Horak: The protests in Iran echo past uprisings. But this time, they feel different, Regg Cohn, Ebadi and Akhavan

2026/01/14 Leave a comment

Some of the better analyses of the situation in Iran, starting with former Canadian diplomat Dennis Horak:

…Notwithstanding the challenges the regime faces, it would be foolish to underestimate the repressive abilities of the Iranian security apparatus to protect the Islamic Republic. The forces stacked up against the protesters are formidable; the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in particular, is brutal and experienced, and its leadership has strong vested interests in maintaining the status quo, including vast economic holdings. They, like the protesters, have something to fight for, and they have the weapons. The regime will not be going quietly. 

The regime is also bolstered by the fact that the exiled opposition movement continues to be fractious, and thus offers little hope as a viable alternative. While the son of the deposed Shah, Reza Pahlavi, has gained more visibility this time around, he carries a difficult legacy that will make it hard to rally around him, notwithstanding the effectiveness of his communications team. 

It is difficult to predict how this will all turn out. Most revolutions fail, until they don’t. But it is likely that some measure of change is coming this time, even if the current revolt is put down. It is hard to see how the status quo in Iran is sustainable. It will take more than vague promises of economic reform of the sort uttered by President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday to placate current or future protesters. Fundamental reform will be required, beginning with policy shifts on the nuclear front and an end to regional meddling to allow for the lifting of crippling sanctions and draw the country back from the radical, revolutionary fringe. 

To achieve this, there will need to be profound changes in how the regime functions, if there is not to be regime change. The question is: can Iran have the former without the latter? 

Dennis Horak was Canada’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Yemen from 2015 to 2018 and chargé d’affaires in Iran from 2009 to 2012.

Source: The protests in Iran echo past uprisings. But this time, they feel different

Regg Cohn | As protests grow, Iran finds itself more isolated than ever

…And so revolution is in the air again, just as it was nearly five decades ago in the twilight of the shah’s despotic rule. Iran’s tortured history teaches cruel lessons of false hope and false starts.

In 1979, secular leftists and religious rightists joined forces to topple the shah of the day, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The clerics, led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, hijacked the revolution and declared an Islamic Republic.

They were usurpers, not liberators.

Pahlavi, who went into exile in 1979, was the son of an army officer who had crowned himself shah in 1925. Pahlavi fled the country in 1953 in a dispute with the democratically elected parliament — only to be restored to power in a CIA-backed coup days later.

Now, all these years later, his son — declared crown prince at age seven — is claiming the mantle of leadership from exile.

As Iranians try one more time to break free of the Islamic Revolution, nearly half a century after it supposedly liberated them, the last thing they need is to be tethered to a pretender to the throne. The people of Iran will chart their own path, cheered on by supporters in the diaspora but without taking orders from them — lest another revolution face another hijacking.

Iranians are fighting for liberation, not usurpation.

Source: Opinion | As protests grow, Iran finds itself more isolated than ever

As Iran cracks down on protesters again, the world cannot be silent

…The continuing heroism of the Iranian people is a reminder of the tremendous potential for the future of a rich civilization that produced the first human-rights declaration 2,500 years ago in the cuneiform text of clay cylinder of Cyrus the Great, which is now housed in the British Museum. The scenes unfolding in Iran today demonstrate that 50 years of totalitarianism has not extinguished this powerful legacy, expressed in the ancient belief that in the end, light will triumph over darkness. Now, the world community must support this awakening and stand in solidarity with those who remind us of the astonishing resilience of the human spirit.

Shirin Ebadi is the founder of the Defenders of Human Rights Centre in Iran and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize. Payam Akhavan is the Human Rights Chair at the University of Toronto’s Massey College, a founder of the Iran Human Rights Documentation Centre, and a former UN prosecutor at The Hague.

Source: As Iran cracks down on protesters again, the world cannot be silent

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Gessen: How to Be a Good Citizen of a Bad Country

2025/11/04 Leave a comment

Good read on the dilemmas some Israelis are facing:

…Dekel was trying to shift some of the responsibility for his own actions — his own resistance, which he felt was insufficient — onto unnamed others, and in doing so he was telling an important truth about resistance in general. Seeing other people act makes it less frightening to join in protest. Even more important is an unspoken principle my conversations with these Israelis reminded me of: To be a good citizen of a bad state, one has to do scary things. It may be writing an op-ed calling for your own country’s isolation, as Sfard did, knowing that it would cost him friendships and get him branded a traitor. It may be using your body to shield someone more vulnerable, as Greenberg does. It may be withdrawing your economic cooperation. It is weighing leaving against staying, moral obligation against fear, flying under the radar against taking a risk — and opting for the risk.

