I had a great spammers post idea for today but decided to address the Tamil protest in Toronto instead. If you haven't been following the various Tamil protest they have been holding rallies in front of the United States Consulate on University Avenue in Toronto. At times their numbers have actually delayed and/or prevented people from getting to out patient clinics at the hospitals. They have disrupted traffic in the downtown core of Toronto for several days. Yesterday almost 2,000 Tamil protesters decided it would be a great idea to close down the Gardiner for 6 hours because they want Canadian government action to stop the genocide/civil war against Tamils in Sri Lanka. It took more than 5 hours to clear the backlog due to this closure. Public safety was clearly endangered. Today they continue to disrupt traffic.
Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our Canadian government just sent $3M dollars for humanitarian aid for the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka. That's $3M that could have been used to keep our local hospitals open. That's $3M that could have used in Canada to help those who are very much hurting from the recession. That's $3M that could have been used to help the Canadian homeless situation. That's $3M of our hard earned tax dollars that we pay to our Canadian government on our behalf. They are even resorting to calling anyone who doesn't support their cause a racist! Enough!
The reality of the situation and while I do empathize with the Tamil plight is Canada cannot intervene and has no way of being able to enforce any sanctions against Sri Lanka. The Canadian government has no legal jurisdiction in Sri Lanka. So far Canadians have been very tolerant of the Tamil protests not only in Toronto but in other major cities BUT our patience is wearing thin! Last night the illegal seizure of the Gardiner was the straw that broke the camel's back. Occupying a Canadian road or highway is such a fashion is illegal regardless of the cause! Each and every participant in this seizure should have been arrested and removed. They definitely should be investigated for putting their children in harms way. I believe that is called endangering the welfare of a minor that is also a chargeable offense. As newer immigrants they rely heavily on our Canadian welfare system without contributing to our tax base YET are at the moment costing us thousands of dollars over these protests. Don't forget the Tamils support the LTTE a know terrorist group. Yet when the Tigers were doing the killing and maiming over the 26 yr old war the Tamils had no complaints. It's only since the Sri Lanka government started winning the war that now the Tamils in Canada complain! Like as if blood is not already on their hands? They came here as refugees wave their Tiger flags NOT Canadian flags even though they are supposed to be Canadian YET have no problem holding a city as hostage. It is our tax dollars they are wasting!
Here's what I'm thinking. I'm sick and tired of our tax dollars being wasted and diverted out of Canada. I'm sick and tired of our tax dollars being wasted with our men in blue and mounted police trying to congenially keep the peace over illegal protests. I think what we need is a huge group of like minded folks to get together and shut down every single highway in Canada! Unfortunately that is not the Canadian way to get things done.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2009
I think any protest, by definition, is really "illegal." So it's not the supposed illegality that bothers me so much. (The American Revolution was illegal. Most of what Gandhi did or Martin Luther King did, by the same definition, was illegal. The Winnipeg Strikes were beyond question illegal.)
ReplyDeleteBut other things really bother me about how far this has gone. I agree with you completely about the women and children. They shouldn't have been there. Though there may be some substance to the claim that the Tamil Tigers threatened people and forced them to put the women and children at the forefront (from what I've heard, they do this in Sri Lanka too, and they also raise money from Canadian immigrants here by threatening families back home).
What worries me even more than that is that this could simply turn Toronto into Sri Lanka. People come here because it's peaceful, and then bring all their conflicts with them to enact here, and destroy the peace?
I don't know what the balance is. I believe very strongly in the right to take to the streets to make social change. I was among the people parading down University Avenue to protest the U.S.'s immoral aggression in invading the sovereign country of Iraq, without provocation. So if I had the right to do that -- where does that right end?
On the other hand, seeing this done day after day after day by this group assures me that eventually the "other side" will join in, in a big way, and there will be inevitable riots and death and much destruction. And after these guys are done, are we going to have Russians and Chechens bringing Toronto to a stop? Israelis and Palestinians?
So...I'm very torn. I can understand the desperation, if you know your families are being slaughtered back home. What wouldn't I do, to try to save my own family?
Is it justified, to bring a whole city to a halt because of something thousands of miles away? Was it justified when I did it, but unjustified when someone else does it?
I really don't know where to land on these questions.
I almost think the absolute best way to deal with this is to ignore them utterly. Have a major police presence watching, with fences put up, but have no press coverage, no response, nothing. Yet then I think of people's families dying, with no one, anywhere, to help...