Cutting My Hair

I would think that almost everyone who has met me in the last 10-15 years would, if asked to describe me, probably say "he has long hair". And it is true I do have long hair. In fact it is long enough that I can almost sit on it. And that is becoming too long.

I love the feeling of the wind blowing through my hair and how it feels on my bare back. I enjoy the looks I get from people and I especially like it when women complain that it is not fair that I have nicer hair than them! Having long hair has been fun.

But it is a nuisance. I seldom go out with my hair "free" (upbraided) because the slightest winds turns it into  a snarling mess of tangled hair; only on occasion do I walk around shirtless and therefore I almost never feel it against my bare back. It takes far too long at both bedtime and when I get up to brush it. I am tired of spending too much on conditioner, having to have a shower in the evening as I won't have time in the morning and of cleaning long hair out the sink and bathtub drains. It is time to get it cut.

In the fall as I was coming to terms with the psychological trauma cutting my "claim to fame", my identity etc, some students from the Lindsay Campus of the college announced that they were going to raise money for Rick Mercer's Spread the Net campaign. What a perfect opportunity! I like both the concept of the program and the fact that Mercer has created a charity that young people want to become involved in. So I contacted one of the organizers and made the commitment.

It is happening in 10 days time on January 30th. There are pictures up all over the school, people who I don't know are approaching me and asking questions. Some folks have even offered money to me to not to cut my hair. It seems as if people like my identity as much as I like it. Which is nice to know.

I suspect people are seeing me getting my haircut as a somewhat noble or "good" thing to do. But it is not really that noble. While it will be traumatic, I am not getting it all shaved off (12-13 inches still leaves near my shoulders). However I do think it is useful and important for people who label themselves teachers to sometimes set an example. To every once in awhile to go to the edge and rather than just talking about being actively engaged in the community, to do something.

People my age sometimes start to assume the mantle of being an elder within their community. If that is the case - then we need to lead by doing - not by telling others what to do.

Idle No More - or a 3rd conversation with an imaginary student

On Friday I took an hour or so off and went down to the intersection of Lansdowne and the Parkway to stop some traffic. Actually that is not why I went down there, but that is what happened. I originally thought that I, along with a hundred or so other people, were going to walk up the our local MP's office and invite him out to talk to us. But that would have been a rather silly exercise. One - because he was probably not even there, two - because if he had been there -  he would not have come out and three because even if he had come out, I can't believe he would have been at all be empathetic toward Idle No More's issues. Still that was the plan in my head. I wanted to be there to demonstrate my support for  the issues that are being raised by my fellow Canadians

It wasn't cold on Friday afternoon, but it was damp with enough rain coming down to require me to put my glasses in my shirt pocket. I really dislike having to view life through spotted glasses.  I am not very good about guessing how many people are at an event. There were certainly more than a 100 gathered at the corner but I don't think there were more than 200. There were lots of signs, a few flags and perhaps most surprisingly a wide range of people. While the majority of participants were probably from one of the close-by First Nations communities, there were also a number of people of European descent. There were some people who looked to be older than me and there were as well a number of young adults. I think the group reflected - as least in terms of demographics- the make-up of Peterborough.  I recognized a number of the people but there didn't appear to be anyone who I knew well. And that was disappointing. I had hoped that some of my colleagues from the college would have been there.

There were a few speeches from local members of the Idle No More movement which I unfortunately  couldn't hear very well as the megaphone was seldom pointed in my direction. I did however hear a number of the speakers mention that we were going to block traffic. I was not that excited about the prospect. It has been a few years since I have visibly protested and even more since I have knowingly engaged in civil disobedience. Still when the time came, I was glad to join the dance circle. It turned out that I did know the person beside me. It is always nice to hold hands with someone you know.

We circled - sometimes danced - blocking all four entrances to the intersection. Singers and drummers were in the middle of the circle along with photographers from the local media. It was not, quite frankly a particularly graceful or even energetic group. I think we needed more drums and more singers. Perhaps two concentric circles would have ensured that the circles moved around more quickly. We were not very practiced protesters. I think we should practice more.

Drivers that originally, I think, honked in support of the cause - started to honk far more aggressively. Cars that squeezed by the edges of the circle to make right hand turns more and more frequently seemed to spin their tires and roar their engines as they speed away. People were clearly getting irritated. The absurdity of their frustration is that Lansdowne is far more busy, more congested and far slower the few weeks leading up to Christmas than it was last Friday. The police eventually appeared. I have to assume that they were parked not so far away waiting to be called. I suspect they would have preferred not to have been called. There was not much that they could do. The three or four officers walked around trying to encourage the protesters to leave room for the cars to get through, they were not successful and then did nothing. They waited for us to stop blocking traffic.

