Category: Sackville’s Memorial park

Bambi and her spouse walked by the Main Exit. On their way, they noticed that all the electoral signs of Ms. Nancy Mercier were removed (but a low-profile intact one and one vandalized further).

They were both shocked to see this further vandalism by the Main Exit toward Nova Scotia (see the picture above).

Once again, none of the other candidates’ signs were touched.

In this election or in this riding, it is Ms. Mercier’s electoral sign that is being vandalized. In other places or in other years, it may be someone else’s sign. Who knows?  

All Canadians should worry to see such vandalism REGARDLESS of whose sign it is, not just because it is illegal.

Why? Because this is a killjoy for democracy. It is a slippery slope that once we allow ourselves to move along it, the end result will be ugly for all of us.

The biggest loser is democracy in our country. Is this what we want?

Plus, how come the nearby Amherst (NS) knows how to be more civilized than us (and we consider ourselves like a “clever” town)?

If Bambi s not mistaken, Amherst seems to have candidates running for all the big national parties, and even smaller parties that are considered as outliers (or at the extreme of a normal distribution).

Bambi has never ever seen such a level of fascism, not even in Lebanon ☹!

In Beirut, no one vandalizes even the picture of Mr. Nasrallah (Chief of the Hezbollah) who drags Lebanon into war (against Israel), behind the back of the Government, and who aligns the country a bit too much toward Iran (exposing it to economic sanctions by Mr. Trump and, more alarmingly, to risk of violent regional conflicts).

Despite this, Lebanese politicians find ways to collaborate with this movement. Citizens live with it. Some criticize it from time to time in the media, on social media, or in their living rooms. However, no one would even think of vandalizing its electoral ad or any other ad. Even the Hezbollah itself does not vandalize ads of the other candidates. Despite those military excesses, it generally plays by the rules of the Lebanese democracy in a rather clever way, managing to have an efficient diplomatic internal political wing, along with its more aggressive external wing.

So, why is it that in our “Sweet Little Sackville”, in our peaceful NB and Canada, we tolerate fascism like that?

We should come together to denounce violence, regardless of the colour of the sign being vandalized.

Political parties come and go. Countries stay… But to stay and flourish, countries need democracy.

Bambi hopes to see democracy prevailing in Canada, regardless of the outcome of the election of October 21^st and of future ones.

Related to this federal campaign, because of work elsewhere, Bambi missed the debate that took place at Mount Allison University. However, before going to vote today, she took the time to listen the recorded French debate at the Université de Moncton.

Congratulations to the organizers of a very professional debate (better than the national English one!). Bravo to all our candidates. All were excellent in their respective ways. All had good ideas, including Ms. Mercier. All were civilized and knew how to acknowledge others’ good ideas. Bravo to our own Ms. Laura Reinsborough for her French.

Bambi invites those who have vandalized Ms. Nancy Mercier’s sign and who may be perhaps reading this post (who knows?) to read the earlier interview with her and to listen to the debate (please see below).

If they do so, they would learn that she was among, if not the first, minister in our province who celebrated gay marriages. They will learn also that her own grandmother is Native.

However, most importantly, they will see that she has good ideas locally, along with a clever platform of her PPC party. They may not wish to vote for it. They are free. However, they will be more informed as citizens if they listened.

Even the Hezbollah has candidates who speak fluent Hebrew and know their “enemy” well. Same for Israel. Please do not tell me that it is hard to be polite and chat with another Maritimer! I do not buy it.

You may not wish to vote for the PPC. However, shutting off its candidate is not only unCanadian or uncivilized. It is criminal.

Material that you can use to get to know Ms. Mercier’s ideas more before jumping to vandalize her electoral sign:

U de M debate in French, broadcasted on the radio:

Former post by Bambi:

Meet Nancy Mercier who was prevented from visiting our Sweet Little Sackville by a handful of *unsweet* citizens

Conclusion (meant to the perpetrators of violence in our town): Stop, listen, take a breath (it can help) before you act out.

Why commit a crime that you may regret?

You can learn that it is easier (and healthier) to start tolerating diversity of opinions.  

In the article below (with videos) “Canada is ‘awash in systemic racism,’ says Green Leader Elizabeth May”, the CBC journalist (Mr. David Thurston) asks Ms. May & Mr. Singh the following questions: Are we racists, as a country? In other terms, do we have systemic racism?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/elizabeth-may-green-party-racism-1.5318023

Both Ms. May & Mr. Singh replied: yes, we are.

Ms. May talked about her “white privilege” and how “Canada is awash in systemic racism”.

As for Mr. Singh, he talked about how our Government is racist (i.e., mainly toward First Nations due to water issues and cut in funding, etc.).

Despite the crying issues pointed at, it is a bit ironic how both politicians replied yes to the question.

Indeed, May, who has American origins, is the leader of a growing national political party.

Singh, who wears a turban, is the leader of yet another respectable national political party.

