No one you know
Apr. 30th, 2009 05:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sabotabbyI made the mistake at lunch today of reading comments on the Torontoist and the Star to articles about the continuous Tamil protests in front of the U.S. Consulate. Now, granted, blog comments and online newspaper comments are not a good barometer of public opinion, because I will give up all hope if the average IQ of Hogtowners is that low. But it's a dismaying read nevertheless.
The worst comments are the ones that claim that the Tamil community, by inconveniencing a few commuters, has lost the goodwill of the "Canadian" (read white) population. This is bollocks. Most white Canadians had never heard of the Tamil struggle before the protests started, and probably couldn't find Sri Lanka on a map even now. But the consensus seems to be that the genocide currently being perpetrated by the Sinhalese government has nothing to do with "us." I kind of want to go all Godwin on their asses and ask them if they'd have objected to Jews protesting Nazi atrocities in the 1930s, but I'm a bit afraid of what the answer would be.
At any rate, the unaffected "us" does not include my white Canadian ass. Greater principles of universal human rights aside, I know people whose families are under fire right now. It's as personal as it would be if it were happening in Brampton or Calgary or somewhere else where I don't actually know anyone directly but I know someone who knows someone. I don't understand the hatred and apathy in my city, I really don't.
Which brings me to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
springheel_jack making a good point as usual about the swine flu and what's likely to happen when it's all over. Many, many people will die; just nobody you know.
Damn.
The worst comments are the ones that claim that the Tamil community, by inconveniencing a few commuters, has lost the goodwill of the "Canadian" (read white) population. This is bollocks. Most white Canadians had never heard of the Tamil struggle before the protests started, and probably couldn't find Sri Lanka on a map even now. But the consensus seems to be that the genocide currently being perpetrated by the Sinhalese government has nothing to do with "us." I kind of want to go all Godwin on their asses and ask them if they'd have objected to Jews protesting Nazi atrocities in the 1930s, but I'm a bit afraid of what the answer would be.
At any rate, the unaffected "us" does not include my white Canadian ass. Greater principles of universal human rights aside, I know people whose families are under fire right now. It's as personal as it would be if it were happening in Brampton or Calgary or somewhere else where I don't actually know anyone directly but I know someone who knows someone. I don't understand the hatred and apathy in my city, I really don't.
Which brings me to
springheel_jack making a good point as usual about the swine flu and what's likely to happen when it's all over. Many, many people will die; just nobody you know.Damn.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-04-30 10:05 pm (UTC)I want peace in Sri Lanka too but not at the price of leaving the gangsters in control.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-30 10:13 pm (UTC)The protests are largely pro-LTTE because the Tamil community here is largely pro-LTTE. But the goal is stopping the killing.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-30 10:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-30 10:44 pm (UTC)The 1918 Spanish flu pandemic (which is now thought to have originated as an avian flu strain) killed at least 50 million people, perhaps as many as 100 million. As near as I can figure (but I haven't looked hard) fewer than 1.5 million died in the English-speaking countries. Most of the deaths were in India and China.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-30 10:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-04-30 11:01 pm (UTC)This flu was very contagious, very virulent and could kill within hours of someone starting to show symptoms (which sometimes included bleeding from orifices, making some people think the Black Plague had come back).
An epidemiologist friend of mine with a gift for writing history wrote an excellent article about the epidemic a while back; if I find it I will post it on my blog here.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-30 10:53 pm (UTC)I can understand the frustration at main roads being blocked, but this is Ottawa and there are protests almost every two days, many of which block traffic. I remember a few years ago, farmers came down with their tractors and blocked the same street the Tamils blocked. Needless to say no one was calling for immigration to come check their status.
One thing that has surprised me though, is that apparently the chief of police has called out a lot of people on their racism, pointing out that people block streets all the time and no one has ever cared.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-30 10:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-01 12:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-01 01:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-01 02:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-01 02:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-01 02:52 am (UTC)I had an early education on the Tamil genocide when I was 12 & a good friend of mine who'd recently came to Canada as a refugee showed me the bullet wound and dog bite scars on her legs that she got when the army tried to stop her and her brother from escaping. 12 year olds should not have bullet wounds. But, y'know, it's blocking University Ave during rush hour that's the real atrocity.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-01 05:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-01 06:30 am (UTC)