Back to More reflections on Arab Awakening

More reflections on Arab Awakening

February 26, 2011



The United Nations Human Rights Committee, acting under article 5, paragraph 4, of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights, is of the view that the facts before it disclose a violation by Canada of article 19, paragraph 2, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Under article 2, paragraph 3(a), of the Covenant, the State party, Canada, is under the obligation to provide an effective remedy. The State party, Canada, is under an obligation to take measures to prevent similar violations in the future.

From a lofty perch, and relying on the presumed compelling authority devolving of membership in the Canadian Bar, a Supreme Court of Canada Justice recently mused referring to violent uprisings in several other countries as reported by Dow Marmur in the Star, “Without a home, democracy can’t settle down. It needs an edifice of rules and rights to grow up healthy and secure.” These opinions may be appropriate in developing countries.

In Canada, however, Canadians have long enjoyed the “healthy and secure” adulthood of democracy earned through hard-fought wars and founded on the rule of law all the way back to Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights in 1689 and need no explanation of human rights clearly established in the Canadian Constitution Acts 1867 to 1982.

Vigilance is still necessary to limit the erosion and dismantling of our “edifice of rules and rights,” which results from complacency and contempt for Canadians by Government Officials tolerated and ignored by a media failing to be the eyes and ears of the people. Will we need to see blood, broken bones and corpses on the streets and sidewalks of Canada to wake up and stop the routine infringements of the human rights of ordinary Canadians by Government Officials with immunity and impunity?

It must be required of Canadian state-officials, the guardians of our democracy, to read, apply, defend and comply with the provisions of the Constitution and stop misusing our laws with excuses and delays such as: “Decisions of the courts do not apply to government officials because they cannot be enforced,” and, “Parliamentary privilege places government officials outside the law.” The rule of law applies to all Canadians equally, including parliamentarians. As a justice in the Federal Court of Appeal once admonished: “The courts should not be the private playground for government lawyers.”

There are other ways to undermine democracies besides bullets.

Robert G. Gauthier, Ottawa

The Canadian government apparently is trying to get an evacuation flight into and out of Tripoli, Libya. I hope the Canadian embassy in Libya has taken some lessons from the disorder, chaos and inefficiencies of the voluntary evacuation of Canadian citizens from Egypt on Jan. 31 of this year.

My husband and I were two of the many Canadians left behind at Cairo airport that evening when the Canadian evacuation flight left half full. The airport was in chaos, the conditions rapidly unsanitary and embassy staff next to impossible to find. Had staff at the Canadian embassy answered the phone, or at the least put on a voice mail message directing Canadians to the correct terminal, much of the chaos could have been avoided and the plane to Frankfurt would have left full.

However, during business hours, the voice mail message said the embassy was closed (it was not, as we learned later; some Canadians had managed to get to the embassy through Tahrir Square that day) and the only voice mail message said: “for an update on avian flu, press 8.” Avian flu? What about an update on how to access Canada’s voluntary evacuation flight? How difficult could that have been?

Incorrect information was given to our tour company with the result that while we were in terminal 4 with no information and no embassy staff and no way to contact them, the plane was leaving from terminal 1.

Ultimately with the help of an Egyptian/Canadian who spoke Arabic, we managed to get the group of stranded Canadians onto a shuttle to the correct terminal; but it was too late. Had embassy staff been carrying a Canadian flag we would have been able to find them sooner. How do you find two men in regular Western clothing in an airport teeming with thousands and thousands of people?

My husband and I were very lucky. Having missed the Canadian flight to Frankfurt, there was no way to leave Cairo. The only flights allowed in and out were government-sent planes. There was no way to buy tickets to anywhere. Luckily we had two tickets for Tel Aviv on El Al for Feb. 2. By a fluke we found ourselves beside the El Al counter and in our very tiny window of opportunity to approach the El Al counter, staff accepted our non-changeable Feb. 2 tickets for that evening’s delayed flight for Tel Aviv. There were two seats available on the plane. Hungry, tired and exhausted from the frustration of not being able to contact our embassy all that day, I shed tears of relief as the El Al plane took off.