Bambi feels like sarcastically saying: How racist Canada is. YAK ?!

Perhaps Bambi should invite them both, at the end of their campaign, on a vacation trip to the Middle East. Upon their return from their touring trip, we will ask them if they still think if Canada “is awash with systemic racism”.

In Bambi’s opinion as an old immigrant who lived in three different provinces, in their over-zealous virtue signalling or genuine guilt feeling, Canadians of today tend to forget the following:

1. Immigrants also have a responsibility/duty in their adjustment to a country, not just the host society.

As Canadians, we tend to over-question ourselves and our values (because we are eager to welcome and accommodate newcomers; in and by itself, this tells us how much Canadians are NOT racist).   

Stated differently, immigrants are supposed to play an ACTIVE role in their OWN adaptation to society. They also should take responsibility of their actions or cognitive processes in order to integrate into the new society. They are not babies completely dependent on their parents. So, let’s not treat them as such.

For instance, they must learn to let go of cultural or societal traditions that are sometimes incompatible with our Canadian ways of living. In some cases, some new Canadians may have to learn to be tolerant like their adoptive country, leaving behind hate or racism toward certain groups (e.g., LGBTQ or people of other faith, etc.). In yet more extreme cases, they have to say good-bye to shocking cultural habits like female incisions, forced marriage, and… honour killing.

This can be done by embracing the Canadian beautiful values of freedom, tolerance, equality of men and women, equality of all under the law, etc.

2. Similarly, despite the tragic abusive past ☹, Indigenous Canadians also must take charge of their own lives (decisions, choices, etc.).

Not everything is the fault of the *racist* “privileged white man”.  

Plus, why are we now so obsessed with the colour of our skins? Since when?

Bambi does not recall having observed such an obsession in her first 20 years in Canada.

Related to this, she does not know the colour of her own skin, mind you. In those national surveys on diversity and inclusion or whatever they are called, she skips those questions ?.

In research surveys, she often does not know in which box to put a tick: Caucasian? Other? Sometimes, there is a long list where she could click on Mediterranean or Middle-Eastern or whatever else.

To come back to the First Nations, to use the words of Mr. Blanchet, “no Nation should put its fate in the hands of another one”. First Nations and Inuit can avoid doing this whilst being proud Canadians.

Loving our country (= being proud of whom we are collectively) is what would unite us all.

Bambi will also add that perhaps it can sometimes help not to put our fate too much into the hands of some of our own leaders. Bambi sees a similarity with Lebanon where some community/political leaders can become entitled or corrupt (while others may be decent).

Thank goodness Canada has been engaged in a process of mutual human discovery and healing. May peace prevails in everyone’s hearts…

May decent shelters, clean water, and better psychosocial and economic conditions become the norm from now on.

May all Canada’s children live in dignity and achieve their full potential!

May citizens take the right decisions for themselves, find and be able to keep jobs, whether they live on reserves or outside, in metropoles or smaller towns.

Regardless of the outcomes on October 21^st, Bambi hopes that Canadians will stop this weird habit of collective self-flagellation.

Why don’t we begin to learn to jointly reconnect with our pride as a nation for a change?

This reconnection could take place whilst working on concrete solutions to the critical issues raised by Mr. Singh. It can also co-occur with all our efforts of remembering the tragic past in order to avoid repeating it.

All this can be part of the healing process of mutual and self-forgiveness as well as a renewed unified Canadian pride.

This learning process will likely be more inspiring than self-flagellation for all of us: First Nations, older Canadians, newcomers, and all those dreaming of immigrating to our beautiful Canada.

To conclude, here is a song tribute to Canada from the heart of Lebanon by Fairouz. It is called “my little house in Canada” (Bambi’s dad shared it with her recently).

How interesting. Even the Lebanese “Naharnet” focused on our Canadian debates in an article entitled “Trudeau called compulsive liar in last election debate” (Lebanon has a large diaspora in Canada, one must recall):

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/265482-canada-s-trudeau-called-compulsive-liar-in-last-election-debate

The article above features Trudeau, Scheer, Singh, and May.

No word about Blanchet & Bernier.

How ironic. For Bambi, Bernier and Blanchet were the real winners of these two debates.

Perhaps Blanchet expressed the most significant sentence of the whole campaign: “No nation should put its fate in the hands of another one”. He said this in replying to a First Nations Canadian citizen in the audience. He added “neither the First Nations nor the (English) Canadian Nation nor the Québec Nation”.

Clearly, the Bloc is doing a great job in this campaign. It would be nice to see Québec being well represented again in the Parliament, regardless of the party in power.

Of course, Bambi says this, recognizing that it is much easier to be in the opposition than to govern. Plus, this party is yet to show Quebeckers concretely how they will proceed on important issues.

Blanchet’s comment was particularly meaningful given the unacceptable, non-professional English debate. Indeed, what a shame and waste of time, especially with Trudeau-Scheer’s cacophony on top of the biased journalists’ questions (i.e. on Bill 21). Journalists seemed  disrespectful toward Québec. Same for our federal politicians (although they may simply reflect the tendency in the population).

Perhaps all this was a staged drama that would make our Prime Minister appear like the Aladdin’s Genie, that is a saviour protecting Canadian citizens from the “racist” Quebeckers (i.e., challenging Bill 21 in federal courts, etc.). Could it be?

Funny how we tend to walk on eggs with all minority groups and sub-groups (ethnic this or that, Jews, Muslims, even Islamists, First Nations, extreme ecologists blocking bridges, etc.). Ironically, and sadly, no one cares about wearing white gloves with the 70% of one of our founding nations who supported this Bill. The latter being simply a different historic-cultural way of conceiving secularism (separation of religions from the State). Plus, there was no word on the existence of such laws elsewhere in Europe (France, Switzerland, etc.).

Bambi knows MANY Montreal citizens who support this bill, even among Muslim and Arab communities. No one talks about this in the media. We hardly hear about these people in articles by the CBC, mind you. Things are not as black and white as they want us to think (even if there may be a discrepancy between Montreal and the rest of the province on this matter).

In Bambi’s mind, disrespect is perhaps more digestible than hypocrisy mixed with disrespect and inept leadership.

Hypocrisy is Trudeau’s strength.

Indeed, Trudeau had a contradictory message in the two official languages.

Singh almost successfully imitated Trudeau’s hypocritical style with a totally opposite message in French versus English (Bernier cleverly pointed out to this).

Bernier was the clearest of all.

He succeeded in focusing on presenting his platform and he spoke directly to those who would be personally electing him (or not?). He attacked the least. He knew how to listen. He earned our interest. He also came up with several good citations.

We may agree with him or we may not. However, we cannot accuse him of one ounce of hypocrisy. In other terms, with him, what you see seems to be what you will get. He is congruent in his messages on all platforms and in all languages from Coast to Coast to Coast.

Of course, he made mistakes. Of course, he will make more in the future. However, he is a smart leader. I am sure he can learn. Plus, he has a solid political expertise and an experience in the private sector.

Bambi liked how Mr. Maxime Bernier spoke against supply management (she would like to see the prices of milk and eggs go down). He did that even at his own political risk. Like him, she is also against corporate welfare.

Of course, balancing the budget in 2 years seems to be appealing, to say the least.

At one point, when Bernier was cornering Sheer, the latter told Bernier that “he will not be imposing anything given that he will lose (his seat) in the Beauce”. Many of our media seem to dream of this outcome (i.e., numerous titles and articles’ contents). Who knows? Anything is possible, although Bambi has a good vibe.

What Bambi admires is how he put all his national party together in less than a year.

Bambi wonders if Trudeau would be personally elected rather, even if his party would remain in power (likely a minority government… but who knows?).

Perhaps Ms. May is also a principled leader, like Bernier. Bambi likes her, even if she loses her when she cites Greta’s “house on fire”, although she admits that her “Comment osez-vous?” (= How dare you?) sounds cuter out of her mouth.

A part of the French debate that Bambi enjoyed was hearing Singh and May agreeing with Bernier (even joking about it). These were nice, collegial moments.

Same for the courageous and moving question from a lady in the audience about assisted dying. We had the impression that our politicians have truly worked together with this legislation that seems to need refinement now.

Of course, there were other boring moments in those debates or moments of cacophony or of joint attacks toward single persons (Bernier and even Trudeau and at times Scheer).

We also had good quotes, almost by all.  

As well, bravo to those debating in their second language. It is particularly challenging under the stress of time.  

Talking about stress, the French debate was well organized (3-way-debates, not six like the English one and an efficient time management). All in all, Bambi tips her hat for the highly professional Mr. Patrice Roy (Radio-Canada) for his excellent moderation.

He did not hesitate to cut the microphones of everyone to force them to be disciplined. What an efficient Moderator!

French debate (original):

French debate (in English):

Yesterday evening, Bambi and her spouse decided to help one of the candidates for the federal elections who does not live in Sackville and who happens to be physically disabled (yet highly energetic!).

Bambi will name Ms. Nancy Mercier, running for the PPC (the new and perhaps growing national party of Mr. Maxime Bernier).

Bambi thought that Ms. Mercier would have trouble accessing our streets. It turned out that, once again, she had more trouble accessing our fellow citizens’ closed minds.

How sad for Sackville and Canada. Bambi naively imagined that such acts only happen in other less developed countries…. Welcome to Canada of 2019 ☹.  

Last spring, someone threatened the Painted Pony Restaurant that was supposed to host her Meet & Greet. Likely out of fear, the restaurant ended up cancelling the dinner (losing business).

Bambi wanted to attend that dinner to meet this new politician out of curiosity. In disbelief, she thought to herself: Wow, even in Beirut public events take place with any political party. Restaurants and pubs welcome any business by anyone running, even by parties as heavily armed as the Hizbollah or by parties they may not particularly like (perhaps even past “enemies” during civil war). What matters the most would be to earn a living. In other terms, to be as prosperous as possible.

