Author: Bambi

Today Bambi read Mr. Mario Dumont’s latest column published in the Journal de Montréal. His thought-provoking piece is entitled in French “Est-ce que nos impôts subventionnent le terrorisme” (https://tinyurl.com/5bfxumkp)? The latter means: Are our taxes subsidizing terrorism? This post will translate it for you, with the assistance of Mr. Google Translate, Bambi’ s online best friend.

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“In 24 hours, an organization goes from beneficent to terrorist… What a special news, right?

Through naivety, intentional blindness or pure incompetence, is it possible that Canada helped terrorist movements? I am talking here about helping financially. Two issues in two weeks seriously raise the question.

The Journal of Montréal revealed yesterday that the Canadian Muslim Association (CMA) was threatened by the Canada Revenue Agency with losing its charitable status. This association manages several mosques and community centres, which is completely legitimate. However, this organization would at the same time maintain international links with organizations that cause concern.

Surprisingly and intriguingly, the Revenue Agency has been investigating the AMC for “several years”. The Journal de Montréal finds traces of audits announced as early as 2015. We investigate, we worry, we make certain discoveries, but nothing enough to strip the organization of its advantageous tax status.

Long investigation

Among the big question marks are links to the Muslim Brotherhood, fundraising campaigns for unknown organizations in the Middle East and its close ties to other organizations that Canada has placed on a blacklist.

We also deplore the presence in important positions of people with disturbing comments. People who advocate terrorism, particularly by supporting Hamas, find themselves at the heart of the organization. We invited a speaker who justifies violent jihad. In the case of another, the worrying comments are published on social networks.

Despite everything, the Canadian Muslim Association still enjoys this advantageous status for its donors: it is a recognized charitable organization. And the leaders of the organization consider that these checks are simply Islamophobia. Obviously.

Last week we experienced an even weirder situation. The Canadian Minister of Public Security has listed the pro-Palestinian group Samidoun on the list of terrorist entities in Canada. The previous week, Samidoun members publicly burned a Canadian flag while chanting “Death to Canada” in Vancouver.

Beneficence?

What is astonishing is that this extremist group also had charitable status until the moment of this decision. Let’s admit that it’s quite astonishing. On Tuesday, you issue charitable receipts to your donors. On Wednesday, you are considered a terrorist organization. Only in Canada!

We need to understand what charitable status means for tax purposes. The donor receives a tax credit ranging from 15% to 29%. Here is the tax that would be due and for which the State gives the taxpayer a holiday. In other words, it is the government that pays part of the donation. Yes, it is a form of subsidy.

Obviously, there are two things happening in Canada.

We are too quick to give financial benefits to organizations.

We are too slow to detect organizations with terrorist affiliations.

The combination of the two means that we have probably subsidized terrorist movements. Big discomfort”.

Tonight, Bambi hesitated between this post and another one about Beirut’s surreal destruction, and heartbreaking loss of lives, in a cruel yet not surprising proxy war.

After thought, she decided to spare you any ugly news, along with her insights, about the Lebanese unfolding tragedy.

Who knows? Maybe Lebanon, and the Middle East, would be the topic of a future post? Until then, to answer the question raised in the title of this post, Bambi will say the following: Mr. Charles Aznavour, Mr. Georges Brassens, Mr. Jacques Brel, and Ms. Edith Piaf all happened to have died in the month of October (https://shorturl.at/r8ZIA). May the memory of each one of them be eternal. May their incredible musical legacy keep inspiring and entertaining us.

As for your dear readers, may you be safe and with inner peace, regardless of your perceived stress levels.

With its magic, nature can bring us solace when we are coping with uncertainty or grief. If only New Brunswick’s peaceful nature can inspire decision-making about war and peace in the world, Bambi could not help to think in the past 24 hours.

Bambi woke up this morning remembering a beautiful French song from her own childhood in Beirut during civil war times. Below you can find its English lyrics (https://tinyurl.com/mw4ta467), which are followed by a great performance of Kids United as well as Ms. Mireille Mathieu’s original performance in both French and German.

When will the doves of peace fly over Lebanon, instead of the scary drones and shelling? When will fear, displacement, destruction, and bloodshed end?

