Since when grief is not a heart journey before anything else in life?
So why are they so disrespectful to our flag… and thus to all of us?
Why are our politicians politicizing our flag, like that, and insulting our/their country?
They tell us it is to please Indigenous leaders. So, if that is truly the case, why don’t they also listen to the sharp words of Ms. Melissa Mbarki, “a policy analyst and outreach co-ordinator at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and a member of the Treaty 4 nation in Saskatchewan“. According to her (and Bambi agrees), “the lowered flag is a mockery to all Canadians, including Indigenous people” (https://nationalpost.com/opinion/melissa-mbarki-the-lowered-flag-is-a-mockery-to-all-canadians-including-indigenous-people).
Thank you journalist Roula Douglas for re-tweeting this moving picture taken at the destroyed Beirut port.
Bambi’s heart goes to Jessica’s sister/mom while she re-affirms her support to Judge Tarek Bitar. May his investigation (now suspended) continue again… “until the end“, to use his own words (as per the earlier post below).
Regardless of the outcomes of this investigation, this decent and courageous judge is a “hero“, to use Maya’s words (as per the comment to the post below). Indeed, he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize (Bambi is nominating him now in her heart)!
To conclude this post on a musical note, here is Mr. Fadi Bazzi’s timely French song for Beirut following its blast (subtitled in English).
Yesterday, Judge Tarek Bitar, the lead investigator of the surrealistic Beirut port explosion of August 4, 2020 reassured the victims’ families that “the pressures and threats will not make him back down from the investigation“.
Today, we learned from France24, that the courageous Judge Tarek Bitar is once again being “forced to suspend probe“. This is not the first suspension. It is actually the third one! Guess how many lawsuits have been filed against this judge by former ministers thus far? Not 1, not 2, not 3… not even 13. The total is now 15, according to judicial sources and as reported by France24 ( https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20211104-beirut-blast-investigator-forced-to-suspend-probe-for-3rd-time).
As a reminder, Lebanon refused to resort to an international investigation, as per the TV5 Monde news video below. With all due respect, one must also recall that, despite any good intention, sometimes verdicts of UN international investigations end being rather useless (i.e. Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the case of the assassination of the late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, as per some of Bambi’s older posts).
May God protect Judge Tarek Bitar from those threatening him… In the meantime, thanks to him for his courage in standing up against the forces of the mafia-militia duo of his country. Best wishes to the Lebanese judiciary system that is trying to be as independent as possible. Will justice win in the end? The saga will continue and time will tell.
Until then, here is a short news documentary in French by TV5 Monde entitled “Tarek Bitar, le juge libanais qui dérange“. It is followed by a song (in Arabic) for the victims’ families as well as ALL those impacted by this surrealistic tragedy (the injured, the homeless, the survivors, etc.). Thank you Mr. Omar Kamal for the moving interpretation of Feiruz’s Li Beirut. Note that the video below is part of a concert that took place in Bahrain in 2017; that was prior to the current, yet neither the first nor the last, SAD, diplomatic crisis between the Gulf countries and tiny, bankrupt yet always surviving Lebanon.
To conclude this post on a note of hope, may music always have the last word. May peace prevail within all the nations of the world and among them. May love and prosperity return to the historically welcoming (and beautiful) land of Lebanon.
In the USA, as per the older posts below, a former President of the country has been banned by Twitter. So were so-called anti-Kamala Harris “trolls”.
In Canada, in the past, the competent (and compassionate) Dr. Oren Amitay has been permanently banned from Twitter.
Today, in our country, Dr. Amir Attaran (who has been using an awfully racist/hateful language toward Québec and its Prime Minister for ages) has been banned by Twitter. Why? Because he criticized our federal government’s health policies. He seemed to have written that Mr. Trudeau must be “tarred and feathered” for being late in vaccinating children against the coronavirus, as per first the National Post and now all the other mainstream Canadian media (https://nationalpost.com/news/twitter-bans-ottawa-law-professor-amir-attaran-for-saying-trudeau-should-be-tarred-and-featherd).
First, Bambi has always defended Dr. Amir Attaran’s right to freedom of expression (even if this has not been reciprocal when she was the target of cancel culture). She is saying so and she TOTALLY disagrees with his “woke” insults toward Québec. She is saying so, even if she is not too sure if the vaccination of 5-11 year olds is a wise idea (since this is not an at-risk group and everyone can still transmit the virus). Plus, the technique used is new. This means no long-term data about potential side effects in kids are available yet. Plus, most importantly, in her mind parents should have the final say in deciding whether to vaccinate their young kids or not. Of course, they need full informed consent to be able to do so properly.
Second, Bambi is far from being a fan of Mr. Trudeau’s vision for our country on so many levels. However, she does not use the language of Dr. Attaran (especially that English is neither her first, nor second language… She had to google “tarred and feathered “ ?).
Despite this, she still wants to believe we are in Canada and Canada is in North America (neither is in the Middle East, nor in some countries of the Far East). This means traditionally a free country, not a dictatorship. In free countries, and even in not-so-free ones (like Lebanon), people are relatively still able to criticize powerful groups and corrupt leaders (when they are not killed for real, not just symbolically from time to time).
So, Twitter, please restore Dr. Attaran’s account immediately (same for Dr. Oren Amitay, if he wishes to use this company’s unreliable services again in his practice). To conclude on a musical note, Mr. George Moustaki’s beautiful song is dedicated by Bambi to all those involved in this post or reading it. It is about freedom (sub-titled in English). Yes, this most precious value in life that is supposed to be for us all, not just for some and not others (depending on the forces in power).
In Banana Republics, country’s flags are meaningless… the expected resulting danger is to start seeing more flags of sectarian groups than the country’s own flag… As per Mr. Gibran Khalil Gibran who wrote about Lebanon: “Pity the nation divided into tribes… each calling itself a nation”
Thank you Mr. Mario Dumont for your beautiful article that Bambi is honoured to quickly translate into English and post (OK with acknowledgements to her faithful friend, Mr. Google Translate!).
“I specify that I do not have a Canadian flag on my field. And if I had a mast, I would hoist the fleurdelysé [this is Québec’s beautiful flag] on it straight away. However, I have the utmost respect for what a flag means to a country.
I respect
even more what the flag symbolizes for those who courageously served under this
flag in the Armed Forces. Pride, duty, sense of country, the flag brings up
several feelings.
On the eve
of Remembrance Day 2021, Canada finds itself in a curious position. Canadian
flags may not be half-masted on November 11 as a sign of respect for Canadians
killed in action. Why ? For the simple reason that the flags have been at half
mast since the end of May.
Residential schools
Since the horrific discovery of the remains of over 200 children on the grounds of an Aboriginal residential school in Kamloops, the Canadian government has maintained this symbol. The question arose on July 1, Canada Day. The Trudeau government kept the flags at half mast and made this holiday more modest.
This permanent half-masting is a dead end. Yes, the flags had to be lowered at the time to underline the collective sadness and indignation at the horrors of the past. But putting them at half mast permanently ends up going unnoticed and prevents other tragedies from being highlighted [even Canadian deer said so, as per the two earlier posts further below].
This is not
to downplay the seriousness of the residential school mess. Children’s lives
have been taken. We will remember a stain in Canadian history.
The millions
of citizens of Canada want reconciliation, of course. They agree that their
government will take steps to ensure reconciliation. But the citizens of Canada
do not live in constant shame. Their country is more than this inhuman episode.
Remembrance
Day
Six months later, we realize the problem. Once the government makes the half-mast permanent, how do you get out of it? Indigenous representatives now interpret a flag raising not as a return to normalcy, but as an insult.
The
Remembrance Day case speaks volumes. Veterans are absolutely right to want to
hoist the flags so that they can be lowered at half mast during ceremonies. One
tragedy in our history cannot erase another. It would be unacceptable not to be
able to make the annual symbolic gesture of half-masting the flag because the
flag is permanently kept halfway up.
The Legion
of Honor of Canada seeks compromise solutions to commemorate Remembrance Day
with dignity. One of the options would be to hoist the flag momentarily and
then lower it … permanently.
The history of Canada, like that of all countries, is made up of beautiful and less beautiful chapters. The flag raised means that the people are still standing, not that they are erasing their past.“
Vaccination is highly encouraged in Lebanon through education. However, it is not mandatory. Bambi is relieved to know that her parents will receive their booster dose tomorrow (as they just turned 60… OK this is meant to make them smile if they are ever reading this post :)).