Anyhow, that story is old news. However, a few days ago, someone vandalized Ms. Mercier’s ad at the Main Street exit toward Nova Scotia. One must add that not a single nearby ad of the other candidates was touched. How convenient.

These acts should be denounced by all candidates and by all citizens, in Bambi’s mind.

To continue the saga of Ms. Mercier in our town yesterday night (around 10:30 PM), Bambi and her spouse (fast-running deer, one driving and one running!), put three additional signs in town with the name of Ms. Mercier and the purple colour of her party.

Putting a sign does not remove any esteem or fond respect they have for the other candidates to whom they wish good luck!

Just in the recent past and almost all her life (minus once), Bambi voted for the party of one of our other candidates. Not this time and it is not because of this highly competent candidate. It is rather because of the silly and hypocritical times we live in…

Her vote will not be set in stone. For now, it has been earned (bravo and thank you to Mr. Bernier, along with the decent Nancy Mercier), regardless of the outcome on October 21, 2019.

This being said, Bambi would like to see all the other parties having a significant representation in our parliament. All of them have something good about them. Something Canadian. Diversity of opinions is a sign of a healthy democracy. The absence of diversity of opinions should worry us all.

Anyhow, to come back to Ms. Mercier’s sign, one of them was put on the corner of York and Lansdowne Streets near the border of the road, which is a municipal property (not a private property).

Removing or vandalizing a federal electora sign is considered illegal when it is a public space (i.e. border of a street).

Would the person who took it down have the decency of returning it (Ms. Mercier is on a tight budget) or… at least the civilized act of recycling it?

This picture Bambi took it from the Twitter account of Greta Thunberg. This is a Friday strike in Beirut, Lebanon, that Greta (or her PR team taking care of her social media communication) are bragging about.

Recognizing that more than anywhere else in the world, respect for the environment is a TRUE crisis in Lebanon (sadly due to high pollution), Bambi can count only 30 youths in this picture (likely university students). They are walking on the street, protected by police cars and police officers walking with them. We can see the long traffic behind, as if Beirut needed another excuse for more traffic.

Recently, the Lebanese Government declared a state of emergency… But not due to climate change, rather to a deep economic crisis (Bambi would add also to corruption, although not sure which comes first). At least people try to do something about corruption by naming it and denouncing it. At least citizens know when they are being taken for a ride, whether by their own politicians or by external trendy movements.

Lebanon has so many sad issues but, at least, it seems to be resistant to pressure on the education front (schools and universities). Bambi worries that with the Pope embracing communist ideas, things may change over there due to the widespread Catholic influence (Christian schools, colleges, universities, and faith in people’s hearts; in other terms, Christian influence even in a multi-faith country with large Muslim influences).

Anyhow, instead of a movement like the Fridays for Future stemming out of Sweden, Bambi wishes that this country will stop selling weapons that contribute to *fires* here and there in the Arab world. Those fires may be imminently riskier than “the fire” in “our house” to use Greta’s own words.

References:

https://www.businessinsider.com/swedens-dirty-secret-they-arm-dictators-2014-5

https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2019/09/MIELCAREK/60365

https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2019/09/MIELCAREK/60320

Bambi came across this article (Journal de Montréal, October 4, 2019) by Ms. Marjorie Champagne entitled “Je n’allaite pas donc je pollue” [I do not breastfeed, therefore I pollute].

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2019/10/04/je-nallaite-pas-donc-je-pollue

In this article, the journalist expressed her shock in reading another article by Ms. Pauline Gravel (Le Devoir, October 3, 2019) entitled: “Allaiter son enfant pour l’amour de la planète” [Breastfeeding one’s child out of love for the planet].

https://www.ledevoir.com/societe/science/563924/allaiter-c-est-bon-aussi-pour-la-planete

Bambi was curious. She searched for and read the original scientific article cited in the news article above.

The article basically argues that “Formula milk contributes to environmental degradation and climate change” (a sub-title of the article).

The author wrote that “overall, breastfeeding for six months saves an estimated 95-153 kg CO₂ equivalent per baby compared with formula feeding”. For the UK, this would “equate to taking between 50 000 and 77 500 cars off the road each year”.  

First and foremost, Bambi is shocked to see that this paper was authored by a scientist who has published in a very serious journal:

Yes, Dr. Schenker seems to be “a former surgeon, scientist, and the cofounder of the Human Milk Foundation”. 

Plus, the British Medical Journal (BMC for short) is” one of the world’s oldest general medical journals. It published its first weekly edition on 3 October 1840 as the Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal before uniting with the London Journal of Medicine and publishing from January 1853 as the Associated Medical Journal.  Four years later in January 1857, this merged journal became the British Medical Journal”.

