Naomi Klein: As Chief Spence Starves, Canadians Awaken From Idleness And Remember Their Roots

[limpyhobbler]

I woke up just past midnight with a bolt. My six-month-old son was crying. He has a cold – the second of his short life–and his blocked nose frightens him. I was about to get up when he started snoring again. I, on the other hand, was wide awake.

A single thought entered my head: Chief Theresa Spence is hungry. Actually it wasn’t a thought. It was a feeling. The feeling of hunger. Lying in my dark room, I pictured the chief of the Attawapiskat First Nation lying on a pile of blankets in her teepee across from Parliament Hill, entering day 14 of her hunger strike.

I had of course been following Chief Spence’s protest and her demand to meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper to discuss the plight of her people and his demolition of treaty rights through omnibus legislation. I had worried about her. Supported her. Helped circulate the petitions. But now, before the distancing filters of light and reason had a chance to intervene, I felt her. The determination behind her hunger. The radicality of choosing this time of year, a time of so much stuffing – mouths, birds, stockings – to say: I am hungry. My people are hungry. So many people are hungry and homeless. Your new laws will only lead to more of this misery. Can we talk about it like human beings?

Lying there, I imagined another resolve too – Prime Minister Harper’s. Telling himself: I will not meet with her. I will not cave in to her. I will not be forced to do anything.
...

via http://www.zcommunications.org/as-chief-spence-starves-canadians-awaken-from-idleness-and-remember-their-roots-by-naomi-klein

[NoOneMan]

1. Some Canadians, and maybe few

So, I've read the comments section of severals CBC articles on this and they seem to be dominated by the same ol mistunderstanding, short-sightedness, racism etc, that I hear often when these issues come up. I am aghast over it.

I grew up in the states. People were so busy being racists against Mexicans and African Americans that they didn't have any energy to lash out at the indigenous people (frankly, I rarely encountered anything beyond respect). In Canada, its a whole other ball game.

There seems to be a disconnect between what I read over there and people I talk to vs what I am reading in a few articles posted on DU. I do not get a sense that Canadians, as a whole, really support the hunger strike or Chief Spence.

Am I wrong?

[limpyhobbler]

2. I don't know.

I was just reading this article about Canadian attitudes, but ya know, take everything with a grain of salt.

With the Idle No More movement by First Nations now marching across the country, including Edmonton, a recent poll shows Canadians are supportive of such grassroots citizen protests and strongly believe people should push politicians to do a better job.

The majority of respondents said they supported grassroots protests, including the Occupy movement and the British Columbia referendum against the harmonized sales tax. People are looking at other methods of political participation beyond conventional parties, said Environics pollster Keith Neuman, in an interview discussing the poll on Canadian values conducted jointly with the University of Alberta.

Also, when it comes to taxes, the poll suggests politicians are out of touch with Canadian values, adds U of A’s Harvey Krahn, a sociologist who assisted with the poll. It was conducted from Oct. 2 to 14 with a sample size of 2,001 people.

Keeping taxes as low as possible ranked last on the list of 12 shared values identified by Canadians, yet politicians, including Alberta Premier Alison Redford last week, staunchly rule out increasing taxes even when the province faces a serious deficit, said Krahn.
...

http://www.zcommunications.org/majority-of-canadians-support-grassroots-protest-movements-poll-by-sheila-pratt

[NoOneMan]

3. See, thats a pretty ambiguous poll

Just about everyone supports grass roots movements to influence politics (and of course BCers supported scrapping HST!). That doesn't mean everyone supports this specific protest.

Checkout top rated comments at:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/story/2012/12/27/sk-regina-protesters-to-fast-1212.html
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2012/12/25/sarnia-first-nations-protest.html

If its only the First Nations behind it, thats good enough for me to start though.

[Th1onein]

4. Klein....God, she can write!

"The people whose land our founders stole and whose culture they tried to stamp out are rising up, hungry for justice."

[limpyhobbler]

5. I like her a lot.

Even if she's not good it still seems good to me. :LOL: