Segacs’s World I Know

Happy July 4th to all Americans reading this. Hope you’re enjoying your Independence Day.

The G8 summit in Edinburgh is this week, and it’s getting attention like never before.

Yesterday, for anyone who’s been living under a rock lately, was Live 8. In nine cities around the world including Barrie, Ontario, acts such as U2, Coldplay, Pink Floyd, Elton John, the Who, Green Day, Bon Jovi, Dave Matthews Band, Our Lady Peace, the Tragically Hip, Blue Rodeo, Jet, Great Big Sea, and many more took to the stage in a massive free concert with the lofty goal of ending world poverty.

But with such a stellar lineup of mega acts, the show basically overshadowed the message. Millions of people watched the concerts, but I’d venture a guess that most were tuned in for the music and not for the politics.

In the meantime, will governments really drastically increase foreign aid just because a bunch of rock stars sang their hits? Despite Bob Geldof’s insistence that it will, I have my doubts. According to a poll, 60% of Canadians believe the concerts can help alleviate global poverty, but an equal percentage believe that instead of spending an additional $12 billion on foreign aid, the Canadian government should spend it on domestic priorities like healthcare or social programs.

With the debate raging on whether foreign aid is even the answer to help poverty, it’s worth noting that simply throwing money at a problem is not a good way to make it disappear. Prominent voices in Africa have been calling for reform over funds for a long time. Isn’t it about time we started listening?

Meanwhile in Edinburgh, a friend who is currently travelling there had this to comment about the protests in advance of the G8 summit (no link because she wrote the comments on a personal travel blog and probably doesn’t want a bunch of strangers showing up):

I don’t know if you are all aware of this, but there is a G8 summit going on in Edinburgh in about 2 days. The ‘festivities’ started today with the ‘Make Povery History’ protest. There were well over 100,000 people marching through Edinburgh. [ . . . ]

In general, it did not disrupt our day of touring at all. The march seemed peaceful, so all was well. At one point in the afternoon [ . . . ], I watched the protest go by. As I did so I got more and more frustrated. I think that you all are aware of my generally left of center views. I believe in excusing third-world debt, and in ensuring that every person have a minimum standard of living. Nonetheless, much of what I saw at the protest made me angry. (Warning, I’m going into a rant. Either brace yourselves or stop reading here.)

– This was a protest for poverty, so why confuse the issue? People were walking around with Palestinian flags. While there is a time and place for presenting that opinion (and it is an opinion), why at the voicing of a cause that is so overarching?

– Many of the placards carried were for the Socialist Workers party. In addition, there were a few communist flags about. I see this as changing the issue. Why alienate the crowd? This is about solidarity, not about highlighting separations.

– Parents brought their children who were often infants. Why make an ideological choice for someone who is too young to make it themselves?

– There was so much garbage thrown on the floor. If you are going to discuss a global issue, why ignore another one? Pollution is as much of an issue as poverty. How could anyone in that crowd be so single-minded? Isn’t their point that they are aware?

I dealt with closed-minded people who are under the opinion that they are open-minded all year. It was my job. I didn’t need this on my vacation. People are stupid.

I can’t say I’m surprised – these summit protests frequently attract a wide variety of people, most of them well-meaning and many of them not so well-intentioned. I just hope that things don’t devolve into the type of violence that we’ve seen at these things in the past.

Today is a day to celebrate our country for its greatness despite its faults – maybe even because of its faults.

We Canadians are a diverse lot and we rarely agree on much. Our politicians are corrupt but we keep voting for them because the alternatives seem worse. Our patriotism is much more apparent abroad than at home. It is based on a broken healthcare system, a locked-out hockey league and knee-jerk anti-Americanism, but it unites us with a sense of fierce pride. We may not be able to define it but most of us wouldn’t give it up.