The 2018 “Impact Factor” of this journal was 27.604. This is considered a prestigious measure of the frequency with which the journal’s average article has been cited in a particular year. Of course, one must not attribute to this numerical indicator more importance than needed. However, this measure usually tells how much a journal is a serious one in its scientific field. Some articles, namely reviews of the literature, tend to be cited more frequently than others (empirical studies or other types of articles). If this journal publishes that sort of papers, this can contribute to increase its impact factor (or IF) for the year(s) following the review. Regardless, 27.604 is clearly a prestigious IF.

Here is the article in question:

https://www.bmj.com/content/367/bmj.l5646

Second, Dr. Schenker ends her paper with the following statement: “We need to acknowledge that “our house is on fire” and that the next generation requires us to act quickly to reduce carbon footprints in every sphere of life. Breastfeeding is a part of this jigsaw, and urgent investment is needed across the sector.”

This is the first time in Bambi’s lifetime, both as a citizen and as a researcher, that she reads a scientific (medical) paper where an author cites a teenager (Greta!) instead of citing the body of knowledge from earlier science (usually produced by real scientists!). How odd.

Third, exactly for the same reasons as Ms. Champagne, Bambi is shocked: Indeed, once again, we are guilting new mothers.

New mothers do not need that extra existential guilt.

They already feel guilty in their early moments of adjustment to motherhood (and even later in their lives).

They can feel guilty if they do not breastfeed long enough. They can also feel guilty if they cannot breastfeed altogether.

They may also wish to or end up not wanting to breastfeed for all sorts of reasons.

Who knows? They may be feeling a bit down due to the common postpartum blues… or worse, they may be struggling with symptoms of postpartum depression.

Whether clinically depressed or not, new moms may end up learning to let go, in order to rely on their support system, and include their partners or family members in the feeding activities. This by itself is an ultimate gesture of maternal love/sensitivity.

So, basically, even if we know all the benefits of breastfeeding from evolution across species, from common sense, and from science, Bambi will say: Enough of pressure on women (and their families) please.

The pressure can come from the external world or… worse, from the mothers’ own self-pressure to be “good” mothers. So, imagine the additional ecological pressure (the new religion of our times) on top of all this?

One must also recall that despite all the benefits of the world stemming from natural milk/breastfeeding, natural selection may have come into play at one point in our human earlier generations to allow us to develop enzymes to digest cow milk. Thank Goodness Bambi is thinking to herself, as her own mom fed her with that delicious cow milk.

Plus, we do not talk much about it but maternal stress hormones do pass through breastfeeding to the infants. Bambi had to statistically control for this effect in one of her studies on depression during pregnancy and infant stress reactivity.

Oh, plus, can’t or don’t mothers who do breastfeed love their kids AND the planet even they do not nurse them?

Without having had the honour of successfully reproducing with her loving partner, Bambi is convinced that their newborn would have meant the world to them… and, at that moment of giving birth, they would have not given a damn about our planet… in all honesty (Bambi is saying this and she usually cares about people, animals, plants, and our shared environments).

Indeed, the last thing that Bambi thought of when losing her three pregnancies was our Planet (neither A nor B!).

That thought also was the last thing on her mind during her fostering and hosting parental experiences.

When kids are in a survival mode (e.g., going through adversities or in their journey transitioning into a new foster home or out of it, they simply do not have the luxury of being as illuminated as some of us are in their aspirations for a “greener” world… or for a sexier (more fundable?) research.

This post is a comment to an article entitled “We do not have a Planet B” by Ms. Emma Conrad published in the Argosy, Mount Allison Independent Student Newspaper (October 2^nd, 2019):

http://www.since1872.ca/news/we-dont-have-a-planet-b/

The article in question reads:

“The speeches and demands were delivered at Bill Johnstone Memorial Park. Here, anyone who wanted to discuss climate change was invited up to the microphone to talk about what they felt was important.

“I am here today for the same reasons that you are all here – to ensure we have a sustainable future and a habitable planet,” began Yao. “I speak on [Zero Hour’s] behalf because I want you to walk away from today’s march understanding that the climate crisis is not an independent issue.

“When we are talking about a just transition to a sustainable way of living, we must address the real roots of climate change,” said Yao. “We understand the mechanisms, but the human conditions that enabled it are more complex yet just as essential. I am talking about patriarchy, racism, colonialism, capitalism, and all the ways we have chosen to systematically exploit the land and the people.”

End of Conrad’s quote.

Bambi has always been intrigued by how educated, smart students like Ms. Yao seem to always repeat the same clichés about capitalism.

Perhaps they do so without much thought about the concept? Perhaps they missed the Economy lesson if it is taught on Fridays when they have been busy striking ??

Anyhow, Bambi shared the thought above with her friend Mr. Lifshitz. She asked him for his opinion, as a financial expert. Maybe he has a more logical explanation.

Luckily, she did so because she heard a wise answer that goes like this: “Students seem to confuse capitalism with greed. Could it be?”

What an interesting hypothesis, Bambi thanked her friend. It is indeed a possibility.  