Source: How to Be a Good Citizen of a Bad Country

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Ottawa has duty to ensure welfare of Canadians in ICE custody, advocates say

2025/08/16 Leave a comment

Valid question but government always faces such criticism with respect to consular services:

The growing number of Canadian citizens detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is disturbing and raises questions about whether Ottawa is doing enough to ensure the well-being of Canadians in custody, experts say, after revelations that Canadian children as young as two years old have been held for weeks in immigration detention this year….

Julia Sande, a lawyer with Amnesty International Canada’s English-speaking section, said The Globe’s findings are “horrifying and deeply disturbing.” She said the Canadian government’s comments are cause for significant concern.

“What does due process look like for a toddler?” she said. “Canada can say it can’t interfere in other countries, but what steps is Canada taking to ensure that its citizens, including its toddler citizens’ rights are being upheld?” she said….

Sharry Aiken, a professor at Queen’s University Faculty of Law, said the use of immigration detention in the U.S. has long been concerning, but the Trump administration has introduced a “dramatic intensification” of the practice. 

That includes detaining long-time residents of the United States.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of public affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, had told The Globe in a statement that: “Allegations of subprime conditions at these facilities are FALSE.” …

Ottawa human-rights lawyer Paul Champ said that although there may be standards on paper, consular assistance for Canadian detainees abroad is, in his experience representing Canadians detained abroad, inconsistent, opaque and influenced by the politics between the two countries in question.

“These reports of the conditions of confinement are quite appalling, and Canada should be seriously concerned about that and taking action,” he said….

Source: Ottawa has duty to ensure welfare of Canadians in ICE custody, advocates say

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Former justice minister Irwin Cotler calls on Israel to end war, starvation in Gaza

2025/08/16 Leave a comment

Better late than never:

Former Liberal justice minister Irwin Cotler has joined thousands of Jews calling on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war and starvation in Gaza.

The longtime human rights activist is a staunch supporter of Israel and has faced death threats from Iran over his support for the Jewish state and democracy worldwide. He has signed an open letter saying Netanyahu is jeopardizing peace at home and abroad.

“The policies and rhetoric of the government you lead are doing lasting damage to Israel, its standing in the world and the prospects of secure peace for all Israelis and Palestinians,” the letter reads.

“This has severe consequences for Israel but also for the well-being, security and unity of Jewish communities around the world.”

The letter, organized by a group called the London Initiative, calls Israel’s aid restrictions on Gaza “a moral and strategic disaster” that hands a “propaganda victory to Hamas” and undermines the important work of countering Hamas and Iran.

“We do not deny the despicable role of Hamas in stealing aid and preventing its distribution, but nor can we reject the evidence of our eyes and ears as to the extent of the human suffering and the role of your government’s policies in it,” the signatories argue.

The letter also calls out Israel’s failure to suppress settler violence, which it says has helped fuel the current “diplomatic tsunami” of criticism from Israel’s historical peers.

“If Israel’s military, when given the bold order by you, can send a missile through a window in Tehran to take out an Iranian general with unerring accuracy, it surely has the ability to maintain order in the West Bank, prevent Jewish extremist violence, protect Palestinian civilians and apply the law,” the letter says.

The letter also calls out rhetoric used by Netanyahu’s cabinet ministers that it describes as “a moral abomination and a chilul hashem — a desecration of Jewish values and Israel’s founding principles.”

It cites the example of Israeli Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, who said his government is “erasing Gaza” and that the territory will be entirely Jewish.

Netanyahu governs with a coalition that includes Jewish supremacist parties which have cited religion to advocate for policies widely seen as ethnic cleansing.

“Members of your government have used language of racism, hatred and incitement without censure,” the letter reads.

“Any opportunity to release all the hostages must be seized, and prioritized above appeasing extremist members of your coalition.”

The letter warns that this “language of incitement” erodes efforts to strengthen Jews’ ties to Israel and is “undermining Jewish communities as we face a surge in antisemitic, antizionist hate.”

