How sad and ironic that, in our collective insane times, contemporary radical activists are behaving like the authoritarian Catholic church in Québec’s history (before its“silent revolution”):
It is refreshing to read Mr. Legault’s words on his FB page (shown below). Here is a quick translation for you:
“We will be frank with each other: The decision of the Association of Québec Booksellers to withdraw my reading suggestions did not make any common sense. One cannot accept that a handful of radical activists trample our freedom of expression to defend their dictates. It is going way too far.
I am reassured to see that the Association finally backed down.
I was of course angry
when I heard the news yesterday.
But I was also sad. I am
a big lover of reading. I take great pleasure in reading every evening before
sleeping. And I make it a point to share my passion.
The beauty of books is
that there is room for all voices. Reading transports us to points of view that
are sometimes far from our own, but which always enrich us.
But we must not miss the
target either.
We have to denounce censorship.
One must never let our
guard down on our freedom of expression.
However, we should not penalize
our independent booksellers who have nothing to do with this story. It is hard
enough for them these days.
So I will repeat the same
request that I made to you in the video for booksellers: Go buy a Québec book
during the holiday season. We must encourage our authors. This is the best
response we can offer to those who want to silence them.
Your prime minister.”
End of Mr. Legault’s quote.
Mind you, Bambi was already planning to purchase Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté’s most recent book (the target of this absurd censorship). She just did not have the time to do it yet. Well, this will be her Christmas gift to herself ?:
First, in all honesty, do you trust the quality of a Chinese (or a Russian?) vaccine as much as you would trust vaccines from the USA, France, or the UK?
Well, let Bambi speak for herself. With all due respect to the science in all countries, her answer is no (for many reasons from rigour to ethical considerations, etc.). However, this is Bambi’s personal opinion and it is not the precise focus of this post.
The focus of this post is on Mr. Trudeau’s leadership and choices. Is he the PM of Canada or of China, we may wonder at times?
Ironically, Lebanon (but not Canada :)!) picked two American pharmaceutical companies for the vaccine. Yes, we are talking about the same Lebanon that is hijacked internally by the Hezbollah (and externally by its master Iran) and the latter is now financially corned by the USA.
Will Mr. Trudeau blame his predecessor, Mr. Harper, again for his own choice :)?
Well, to use the term of the official opposition leader, Mr. O’Toole, for putting “all the eggs in one basket“?
Was this a wise choice and especially approach during the vaccine negotiation strategy, given the outcome: the delayed onset of vaccination in Canada, compared to MANY other countries in the world (who knows? Perhaps even including tiny bankrupt and “third world” Lebanon? That was meant as a joke, but you never know…)?
Ms. Awad (as shown in the picture below) is one of the
most lucid and straightforward persons Bambi has ever met in her life (her own
mom shares these qualities).
In our last chat, Ms. Awad described the double crises of Beirut, the financial tragedy combined to the coronavirus pandemic. Six months later, the August 4th’s Beirut port surrealistic explosion took place. Its images shocked the whole world. Beirut’s port nightmare was devastating to say the least: 200 people lost their lives, 6000+ were injured, 12+ are still missing, 300,000 are homeless, half of the capital destroyed including food or medication storage, hospitals, schools, etc. Many citizens are still living in their damaged/risky homes (it is now the rain season in Beirut and snow season at higher altitudes). In addition, there are those still struggling with the trauma’s after-effects and/or with survivor guilt.
Of course, there is still no accountability concerning
this crime or criminal negligence.
Keeping all this in mind, here are a few questions
that Ms. Awad generously accepted to answer:
Bambi: Thank you Nayla for your time.
Bambi’s first question is as follows: Can you describe to us life in Beirut
today, end of November, 2020? How does it compare to life before the explosion?
“Life was already awful and disastrous before the explosion due to the financial collapse and money devaluation, which triggered the people’s revolt (since October 17, 2019). The explosion did not change anything in the sense that it is still a disaster.
What
has changed since is the following: The Beirut blast brought instant, massive, and
unbelievable level of destruction to the capital. This means more damage added to
the already awful situation Lebanon has been in.
Of course, in addition to families who lost
their loved ones and all the injured citizens, there are all the material costs
to repair what needs to be fixed. It is only yesterday that we were able to fix
our doors [4 months post-explosion]. We are lucky. Some other
people, like where your own parents live, like Gimmayze, Mar Mikhayel, etc. are
still living in their destroyed homes. People do not have money for repairs.
The explosion was the death blow. A death blow, morally and financially speaking.
The morale is usually affected by finances. Both!
What is hard is to still not have financial support after this tragedy. The Lebanese army visited residences to estimate the costs [and in some devastated neighbourhoods, they distributed food boxes]. By large, not much came out of this governmental initiative. At times, the army wanted to help and it did manage to do so in some rare cases. The problem is that you do not understand the operation’s logic. Based one what criteria? How much? Why this family? Why not another one? For instance, a close relative whose house was damaged (seriously although not as much as others) received 1 million Lebanese pounds [the equivalent of CAD$858]. She was happy. Same for another old neighbour [Bambi’s childhood neighbourhood].
All this to say that there are devastating
costs to the explosion, coupled to hyperinflation triggered by the financial
crash that began before the coronavirus pandemic and its many lockdowns/measures.
The Lebanese people went into a revolution, massively taking the streets for months (over a year now). No one listened to them. People lost their savings, their jobs. People were put in jail. People were silenced. And the regime did not change. We discovered that we live under a dictatorship. Some people were beaten or tortured. Some thrown in jail. Some even have criminal records now.
It is in this context that the explosion took place (in the middle of the pandemic too).
Since the explosion, so many people have already
migrated. Many are planning to leave Lebanon for good soon. There is no more
hope. Some desperate citizens are even leaving by boats from Tripoli in
miserable conditions like what we used to see in the media about other less fortunate
countries (e.g., Somali refugees, etc.). We are now there. A father had to
throw the body of his dead son in the Mediterranean Sea. Can you imagine?!
No, we do not see the light at the end of
the tunnel. We live day by day. Today may be a dark day. Tomorrow, we do not
know. Lebanon’s situation is highly volatile.
The worst is that we are stuck with the government
that resigned after the explosion but which we did not want in the first place.
It is now acting as a caretaker government. The formation of a new government seems
quasi-impossible. There doesn’t seem to be any hope, as we speak. As citizens,
you do not understand all the shenanigans between those in power. Some say as
long as there is the actual President with Hezbollah allied to his son-in-law
(Mr. Bassil), things cannot move forward”.
Bambi: Where were you when the Beirut
explosion happened? How did you react? What thoughts came to your mind then or
following this tragedy, if you feel like sharing?
“I was in the car, driving and my son with
me. We were in Bourj Hammoud. Thank God, a wall protected us. By a miracle,
glass did not explode in our faces. I even managed to drive us back home in the
middle of this chaos. The sensation I had was that we were going to die, both of
us in the car. This is our end. I spontaneously thought it was an Israeli
aviation airstrike. There has been a rumour circulating in the country for a
while that a war with Israel was going to break out in August. Even for a whole
week following the explosion, I was still left with the same sensation of an
air strike. As I mentioned earlier, my first sensation was simply our death.
Then, whilst driving on the bridge to get to our neighbourhood, I was again convinced
we were going to be hit by those airplanes. In the past, bridges were hit by the
Israelis in earlier wars (e.g., July, 2006). I was driving seeing bloodied
people walking and walking, almost everywhere. Some were lying on the streets. I
was seeing endless destruction and death all the way. I do not know how I kept
driving until we reached our destroyed street and damaged building. I saw my
husband and daughter outside of the building, in a state of shock and worried
about us. Shattered glass was everywhere. Again, more bloodied injured people. When
we reached our apartment, we realized that was also quite damaged. We were speechless.
