Canadian Polemic

I just had the privilege of spending a week in beautiful San Francisco, California, one of the best cities I've ever visited. I'm pretty picky when it comes to travel, so you can take my gushing here to mean something pretty significant. Sure, it took my over 27 hours to get there and 20 hours to get back, but it was certainly worth it. SF is, for the most part, supremely clean and very safe, and it feels very alive - the city pulses beneath your feet.

I stayed with a friend in the Presidio, a wonderful national park found west of downtown that spawns the Golden Gate Bridge. A group of about 6 of us (give or take, depending on schedules) walked all over the Bay Area for days on end, seeing as much as we possibly could. We walked across the bridge up into Marin County, a pretty easy trek that gave us glorious views of the SF downtown area - mind you, it's often foggy, so you have to be lucky to get a fog-free day. We also saw Fisherman's Wharf, that tremendous tourist-haven on the north shore of the city, chuckling to ourselves at the hordes of people interested in spending $4 on a Coke and $10 on a bowl of chowder - no thanks.

We went into the Mission, exploring its streets that felt so much more lived-in and gritty than other parts of the city. We dove into Chinatown, taking in the smells of the pork buns in the bakeries and searching desperately for a silk kimono bathrobe for a friend - which we didn't find. We wandered through the Castro, the city's gay pride district right before Halloween, taking in the multitude of costumes and personalities. We ventured down Haight Street, marvelling at the crazy shops and getting some great Thai food. We walked through the Financial District, feeling dwarfed by the office buildings and towers, laughing at the Pacific Stock Exchange that now appears to house an upscale fitness centre. We hit the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the De Young Museum, Alcatraz, the Aquarium, the American Conservatory Theatre, Union Square, the UN Plaza and more. My one note would be to avoid the Aquarium - certainly not worth the $14 you'll pay to get in.

It really is a city of contrasts - granted, all are, but it seemed that the disparities there were much more prevalent. From the stereotypical yet all-too-real wealthy Californian lifestyles of Chestnut Street to the sketchy area of the Mission. From the upscale and ritzy homes near the Marina to the children and young people asking for change in the Haight. Never before have I seen such huge disparities laid so close to one another.

That being said, the city is marvellous, and I'd encourage anyone to visit. The food is great, the people are reasonably friendly, the city is clean and safe, and it feels so alive. Hooray for having all of that plus palm trees and sunshine in the middle of October.

On campus today, we were treated to a presentation by Alexandre Trudeau, one of the sons of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Alexandre is a Canadian filmmaker who is known for his style of 'embedded journalism', particularly in locations such as Iraq, Israel, the West Bank, Liberia, and other areas of conflict. He lives with the people of the area, and works to tell their personal stories, in order to convey a different aspect of the situation.

The clips of his documentaries were very interesting, particularly those from Baghdad and Jenin. Sure, we all see the typical footage from these war zones, but the way in which he portays these regions is somehow more powerful. The views from a moving car in Baghdad of burning buildings, abandoned markets and desolate streets are way more effective than the footage we are given from CNN in terms of conveying the true nature of the conflict. He highlighted the need to make these stories in far-off lands personal, to make those human bonds. I also found him to be very articulate (I guess it runs in the family), expressing his opinions very clearly and responding to some rather blunt questions with equal aplomb.
He certainly wasn't as controversial as Ya'acov Brosh, the Israel Consul-General who spoke here several weeks ago, but it was still interesting to hear him speak. I'd encourage anyone to try and see his documentaries, particularly those about Iraq and the Israel-Palestinian conflict. They offer a refreshing new look at old news stories - embedded journalism, as it has been termed, is an important way of telling stories that I hope we see more of in the future.

Luckily, Austria has come down from its high horse and removed its last minute objections to negotiations for Turkish membership in the EU. Now, the negotiations, which lean towards but don't require full Turkish membership down the road, can get going. I know there's a lot of concern in the EU about the notion of admitting a massive, mainly-Muslim state, but those objectors should put that kind of religious fear behind them and look to the future of the EU.

With the admission of Turkey, it's obvious that the notion of the EU is going to have to change. Its borders will then extend beyond traditional Europe, and into the Middle East. Once Turkey has joined, there will be little reason to deny the start of negotiations with a nation such as Russia, which, as a pan-Asian nation, extends as far as the Pacific. The EU will then be forced to critically re-examine its purpose - is it primarily or does it seek to be a predominantly-geographic bloc? Or is it an organization seeking to improve economic standards? Is it an organization dedicated to multilateralism and peace? One that seeks to counterbalance American power? All of the above? I think that should Turkey be granted full membership, the members of the EU will have to recognize that their organization can and must be more than it is. A refusal to retool the organization as more than simply a geographic club will, ultimately, result in its stagnation and potential collapse.

When negotiating with Turkey, however, the EU should not lower their standards. Proceedings towards EU membership can be a unique opportunity for Turkey to drastically-improve human rights standards and democratic governance. The EU should take advantage of this fact, and refuse to admit Turkey until these qualifications are met. If the negotiations take decades, so be it. Turkey can be a strong, democratic, member of the EU based on the rule of law, but it's not quite there yet. Regardless, the issue of Turkey will likely prove to be a turning point for the EU, whether it achieves membership or not.

