"right to express their opinions"

I saw Prime Minister Harper on the TV news last night. As reported on Global News, he righteously (in fact one could say almost aggressively) stood up for human rights. In particular he was making the point that Canada “expect(s) Ukrainian authorities to respect and protect the rights of its citizens, including the right to express their opinions freely” (Global News http://globalnews.ca/news/1022823/harper-voices-concern-over-ukraine-unrest/). A few weeks earlier Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird had said the same sort of thing on another world stage. 

It is wonderful that two of our leading politicians will speak out to the world about the importance of people being allowed to stand up to their government when they (the people) feel that the government is not listening or are doing things that they feel are bad for the country. Notwithstanding the fact that one wonders how the Prime Minister would react if the people of Ukraine were demanding closer links to Russia, it is important that world leaders take a stand about human rights. It might be too early in the political process to subtly threaten the government as Mr. Harper did, but then he is known for his ability to see the world in very clear black and white terms even if he risks polarizing the situation.

A few weeks ago I was showing part of a documentary to one of my classes. I Should Have Stayed at Home was produced by CBC’s The Fifth Estate and documents what happened to 4-5 individuals who chose to be part of the G20 protest in Toronto in 2010. The amount of violence and sheer aggression displayed by the police towards citizens who clearly were not anarchists and who had absolutely no desire to pose a threat to anyone or anything shocked some of my students.  They, I think, thought that we had the right to peacefully protest our government’s actions.

The juxtaposition of pictures of Mr. Harper’s speech beside the images of the police attacking people who were just expressing their opinions is striking. It is also frightening. We should all be afraid, angry and offended when our government preaches one thing and does the exact opposite. Even more importantly – we should be frightened when they don’t seem to have the capacity to recognize that is what they are doing. 

I can only hope that one day I will have the same rights as Mr. Harper says the Ukrainians have.