Yes, we survived (grateful to be alive… others
did not have this luxury), but, make no mistake, we are still dead inside. We exploded
with that explosion… Our country exploded. We have been robbed spiritually, physically, mentally, morally…
and financially yet again…” [Nayla explained that after
four months, she is able to say all this without crying… It is Bambi who could
not contain her tears at that time of the interview. Nayla joined her. Mind
you, the latter lost many friends in that explosion. Anyhow, after pausing for
seconds to wipe away their tears, they continued their Zoom interview].
Bambi: Where do you see Lebanon in the
shorter and longer-term?
“Hell. In the short and long-term. No
hope. Even before the explosion. I will tell you I had that feeling 20 years ago
(it is not new) and this is what made me immigrate then. They weakened and destroyed
Lebanon from within and from the outside. Both! For me, it is like a conspiracy
plan against this country. To use the words of the Lebanese Maronite [Roman
Catholic] Patriarch, “they have weakened Lebanon to the point of threatening
its existence”. They have impoverished it. People cannot afford educating their
children anymore. Some schools are literally destroyed. And we are sinking
lower and lower in misery, day after day.
Every external solution, the Lebanese
politicians made it fail, starting with Mr. Emmanuel Macron’s initiative. It is
as if there is a plan, both internal and external, to turn Lebanon into a
failed state. I will re-use the words of this same Patriarch, people are now impoverished,
without their savings, immigrating to avoid being killed. There is no hope.”
Bambi: What words of comfort or what piece
of advice would you give to Lebanese youth of the same age of your children?
“Get the fuck out of here!”. This is what I tell them. This is what I tell to myself too. I daily repeat it to myself in my mind. I feel for those who want to stay, those who have to stay, or those who cannot leave. I am afraid that, in order to survive, they will have to build an alliance with the corrupt thugs in charge.
Bambi, I cannot end our conversation on a
positive note. I wish I could.
No one feels this hope, Bambi… Well, maybe
there is a former politician who has resigned, Mr. Hikmat Fraim, who is among
those who believe in Lebanon and still do so. According to him, there will be a
new movement and a new system in this country one day. Although I usually like
listening to him because of his optimism, I admit that I do not see this hope… Not
anymore.”
Thanks to a tweet by Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté, Bambi learned that Greenpeace Québec is now promoting ideologies of racialism, along with a funny yet toxic concept called “white fragility”:
Why are we allowing our societies to become “infested”
with racial (+ racist) ideologies?
Bambi is disturbed by such ideologies because she
knows well how destructive to societies they can be (she escaped her birth
country precisely to avoid such ideologies).
Well, in addition to Greenpeace, imagine that a very serious scientific journal like Science is now into similar ideologies. Why doesn’t it focus ONLY on science and the scientific method?!
One may wonder how such serious institutions become hijacked from within by ideologies. Bambi’s hypothesis is that all what it takes, as a very first step, is funding (here is just one example of someone who may be working for his own pocket whilst perhaps also serving the interests of other larger and likely foreign entities: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/13/us/politics/george-soros-racial-justice-organizations.html).
Although Bambi may be wrong, money can tempt and potentially corrupt any institution even respectable ones (perhaps more so in tough financial times), especially when leaders are not lucid, and perhaps courageous, enough.
In the longer term, funds are no longer needed. Social contagion is enough.
First, why is a $21,000-funded Calgary-based task force in Alberta pretending that Bill 21 in Québec “has impacted religious minorities across Canada since it came into law in 2019”?
Second, and perhaps more alarmingly, why is the CBC mischaracterizing Bill
21 once again?
The CBC article falsely informs us that “the secularism law bans
religious symbols, like hijabs and turbans, prohibiting public teachers,
lawyers, police officers and civil servants from wearing religious symbols
at work, effectively preventing them from working in their chosen fields”.
Indeed, here is the truth about Bill 21 (this blog has
many posts on the topic):
It is about the representatives of authority ONLY. Not
all employees.
Bill 21 has a “grandfather” clause meant to allow existing public servants in
position of authority to keep serving (protecting their jobs).
Whether we like this bill or not, it is made in Québec,
by Québec, and for Québec. It came after 10 years of a public debate on reasonable
and unreasonable accommodations.
When are we going to finally respect the specificity
of Québec?
By the way, this CBC article is no longer about
journalism. This is mere propaganda.
If we truly want to address racism in our country, let’s
start by respecting Québec’s democratic choices, including this bill.
To those who do not know Québec well, it is one of the
most welcoming places in the world!
Québec is far from being perfect. Indeed, no place is
perfect. Same for any system or society.
Like anywhere else, there is racism in Québec (e.g., Bambi keeps thinking of Ms. Joyce Echaquan’s widower and their children. She lost her life in a cruel way ironically at a hospital ☹).
However, to say that Québec makes its citizens suffer from systemic racism, just because it has a majority that still openly respects itself (in our collective insane times), would be unfair.
It would be even racist to once again (“systemically”?)
refuse to accept others’ culture.
Residents of Québec who may be too triggered by Bill
21 are free to move to Calgary.
Those who are vocal about Bill 21 whilst living miles
away from Québec are respectfully invited to educate themselves about this bill
and about Québec’s history.
Second, NB Media Coop keeps publishing articles
about” “the hypocrisy of the Liberal
nuclear policy”, how we should “cease
funding and support of the Small Modular Nuclear Reactors program”, and about
the bad choices of “NB and the federal government” in “funding
prototype nuclear reactors”?
Bambi is far from being an expert of nuclear energy.
Yet she has enough lucidity to distinguish between the potentially good and evil
use of this energy.
Examples of good use are electricity production, medical use, water desalination, agriculture purposes, and perhaps even space scientific explorations, etc. Of course, an evil use would be nuclear weapons/wars.
None of the articles published in NB Media Coop
explains to us why such energy would be bad for Canada, for our province, or at
least present a list of the pros and cons.
What about job creation that would benefit all communities,
including Indigenous ones?
What about possibly lower costs of energy?
What about self-reliance on a more efficient energy sector?
Of course, we need to have the most optimal conditions
to ensure public health safety.
Bambi knows what she is talking about when it comes to safety. She was a teenager when the Ukraine’s Chernobyl’s tragic accident happened (she recalls the “cloud” that reached the part of the world where she grew up).
She also recalls barrels of nuclear waste that arrived to Beirut, from Italy through the port of Beirut in the middle of a destructive civil war (1975-1990), five of which were located or stored not far from where she used to live. Perhaps someone received money or weapons in exchange of such dangerous materials ((https://www.wrmea.org/1995-june/waste-dumping-during-civil-war-ignites-debate-in-lebanon.html)? Perhaps those, and/or other, unethical persons told themselves that tiny Lebanon was already burning anyways? How can we minimize awful gesture with such money-oriented logic (assuming they had any consciousness)? What about the population’s heath?
Who knows? Perhaps related to the latter saga or not, Bambi
happens to have a personal interest in one’s protection from extra radioactivity.
Those who know her closely know why she is saying so.
Yet, despite all this, she is pro-nuclear Canadian energy.
How could she not be so when she is pro-economic development and scientific
advancement.
She just wishes our anti-nuclear activists can explain
to her the whys of their position, not just repeating clichés. Perhaps they can
help her see their perspective(s) in a clearer way?
Sadly, without clarity, she is left to wonder whether
they may be anti-economic progress (and anti-civilizational growth?), instead
of being true environmentalists. Could it be?
To borrow the words of Dr. Mathieu Bock-Côté, “the world ahead of us is charming, isn’t it? It is not about appreciating or not the ideas of Jordan Peterson. It is rather about watching how censorship functions nowadays“.
What else could be said about our sad times of collective insanity?
You do not like an author’s work, do not read it or criticize it in a smart way. Do not burn it or cancel it, regardless of the book (which, if it is like his earlier book, will be a pleasure to discover, by the way :)).
Regardless of Dr. Peterson’s ideas or perspective in life, why are we doing this to him and to ourselves? Why are we turning our beautiful Canada into “Fascistland”?
Enough is more than enough!
As Dr. Saad said in the video above well, the price of living in a democracy is to have everyone’s voices in a society. Those whom we agree with as well as those who challenge our ideas.
As Bambi wrote on this blog once, even radicals like Islamists (who recently chopped the head of Professor Samuel Patty in France) have the right to exist in a free society and express their opinions. The problem is of course when they call for violence or act on it like in this barbaric tragedy. The problem is also when they resort to defamation.
In Bambi’s non-expert citizen opinion, all this saga is a defamation of Dr. Peterson’s character and intelligence. You may disagree with him, fine (Bambi does not agree all the time, but she has the utmost respect for him). However, he has the right to be published, as much as other so-called scholars are. We have the right to read them or not, to find them inspiring or not, etc.
First, our Prime Minister delivered a virtual address to the UN General Assembly on September 25, 2020. In it, he dared to criticize Iran (as per an earlier post by Bambi, video by CTV News). He even mentioned the people of Beirut. Thanks again Mr. Justin Trudeau.
Even when targeted by two Russian pranksters (thinking he was talking to Ms. Greta Thunberg :)), Mr. Trudeau answered all the questions well. Actually, he did not make any faux-pas. He even answered questions better than he usually does with domestic journalists.
Of note, as per BBC, this phone call was recorded a few days after the “Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 had been shot down after taking off from the Iranian capital of Tehran, amid escalating tensions between Iran and the US. All passengers and crew on board the flight were killed, including 57 Canadian citizens” (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-55062943).
Well, below is a France 24 interview with Mr. Anthony Blinken, USA President-Elect Biden’s pick for Secretary of State (Blinken is a loyal colleague from his own party’s establishment). This interview is old, from May, 2019. Bambi just discovered it.
You can watch Mr. Blinken sounding very convinced of Iran’s good faith with regard to the nuclear deal to the point where he seems to trust the Iranian regime more than his own fellow American government, if that makes any sense :).
Bambi wrote the above sarcastic comment, even is she loves diplomacy (she prefers it to aggressive methods, which should be a last resort, when everything else fails).
She also understands someone’s attachment to an agreement, which may be perceived as own little “baby”.
Mr. Trump may have taken the USA out of that deal because of evidence showing that Iran was still building its nuclear weapon (even if it signed the deal)? Could it be? Not just because he wanted to undo the legacy of Mr. Obama et al., although the latter is highly possible with all leaders, especially narcissistic ones who find it hard to recognize any good achievement by others they do not agree with?
At least, Mr. Blinken admitted in the interview in question that Mr. Trump was consistent with himself in achieving his electoral promises, including this one.
And now, Mr. Biden will likely do the same. He will undo the more aggressive policy against Iran to a return to a softer one he will call multilateral, collegial, etc.
All the good words of the world could be said about diplomacy and good collaborations. Bambi is usually the first to applaud such efforts (especially being raised in a chaotic civil war). However, the sad reality is that nothing will stop Iran, not even the good diplomatic words/deals of our good world leaders.
Indeed, Bambi toured the news sites from this country (in English) and those by the Hezbollah. You can notice the happier tone to have Mr. Biden, as President-Elect. We could also read the words of Mr. Nasrallah making fun of Mr. Trump’s defeat (even, if the legal fight of the latter is not over yet). In an earlier post, Bambi mentioned how Iran was too fast to inform Mr. Biden of its intentions to come back to the deal. This means that the latter was too good for Iran, no?