The letter was also signed by Canadian philanthropist Charles Bronfman, one of the founders of the Birthright program, which sends Jewish youth on trips to Israel.

Its listed signatories also include prominent Canadian professors and volunteers with projects like the New Israel Fund and the Herzl Project, though it notes that the signatories are speaking as individuals and not on behalf of their institutions.

Netanyahu does not appear to have responded directly to the letter since it was made public a week ago, though he defended the war on Sunday, saying Israel’s only choice is to completely defeat Hamas.

Source: Former justice minister Irwin Cotler calls on Israel to end war, starvation in Gaza

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Liberal candidate Peter Yuen, chosen to replace Paul Chiang, linked to pro-Beijing groups, events 

2025/04/11 Leave a comment

Sigh, can’t they get this right for a change:

The Liberal candidate selected by Mark Carney to replace one who was dropped over a China-related controversy is a member of a Beijing-friendly lobby organization and has given talks at events honouring a Toronto group that advocates for the annexation of Taiwan by China.

Onetime Toronto police deputy chief Peter Yuen, who is now carrying the Liberal banner in the Toronto-area riding of Markham-Unionville, succeeded Paul Chiang. The former MP stepped downApril 1 after news broke that he had talked to reporters about how someone could take a Conservative candidate and human-rights advocate to the Chinese consulate to claim a bounty put on him by Hong Kong authorities.

Foreign interference has been a significant topic in this federal election campaign, including this week when Ottawa’s election-interference watchdog announced that it had detected an information operation from Beijing aimed at shaping public opinion among Chinese-Canadians about Mr. Carney.

Mr. Yuen appears to have a strong relationship with China’s diplomatic mission in Toronto. In 2014, the consulate held an event to mark his promotion to Toronto police superintendent. He has attended consulate celebrations, including one in January, 2020, that included a photo display on Xinjiang province that did not acknowledge Beijing’s brutal treatment of its Muslim Uyghur minority there. Canada’s Parliament adopted a motion in 2021 that declared China’s treatment of its Uyghurs a genocide….

Source: Liberal candidate Peter Yuen, chosen to replace Paul Chiang, linked to pro-Beijing groups, events

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Snyder – Blame Canada: Our warmongering, drugged-out conspiracy theory

2025/03/17 Leave a comment

 Uncomfortable parallel between Canada and USA with Ukraine and Russia:

… War with Canada is what Trump seems to have in mind. Fentanyl is not the only the big lie. That Canada does not really exist is the other. The way that this fiction is formulated is strangely Putinist. Trump’s rhetoric about Canada uncannily  echoes that of Russian propagandists towards Ukraine. The claim that the country is not real; that its people really want to join us; that the border is an artificial line; that history must lead to annexation… This is all familiar from Putin, as is Trump’s curious ambiguity about a neighbor: they are our brothers, they are also our enemies; they are doing terrible things to us, they also don’t really exist. 

The imperialist rhetoric has to be seen for what it is, which is preparation not just for trade war but for war itself. And, it goes without saying, a disastrous one, in every sense, for everyone. (Except Putin and Xi, perhaps: the American-Canadian conflict is one way that Trump is handing them the world on a platter.)

Just because someone treats you politely and speaks your language does not mean that they want to be invaded by you. This was an underlying Russian mistake about Ukrainians. Ukrainian public culture, before the Russian invasion, was bilingual and polite. In general people simply adjusted to whichever language was most comfortable for the other person. Visiting Russians therefore had the experience of Ukrainians speaking their language, and then could arrogantly assume that this was because Ukrainians were in fact Russians and wanted to be part of Russia. I fear that Americans, or at least some Americans in the White House, are making a similar mistake.

Canada also has a polite public culture, less bilingual in practice than Ukraine’s, but unlike Ukraine’s with an official second language. Canadians, whether their first language is French or English, will naturally speak English with monolingual Americans. This is simple courtesy, but it leads Americans away from considering Canada’s differences, one of which is that the official language of its largest province is French and that the entire country has two official languages. Canadian elected officials use both, at least at the beginning of their speeches. They have to debate each other in both. The Canadian foreign minister is from Quebec. When she is talking circles around us, we don’t necessarily pause to consider that she is doing so in her second language. 