The piece de resistance? The many times I called the Canadian embassy in Cairo on Jan. 31, its voicemail said: “If you are a Canadian citizen experiencing an emergency and require urgent assistance press ‘2’ and your call will be rerouted to Ottawa.” So I pressed 2 each time I called the embassy that day and after several rings got: “I’m sorry, the mailbox you have reached is full. Please try again.”

What if this had been a life or death situation? Why wasn’t there someone designated in Ottawa to answer the emergency line 24/7?

It also appears we were shown on the flight manifest of the Canadian evacuation flight even though we weren’t on the plane. That put our family into panic mode when they found out the flight had left without us. Their experience at this end trying to get information from foreign affairs could fill a book.

I hope that Canadian citizens stranded right now in Libya and other countries have a much more organized, responsive and positive experience and that the don’t feel, as we did, abandoned by their government.

Lynn Daigneault, Toronto

History and physics have one thing in common: what goes up must come down. The time has come for one of the most ruthless and brutal dictators still hanging on to power in the Arab world, Col. Moammar Gadhafi, to be toppled by the subjects he has trampled for more than four decades in the oil-rich Libya.

The entire world watched in awe and disbelief in 1969, when Gadhafi at age 27, dethroned, defrocked and disgraced the ruler of Libya, King Idris, with a promise to bring freedom from oppression from the royal family and restore peace and prosperity through petro dollars. Ironically , what the people of Libya got was persecution and total depravation of personal freedom. As an added bonus, Gadhafi promised the citizenry police raids, torture, torment and complete suppression of freedom of speech to those who dared to oppose him or his autocratic regime.

Over the years Gadhafi financed, sponsored and personally supervised numerous acts of terrorism systematically unleashed on a global basis, from the Munich Olympics massacres to the civil aviation bombing over Lockerbie. Today, the entire world is witnessing this monster massacre the masses in his beloved homeland, Libya.

Prophetic justice shall be rendered. Blood of the butchered will deliver the land of Libya from the clutches of the mad man, simply because the law of nature dictates that what goes up must come down.

Kris Sahay, Winnipeg

The popular revolutions we are witnessing in the Middle East, while inspired by a desire for personal freedom and self-determination, are certainly sustained by a pervasive hunger pandemic, particularly among the world’s less privileged populations.

Since last December, skyrocketing demand for food and dwindling supplies have driven the global Food Price Index to new records. Supplies have suffered from catastrophic floods and droughts linked to global warming and from gradual depletion of groundwater aquifers. Demand has been fueled by unchecked population growth and by diversion of massive amounts of grains into biofuel and meat production.

Hunger afflicts nearly one billion people worldwide, mostly women and children. It feeds massive popular migrations and unrest that, sooner or later, will affect us all.

Some of the causes of global hunger are beyond our personal control. But, as the world’s highest meat consumers, we have a special obligation to free up some grains for the hungry by limiting our own consumption. With the broad availability of delicious and nutritious meat and dairy alternatives in every supermarket, there is no reason to delay. Entering “live vegan” in a search engine returns lots of good guidance.

Broderick Best, Toronto

Re: The seeds of change, Charles M. Blow, New York Times supplement Feb. 20

Let’s look at how close the United States is to revolution. The oldest population by far is American. This will change in a generation or two — for the worse. (Up and coming are the young and restless.) U.S. unemployment matches or is worse than 10 of the countries listed, including Israel, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco. Income disparity is a negative match. The U.S. has the widest gap, close to Iran.

Food is really — a new word, “agri-agita.” It’s far cheaper to feed Americans. Americans put two plates on the table for each one for an Israeli family. In Turkey (I have to be careful here) one plate matches three American plates. This is certain to be a negative change for the U.S. as well. Enter: $10 Big Mac.

I won’t include stats on regime type as this is murky. (A month ago Egypt was doing just fine, thank you very much. And Al Gore will have something to say about the US being a “full democracy”. And as much as I love The Economist, do you notice there are never any letters to the editor of that illustrious “newspaper”- as they call themselves – regarding any technical issues? That’s because nobody knows what the heck they are talking about.)