According to the Globe's "highly-placed source", Deputy Tory Leader Peter MacKay will announce later this week that he wants to stay in Ottawa instead of returning to Halifax to run for the Premier's job. In my view, I think he should have pulled up stakes in the nation's capital and headed back to Nova Scotia.

As much as anyone, I'd like to see him replace Stephen Harper as Tory Leader. I fundamentally disagree with a lot of what Harper says, but that being said, he'll probably never be elected. This brings up another conundrum - that of one-party rule, which is also no good. Having MacKay heading up the CPC would present a second party with chances of being elected that would solve both problems.

It seems to me that the benefits of returning to serve as Premier of Nova Scotia would be huge. His experience in governing would be another feather in his cap, and would make his eventual ascent to the Tory Leadership and eventually to 24 Sussex much more likely. Granted, there's the chance that it could go horribly wrong, but politics is just one big gamble. So why not to Halifax?

As it stands now, MacKay will stay in Ottawa under Stephen Harper, leading a wing of the party that is holding less and less influence as time goes on. He'll continue to be subservient to Harper, and unless the big guy screws up royally (which, granted, is entirely possible), MacKay's position will remain stagnant. I'm sure there's a lot of personal considerations that only Mr MacKay is aware of, but I do wish he'd decide to return to Nova Scotia and show Canadians what he can do. I wouldn't mind seeing him in 24 Sussex one day.

(AFP/Nicolas Asfouri)

Photos can often speak louder than words, so I thought that every once and a while, I'd post a good photo of a recent news event. This one is of two children in Lapa do Lobo, a Portuguese village 300km north of Lisbon, running away from the flames of a wildfire. Wildfires have been running rampant through northern Portugal and Spain this summer and into the fall, driving many from their homes.

I think I've mentioned once or twice before how enamoured I am with Canada's new Governor General, Michaëlle Jean. She's articulate, young, bold, enthusiastic and committed to the promise of this country. She's not old, white, tired, boring or a man. She's representative, I think of the future of Canada, and I'm so glad to have her in Rideau Hall, despite my early misgivings based on her membership in so many different minority groups. For those of you who aren't yet convinced, read some of what she's had to say so far in her term:

[Freedom] has helped create the spirit of adventure that I love above all in this country, this country where each and every one of us is able to participate fully in the ongoing task of building it.

Think about it. To set off for terra incognita with the hope of putting down roots in a new land. To take one’s inspiration from the encounter with the first population of these wide-open spaces and their age-old customs. To open oneself to the entire world, which comes here inspired by the ideal of a society in which the rights of all citizens are equal. Our history speaks powerfully about the freedom to invent a new world, about the courage underlying those remarkable adventures.

We are encouraged to believe that everything is possible in this country and my own adventure represents for me and for others a spark of hope that I want kept alive for the greatest number.

Every one of us rekindles in his own way the sense of belonging to this space that we all share, a space that contains the world. Never has it been so urgent to ensure the ethical and ecological integrity of this world for the generations to come. It is a moral obligation.

I pledge that I will go on listening and that my curiosity will remain keen. We are at a turning point in the history of civilization and more than ever before, our future rests on those who are forcing us to imagine the world of tomorrow. Those women and men are today showing us the vast range of what is possible for us. They are etching upon our memories the breadth of our aspirations. They are holding out a mirror that reveals the gap between what we are and what we aspire to be.

The time of the "two solitudes" that for too long described the character of this country is past. [...] Quite the contrary: we must eliminate the spectre of all the solitudes and promote solidarity among all the citizens who make up the Canada of today.

Most of all, I want our young people to be our standard-bearers. I want them to dip into the enormous treasure trove that is Canada. [...] Nothing in today’s society is more disgraceful than the marginalization of some young people who are driven to isolation and despair. We must not tolerate such disparities. After all, our young people are helping to redefine the great family we all belong to, in a world that is less and less impermeable, more and more open. They are the promise of our future and we have a duty to encourage them to join us in this reinvention of the world. We must communicate to them the spirit of adventure that our ancestors, regardless of their origins, have passed on to us. We must give our young people the power and, even more, the desire to realize their full potential. I shall do everything I can to see to that and I invite each and every one of you to help me in this vital task.

Our country is vast and it is blessed with a wealth of colours and the varied music of its tongues and accents. Many have not had the good fortune of measuring its full extent. I know how privileged I am. And knowing it makes me impatient and eager to meet you and to begin the dialogue that I consider to be the founding principle of this country.

I am a mother who worries about the kind of future that awaits her child and all the children on this earth. I care deeply about the founding values that unite us – values that we must defend, build on, and preserve. The most important value, in my eyes, is respect. The Canada I love is the one that defines itself through its respect for others, and through its recognition of each person’s integrity and dignity.

This is all so exciting! [...] I am a woman of action, and I can’t wait to get started.