In Bambi’s mind, capitalism is free market. In other terms, it is free enterprise (more room for private ownership in this economy). Production and income distribution are largely determined by the market.

Capitalism has clearly created economic growth, preventing preterm birth, infant mortality, and lifting many children, not just in Canada but also around the world, out of poverty.  

Yes, obviously, more work needs to be done. However, we are moving in the right direction, at least in terms of better access to education and healthcare in many of the low to medium-income countries of the world, including Bambi’s birth country.

Of course, we also need to keep our planet clean and beautiful because, as Conrad titled her article: “We do not have a planet B”.

In Bambi’s mind, greed would be extreme, selfish desire for wealth or power. Thus, greed is not a virtue. It is selfish, especially in a society that is thankfully rooted in some socialism (where people care for each other and where our government, through our tax money, can be supportive too).

In sum, capitalism is NOT greed.

Ms. Yao also talked about patriarchy, racism, colonialism.

Bambi searched the website of Zero Hour:

http://thisiszerohour.org/

She came across the same sentence repeated by Ms. Yao (speaking on behalf of this *global* organization): 

“Through this campaign, Zero Hour will educate communities around the country and abroad about the systems of oppression that Zero Hour names as root causes of climate change in our platform, including Capitalism, Racism, Sexism, Colonialism, and how these systems intersect with the climate movement to form climate justice”.

Interesting… But what does all this really mean?

Perhaps students confuse capitalism with greed indeed? But what about Zero Hour? Does it confuse Canada/North America with Saudi Arabia, Iran, or ISIS-controlled areas in Syria or Congo? For example, how would sexism be related to climate change, Bambi wonders?

She thought global warming would perhaps differently affect us on a geographic basis more than anything else.

Intersectionality (a term our own Prime Minister used lately) may be a double-edged sword: At times, it makes sense to think about how adversities can (and do) overlap. However, at other times, these concepts would be simply totally unrelated. It would be actually illogical to assume otherwise.

For instance, Michael Lifshitz is from a certain ethno-linguistic background (Jewish anglophone from Montreal), now an Ottawa citizen. He is physically disabled. He could have been trans or gay, Native or descendant of settlers…. But, for God’s sake, how would all this make his disability more disabling?

Of course, if there is a flooding or a fire, Michael would be more vulnerable to the natural disaster BUT ONLY because of his disability and perhaps a non-accessible transportation.

However, thankfully, capitalism would most likely allow him to be creative in finding (and affording!) preventive solutions or ideas to minimize consequences. Capitalism can also allow his loved ones to be able to assist him as well.

If capitalism can help Bambi’s friend in surviving natural disasters (with or without a climate crisis), Bambi would have another reason to appreciate capitalism’s benefits.

Bambi hopes more and more people in the world can be as prosperous as us Canadians.

She also hopes we will know how to diversify our economy whilst respecting our environment.  

For the latter, thanks to all those who genuinely care for our planet.

Bambi hopes that no one will fall into the trap of repeating slogans without a reality check from time to time, especially against the specific context of our region and our country.

In our “noble” efforts to be engaged citizens, let’s avoid enslaving ourselves in our own slogans, that is without questioning the meaning of each word we chant, say, or repeat.

Below, Bambi would like to share a translated French article by Ms. Denise Bombardier published in the Journal de Montréal on October 1, 2019. Food for thought…

First, here is the link to the article:

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2019/10/01/les-vieux-qui-idolatrent-les-jeunes

Second and last, here is an English translation:

“Once again, we observe the same phenomenon as the one during the impressive collective communion (Ms. Bombardier is referring to the giant demonstration in Montreal on September 27, 2019) whose highlight was the presence of the young popess of the environment. Indeed, Greta Thunberg took over the children of Fatima and Bernadette Soubirous who became saints, serving as spokespersons for the Virgin Mary, intermediary between God and them.

Today, Greta Thunberg is the repository of the prophecies announcing the end of the world. Number of young people to whom adults have transmitted only doubts, to whom they have transferred the suffering stemming from the rifts of their separations and divorces, to whom they have imposed their life of frenzy, narcissism and adoration of the golden calf. However, these adults transformed them, from little emperors into child prophets. Perhaps for their greatest misfortune.

Many of these older adults/seniors surely feel the need to worship children and teenagers, not only in the pathetic hope of freeing themselves of guilt but also in an attempt to rejuvenate themselves because the fear of death is devouring them.

Thus, they give young people virtues: beauty, energy, purity of purpose, tolerance, and clairvoyance, which they believe to have lost themselves when in reality they have probably never possessed to begin with.

Instrumentalization

In this sense, these adults can instrumentalize young people. This may also be the case for Greta Thunberg’s parents who witnessed her ordeal when, at the age of ten, she plunged into a long depression. So, how can we not be worried about this young Swedish girl’s personal future when she has been propelled to the summit of a global glory where politicians and activists seek their oxygen? Who is interested in this child so different from others with her shifty eyes and rare, uneasy smiles?