Canadians tend to be (or tended to be) patient with us. Canadians know Americans well, and tend (or have tended) to see us as our best selves. All of this is to their credit; none of this means that they want to become the fifty-first state (a phrase so dumb it hurts my fingertips to type it). Canada is a very interesting and a very different country, with a very different history. Canadians have quite different institutions, and live quite different (and longer) lives. Canadians have a profound sense of who they are; anyone who suggests the contrary simply has not taken the time to come to the country or to listen with any attention.

The notion that Canada is not real is an example of the complaisant lies that imperialists tell themselves before beginning doomed wars of aggression. The specific association of Canada with fentanyl is a big lie that allows Americans to shift responsibility away to a chosen enemy and enter a world of geopolitical fantasy. Anyone who plays with the idea that Canada is not a real place or repeats the fentanyl slander is warmongering and preparing the way for North American catastrophe. 

Big lies are powerful; but they are also vulnerable, at least before war begins. Wars begin with words, and we have to take words seriously, at the time when they matter most, which is now. When we see the truth of where this is all meant to go, we can prevent it: by calling out the big liars and telling the small truths.

Source: Snyder – Blame Canada: Our warmongering, drugged-out conspiracy theory

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Trump tariffs drowning out immigration coverage

2025/03/05 Leave a comment

Just a note to readers that I am finding fewer articles of interest in my various feeds to post, given the understandable focus on the Trump administration’s tariffs along with its many reversals of domestic and foreign policies.

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Nicolas | Reconnaître la Palestine

2025/02/21 Leave a comment

Missing, unfortunately, a first point regarding the violence and brutality of Hamas on October 7 and following treatment of hostages. Not to excuse Israeli excesses but important not to ignore those of Hamas. Always find it perplexing that some on the left verge on tolerating Hamas despite its religious and political fundamentalism:

« Ce n’est pas nous qui libérons la Palestine. C’est la Palestine qui nous libère. » Je traduis ici librement une formule qui circule abondamment sur les médias sociaux depuis octobre 2023. L’idée peut être comprise et déclinée sous mille et une formes. Voici quelques exemples de ce que j’en comprends, personnellement, en février 2025.

1. Sur la violence. Celles et ceux qui ont vu pratiquement en direct sur les médias sociaux les images des hommes, femmes et enfants palestiniens morts, démembrés, déchiquetés par des bombes principalement américaines ont compris le niveau de violence dont non seulement Israël, mais les États-Unis d’Amérique — et leurs alliés — sont capables. Ces images rendent inadmissible la dichotomie hollywoodienne selon laquelle l’ordre mondial serait nettement divisé entre les barbares sanguinaires d’un côté et les humanistes occidentaux de l’autre. En particulier pour la jeune génération, ces images ont non seulement suscité l’horreur, mais aussi provoqué une grande réflexion politique.

2. Sur la solidarité. Il y a eu et il continue d’y avoir un grand écart entre les images brutes d’une violence inouïe que les Palestiniens eux-mêmes rendent accessibles sur les médias sociaux et les sujets et angles priorisés par les grands médias européens et nord-américains. Devant cet écart, plusieurs se sont demandé : quels sont les autres massacres de populations civiles auxquels les médias traditionnels ne font pas attention ?

C’est ainsi que TikTok et, dans une moindre mesure, Instagram sont devenus des lieux d’éducation populaire sur les crises au Soudan et au Congo, où l’insécurité, la faim et la violence touchent des millions de personnes. L’accès facile aux images d’un peuple qui se meurt dans l’indifférence des grandes puissances a nourri une volonté d’apprendre sur l’autre peuple, et l’autre peuple encore. C’est là un mouvement de prise de conscience planétaire dont bien des médias devinent à peine l’existence.

3. Sur la liberté de presse. La semaine dernière, un rapport spécial du Committee to Protect Journalists a annoncé que l’année 2024 avait été la plus meurtrière pour les journalistes depuis la fondation de l’organisme en 1981. Ce sont 124 journalistes qui ont été tués dans le monde l’an dernier, dont 85 par Israël (82 à Gaza et 3 au Liban). Mais pour comprendre le rôle du conflit dans les attaques à la liberté de presse, il faudrait aussi parler des salles de nouvelles bombardées à Gaza ou fermées de force en Cisjordanie. Et ce, insistons, alors que Nétanyahou bénéficie d’un appui inconditionnel des Américains.

