in 2014 when the NDP gets totally thrown out on their asses because people will vote "liberal" before they vote NDP if Trudeau gets the leadership of that party just for nostalgic reasons, even though he isn't his father (which is probably a good thing). No amount of rhetoric can put enough lipstick on that pig, Simon.
Let his MP's go to see Spence so he wouldn't get his little hands dirty. Come on! What kind of conservative political bullshit is that?!
It's PATHETIC How Bigots and Ignorant meatheads attack Spence and FN for 'unaccountability' while giving Harperland a complete FREE PASS for its MOUNTAIN HIGH wasteful (and unaccountable) spending pile. I mean just look at Peter ‘Copter and the whole fucking F35 debacle. This piece of RATSHIT government was cited in CONTEMPT of Parliament for this very thing! For not being accountable to Parliament with spending figures, and for not providing documentation! Well, WTF?!?! And Tony Gazebo goes wandering off to head the TREASURY DEPARTMENT after swindling $50 MILLION from border security to bribe voters in Muskoka to vote for the weasely fucker! WTF is THAT?!? So who the HELL is Harperland to point fingers ANYWHERE with all of this REFORM PARTY styled horseshit going on?? ?? FUCK OFF ! Can’t we RECALL these sleazebags??
And it is equally pathetic how the right wing media has gleefully fanned the flames of hillbilly hatred and racism sheer across the nation. Glancing through media it has become astounding just how many illiterate, history denying/revising, aboriginal hating hillbillies there are in this country! Racist, mud dumb stupid, and bigoted. And OH SO PROUD OF IT.
This time, it was all on account of one deliberately leaked audit / smear campaign that NEVER showed any money going missing; just a lack of documentation. And since Spence became Chief in 2010 these ‘transgressions’ have IMPROVED greatly. Of 500 investigated transfers from 2005 to 2012 about 400 lacked documentation but only about 30 occurred since 2010 under Spence’s watch. Did ANY of these media outlets showcase that LITTLE TIDBIT?? Or explain how Sheila Fraser's 2010 audit was ALL ABOUT how Harper's Indian Affairs file is so POORLY managed that FN funding is not dispersed properly or in timely fashion? That the WHOLE FILE is mismanaged and run incompetently by Ottawa? And as a result FN, not just Attawapiskat but EVERYWHERE, are always scrambling and having to re-allocate funds around, hither and yon, just to (if they are LUCKY) cover for things like ESSENTIAL SERVICES? No, of COURSE the media doesn't say THAT; because nothing is ever presented in full context in the bumblefucked-up rightwing bumbersticker slogan media, commandeered and overseen by PR sleazeballs in Harperland's Ottawa. I mean you aren’t going to appeal to uneducated bigoted meat puppet's with FACTS and CONTEXT, are ya??
And, as you know Simon, the further to the right the media outlet, the higher and hotter are the flames. Meanwhile, in just the last few weeks alone, and of course completely unbeknownst to Harper's bigot brigade of internet trolls and sock puppets, FN have won, I believe, another 7 or 8 court cases vs Harperland. Courts have ruled over and over again in favour of FN; for example by verifying FN charges Cons abused and broke resource development law with C-45. FN have now won about 175 and counting court cases vs Harperland. On that scoreboard, the LEGAL ONE, the Harper Cons are getting HAMMERED. Where’s the FUCKEN COVERAGE of this?
‘Idle No More’ is really meanwhile only gaining steam and evolving, even internationally. These people are to be COMMENDED for calling attention to an intolerable situation among FN communities and for pinpointing out to ALL OF US the atrocity and danger of Harperland's unilateral, arbitrary government and it's attacks on environmental protection and on our very democracy.
This is exactly what Harper's hate, has done to this country. Harper's personality is the same typo as, Stalin's, Hitler and Mussolini. They too were hate filled Dictators. It is hard to believe our young Canadian boys, during WW11 fought against exactly this sort of insanity. Our boys were shot and blown into fragments, and for what? Harper sure in the hell isn't worth their dying for.
I too read some hate filled comments towards the F.N. people, on a propaganda news web site. They rivaled Hitler, his henchman and Gobbles hatred for the Jewish people. F.N. school kids being attacked and bullied, is no different than, what the Jewish kids were put through. We saw exactly what, that kind of hate does. That web site is totally full, of hate speech of the worst kind.
I really fear, for those F.N. students. I am very afraid, they may have some real violence done to them. For those kids safety. I wish their parents will take them out of school, until sanity prevails again.
As far as I am concerned. The opposition party's, should be forcing Harper to resign. His sanity is seriously under question? Harper is a monster, a traitor and he should be locked up. Right now, I am very angry at the opposition. They have done, next to nothing about Harper's reign of terror. The only politician that spoke against Harper's treachery was, Elizabeth May. She warned us of, what was in Harper's evil omnibull bill.
One thing is clear....racists sure can't stand being called out as racists. Makes them apoplectic, but it does provide me with a certain amount of pleasure to do it :)
hi anonymous...Well Tom Mulcair is hardly my boy. I still think he is our best chance of getting rid of the Cons, but I can't disagree with anything you say. I understand his goal is to make the NDP look more economically "responsible" but it sure is boring, and it won't inspire anybody under sixty. I see he NDP is planning a big meeting in the next few days, I'll try and write something about it...
hi wazz...I agree with you, the Idle No More movement is to be commended for saying enough is enough, and not allowing Harper to make a mockery out of our democracy and their treaties. It clearly is a work in progress, but I rmain optimistic it can help lead us all to a better place...
hi anonymous...unfortunately we can't force him to resign, until the next election. But what we can do is mobilize all decent Canadians, and make it clear that we don't consent to what he is doing, and we're as mad as hell...
hi double nickel...unfortunately some of those racists are probably proud of who they are, because I've never seen anything so visceral, so crude, and so dumb. So nothing can be done to them except refuse to water them. But as for those who would quack like racists, but deny it, making them apoplectic does sound like a great idea... :)
Holy fuck this is so embarasing, to all of YOU. You demand clean water, yet a hundred years ago when you died in droves slurping from creeks you had no one to bitch to. Now you demand that which you werent close to attaining. You hadnt even come up with the wheel before we got here, yet now we are supposed to believe all was paradise. If you had whined to your fellow natives who took your land you had previously occupied, you were scalped with no mercy. Get over it, get a job, and join the real world. Embarrasing.
Boy do I see racism, the biggest racist are who protesting and who are not being held accountable. Put an non-native in the same blockade, and they will be arrested. That's racism. No racism coming from me, only what you bring to the table. You want equality, you want respect, you want more monies, you don't want accountability, you don't an even playing field for all. You want pity and sympathy for your living conditions, talk to your leaders. Your very well paid leaders, or as the protesters say "The 1%".For they are where the buck stops. If a company or town leader squanders the monies, they are held accountable. Not protest, pull the racist card, and say your the victims. The only racism here is the double standard that is expected. Canada is about equality, not a two tiered culture. The tax payers and those who expect to forever live off the tax payers. FYI 13 generation Canadian Citizen, and for those who would be calling racism I am Metis. Posting as Anonymous because I don't have of the other options listed. Just tired of this Racism crap being called.
Idle No More, is idle no more, because of Harper's big bright shiny light of ACCOUNTABILTY that will be shining on the colossal corruption and fat cats. Rats always run from the light. Idle No More runs to racism card.
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