Canadians Need to Wake Up and Take Action Lest Canada Become A Society Like the U.S.

What has happened to Canada? on "Q" with Jian Ghomeshi.

The above link to an interview was sent to me by a friend and it says a lot about what I and many in my social circle have been feeling for a number of years.  It's only 3:30 long and I encourage you to listen to it.

It's not just about politics, politicians and political parties and the way they have numbed the minds of the Canadian electorate, it's about the fact that most Canadians seem to have given up and given in as the culture of our society has more and more come to resemble what we see in the US where profit, unfettered capitalism, and increasing power for the already powerful has become the state religion.  It's an attitude which says that society can go to hell in a handbasket as long as there are a few elites in society who achieve personal wealth, power and influence beyond all reason.

This is not what Canada is or ever has been about.  Growing up I saw Canada as a nation where anyone had the opportunity to achieve personal success (which we concouraged) but in doing so we did not forget that there were many in our society who couldn't (for whatever reason) and so we had to watch out for them by having an adequate social safety net.  Unfortunately, that social safety net is a shadow of what it once was as certain politicians and business interests have been successfully transforming Canadian society into something resembling the United States.  And as that safety net has come undone it has created other social, economic and environmental problems which have diminished the quality of life of Canadians and have sowed despair in a growing underclass of disadvantaged, dispossessed and disempowered citizens.

So please listen to the interview.  You may not agree with everything that is being said, but it will certainly make you think, and hopefully you will want to share it with others.

Canada is not yet what American society has become and that is why there is still hope for us to pull back from the brink.

© F. Khan.  All Rights Reserved.

Post-dystopian Politics in a Pre-Dystopian World

Professor Henry Giroux holds the Global TV Network Chair at McMaster University in the English and Cultural Studies Department.  For quite a number of years he has written about the changing nature of the society we live in and how corporations along with financial and political elites are controlling the actions of government in order to enrich and empower the richest and most powerful members of society while the vast majority are left to struggle.

His most recent article (link below), which is incisive and thought provoking, focuses on "violent", authoritative and militaristic government policies and how they negatively impact peoples' ability to live a hopeful and  meaningful life.

The focus of Giroux's article is the US but his comments can equally apply to Canada, as it has been transformed by Conservatives policies under Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

To paraphrase from one of the paragraphs in the essay:

Any viable movement [towards a reinvigorated] democracy needs not only to fight manufactured ignorance, economic inequality, racial [and social] injustice but also produce a community that manifests the values of equality, mutual respect [and hope for the future] . . . [things which are] missing in a world that [functions in a paradigm of robber baron capitalism where the pursuit of profit is justified by any means -- even if those means include a hollowed out democracy, environmental degradation, social injustice, human suffering and despair.

I encourage you to read it and pass it on to others.  Only by raising awareness can we hope to mobilize enough people to speak out and take action against politicians who are more than willing to impliment policies which are destroying the limited infrastructure of the compassionate and caring society that was built since the 1960s.  To not act is to condemn Canada to become the sort of society we see in many parts of the U.S. where social Darwinism is a reality. 

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/19025-beyond-savage-politics-and-dystopian-nightmares 

© F. Khan.  All Rights Reserved.