When will the same doves fly in the neighbouring skies so all the children of the Middle East live in peace? Yes, ALL of them, from Lebanon to: Palestine, Israel, Syria, Irak, Iran, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and every country of the region as well as in the entire world, including the places of other armed conflicts.

ENOUGH of wars. Enough of absurdity, ideologies, and power struggles. All the Innocent people deserve to live in dignity, peace, and love.

“Winter is there on the village roofs
The sky is white and I hear
Children choirs
In the old church, on an organ
With the colours of time

Refrain
May peace be on the world
For hundred thousand years to come
Give us a thousand doves
To all the rising suns
Give us a thousand doves
And a million swallows
Let some day all men become
children again

Tomorrow is you, and no more war tomorrow
Tomorrow everywhere, canons
Will sleep under flowers
A beautiful world it’s a world
Where you live fearless

Refrain
May peace be on the world
For hundred thousand years to come
Give us a thousand doves
To all the rising suns
Give us a thousand doves
And a million swallows
Let some day all men become
children again

Refrain
May peace be on the world
For hundred thousand years to come
Give us a thousand doves
To all the rising suns
Give us a thousand doves
And a million swallows
Let some day all men become
children again“.”

The Journal de Montréal published an article yesterday entitled «Je ne crois plus que l’homme a marché sur la Lune»: Jeremy Filosa suspendu indéfiniment par le 98,5 FM pour des propos conspirationnistes tenus en ondes (https://shorturl.at/1N1eW). Its meaning is the English translation of this post. Wow.

To begin with, and of course, Bambi does not share the opinion of Mr. Jeremy Filosa, sports journalist. She does not know why, and in which context, he said what he said on the radio show in question. Actually, she does not care about the entire conversation. However, once again, she is worried as well as shocked by both the absurdity and violence of the response of the radio station employing him. Why did it suspend him indefinitely over a personal opinion or maybe a sarcastic comment or whatever it was.

Why should we add the emotionally-charged term “conspiracy” to any opinion that is different, awkward, maybe apparently crazy, alternative, or whatever else?

Where are common sense and a sense of perspective? Most importantly, where is freedom of expression? Why have we become slaves to cancel culture to this extent in our societies?

How sad to see this story occurring in Québec, which has traditionally been much more open to critical debates than the rest of Canada about topics, surely less trivial, than this one (i.e., 10-year-old debates on reasonable accommodations, referendum on sovereignty, etc.). Of course, that was before the changes of the past few years, which Bambi often calls on this blog “our collectively insane times“. Do you have another term to describe this phenomenon?

This post is meant to share two brief podcasts worth watching. Thank you L’Orient Le Jour for the moving insights by these children and youth.

Following the two podcasts, if you wish, you may listen to Mr. Mario Pelchat’s song on Lebanon’s cedars, with its powerful lyrics. Bambi translated them on her blog three years ago. For your convenience, she is re-sharing them at the end of this post. SADLY, this older French-Canadian song remains timely.

To end on a more hopeful and joyful note, the last song is a beautiful French song by Mr. Enrico Macias, entitled “Enfants de tous pays” [ Children From All Countries], that Bambi also posted in the past. An English translation of its lyrics (https://shorturl.at/uvO56) is also shared below.

May all the children be safe and able to play. May peace and love prevail.

A quick translation of “the Cedars of Lebanon” (by Mr. Mario Pelchat)

“Gaping holes

Like anthills where homeless roam

Where the people of Phenicia once lived

From the East of blood, genes and Arabian language

Screams, tears

And rage in the heart for so much violence

While we swim elsewhere under rains of abundance

It is often when we cry that we experience indifference

What are we going to say

When danger surrounds us,

To our children who question us

Who we try in vain to teach

The verb “to love”?

What are we going to do?

If not find some refuge,

Hope for another flood

Or kill yourself to understand

And forgive

Twilight

Like the life that disappears under the rubble

Another night to invent the end of the world

A new era where you are no longer afraid of your shadow

Sentries

Which remind us that we are not at liberty

On a land that we did not choose to inhabit

Under the wrath of a God we want to appropriate

What are we going to say

When danger surrounds us,

To our children who question us

Who we try in vain to teach

The verb “to love”?