Alors que Donald Trump s’en prend à la liberté de presse à la Maison-Blanche, garder en tête la Palestine nous fait voir que les États-Unis, même sous les démocrates,permettaient déjà une attaque sans précédent contre le travail des journalistes sans qu’il y ait de dénonciation des principales associations de journalistes américaines — ni canadiennes d’ailleurs. Encore aujourd’hui, alors qu’il y a supposément un cessez-le-feu à Gaza, on a normalisé l’idée que les journalistes occidentaux n’ont pas accès au territoire. Peu de résistants ont encore la force de réclamer la réouverture d’un passage.

Avec tout ce qui se passe depuis le 20 janvier, on voit à quel point se battre pour la liberté de presse en Palestine, c’était se battre pour la liberté de presse tout court. Endiguer le virus de l’autoritarisme en périphérie de l’empire américain aurait certainement contribué à ce qu’il ne puisse en atteindre le cœur.

4. Sur le droit international.En janvier 2024, la Cour internationale de justice a trouvé qu’il était « plausible » qu’Israël ait commis des actes de génocide à Gaza. Elle a demandé qu’un ensemble de mesures soit pris pour diminuer ce « risque » pendant qu’elle continue d’étudier la question. Puisque les bombes qui tombent sur Gaza sont surtout américaines, la situation en Palestine a soulevé la question plus large : de quoi les États-Unis se croient-ils permis ?

Depuis janvier 2024, la situation humanitaire et politique de Gaza s’est détériorée. Donald Trump met la pression sur les pays arabes voisins pour évacuer la population palestinienne sans droit de retour — ce qui correspond à la définition du nettoyage ethnique.

Surprise, surprise : le gouvernement Trump se permet aussi de négocier le sort de l’Ukraine avec la Russie en marginalisant l’Ukraine même — voire toute l’Europe — de la table de négociation. Et ce, tout en menaçant la souveraineté nationale du Danemark, du Canada et de Panama. Alors, de quoi les États-Unis se croient-ils permis ? Pas mal tout. Et comment ont-ils renforcé cette conviction ?

En fin de compte, défendre le droit à l’autodétermination du peuple palestinien, c’était défendre le droit à l’autodétermination de tous les peuples. Ça l’est toujours. Il est encore temps pour le Canada et la poignée de pays du G20 qui n’ont pas reconnu l’existence de l’État palestinien d’enfin changer leur vote aux Nations unies. Vu les menaces qui pèsent sur Gaza comme sur le droit international en général, cette reconnaissance tomberait à pic pour la protection des Palestiniens… et de nous tous. Une chose est sûre : on serait certains de se dissocier de Trump et de son impérialisme.

—

Vous remarquerez que, dans ce texte, j’ai peu parlé concrètement des Palestiniens mêmes. C’est-à-dire comme humains qui vivent leur humanité comme nous tous, tant bien que mal, dans le meilleur et le pire, dans l’imperfection, bien sûr — et pour qui les droits de la personne devraient exister de manière inaliénable et inconditionnelle, comme pour nous tous. La Palestine, c’est bien sûr des gens, mais aussi — et c’est ce que j’ai tenté de démontrer ici —, vu le contexte politique, elle est devenue depuis longtemps une idée.

Et le problème avec les idées, c’est qu’elles ne meurent pas. Elles circulent. Et transforment notre manière de voir le monde. Malgré Biden. Malgré Trump. Donc, vous vous imaginez : certainement aussi malgré l’ingérence politique de Pascale Déry dans la liberté d’enseignement.

Source: Chronique | Reconnaître la Palestine

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Nicholas | Petit peuple

2025/02/07 Leave a comment

A lire:

J’ai eu envie de revisiter Rhinocéros, parce qu’on nous demande beaucoup de nous montrer forts face à Donald Trump. Quelle est, au fond, cette force que l’on nous demande ? Une force de domination de raison ou du cœur ? Face à la brutalité du trumpisme, qui avons-nous envie d’être ?