After 15 or so minutes we walked back to the corner and dispersed. That was it. The protest, for that day, was over. One could wonder if it did any good. Did any of the drivers caught up in the traffic learn anything useful? Did anyone decide that they should investigate the issues further? Was anyone inspired to become engaged in the protest? Will the government change its policies because of this demonstration or even because of the accumulative pressure of all of the demonstrations?  I suspect not. So why do it at all?

Such acts of civil disobedience are not designed to change the world, at least not in the short term. They are however beneficial in strengthening the core protesters commitment to the issues. Whether or not I participated on Friday is not particularly relevant to the politics of Canada. But I hope that my presence there, along with the other hundred plus people will encourage and inspire those who started the movement to keep on educating us, to keep on telling our government that the time has come that they must listen to the people. I will be back there the next time.

A second conversation with imaginary students

Within the last two to three weeks there has been a minor but important shift in the Canadian political landscape. This has occurred not because the politicians have passed a new law or rescinded an old one (in fact it would appear that most politicians have been enjoying their Christmas vacation which means that they have been as effective as ever) but because some ordinary Canadians have gotten angry enough to do something.

When I first responded to a student's question as to what they could do to protest Bill C-45 - my answer was not particularly helpful or perhaps even hopeful. I suggested that the process to create sustainable change in the way our government made decisions would be at best slow.  For this change to occur, I argued that there would need to be a fundamental shift in the voting patterns of students and their families. I further argued that it was our responsibility to be better informed as to what the government was doing before they did it.

I was wrong.

I still think that it will take time to create a population that believes that it has both the right and responsibility to ensure that it is educated and informed. I think that we, as a collective of citizens, are still some distance away from being active participants in our government but the "Idle No More" movement has, in the last few weeks, has created a level of public awareness that just did not exist a month or so ago.

It strikes me that we are at a bit of an interesting crossroad.  For centuries it has been said (erroneously)  that the Indigenous People of Canada needed direction as they were not capable of leading themselves. Now they are leading us. They are the ones who have the commitment and the energy to stand up to the government. They are the ones who are educating their communities as to what the issues are. It is a model that the rest of us should pay attention to. There is no way at this point to know if this new movement "has legs". That is if they has the capacity to maintain their energies and to keep their issues in the forefront. But anytime a bunch of Canadians are committed enough to demonstrate in Winnipeg, in Northern Ontario or Toronto in the middle of winter they have my respect. Maybe it is time that the rest of us joined them. Maybe it is time that we too get up off of our collective behinds and in a clear and peaceful way tell the government that some things are just not OK. At the very least perhaps it is time that we started to talk to each other about what is important to us.

While I am appalled and embarrassed at some of the racist comments one can read on the various internet news pages, it seems to me that most of the comments are at least somewhat supportive. Maybe, just maybe that dialogue about what is important has finally started.

Join in the conversation. Don't let anyone tell you that it is not important to all Canadians.

A Student's Question

I had an interesting e-mail at the end of last week. It was from a student in one of my classes and it was a refreshing break from grading papers. The student wanted to know what to do about Bill C-45. I didn’t know how to answer. I have always felt that teaching requires me to walk a very fine line when it comes to expressing political beliefs in the classroom.  I have been told that I should not express opinions but rather just state the facts and let the students make up their own minds. That of course is a somewhat absurd suggestion both for the fact that the very process of choosing which facts to present is a political act in itself; and it is impossible for me not to wear my political heart on my sleeve.

None-the-less I felt a bit uncomfortable writing to a student talking about collective action to prevent a government from damaging our country further. So I am responding to that student and any others outside of the colleges e-mail system.

It is difficult not to be alarmed over parts of Bill C-45. Like the previous omnibus budget bill it covers far too many issues, many of which are poorly define and certainly under-debated. It is, in fact, an outrageous piece of legislation that will have significant impact upon the future of Canada. As noted in the Toronto Star (http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/1274564--omnibus-budget-bill-c-45-is-an-affront-to-democracy) the bill is 443 pages long and affects 74 pieces of legislation. Specifically the bill dramatically changes the level of protection to our waterways, weakens the Canada Labour Act and creates changes to the Indian Act that have not been discussed (never mind negotiated) with our First Nation communities.

However there are no quick fixes. The bill has passed. The government has used its majority and rammed it through with a minimal amount of debate, no compromise and not a single shred of evidence that they have listen to the 1,000s of Canadian who have complained.  The only people that they have listened to are those who will benefit from deregulation.

To get rid of the bill under the present Parliament is impossible. In spite of the protest that are being held in various First Nations communities and elsewhere nothing will happen. This government has in the past shown no inclination to listen. There is no reason to expect them to do so this time. To reverse the direction of Canada there needs to be profound changes in Parliament. That could be very long process. It will take an extraordinary amount of political will and hard work on the part of millions of Canadians to cause a change. I believe that that is possible. I believe that it is something that we can and should do.

Here are some suggestions that we all can do. 