What are we going to do?

Otherwise confide in the stars

Praying to the saints of the cathedrals

Because we are too little to understand

To forgive

A strong people

Who still believes that tomorrow will be different

Like a treasure that a giant knows how to recognize

As are, in the north, the cedars of Lebanon.”

“Enfants de tous pays” [Children from All Countries]

“Chorus:
Children from all countries
Hold out your bruised hands
Sow love
And then give life
Children from all countries
And of all colours
You have in your hearts
Our happiness
It’s in your hands that tomorrow our earth
Is going to be entrusted to go out from the night
And our hope to see the light again
Is in your eyes which awaken to life
Dry your tears, throw out your guns
Make of this world a paradise
Chorus
You have to think of our fathers’ past
And of promises which they never have kept
The truth is to love without any borders
And give every day a bit more
For wisdom and wealth
Have just one address: paradise
Chorus
And on the day when love on the Earth
Becomes king, you can rest
When our prayers are covered in joy
You can have your eternity
And every laughs of your kingdom
Will make a paradise
Chorus”.

It is both easier and cheaper to fight with the flesh or blood of others in a far country. This is what Iran is doing, with the Lebanese people, in its fight against Israel. This is what it has been doing in Gaza through Hamas.

Similarly, it is less costly, and potentially more rewarding, for Israel to fight Iran on the Lebanese soil; neither in Iran, nor on its own land (despite the bloody tit for tat with the Hezbollah).

Same for the United States (et al.?). Who cares about Lebanon if the latter’s interests with Iran are being preserved, perhaps at the expense of the Land of the Cedars? Who cares for Israel some would even say, even if they may send weapons, boats, or a few soldiers for support?

When it comes to the military-wing of Hezbollah (or what is left of it, at least for now?), it sadly seems to remain unwise, and even suicidal, because it appears to still insist on linking the fate of Lebanon to the one of Gaza, denying the unfolding Lebanese tragedy and, with it, part of the history of the Lebanese civil war (https://tinyurl.com/mpjc5x2r).

In the meantime, the people of Lebanon are, once again, paying the price of a regional fiasco by being held hostage by all these powerful players.

One may be tempted to only blame Israel for the cruelty of its fight for its existence since October 7, 2023, especially now with the insane destruction, killings, and invasion of Lebanon (and earlier with the tragedy in Gaza). However, one would be unfair, and even delusional, without also acknowledging the evil role of the Iranian regime, which has fuelled and/or perhaps triggered the Hamas attack on Israel and the resulting regional fiasco. Of course, one cannot help, but to also notice the weakness of the official Lebanon when it comes, once again, to deciding to initiate or to stop unwanted wars.

If you live in the Islamic Republic of Iran, hating Israel from far away, along with the United States, is cheap. If you are a fan of the regime, you just throw your hand in the air and shout in Farsi: “Death to Israel, death to America“. As mentioned earlier, guess who is paying the price of Iran’s slogans and its conflict with Israel now? Lebanon. Is their anything more unfair than this sad truth?

May God protect Lebanon, which deserves better. May it remain in harmony domestically and, eventually in the far future, learn to become truly neutral with all its neighbours and nations of the world, including those who have fought on or occupied its beautiful land. You may agree or disagree, you are free. So is Bambi who is sick and tired of senseless wars, lack of vision for solutions of endless conflicts, and of worries about loved ones.

What a beautiful, and sadly timely, French-Canadian song from the 1950s that Bambi often posts on this blog (may Mr. Raymond Lévesque’s memory be eternal).

If you are interested, you can find an English translation of the lyric on this website: https://shorturl.at/aQMih .

May this song, especially on Thanksgiving Day in Canada, bring hope for love.

On May 30, as per an older post shown further below, Bambi denounced a shooting at a Jewish girl school in North York (Ontario). Thankfully, no one was injured back then.

Sadly, yesterday on the symbolic day of Yom Kippur, another shooting targeted the same school overnight. No one was injured, thank Goodness. This unacceptable violent incident is still being investigated by the police (https://shorturl.at/tN9xj).