Il y a aussi ce poème du pasteur allemand Martin Niemöller, qui regagne en popularité. « Ils sont d’abord venus chercher les socialistes, et je n’ai rien dit parce que je n’étais pas socialiste. Puis, ils sont venus chercher les syndicalistes, et je n’ai rien dit, parce que je n’étais pas syndicaliste. Puis, ils sont venus chercher les Juifs, et je n’ai rien dit parce que je n’étais pas juif. Puis, ils sont venus me chercher, et il ne restait plus personne pour me défendre. »

Le premier ministre ontarien, Doug Ford, a dit mardi, alors qu’il ne savait pas qu’un micro était ouvert : « Le jour de l’élection, étais-je heureux que ce gars-là [Trump] gagne ? À 100 % ! » Il continue : « Mais le gars a sorti un couteau et il m’a poignardé. »

Well, M. Ford, karma is a b***. Plus je réfléchis, plus je me dis que ces menaces de tarifs douaniers peuvent sérieusement affecter notre économie, et peut-être racheter nos consciences. Ou du moins, la conscience d’hommes tentés par la rhinocérite — pardon, le trumpisme — et qui ne comprenaient pas la violence politique avant d’en sentir eux-mêmes le poignard. Des hommes qui ne bronchaient pas trop quand ils sont venus pour les « wokes », les antiracistes, les personnes trans, les féministes, les musulmans, les immigrants, les journalistes, les scientifiques, les travailleurs précaires, tout le peuple palestinien. Par un coup de chance tragique, ils sont venus chercher la classe dirigeante canadienne avant qu’il ne reste plus personne pour les défendre.

La vitesse avec laquelle Donald Trump s’est retourné contre nous, le principal allié historique des États-Unis, nous offre une chance de réfléchir collectivement à notre rapport à la force.

En 1976, René Lévesque disait à la population québécoise : « On n’est pas un petit peuple, on est peut-être quelque chose comme un grand peuple. » On comprend le moment de l’histoire où ces mots ont été prononcés. Face au trauma qui a marqué le parcours de tellement de francophones, le premier ministre nous incitait, avec raison, à relever la tête.

Près de 50 ans plus tard, l’humeur collective a profondément changé. Lévesque choisirait sûrement d’autres mots pour traduire la même émotion. Je ne crois pas que je serai la seule à avouer qu’il peut me prendre l’envie, devant le feu de poubelle qu’est l’état de la planète, d’emmerder profondément les grands de ce monde, tout comme l’idée même d’aspirer politiquement à la grandeur. J’avance trop au ras des pâquerettes pour ne pas savoir que les grands, les puissants, les empires, ces admirables nations qui aspirent à l’universalisme, qui veulent rendre tout le monde à leur image, finissent par piétiner quantité d’humains avec leurs sabots, leurs cuirasses, leurs armes.

Ces grands qui, hier encore, dessinaient la carte de l’Afrique dans une conférence à Berlin, ou rêvaient de faire plier l’échine des Amériques sous leurs bottes de cow-boy, sont encore là à planifier la transformation de la bande de Gaza en jolie Côte d’Azur. J’ai envie, pour ma part, d’appartenir à un peuple qui n’en a rien à foutre de cette grandeur-là.

Comme Québécois, il devrait nous être plus facile de ne pas être séduits par l’idée de la domination, de la force brute, de la loi du plus fort : le plus fort, en Amérique, ne sera jamais francophone. Certains de nos compatriotes d’ici ou d’ailleurs au Canada se sont pourtant pris au jeu d’être un pays du G7. Ça leur est monté à la tête. On dessaoule ces jours-ci. On comprend que, face à l’empire américain, nous appartenons nous aussi au camp des petits.

Et c’est tant mieux. La prochaine étape de guérison, de maturité collective, c’est d’assumer qu’il n’y a absolument rien de mal ou de honteux à être un petit peuple. Au contraire. Pour résister aux sirènes de la violence politique, à cette épidémie de rhinocérite qui s’empare de l’époque, il nous faudrait reconnaître chez les petits du monde qu’ils viennent chercher… notre humanité en partage.

« Make America Great Again », beuglent-ils. Le vaccin contre la rhinocérite, c’est de savoir répondre : greatness is overrated. C’est ainsi que jusqu’à la toute fin, comme Bérenger face à tous les rhinocéros, nous ne capitulerons pas.

Source: Chronique | Petit peuple

I wanted to revisit Rhinoceros, because we are asked a lot to be strong against Donald Trump. What is, basically, this strength that we are asked of? A force of domination of reason or of the heart? Faced with the brutality of Trumpism, who do we want to be?