Apologies for the delay on this, but it's been a crazy week. So the Israeli Consul-General to Canada (Toronto and Western Canada), Ya'acov Brosh, came to speak on Monday night and I was going to be moderating the Q and A session afterwards. We knew it was going to be provocative and emotional, and the event certainly lived up to its hype.

So Mr Brosh made his speech, speaking about Israel after its disengagement from the Gaza Strip. As lectures go, it wasn't really that inflammatory. He made some remarks (that I felt were unjustified) that Israel was the only true democracy in the Middle East, but he didn't say anything demeaning really towards Muslims as a group - he was pretty tempered. This is coming from a guy who has argued that "all Muslims are not terrorists, but most terrorists are Muslim". He spoke about Israel as a haven for high-tech industry, as a multicultural nation, etc. In all, I guess his lecture was about 30 minutes long - then a girl from Quebec and I went up to the front to moderate and facilitate the Q and A session.

I tell you that moderating that meeting on Monday night was quite possibly the most difficult thing I have ever done in my entire life.

We went with a speaker's list format, writing names down on a piece of paper and going to their questions one by one to keep some semblance of order. Firstly, an Afghani student asked a question, very respectfully, both to Mr Brosh and to the system we were using. Next was a guy from Palestine, who used to be my roommate. Again, he asked a really good question. But Mr Brosh responded to all questions in a really condescending, insulting manner. He would ask for your name so he could respond to you by name, but then insult your intelligence. He didn't deal with the principle behind your point, but he would find a semantic flaw and discuss that instead. He demanded that his questioners tell him their sources, and read him back the exact facts and sentences. He made many arguments without backing them up, such as arguing that the massacre at the Jenin refugee camp never occurred. And I think he was really very disrespectful to our Arab Muslim students as well as anyone who asked a question in general.

So this is what I was dealing with. After Mr Brosh responded to the Palestinian student's question in such a manner, the student tried to follow-up, and rightly so. But I had to cut him off. To allow one follow-up would open the doors to many, many more follow-up questions, turning it into a debate that could go on forever, really, rather than a Q and A. Plus, we had a lengthy speaker's list still waiting. So I told him to sit down. An Iraqi student and one from Holland were sitting next to him, and told him to keep speaking, even though I had said otherwise. So I repeated myself, asking the Palestinian if he would please sit down, we had a long speaker's order to get through. Thankfully, he sat down and did as I said. So that was one crisis averted, I suppose. Unfortunately, after this, he left the auditorium.

Mr Brosh also had this tendency of cutting questioners off in the middle of their questions, challenging premises and sources. I admit that we made a mistake here - we should have asked him earlier in the session to let people ask their questions in full. I was in a difficult position, though, because he was our guest, and I wasn't sure how appropriate it would be to cut him off. Eventually, later in the night, we began to do so, but we should have done this earlier.

Someone (I don't remember who) asked a question before the Iraqi student, and it started to degenerate into follow-ups. I began to cut them off, but our resident citizen of Baghdad looked furiously at me. I don't think I've ever seen him as angry as that night. I put that aside, though, and kept repeating myself and asking this person to stop asking their questions. Eventually, they did. Note that this is compounded by others in the audience demanding that this person be allowed to ask more follow-ups.

Eventually, it got to the Iraqi student, and his questioning turned into an angry exchange back and forth between Mr Brosh. Mr Brosh was encouraging it, as well, which didn't help. This was dicey - I kept asking the student to get to a point, to a question, which eventually he did. After his question, though, he and essentially the rest of the Arab students got up and left.

The last question that I remember was from a Norweigan student, who spent her summer service volunteering with a service organization in Palestine. She was very frustrated through the whole meeting and was pleased to be able to ask her question, which was about Israeli violation of UN resolutions. She had a copy of the resolutions in question, published by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and as she asked her questions, she stepped closer and closer to the podium (which had me a little tense), finally tossing the resolution onto the podium and telling him to do the source analysis. Yikes. Again, more follow-ups that I eventually cut off.

So we finally decided to end the meeting, after looks to one of the organizers, who came down to the front and did the brute work of ending the whole thing for us. After it finished, Mr Brosh handed me the two books that Israel had given to our library, and I was absolutely exhausted. Mr Brosh went off with his RCMP security detail. It was quite a night, and very frustrating for me. I had agreed 100% with what they were saying, but I needed to keep things rolling. It was my job. The Palestinian student told me that I hadn't let him defend his country - ouch.

On Tuesday night, we had a presentation from the other perspective, the Palestinian perspective. Very worthwhile. I was so impressed by the students from Israel and the Middle East - I think that there is hope for peace. One of the Israeli students made a speech more powerful than any other I have ever heard. It was infused with more emotion, character and passion than anything else. He spoke about his need to serve in the military, but how he would not be happy about it. He told us about his powerful desire for peace, and how his urge to build that peace was one of his key reasons for applying to my school, which focusses its education on international understanding and peacebuilding. After he spoke and the Palestinian student responded, I was reminded of how privileged I was to be there. And I'm even more committed now than before that peace, as represented in the Japanese calligraphy above, is possible.