Of note, similar violent incidents took place in Montreal during the last academic year (https://shorturl.at/0sY3r). However, in all Canada’s provinces and territories, there must be zero tolerance for violence toward any public or private school, including both secular and religious ones (whether Jewish, Islamic, or other). This is the least at all times, to begin with, and especially during a senseless yet cruel war, which is taking place miles away, including in Bambi’s birth country more recently.

Indeed, all Canadians deserve to grow up, learn, work, and live while being as well as feeling safe. Thus, enough of intimidation toward youth and parents of Jewish heritage in our peaceful country. It is no one’s fault if there is an armed conflict in the Middle East.

Instead, why don’t we learn or re-connect with the value of tolerance, as per the beautiful French song of Mr. Enrico Macias shared below? It is performed, with a personal touch, by a talented singer, Mr. Pascal Leyman. Below, you can read the song’s lyrics, which Bambi translated on her blog three years ago (English is followed by the original French).

“Tolerance is proof of love and intelligence

Tolerance is respect for life in all countries

Tolerance is to have a lot of indulgence for your neighbour

Open your heart instead of clenching your fists

For no reason for nothing

All forgiven for the tears

Of a child or of a woman

We are never loved

By fear or by severity

Understanding the ideas of others

Without wanting to impose our own

It is in this world a virtue

That we lost

Tolerance is reasoning about the passions of difference

Tolerance means recognizing to everyone their divine rights

Tolerance is the last chance for today’s humans

If they don’t want to no longer live in freedom

in a few years

Despite the many disagreements that still exist between us

Everything can be discussed if we know how to forgive first

Whatever the naysayers of all stripes can write

Mourning the future, I still refuse

Tolerance will eventually win out over backbiting

And on that day, on earth

There won’t be happier than me”.

Original French lyrics of Mr. Macias’ song:

« La tolérance, c’est une preuve d’amour et d’intelligence
La tolérance, c’est le respect de la vie dans tous les pays
La tolérance, c’est d’avoir pour son prochain beaucoup d’indulgence
Ouvrir son cœur au lieu de fermer les poings
Sans raison pour rien

Tout excusé devant les larmes
D’un enfant ou bien d’une femme
On est jamais aimé
Par crainte ou par sévérité
Comprendre les idées des autres
Sans vouloir imposer les nôtres
C’est dans ce monde une vertu

Que nous avons perdue

La tolérance, c’est raisonner les passions de la différence
La tolérance, c’est reconnaitre à chacun tous ses droits divins
La tolérance, c’est pour les hommes d’aujourd’hui la dernière chance
S’ils ne veulent pas ne plus vivre en liberté
dans quelques années

Malgré les nombreux désaccords qui entre nous existent encore
Tout peut se discuter si l’on sait pardonner d’abord
Qu’importe ce que peuvent écrire les défaitistes de tous bords
Porter le deuil de l’avenir, je m’y refuse encore

La tolérance finira par l’emporter sur la médisance
Et ce jour là, sur terre
Il n’y aura pas plus heureux que moi».

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Canada: what have we become as a society to, once again, find ourselves worried about shooting of a Jewish school in the name of a war at the other end of the world?

The late and GREAT tenor Pavarotti who was born on October 12, 1935, left our world on September 6, 2007 (https://shorturl.at/iz6vt). In this post, Bambi pays tribute to him, with his own voice and insights from an interview she discovered while preparing this post.

Of note, the chat mentioned above (in English, sub-titled in Arabic), among him and two TV hosts, took place in Lebanon many years ago. From it, Bambi learned that Mr. Pavarotti was initially a school teacher and his father was also a tenor. She learned a lot of interesting details stemming from his childhood in Italy.

Of course, Bambi was already familiar with Pavarotti’s charity work in partnership with the Red Cross and in support of refugees. Being “a child of war” and being filled with sensitivity, he was a great philanthropist and ambassador of humanity.

“Grazie“/Thank you, Mr. Luciano Pavarotti for having existed, for your incredible legacy, and for the generosity of your heart. May your memory be eternal today more than ever.