The Young People Of Canada And Canada's Future

There’s no doubt they are being lulled into anaesthetized passivity by the conscienceless, reactionary monopoly press and media. Even supposedly “serious” commentators about the recent federal election are saying: “See. The election of Stephen Harper as Canadian Prime Minister isn’t so bad. He’s not something to be afraid of.” One of the those “serious” commentators in the Canadian media, CBC’s Michael Enright, cluck-clucked and said that (with his two guests, David Peterson and Peter Lougheed at the end of January) on CBC’s Sunday Morning. He also said, as if leading a comedy routine, it had been an election dealing seriously with issues. Even, as I say, supposedly serious commentators are being lavishly irresponsible. Have pity, then, on the Canadian young people who need leadership at this critical time in our history. For Stephen Harper, as Charlie Smith pointed out recently, stated during the election that “his fundamental views hadn’t changes over the past decade”. In June 2003, Harper wrote in the reactionary magazine, Report, that the so-called gains he wants must be “inevitably incremental”. That means the Harper/Stockwell Day/Peter MacKay people must woo the Canadan electorate with reasonable legislation until they can win a majority government. Then they can sink the knife in the backs of Canadians on behalf of U.S. policy, fundamentalist fanaticism, and corporate totalitarianism. For Harper, the limited social securities Canadians presently have constitute a “welfare state” “which is damaging our most important institutions”. (Smith, Georgia Straight, Jan 26 06 14). In a truly perverse judgement, moreover, Harper claimed in that Report article that, with the exception of Tony Blair, the (progressive) people who refused to join the illegal invasion of Iraq were “trapped in their framework of moral neutrality, moral relativism, and moral equivalence”. Pardon? To refuse to go along with a violation of international law and an illegal (as well as falsely-based) invasion is for Stephen Harper not a sign of principled moral decision. No. It is the opposite. That is what we may fairly call (without fear of being accused of exaggeration) an expression of Harper’s perverse fundamentalism. So what do Stephen Harper and David Emerson have in common that Canadian young people should be responding to? Could it be that they are both quite happy to see the deaths of Canadians in support of the drive for profit and/or the push to subject Canada completely to U.S. policy and/or the move to domination in Canada by reactionary and warped Christian fundamentalism and/or the struggle for a division of the world into a hugely wealthy class and a class of dispossessed people living as animals and being treated like animals? I believe that the two have in common some portions of all of the above. In addition, I believe that the people of Canada have begun to forget that the very rich and the fanatics of corporate capitalism are perfectly at ease witnessing the sacrifice of ordinary people’s lives to wealth and power. The young of Canada face an assault on simple, basic human justice that threatens to transform the world they live in – and, in fact, is doing so as I write. A very small example is provided by the unnecessary deaths and maimings of forest workers and truck drivers in British Columbia. The B.C. Gordon Campbell Liberal government has made an assault on all safety and conservationist measures in the Province. Big corporations, like Canfor, exploit government negligence. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Gordon Campbell government and big forestry corporations in B.C. are fully responsible for the deaths and cripplings of forest and trucking workers – in order to guarantee huge profits to corporations (and, incidentally, to denude B.C. forests on behalf of U.S. importers.) David Emerson has not, to my knowledge, made public complaints about the rising number of deaths or suggestions for reform of what I call Canfor killing policies in the B.C. forests, though he is a distinguished Member of Parliament from British Columbia. He was, incidentally, a part of the management group that hired to B.C. Ferries a U.S. president from the U.S. and from a bankrupt U.S. corporation. The hiring was a part of the B.C. Liberal government’s policy to destroy institutions in British Columbia owned by the people of B.C. and to deliver them not only into the hands of private, for-profit corporations but to U.S. corporations wherever expedient. Where are the young people of Canada? They should be moving into political parties in full force, turning the parties from their present sleazy collaboration with the corporations and U.S. domination. That is the easiest and the primary thing they should be doing. It provides for them great training in government, politics, human groups, and solidarity formations. In B.C. they should as well – just as a general instance for all Canada – be organizing and preventing, by peaceful intervention, the operation of Canfor and other large forest operations until the present murderous policies are completely ended. If Canfor and other large forest corporations are willing to see unnecessary deaths and maimings on behalf of swollen profit, then the young of Canada should set about denying those corporations the means of making profit – by closing their operations. Such exercises in public responsibility would teach the young of Canada all kinds of valuable lessons. (1) That government in Canada presently approves of many kinds of hidden criminal action. (2) And that government in Canada often uses police and the courts to protect wrong-doers and to punish people of conscience. There are other, more happy lessons the young would learn from such responsible action. They would learn what self-respect means. They would learn that social strength for good often grows from such activities. They would learn that knowledge gained from such activities can be carried into the necessary re-vitalization of Canadian political parties. They would learn – from the reaction of press and media – that Canada’s press and media are owned by the same kind of people who own Canfor. That would teach the young of Canada that Canada’s press and media are sham operations, colluding with the people wanting to destroy democratic vitality and justice in Canada. Knowing that, young Canadians would demand the dismantling of corporate concentration in Canadian press and media. The political parties of Canada have fallen into such a state of passivity before the rape of the corporations , U.S. imperialism, and perverse Christian fundamentalism that the parties are wide open for takeover, for revitalization, for a new focus on human need and justice. They are waiting for Canadian young people to begin the takeover. Canada is in a shameless, colonial-minded condition. Young Canadians are ensnared (often without knowing it) in copy-cat versions of U.S. ideas and attitudes that can only destroy Canada. The great challenge to young Canadians is to study Canadian history independently – and Canadian culture – to learn the Canadian past and the choices made to assure a self-respecting, independent country here. The challenge to young Canadians is to walk away from ALL so-called U.S. heroes and to build on models provided by the finest Canadians – English, French, and of all other origins. Throwing off colonial-mindedness is one of the most difficult things to do. Considering the Indians of India just before that country began to break from its subservient colonial-mindedness, Anthony Menon wrote: “The English seemed to them so infinitely better in all their ways there was nothing to do but copy them….[The Indians] dressed in English fashion, furnished their houses in an English style and read English books…. The English despised Indian culture, and so, inevitably, did these Indians.” Change the word “English” to “U.S.”, and change the word “Indian” to “Canadian”, and you have our condition today. Yes, of course, Canadians selling out can become rich. Yes. Greed motivates many of the Canadians who are selling out. But Canadian wealth in Canadian hands could make all Canadians infinitely richer – in spirit as they served humanity better, and in material fact. The basis for sell-out by a very large number of Canadians, with and without wealth, is the deep-seated conviction that Canada is second-rate and the U.S. is first-rate. Only real physical, social, and mental involvement can change that condition. Getting into political parties is a kind of meaningful social involvement. Working independently or in groups to learn about Canadian history and culture is mental involvement. Organizing together and beginning such responsible actions as peaceably closing down Canfor operations to force major reform is physical involvment of a bracing and educational kind. All are steps on the way to self-respect, Canadian independence, and to liberation of the Canadian young into a future of hope, justice, and humanity for Canada and the world. [Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on February 7, 2006]