On social networks, like old “croutons” with a lackluster or dull past, many are denouncing their own generation, of which they exclude themselves, to become ecstatic in front of young people. This is quite pitiful.

The war between the generations is rather a matter of a broken record on both sides. Young people, anxious to put away the old folks, who clutter the places they think they have inherited without any regard for senior’s skills and talents, are no more adequate than the old crumbling idlers who deride their irreplaceable “exploits”.

Let’s never forget that intelligence, talent and sensitivity derive first and foremost from personal qualities. A young idiot with no experience is at risk of becoming an old idiot with experience.

Regression

The war between generations in the name of youthism practised by elders or the ageism applied by young people who exclude seniors is above all a sign that our society is in social, moral and spiritual regression.

There are as many children with an old soul as there are seniors with a child’s soul. Respect, affection, and mutual admiration guarantee psychological balance between adults and children.

Blindness, stupidity and ignorance have no age. Wisdom is a matter of personality. Like the ability to be happy. Like lucidity. The war between generations is an absurdity”.

Yesterday, on September 27, 2019, an impressive number of Canadian youth (and older folks) walked for the climate.

Many were of course likely happy to skip school. They were paradoxically encouraged by their school boards/teachers to do so (usually we do not strike in conformity but rather in opposition!).

Others may have been genuine carers for the environment, simply keen to show their care. Bravo to them in that case, perhaps even more so to those who took the initiative to clean the mess after the walk (like some did in Montreal).

Yet other folks walked to score political points, to signal their virtue, and to perhaps gain a few more votes (in French, we can say, they aspire to be or appear to be *VERTueux*/*VERTueuses*).

Who knows? Maybe others walked without knowing precisely why they did so. Perhaps they did not want others to take a guess neither.

Last but not the least, other walkers almost received a dozen eggs on their heads (oups not a vegan projectile; how daring). Aye for this gesture!

That egg incident in Montreal reminded Bambi of a trip she made to Beirut in 2000. On that same trip, she visited Lebanon, Syria, and France. In each country, a historic event happened: In Lebanon, Israel withdrew its army after 20 years of occupation. Wow. In Syria, Assad the father (BIG dictator who has occupied Lebanon as well) died. Yes, even dictators die too. In France, their national soccer team (“Les Bleus”) won the European Championship. Bambi still recalls how she has naively (OK stupidly) cheered by standing up and applauding to a German goal (the opponents of the French, her favourite team in the world). All this happened at a pub of a small village filled with excited soccer fans. Wrong team or wrong country ?. Aye for Bambi who managed to return safely to Canada!

Anyhow, to come back to the eggs that Mr. Trudeau almost received on his head yesterday in Montreal, well, Bambi saw a sort of an avalanche of eggs from balconies meant to fall on the heads of Hizbollah militia parading in their tanks in a Beirut neighborhood after the historic withdrawal of Israel mentioned above. The irony of the contradiction then was that people seemed to be thrilled yet they did not appreciate seeing Lebanon being oriented too much toward Iran. Plus, they would have preferred to see this group return their weapons like all the other groups who participated in the ugliest civil war.

Anyway, as our Prime Minister, Mr. Trudeau represents all the contradictions we have been observing in our country lately, not just during an electoral campaign. In Bambi’s mind, he also represents a lack of efficient leadership for all sorts of reasons beyond this post (although somehow related too).

Perhaps the apparent contradictions that has attracted Bambi’s attention the most were four other interesting events:

1. Mr. Legault, Prime Minister of Québec published an open letter to the youth of Québec reaching out to them on this important day (when they were going to be on the streets). A smart gesture by a pragmatic man who seems to behave like a leader of a real country would:

https://www.journaldequebec.com/2019/09/27/lettre-a-la-jeunesse-quebecoise

2. An article informed us of Prince Harry’s eco-anxiety:

https://www.thedailybeast.com/prince-harry-eco-anxiety-leaves-me-struggling-to-get-out-of-bed

Bambi will not comment!

3. Mayor Valérie Plante, who has been saying that Montreal is an unceded indigenous territory, even a Mohawk one (considered a controversial sentence in December 2017), came up with a platitude that goes like follow: As adults *we do not inherit* earth from our ancestors but we rather *borrow it* from our children. Doesn’t the later contradicts the former? In other terms, our ancestors/elders do not matter any more now? Only kids and babies… oh no, babies YAK to them when we are going toward a mass extinction! Many young women have been deciding not have children anymore. A large number came together to sign a document and put pressure on politicians.

4. Last but not least, perhaps the most ironic (disturbing) message Bambi heard today whilst working in her office was the chanting of young kids outside: “Stop the violence, stop the hatred… keep the oil in the ground… no pipeline on stolen land…”.

Violence and hatred. Did Bambi hear well? Is this a song by strikers in the Middle East or in Congo? Oups, no. It is in Sackville, NB, Canada, one of the most peaceful places on the face of earth!