Canada Day is always a bit odd in Quebec, because here in La Belle Province, it seems everything possible has been done to prevent us from celebrating it. Most leases are up on July 1st so today is the unofficial “moving day” for most people in Montreal. As a result, more people will be shlepping boxes than watching fireworks tomorrow. Also, with last week’s Fete Nationale celebrations, many people just view this as a long weekend and part of the launch of summer that coincides with the Montreal Jazz Festival and all kinds of other fun things to do.

Maybe it’s because I recognize how fragile my status as a Canadian is, and that it’s been threatened multiple times and probably will be again in the future. Maybe it’s because, to far too many Canadians, I’m unwanted – an “acceptable casualty” in what they view as a greater good of just wishing good riddance to Quebec. Maybe it’s because of the feeling I get when I see our flag in a position of pride internationally, or when I meet other Canadians while travelling and share moments with them. Or maybe it’s none of those reasons.

But Canada Day, to me, is a time to reaffirm my love of this country and its people – flaws and all. So please join me in wishing a very happy 138th birthday to Canada. (And many more…)

Spain legalized gay marriage just two days after Canada passed similar legislation, becoming the fourth country in the world to end this form of discrimination:

The measure passed the 350-seat Congress of Deputies by a vote of 187 to 147. The bill, part of the ruling Socialists’ aggressive agenda for social reform, also lets gay couples adopt children and inherit each others’ property.

[ . . . ]

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero noted this in debate before the vote.

“We were not the first, but I am sure we will not be the last. After us will come many other countries, driven, ladies and gentlemen, by two unstoppable forces: freedom and equality,” he told the chamber.

It’s pretty clear which way the tide is moving on this one. And, much to the chagrin of Stephen one-issue Harper, it’s not going to win him any votes to keep rallying against it.

The USA, of course, will probably be among the last of the countries in the Western World to grant equality to gays. But then, there were people who voted against freeing the slaves, too. I bet their descendants are real proud of them.

Meanwhile in Israel, the only country in the middle east where gay rights exist, sadly not everyone respects them:

What started off as a lively parade of nearly 5,000 Gay Pride activists quickly turned violent Thursday as three young marchers were stabbed by ultra-religious protesters of the parade.

Sickening, the whole thing. And it just goes to show that no single religion has a monopoly on harmful extremism.

By all logic, this ought to be good news, right?

Foreign ministers of Muslim countries on Thursday pledged cooperation with Iraqi authorities to help end a bloody insurgency waged there by Iraqis and foreign Arabs.

Ministers of member states of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) meeting in Yemen agreed to help “rebuild Iraq and enabling the Iraqi government to maintain security and stability,” Yemeni Foreign Minister Abubakr al-Qirbi told reporters.

I don’t know, maybe because of this?

Strategy Page tracks about sixteen wars in the world today. Guess how many involve Muslim states?

We track sixteen as active (Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Sudan, Colombia, Kashmir, Pakistan, Ivory Coast, Congo, Somalia, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Chechnya, Burundi and Thailand.), plus about a dozen that are really low level, just ended (and still liable to restart) or just dormant for the moment.

Yep, the Muslim states are clearly the experts on ending war and restoring calm.

One of the most controversial government bills in a long time passed in Parliament tonight, legalizing same-sex marriage and ending discrimination against gay Canadians:

The bill will become official once it receives approval in the Senate, likely within days. With it the barriers to gay and lesbian weddings will tumble in Alberta, PEI, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories — the last jurisdictions where courts have not yet struck down the marriage law.

The legislation applies to civic weddings at public places, like city halls and courthouses. No religious groups will be forced to sanctify same-sex marriages if they don’t want to.

I’ve blogged extensively on this issue in the past, and I won’t rehash all the arguments I’ve already made on why I firmly believe in this issue. (If you’re interested, see here, here, here, here and here for some past posts on the subject).

Of course, the Conservatives have erased any hopes they might have had of being a viable alternative to the Liberals by marginalizing themselves as a single-issue party:

But Conservatives promise the debate isn’t over yet.

Leader Stephen Harper said he will bring back the same-sex marriage law for another vote if he wins the next election.

And with that, he’s pretty much guaranteed that he will never, ever win a Canadian election. Elections are won in the middle, not with promises to revoke a right once it’s been won.