There are a couple other stats needed: level of education and freedom and ease of movement, for example. Oh, I forgot: arms. Americans will have time to arm themselves if they happen to feel under protected. We smug Canadians have nothing to brag about either. Our government has (typical for Canada) made a colossal mess of gun control.

So, yes, America is ripe for revolution.

But then I read Lawrence Downes comments on the same page. Let me cut and paste: “It is impossible to know which embers spark a revolution…” (Charles M Blow) but “...there’s still tomorrow to look to, thanks, as always, to immigrants.” Lawrence Downes (Topic: music ~ Sounds Like America). Certainly, all the countries on the list will have reservations about the US – as do Americans themselves. But it is the hope and firm sense of optimism that attracts and will continue to attract newcomers to the US.

In a few years America may not look the same but America’s faith in its fundamental values will endure.

Apple taco anyone?

Ted Lute, Bracebridge

Abraham Lincoln defined democracy as, “Government of the people, by the people and for the people” and President Barack Obama recently declared that it was a universal right of all human beings to enjoy freedom and democracy.

The popular revolution in Egypt has brought in new awakening in the Arab world. The revolution was remarkably peaceful. This fall of a dictator was an exception as no dictator is going to give up his position of power and authority by peaceful demonstrations. Hosni Mubarak too tried in vain to spread violence by sending his supporters to Tahrir Square, which resulted in deaths and injuries to so many people.

After witnessing the historic fall of a dictator, many other countries that are under the rule of cruel dictators are also looking for a glow of freedom. Why must the world sit and watch to see how many more mothers cry when their sons and daughters die in countries such as Libya, Algeria, Yemen, Bahrain and Jordan before there is even a slight change in the thinking of any dictator?

One wonders as to why must people die because they want democracy and not dictatorship? In modern era where the world is like a family, why must one person be allowed to control the lives of so many of his citizens?

When countries can have co-operation and understanding to come together at the UN to pass bills against child labour, under age sex, animal rights, environment, then why not against dictatorship?

Why not developed countries such as the U.S., Canada, Britain, France, Germany and other democratic countries such as India, Bangladesh set and example to adopt a non-cooperation attitude and impose sanctions against such oppressive regimes so that they are isolated.

Most of these countries are importing killer weapons from the western countries only to be used against their own innocent people. Their only fault is that they are asking for democracy.

We feel the following measures if adopted collectively by the democratic countries of the World can force a dictator to step down:

1. Complete non co-operation with a dictator.

2. All UN members should walk out when a dictator walks in to speak at the UN.

3. Complete ban on export of any weapon to a country being ruled by a dictator.

4. No invitation to such dictators to visit any country.

Kulvinder Singh, President, Asian Businesses & Professionals Association of Canada, Mississauga

Re: Can data predict a regime’s fate? Feb. 20

Clearly, the data, weighting, methodology and factors furnished by the three academics were under-representative and incomplete as each missed crucially vulnerable regimes. Professor Janice Stein’s listing of nations doesn’t show Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and Iran (former two fell and latter two in turmoil).

Professor David Carment similarly misses Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, but is correct on Yemen and Iran.

Professor Mark Sedra shows them but except for Yemen, the others are way down on the scale of vulnerability. Another salient reason for the relative failure of predictability is because the academics focused only on secular factors whereas these nations are Islamic, and religion is pivotal.

The same day editorial dealt this critical factor when it stated: “The reformers’ democratic instincts and openness is a repudiation of inward-looking Islamism and Al Qaeda’s nihilistic violence.” Furthermore, in a similar exploration, The Economist magazine of July 6, 2002, in a special report on Arab development entitled “Self-doomed to failure” identified three deficits: freedom (absolute autocracies, bogus elections, confusion between executive and judiciary, patriarchy, intolerance, suffocating social environment); knowledge (deteriorating quality of education, dearth of creativity, shortage of foreign books); and women’s status (only 50 per cent literacy, hence an “awful waste” of human resource or the stifling of productive potential, and endemic bad treatment meted out to them).

But, The Economist also noted that the Arab authors, while unsparing as to secular reasons why their region lagged behind much of the world, carefully skirted the part that Islam plays in delaying and impeding the Arab world’s advance to the ever-receding renaissance. The article found that most secularists believe that “pervasive Islamization” stifles “constructive Arab thought”.