Sadly for them (and for Bambi), and as shown further below in older posts, they lost many close ones because of the coronavirus. Some of their friends were not as lucky as them. They lost their lives before the development of the vaccines :(. Another loved one chose not to be vaccinated even if he was in a risky age group. Sadly, he died. However, no one ever shamed his family or blamed him for his death, like we sadly are doing in our supposedly more civilized countries. Everyone mourned with his family and keeps asking about his wife who was luckier than him (may she get well soon). May the memory of those who left us/their loved ones be eternal.
As for Lebanon, it is surely a land of contradictions. One one hand, the government is unable to protect its people from ammonium nitrates or from regional forces taking this country in one direction or the other. On the other hand, even without a functional government and without public funds, Lebanese people do receive their vaccines in a timely manner, perhaps even ahead of other wealthier counties. Bravo to all those making this happen. Bravo to the Ministry of Public Health that seems to be operating on its own in its country. Bravo to its good collaboration with all healthcare centres, public and private; all this in awful living conditions (lack of gas, power, etc.).
To conclude this post, it is Bambi’s hope that her birth country will know how to protect its people from large diplomatic crises (especially the current dispute with Gulf countries), not just from tiny viruses.
Our world elites, many of whom flirt with wokeism, are currently meeting at COP26 in Glasgow in the UK.
As a reminder, wokeism is a modern form of sectarianism, which pretends to hold a monopoly on morality. It is like a movement of neo-puritanism that speaks in the name of minorities (including disabled people). It cancels people or censors books, movies, or events when they question its orthodoxies (even by simply bringing some nuances, etc.). It becomes racist and discriminatory, of course in the name of anti-racism and justice.
How can they pretend to be those who will efficiently solve climate change, if they are not even able to simply ensure a prompt access to a minister to their venue to join her voice to others’ in order to find collective solutions to the problem?
All what this minister wanted was to take part, like her peers, in the joint effort to advance solutions to climate change? Indeed, to use her own words, “I came to COP26 to meet my counterparts in the world and advance our joint struggle against the climate crisis… It’s sad that the United Nations, which promotes accessibility for people with disabilities, in 2021 doesn’t worry about accessibility at its own events.”
According to the National Post article above (based on Reuters), “the British ambassador to Israel, Neil Wigan, apologized for the mishap“. Nice of him to do so. Let’s hope lessons will be learned for future editions of this UN summit or others, especially when they brag about the so-called “diversity and equity” (https://www.2050.scot/events-listings/equity-and-diversity-at-cop26).
To conclude this post, it is Bambi’s hope that trendy yet empty slogans (like diversity, equity, inclusion or whatever else that may replace this one in the future) will be genuine, that is concrete. Not just empty slogans… or not just “blahblahblah“, to use the words of a famous COP26 participant, Ms. Greta Thunberg :).
Well in Canada, when posing for a picture, even outdoors, they are masked.
However, when they are abroad in a room filled with people from all over the planet, all of them responsibly masked, our Prime Minister and his colleague, Mr. Steven Guilbeault, are the only ones non-masked.
However, it seems that this health-measure works only for those public servants who are not at the top of the hierarchy.
Of course, Mr. Trudeau is always more important than laws, ethical rules, and us the little people.
At least, his is true to himself… His attitude/behaviour has a name: elitism (and no it is not much better than populism).
Mr. Trudeau’s new cabinet 2021. A picture taken from Radio-Canada/CBC on October 27, 2021Mr. Trudeau and his spouse, Ms. Sophie Grégoire, on October 27, 2021 arriving to the cabinet swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall, Ottawa. A picture taken in Ottawa from the New York TimesMr, Christia Freeland and her family on October 27, 2021 arriving to the cabinet swearing-in ceremony at Rideau Hall, Ottawa. A picture taken from the CBC (by Mr. Sean Kilpatrick for The Canadian Press )
A picture taken from the National Post showing Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Guilbeaut at COP26 in Glascow on November 1, 2021
Indeed, it still sadly VERY relevant for all the world, that is not just for Lebanon and for the powerful forces of the Middle East and beyond.
If Bambi is not mistaken, the music of this old song was composed by Mr. Ziad Rahbani for his mother Fairouz during the Lebanese civil war (1975-1990), precisely in 1981. The lyrics are the wise words of Mr. Gibran Khalil Gibran (thanks Mary for the clarification).
The lyrics are in standard Arabic with sub-titles in English.
Thank you Fairouz for your powerful message of peace. Is anyone listening and reflecting?