There is also this poem by German pastor Martin Niemöller, which is regaining popularity. “They first came for the socialists, and I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t a socialist. Then they came to get the trade unionists, and I didn’t say anything, because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came to get the Jews, and I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t Jewish. Then, they came to look for me, and there was no one left to defend me. ”

Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford said on Tuesday, when he did not know that a microphone was open: “On election day, was I happy that this guy [Trump] was winning? 100%! He continues: “But the guy took out a knife and stabbed me. ”

Well, Mr. Ford, karma is a b***. The more I think, the more I tell myself that these threats of tariffs can seriously affect our economy, and perhaps redeem our consciences. Or at least, the conscience of men tempted by rhinoceritis – sorry, Trumpism – and who did not understand political violence before feeling the dagger themselves. Men who didn’t flinch too much when they came for “wokes”, anti-racists, trans people, feminists, Muslims, immigrants, journalists, scientists, precarious workers, all the Palestinian people. By a tragic stroke of luck, they came to look for the Canadian ruling class before there was no one left to defend them.

The speed with which Donald Trump has turned against us, the main historical ally of the United States, gives us a chance to collectively reflect on our relationship with strength.

In 1976, René Lévesque told the Quebec population: “We are not a small people, we are perhaps something like a great people. We understand the moment in history when these words were spoken. Faced with the trauma that has marked the journey of so many Francophones, the Prime Minister was rightly urging us to raise our heads.

Nearly 50 years later, the collective mood has profoundly changed. Lévesque would surely choose other words to translate the same emotion. I don’t think I’ll be the only one to admit that it can take away my desire, in front of the garbage fire that is the state of the planet, to deeply annoy the greats of this world, just like the very idea of politically aspiring to greatness. I advance too far with the daisies not to know that the great, the powerful, the empires, these admirable nations that aspire to universalism, who want to make everyone in their image, end up trampling on many humans with their hooves, their breastpies, their weapons.

These adults who, until yesterday, drew the map of Africa in a conference in Berlin, or dreamed of bending the spine of the Americas under their cowboy boots, are still there planning the transformation of the Gaza Strip into a pretty Côte d’Azur. For my part, I want to belong to a people who don’t give a damn about this greatness.

As Quebecers, it should be easier for us not to be seduced by the idea of domination, brute force, the law of the strongest: the strongest, in America, will never be French-speaking. Some of our compatriots from here or elsewhere in Canada have nevertheless taken the game of being a G7 country. It went to their heads. We’re unleasing these days. We understand that, in the face of the American empire, we also belong to the camp of children.

And that’s all the better. The next step of healing, of collective maturity, is to assume that there is absolutely nothing wrong or shameful about being a small people. On the contrary. To resist the sirens of political violence, to this epidemic of rhinocerite that is taking hold of the time, we would have to recognize among the little ones of the world that they come to look for… our humanity in sharing.

“Make America Great Again,” they yell. The rhinoceritis vaccine is to know how to answer: greatness is overrated. This is how until the very end, like Bérenger in front of all rhinos, we will not capitulate.

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Lederman: Powerful documentary No Other Land provides important context to Trump’s musings on Gaza 

2025/02/07 Leave a comment

Hopefully will make it to a streaming platform:

…For Palestinians and Muslims, this is a difficult film, documenting their people’s pain. But any viewer with a pulse will feel anguish – including, maybe especially, anyone who cares for and about Israel. In one charged scene, Mr. Abraham challenges the Israeli army for taking the Palestinians’ building tools. A soldier asks the Israeli why he cares. “I care because it’s all done in my name,” Mr. Abraham says.

No Other Land has won many festival prizes and is nominated for the Academy Award for best documentary. But it couldn’t land a North American distribution deal, no doubt because of the subject matter. So the filmmakers are releasing the film independently; it lands in Toronto and Vancouver theatres on Friday.

In the film, Mr. Adra says documenting the destruction may force the U.S. to press Israel to stop the expulsions.

Today, the threat is coming from the would-be saviour.

Mr. Trump called Gaza a “hellhole” as he floated his plan at a news conference Tuesday. What kind of god complex allows for this kind of unilateral, devilish declaration?

No Other Land is a stark reminder that the Palestinians displaced by the Israel-Hamas war and now under threat of permanent displacement by Mr. Trump’s ambitions are in fact people. They are not pawns or faceless figures in a geopolitical dust-up. They are people who want to live their lives in peace, and to live those lives at home. And home is Gaza.

Source: Powerful documentary No Other Land provides important context to Trump’s musings on Gaza

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