Paul Grieve writes in A Brief Guide to Islam that the Qur’an promotes obedience to rulers over revolution, so those in power must be endured and that ultimately they will be punished by God. This would explain why the rulers are taken by surprise. They (and the academics and intelligence experts) clearly ignored the truism that all autocratic regimes are inherently unstable (an extension of “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” and why diversification in a portfolio or in the economy reduces vulnerability to downturn).

As it is being played out, the conjunction of real time news broadcast cum social networking and a burgeoning unemployed Arab youth population seeking freedom, dignity and democracy is trumping Qur’anic imposed obedience to the “unstable” autocratic Islamic regimes.

Veda Nath Mohabir, Toronto

Before it’s too late, perhaps the remaining brutal Arab regimes could learn from the effective work of the Toronto Police Services at the G20 summit. Successful brutal crackdowns on peaceful protesters is all about controlling the message.

Start early, creating fear and worry. Tarnish the majority with the image of the tiny anarchistic minority (catchy names help like Black Block). Ensure front pages are full of your fiction by allowing vandalism in a small high profile area and providing 24 hour news channels their endless video loop with a burning police car in the heart of the financial district (how poetic).

Kettle the lawfully assembled protesters so they can be beaten in privacy. Sadly this will probably be yet another Canadian success story we fail to export, only to be beaten the inferior Chinese military’s Tiananmen Square methods.

David Davidson, Toronto

The development of real democracy respecting human rights is never to be feared.

There is actually a global political awakening of the exploited and impoverished youth of the Third World denouncing inequality, exploitation and oppression. It is largely driven by the Internet and social media.

The aim is to promote democracy of the people for the people. No humanist can denounce this. It is not a country-by-country problem. If all the dictators actually defending their power with bullets had the respect of their people, they would not be in the position they are now. Libya, Bahrain and Yemen used lethal force to quash antigovernment protests. China detains hundreds of activists in the biggest police crackdown since last October when dissident Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize. Unsurprisingly, Chinese authorities have suspended text messaging in politically tense areas.

Dictators act to maintain power, not for the good of their people. The problem for China is that the actual revolution wave strengthens the oppressed population in their determination, self-confidence, and give more power to the independent social groups and institutions of its people.

We actually see massive shutdowns of the society, general strikes, mass stay-at-homes, defiant marches increasingly undermining dictators’ organization. Dictators become powerless and the democratic defenders triumph without violence. At least two dictatorship disintegrates in front of their defiant population. The collapse of these dictatorships doesn’t erase poverty, crime, bureaucratic inefficiency, and environmental destruction. It opens the way for hard work and long efforts to build more just relationships. It also helps the rebuilding of greater political democracy, personal liberties, and social justice. But revolutions open the door to all kinds of problems and all kinds of threats to human rights. In many countries, decades of oppression and submission to rulers have deliberately weakened the social, political, economic institutions of the society. If revolution is becoming just a tool for the elite to gear politics to their interests and deprive the majority of their rights, it’s no longer a democracy. All men and women prizing human rights should support democracy. It is not the best but the less worst way to govern. All the countries of this world have a chance to help shape a more democratic world. Promoting democracy serves all human interests. It entails inherent risks but the denial of freedom carries more long-term dangers.

Michel Gourd, Quebec City

I am responding to the sexual assault inflicted upon the CBS reporter in Egypt on Egypt’s so called “Greatest Day.” Is this what the world has come to? If women cannot do their jobs without worrying about being harassed or assaulted, then all the suffering that happened in the fight for women’s equality has been for nothing.

Women everywhere deserve the right to do what they want to do without fear but in most cases they cannot. Our world is still corrupted by people who believe that they can do these acts and get away with it. Most of these people will face little or no consequences.

Look at the facts, 98 per cent of foreign women report that they were harassed on a regular basis and 62 per cent of men admitted to doing it. These are horrifying numbers but most people will say: “What can we do? We can’t make a difference.” We men, as human beings, must take a stand. We can make a difference by standing up and saying enough is enough. By showing the world that we do not and will not tolerate these acts, we can prove that these actions are not right.