What are we teaching (brainwashing?) our young kids? Plus, what is meant by stolen land? What about first nations folks who work or aspire to work in the oil industry anywhere in Canada? Don’t they deserve to have their voices heard too? And wouldn’t their opinion be perhaps different from the spirit of this chant?

If we keep going down this road of radicalism (“à la Greta” with her apocalyptic message at the UN), we could/would risk one day silencing dissident voices; just like the Hizbollah can at times do to folks from its own community who do not believe in its methods of fighting potential occupations or wars with Israel.

To conclude this post, what really and seriously worries Bambi is to see the beautiful, noble, and necessary ecologism being hijacked by radicalism (a bit like how Islamism hijacks Islam).

In Montreal, Greta T. talked again about the need to listen “to the scientists. Which ones? Bambi wondered to herself? Only those who would say: Transfer those funds, keep that oil in the ground, trash “economic growth”, limit people’s freedoms, add taxes… because the end is near? What if their scientific studies and predictive models do not yield similar results? Or what if they keep in mind the bigger picture of the climate in connection to the economy and… reason? What if they stand up to tell Greta and her movement that this does not seem to make sense anymore? Would Greta tell them at the next UN meeting: “How dare you too?”.

Oh, one more question: Why doesn’t Greta ask us to listen to engineers too? After all, it is them who will be innovating solutions in order to transition to other forms of energies one day.

At the pace things are evolving in our world, it will surely take many years to de-radicalize our young people’s brains, unless people will start opening their eyes.

As one of the smartest men Bambi knows said once: If we keep moving in this direction, it is Alberta who would risk leaving our beautiful Canada… before Québec. The latter, despite its impressive electrical power and potential for more of it, as Mr. Legault pointed out to in his letter to the youth.

Wise Lebanese grand mothers used to tell their grand kids: Jesus himself came on earth and did not rally everyone behind him. In other terms, some folks saw in him the Messiah (or saviour) whilst others did not believe in him.

Keeping this spirit in mind, it is interesting to read articles about Greta’s speech at the UN by two journalists Bambi usually thinks highly of, Ms. Sophie Durocher and Ms. Emanuelle Latraverse, from the same Journal de Montréal (La Traverse was initially working for the French CBC):

Too bad Bambi does not have the time to translate, not even to check the translation after her friend Google ?.

The title of Ms. Latraverse’s article is: “Greta, the magnificent”.

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2019/09/24/greta-la-magnifique

The title of Ms. Durocher’ is: “When Greta loses it”.

https://www.journaldemontreal.com/2019/09/24/quand-greta-pete-une-coche

We are reading about the same Greta who appears in this video:

Bambi can only sadly agree with Ms. Durocher on this one. It is heartbreaking to see Greta like that at the UN.

Bambi cannot help not to think how *UNacceptable* it is to see a 16-year-old youth with autism (with comorbid depression and anxiety!) being weaponized at the Assembly of Nations in front of the eyes of people around the world.

Like Ms. Durocher, Bambi thinks that Greta is in danger but not from the global warming… she is in danger of tragic consequences of this adventure ☹.

So are maybe generations of youth around the world who are skipping schools and believing that they are saving the world (her disciples).

We have created a world-wide phenomenon of propaganda out of the good-intentioned, talented Greta that can backfire not only on her but also on all our youth.

Why are we doing this to our children? And why has the UN turned into a melodramatic platform?

Why can’t we talk about environmental issues with calm, using our rational brain (prefrontal cortex, for God’s sake) instead of our out-of-proportional emotion of fear (amygdala of our limbic system).

Where are the scientists? The real ones, not the kids?

Where are the world politicians, the balanced or wise ones; not the ones who have totally lost their mind or sold their soul to this scary totalitarian-like youth movement, which looks more like a blind religion than anything else. 

When Bambi was a younger teenager than Greta, she mailed out a letter to the Pope, out of their shelter, with one of her now deceased friend who escaped to Beirut from occupied South Lebanon. Together, they denounced the Israeli occupation and violence. They asked the Pope to pray for peace and to act to save the children of Lebanon.

They have never ever shamed adults (nor did any of her fellow child citizens who called for the end of the absurd civil war).

They truly saw adults behaving like children: fighting on the streets or killing innocent people (i.e., snipers) or kidnapping them or kidnapping innocent foreigners.

The kids and their parents had all the reasons of the world to believe that Beirut would not rise after 15 years of sustained total destruction. Yet, they kept their hope and perspective in life.

See for yourself if you do not believe Bambi that Beirut has been rebuilt (it has been destroyed and rebuilt 7 times through history, mind you):

Bambi’s point is that there is ALWAYS hope in-between what seems like black and white in a moment of despair or anxiety.

The planet has seen more extreme over millions of years and humanity is still here. Our earth is more resilient than we think. So are we.

To come back to Greta, Bambi wishes her well and wishes us adult wisdom.