This debate will rage on. And our American neighbours seem to be sadly heading in the opposite direction, so it may take them quite a while to get to this place.

But in my opinion, this is a great day in Canadian history. Just as we wonder what took so long for women or people of colour to be granted equal rights in the past, future generations will look back on this day.

Congratulations, Liberals. You finally took a stand on something. It took you long enough.

I can’t help but think that life before electricity must have been so much simpler.

Earlier today, I had to break into my own car when my car alarm inexplicably stopped working. At first, I thought the battery was dead on the clicker. But after trying the spare, I realized it was a problem with the alarm itself. Unlocking the car with the key did not set the alarm off, as it was supposed to, but the car wouldn’t start because there’s an ignition kill switch. In the end I had to disconnect the battery to reset the alarm. And all this for what? Car alarms don’t actually deter theft; they just provide a discount on insurance rates.

Then I got home to see a fire truck outside my apartment building. Minor panic gave way to relief when the firemen told me that the fire was outside on an electric pole and not inside, and that it was perfectly safe to enter. But the power was out for a while. It’s amazing how much an hour-long power outage wreaks havoc with life. The temperature in here is easily over 30 degrees, and without electricity of course my fan doesn’t work. Heating up dinner wasn’t possible, and I was worried that the food in the freezer would defrost and ruin. Just home from the gym I was craving a shower, but of course there was no hot water.

But there’s a flip side. With the power out, nobody could do much of anything, so people from my building and the one across the street just stood out on their balconies or fire escapes and chatted. There was actual evidence of human contact for, oh, about 15 minutes. Then the power came back on and we all went back inside to get back to our daily lives – or, in my case, to blog about it.

So now the car alarm’s working, the power’s on, the food’s in the oven and the fan is cooling down my apartment. And maybe I’ll meet some more neighbours during the next power failure.

I was watching an old repeat of the West Wing the other day, from back when the show was good. And I couldn’t help but think of it when I saw this news item:

A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that putting framed copies of the Ten Commandments in county courthouses violated church-state separation, but it allowed a commandments monument in a larger display on a state Capitol grounds.

The two 5-4 rulings on the politically charged issue of displaying the Ten Commandments on government property came in a pair of cases regarded as the most important of the court term concerning constitutional separation of church and state.

Display issues aside, I can’t help but wonder what the Ten Commandments are even doing in a courthouse in the first place. To quote the West Wing episode:

Sam: There is a town in Alabama that wants to abolish all laws except the Ten Commandments.
Tobey: That’s odd.
Sam: Well they’re going to have a problem.
Tobey: Because the Constitution prohibits religious activity in any form connected to government?
[ . . . ]
Sam: I just mean, some of those Commandments are pretty hard to enforce […] Coveting thy neighbor’s wife, for example. How are you going to enforce that one?

Yeah, I’m not sure how a court of law would prove coveting. Do you get witnesses to comment on longing glances?

Business trips, as a rule, are not much fun. You don’t usually get any time to appreciate the place you go to, and all you generally see of it is the inside of some conference room someplace.

This time I was in New York for 4 days, so I set out to make them as enjoyable as possible. Between the Collective Soul concert Wednesday night, the shopping accomplished on Thursday, and my “free day” on Saturday filled with a visit to MOMA and an off-Broadway play, I have to say, mission accomplished.

The great thing about New York is that, whatever any other place has, you can always count on New York to have more of it. Muggy heat, crowds, tourists, lineups, honking taxicabs… it all gives the city that indescribable constant energy current that can’t quite be equaled anywhere else.

Sometimes it’s the little things that make New York what it is. Being stuck on a subway car for about 20 minutes during a “signal problem” is, I discovered, the makings of a great one-act play. There’s not much you can do about it, but some people react by swearing, pacing and constantly checking their watch, while others just sort of sit back and wait it out.

It’s baffling how people actually live in New York, what with the high prices and the constant people. But I can’t imagine ever getting bored there.