Bambi also heard about supporters of the Hezbollah dancing on the streets of Beirut when they read the news about Mr. Biden being the President-Elect (not Mr. Trump). What does this tell us?
In all honesty, Bambi is writing this post and she does not care about neither Mr. Trump nor Mr. Biden. She cares about people more than politicians, especially when the latter lack courage, wisdom, or humility to recognize sterile political outcomes.
Instead, she cares more about the Lebanese people who will live with the consequences of the decisions of the Bidens, the Trumps, the Blinkens, and the Nasrallah’s of this world.
She cares about the innocent Iranian people who would sadly be the first to pay the price, whether under sanctions or under a future nuclear bomb that will threaten the whole region (including Beirut).
She cares about our neighbours, the USA people whom she respects and likes.
A soft, diplomatic approach is usually the wisest method with the majority of people or nations in life. However, soft methods can be taken advantage of by more vicious entities or toxic personalities.
Iran is scientifically clever (it could develop the nuclear bomb) and is determined (you can move mountains when you have faith in your will). In contrast, despite its power, the USA may be too naïve or too taken by its globalist (and idealistic) agenda, with all due respect to both Mr. Biden and Mr. Blinken (who speaks great French, plays the guitar, is a great servant of his country, and knows Lebanon well).
To conclude this post, Bambi thanks them and wishes them the best, even if she has her doubts. Whilst doing so, she prays that their decisions will keep her loved ones safe(r)!
In what world do we live, when in the middle of a
pandemic with devastating public health and economic issues, an article in our
state media about “offensive language” of (male) politicians?
With all due respect to Ms. Megan Mitton, who called her like this? Can she tell us ??
Bambi thought that by a second term, she would have developed
a thicker skin.
What’s wrong with lady? Isn’t this a noble title? What’s
wrong with being young ??
Did she prefer “old lady” instead?
For over a decade and perhaps 15 years, Bambi thought “Ma
petite Madame” was said to her in public places (e.g., by cashier in supermakets,
etc.) because she is small. It turned out that no, it could be said to any woman,
even tall ones. She was happy to know that, even if she did not mind it if it
wasn’t the case (she is indeed smaller than average French-Canadian “ladies”).
As for her Green MLA colleague, Mr. Kevin Arsenau,
since when “our Indigenous people” is disrespectful and with a
colonial attitude? Bambi may have used that term in front of immigrants (and
she is an old one… yes old not “young” as in “young lady” ?!). She thinks she may have even used
it before “First Nations” once even, and her ancestors are surely not
settlers in this country. They are “Indigenous” maybe (as Phenicians?).
Seriously now, there is something tender with the word
“our” and something “inclusive”, on the contrary. At least, this is how Bambi
perceives it because she does not spontaneously attribute bad intentions to people
she communicates with or people who talk about her or about a facet of her
complex identities.
Are those Green politicians now playing on words to create
a sort of discomfort in not only their peers, but also in their society? We
also now become even more politically correct that way? For Bambi, this is a form
of combined control and superficiality. This is even dangerous, if pushed to
the extreme in a society. It can eventually create strife.
There is no country in the world that doesn’t have its
own tensions between groups. We are blessed in NB to be as harmonious as we can
be, despite our issues. Some countries have issues between Shia or Sunni
Muslims. Other countries have issues between people of African descent and others
of European origins, etc. Yet other between more secular majority/ies and the
most religious minorities (e.g., Israel, Lebanon, and perhaps now France,
etc.). This is why a concept like “systemic racism” is a catch-all term that
can be used as weapon in any country, not just the USA or ours.
All this being said, can we please focus on the more
pressing issues in life?
For instance, Ms. Megan has at heart issues like
housing. This is concrete. This is highly important in people’s daily lives,
more than a word said here or written there. Please Ms. Megan keep your good
work and let go the superficial issues that distract us from what matters the
most for us: Actions to improve our lives.
In other terms, can you please, as Opposition, hold Mr. Higgs’ government accountable to us, the taxpayers?
