20 Years On

Last night I finally had the opportunity to watch the documentary Kanehsatake: 270 Years Of Resistance. It’s something that has been on my “to-do-list” for quite some time, and special thanks to a friendly reminder — regarding the film, not the Standoff’s anniversary (which more or less started 20 years ago this past Sunday, July 11th, 1990) — I got it watched.

So here we are, 20 years on from a point in time where Native North American Mohawk’s stood up to the Canadian government looking to continue in its colonial endeavours, and I found myself even more troubled than I had expected. Not by anything the film, quite excellently, dealt with concerning the “crisis” — as distressing as it was/is — but rather my governments actions, and the “minions” who carry out its wishes, today.

What a great bit of context, for a historical event in Canada’s sordid history, sure, but its continued relevance toward the sad state that has become Canada, is ever more powerful. Check it out…

Canadian Pride

As “we,” like my being a Canadian citizen has anything to do with the Canadian Olympic Hockey Teams performance, prepare to face the Slovakian squad in a semi-final match for the gold this evening, I’m painfully reminded of everything Canadian Pride involves.

You can’t pick and choose what to be patriotic about. It’s all or nothing. So before celebrating Canada’s potential victory tonight, read Yves Engler’s piece, Canada’s Neoconservative Turn, and actually consider everything being a proud Canadian really entails;

“‘Preemptive action’ is likely a euphemism for a bombing campaign. Canadian naval vessels are already running provocative maneuvers off Iran’s coast and by stating that ‘an attack on Israel would be considered an attack on Canada,’ Kent is trying to create the impression that Iran may attack Israel. But isn’t it Israel that possesses nuclear weapons and threatens to bomb Iran, not the other way around? Of course that would be a reality-based analysis, not something George W. Bush’s Canadian clones favor…”

I guess the two positive’s this article brings up, for me, is, 1) I hadn’t previously known Yves Engler had a new book out, Canada and Israel: Building Apartheid. Great news, that he wrote another book, not that he thought he had to. And 2) Don Cherry has, potentially years of further reason, ahead of him, to praise his main interest. The Canadian Military.

I can’t wait…