According to the CBC there were in 2007 1,066,000 students in Canada (http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2009/08/27/f-back-to-school-numbers.htm) There are 852,910 people between 20-24 in Ontario alone (http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=CD&Code1=3515&Geo2=PR&Code2=35&Data=Count&SearchText=peterborough&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=All&Custom=&TABID=1). Most of the people have at least one if not two parents.

(1)    It would seem to me that one of the first steps is to get all of those students and all of the young people from Ontario (and all of the other provinces) to start to vote on the issues that will affect their country for all of their lives. Can you imagine what an incredible force young people could be if the various political parties realized that they could not afford to alienate or ignore young people? Can you imagine what could happen if the young people became involved and talked to their parents and got their parents to think about the issues from a young person’s perspective? Canada could change in a handful of years. Not all of the students would vote the same way – but they would vote and therefore politicians would listen to them.

(2)    Secondly individuals can get involved right now. All of the parties have youth wings that one can join. I am not too sure how much the political parties listen to their youth wings but it would allow one to become involved in the process. There are also groups such as The Council of Canadians (http://www.canadians.org/index.html) who are more active than other groups on some of these issues. There is a local chapter in Peterborough.

 (3)    Write letter to your MP. Get all of you friends to write letters. Tell them that you are concerned. Tell them that you want to, and will get involved. Invite him to a meeting to explain this and any other bill.

(4)    Check out the notice board of the local library. There are announcements posted there as to when there is a meeting about this or other topics.  

(5)    And finally to anyone who is reading this - you are doing the first step in becoming active. People need to educate themselves on the issues. They need to engage their peers in the conversation so that they can be educated on the issues. It is, quite frankly, too late to get upset when the deed is done. We as citizens of arguably the best country in the world need to stay on top of these issues so that when some government, be it federal, provincial or municipal, suggest that they are going to make a decision that appears to be harmful to our lives or our environment that we are informed enough to say why it is a bad idea and to provide alternatives.

As I look at my words, I am struck by an immense sense of futility. My words are an inadequate response to that student. I suspect that they want to do something right now. To do something that will have a profound and an immediate impact. But it does not work that way. BUT 1000s of students last spring in Quebec caused a government to change its mind and if we have learnt nothing else about the Arab Spring – it is that if enough people protest long enough – someone has to listen.

lost political affections

I have, for the past 50+ years had an affection for or at least a soft spot for Israel. I have never been too sure why but perhaps it is because I have always been attracted to the underdog. I can remember at a fairly early age reading about the Holocaust and then about the activities of the Irgun who, in their minds and mine, fought against a super power for a Jewish homeland (today they would be called terrorists) and won. I remember in 1967 meeting two young Israelis who had fought in the 1967 war and how in a strange way how envious I was that they had had the opportunity to fight for their country against overwhelming odds and win. But in the past few years that youthful perhaps overly romantic view of Israel has changed. But even more importantly my disappointment and perhaps even outrage at the Canadian government’s response to the problems in the Middle East has continued to grow.

I don’t know what the solution to the impasse in the Middle East is. I have on a couple of times had the opportunity at a Gathering to talk to both Palestinians and Israelis about their countries and they had no solutions either. I understand that Israel feels (with some just cause) vulnerable to some of its neighbours who have fairly consistently denied its right to exist. I also understand why people who have lost their citizenship, their land and the right to exist as a free and independent people are more than slightly pissed off.  

The creation of Israel was a long and complicated process. However the primary argument that people of the Jewish faith had the right to move to and create a new country solely because people of their faith use to live there (there had always been a small core of Jewish people living in Palestine) was and is absurd. If that argument was the standard for how the international community made decisions then the Indigenous peoples of Canada, United States, Australia and New Zealand amongst others would have long ago been able to reclaim their land. Israel was created at least in part as a response to the collective guilt after WWII when the western world’s culpability in the Holocaust became apparent. In hindsight it may not have been the brightest decision the world has made.

In my mind Israel lost the right to claim to be the underdog when it started acting like a colonist power. It has forced generations of people to live in refuggee camps. It has denied those people the basic rights that all democratic countries offer their citizens. It has continued to absorb land and to build new housing upon that land. Its concept of negotiations with specifically the Palistinians is quite similar to that of successive Canadian Government's attitude to negotiating with First Nation communities such as Grassy Narrows in Northern Ontario. We will take everything that is of value and then we will negotiate what you can have.

Canada in the past week or so was one of only nine countries that denied Palestinians some recognition or official status at the UN. They did so under the guise that unilateral decisions were not conducive to negotiations.  To make it worse there are some signs that Canada is not going to renew its commitment to providing aid to the Palestinian refugee camps in retaliation for them have the audacity to want some status at the UN.  A few days later, Israel announce the building of 3000 new homes on lands traditional perceived to belonging to Palestine. Canada only sighs and suggests that it may not be conducive to negotiations.

To do nothing to condemn a colonist power that deprives a whole nation of its rights is shameful. To deprive those people of humanitarian aid is an embarrassment that should cause us all to hang our heads in shame or to raise our fists in defiance