We can start by treating the women we know right and doing our best to help others do the same. Together we can make a difference, together we can change the world.

So I leave asking you this, what would you do if you saw a woman being harassed or sexually assaulted? Would you let a wife and mother of a 2-year-old son fend for herself?

Ian Lindley, Brampton

Re: English: Words can change the world, Opinion Feb. 19

Kathy English wrote: “I viscerally understood the connection between freedom of information and true democracy. To control a people, dictators and despots must wield state control over what people read, what journalists report, what people say — aiming ultimately to control what people think.” Great! Agree with every word she said.

Question: Where press freedom is a norm, how responsibly has the press behaved? How would you define the disposition of the press that led the world to the present turmoil? I’m referring to the role of both the electronic and the print media notably, The New York Times, which supported the invasion of Iraq based on bogus stories of WMD in that country.

We know that there is no press freedom in the Middle East, as English rightly mentioned, but where there is, the nexus between big business, the media and government has become the biggest threat to press freedom and democracy.

The media became a marketing tool for the Bush administration promoting its vastly unpopular wars, its attacks on the social safety net, and its vicious assault on civil liberties.

I’m not undermining the personal courage, integrity and commitment of certain journalists in the service of a moral change and vision that remains indisputable and in reality have come to rescue the professions noble reputation.

Serving democracy and nourishing the common good is, for the media, something that requires not only attacking corrupt secrecies in a society, but also defending non-corrupt communication.

Javed Akbar, Ajax

Valerie Hauch and the Star deserve praise for their continued coverage of Mohawk’s College breach of contract with Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME). Hauch’s article advertising the details of the new Hamilton location of Dr. Finkelstein’s talk is of great help to CJPME in its battle against those who do not believe in free speech. They could have provided more analysis of the situation for the benefit of readers who don't receive the full picture.

One must really wonder why Finkelstein, the son of Holocaust survivors, who will be speaking about the current situation in Gaza, the peace process and the prospect of another regional war, should not be heard at an educational venue.

Although he has been critical in his lectures and books of Israel’s assault on Gaza and its 43-year occupation of the territories, there seems to be no justification in considering this topic too controversial to discuss at colleges. Anyone interested in Israel, especially students, must be extremely curious to know why a descendent of holocaust survivors is criticizing Israeli policies to begin with.

Spokesperson Gary Gerofsky of Hamilton-based Never Again Group said the lecture should not happen in any capacity.

“(The venue move) takes it out of an educational venue where it ought not to be because this is not about education; it’s about propaganda,” he said. “It’s our business to get in the way to put up a challenge because they’ve never been challenged properly.”

This is quite a presumptuous and biased approach to one’s own role in controlling information. Such an approach is propaganda in its own right.

The Palestine-Israel conundrum is of pivotal importance for the future of the world and the only steps towards resolving the conflict is through open discussion. Criticism of Israeli policy and its treatment of Palestinians is not to be equated with such veins of thought as holocaust denial or the destruction of Israel as a state.

If the Never Again Group wishes to “challenge properly” opposing points of view, it might be suggested that it should arrange debates in the very colleges and universities it wishes to censor.

Thank you Toronto Star for your efforts.

Ken Green, Cooper Landing, Alaska

Thank you so much for your fair coverage of Mohawk College's unreasonable security demands for Dr. Finkelstein's speech. Protection of free speech is a fundamental freedom in Canada that must be safeguarded.

The Israeli government has been flagrantly violating international law for over half a century, and continues to violate the Geneva Conventions in its treatment of the Palestinian people. As a citizen of a country who is a voting member of the United Nations, this is an outrage.

The only way this situation will change is if the public becomes aware of the gross injustices being perpetrated by the Israeli government. Mohawk College, apparently a place of education, worked to stop that.

If international law doesn’t work in this situation, then it won’t work anywhere. We must stand up for the rights of the Palestinian people, who, through the Gaza invasion, ongoing illegal blockades and the massive walls surrounding them, have no voice of their own.

Diane Ballantyne, Elora