Friday, July 28, 2006

Human Rights in Slow Motion

Yesterday, on the way to work, I had one of those epiphanic moments. I don't know if this happens to you, but sometimes my mind zooms in on an urban vignette somewhere in the city, like a tight cinematic close-up. Often, the profound thoughts this sparks are lost in the subsequent hurricane of daily tasks. But sometimes, I remember.

Every day, I bike past the Chinese consulate in Toronto. And every day, some elderly Falun Gong practitioner stands in front of the cold gates, performing Tai Chi-like poses, in quiet, passive protest against China's brutal persecution of their group. In reality, these geriatric, turtle-like exercisers pose no threat to anyone. But the communist government in China is afraid of any kind of organized movement and thus (allegedly) kills, maims and tortures them.

Yesterday. the remarkable vision of that little old woman slowly stretching her muscles, bones and tendons, in a free country -- in plain view of her enemies -- with the somehow anachronistic white buds of iPod headphones sticking out from under her rain hat was not lost on me. A history of palpable violence and stern defiance lurked behind the seeming peacefulness of her wrinkled face. That little woman represented the best that Canada has to offer the world; the judicious power of a commitment to maintain human rights.

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35 Comments:

Blogger Joe Calgary said...

Precisely the idea K-Dough.

The reflection of truth as seen through your eyes in that moment sums up the entire context of why and what we as a nation are about... Very poetic.

Or you've been smoking big fatty's laced with PCP...

One or the other, the epiphany remains the same.

12:47 PM, July 27, 2006  
Blogger K-Dough said...

JC: Hey, if sages of old could glean their insight from opium...

Thanks J-Dawg. I get your point. Unfortunately, on one hand, successive federal governments have wagged their fingers at China's human right abuses, and then rubbed 'n tugged them with the other. Can't miss out on a big slice of that economic miracle being forged on the backs of impoverished slaves can we?

2:06 PM, July 27, 2006  
Blogger Sheena said...

My problem is that everytime I read "Falun Gong", I start getting Duran Duran in my head, and this bothers me because I really prefer the T. Rex version.

2:14 PM, July 27, 2006  
Blogger K-Dough said...

You'd really need to take Quaaludes to get it on with a falun gong.

2:19 PM, July 27, 2006  
Blogger Joe Calgary said...

Exactly bud... on all points.

2:42 PM, July 27, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

And we're going to continue to celebrate China's supremacy in 2008 with the Olympics whilst buying Chinese products from "Canadian" TRire and Wal-Mart. Meanwhile, Falun Gong members will be silently beaten behind the awards ceremonies as the cameras lap up the communist success story...

12:10 AM, July 28, 2006  
Blogger scout said...

it's a beautiful vignette...a definite NFB moment. and yet i can't help wonder why liberties like these are extended , as they should be, while six nations continue to hold their own land and the governenment continues not to follow it's own rule of law regarding indigenous rights. juge marshall is still tyrin gto kick them off and lock some up, and harpo is neatly avoiding the situation (save for having some rcmp in there and the army on standby).

doesn't make any sense.

2:09 AM, July 28, 2006  
Blogger K-Dough said...

Scout- I agree. But re: Harper, I don;t believe there are any short term political solutions to problems with First Nations' land claims. The feds should be back at the table negotiating hard and judiciously- not just tying these things up for as long as possible. Otherwise, as Chief Phil Fontaine said this week, this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of native unrest.

Definitely a huge blemish on my idealistic soliloquay. Thanks a lot for ruining everything Scout!

7:40 AM, July 28, 2006  
Blogger scout said...

hahaha , you're entirely welcome :)

it's not a matter of politics it's a matter of law. if canadian judges had the balls to go by rule of law and not dicta , as judge clarence thomas did in the states (at least the neo-con judges go by rule of law) then the right to sovereignty would come before the courts. this would be huge step number one as would tie right in to land claims.

i missed fontaine's remarks (oh oh, asleep at the wheel). but ya , i agree that native's are going to rise up big time with things continuuing as they are with harper and prentice (with flanagan in the background) .

meantime your post has inspired me to get back into tai chi, something i did for many many years.....so useful for body and mind.

my slogan (because it's considered a marshall art).......'tai chi, where we bore our opponents to death'.

12:44 PM, July 28, 2006  
Blogger Joe Calgary said...

No the natives won't, because I'm going to single-handedly empower them.

Heh.

12:58 PM, July 28, 2006  
Blogger Joe Calgary said...

Note: If you ask me how... it's going to take you some seriously complex reading to understand my response.

I'll respond though... or you can just trust me:)

12:59 PM, July 28, 2006  
Blogger K-Dough said...

JC- Are you saying you are missing a limb?

2:27 PM, July 28, 2006  
Blogger Sheena said...

!

3:39 PM, July 28, 2006  
Blogger Sheena said...

Does that mean I can blow off my trip to Ohio next week?

3:39 PM, July 28, 2006  
Blogger Joe Calgary said...

Just a left arm... my right arm is too powerful to use... ceptin on myself.

Huzzah.

Gotta go, weekend of sex, music, and food ahead of me.

Seriously though, if you really are interested, I'll show you how to solve the dilemma First Nations has, but it's 213 pages long, and 58 of them are pure technical. Took me ten years, two Chinese programmers, one of which is a fricken Einstein, and about $6 million in investment.

I unleash it this fall.

Hate putting people to sleep though, which is what happens when they read the proposal.

4:26 PM, July 28, 2006  
Blogger Tarkwell Robotico said...

excellent post.

I'd slip in the recent, apparently confirmed by David Kilgour and someone else, that there accusation of the government harvesting their organs as well.

7:08 PM, July 28, 2006  
Blogger scout said...

gasp! joe sold his arm....wait, how much did you get for it, i have a spare from eating genetically modified crops.

bore me joe, bore me. wait, no , not THAT kind of bore.....as in put me to sleep with your lengthy document. no no, the paper kind of lengthy document.

1:55 AM, July 29, 2006  
Blogger JM said...

Right on all points. Just one little quibble... you know that Ipod was made in China, eh?

11:10 AM, July 29, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

K-Dough, I have this contest going on in my blog and I just thought you might be interested in playing God.

7:23 PM, July 29, 2006  
Blogger Leatherhands said...

Beautiful Post. I had my own Kodak moment on Sunday. A super fun dinner party in a cramped Condo including two VERY HOT LOOKING Muslim women, some Jews, some Catholics, some "nothing in particulars" (that would be me...) all having a blast and drinking too much. God, I love this country.
(The two aforementioned women were not as hot as Mrs.Leatherhands, of course...)

11:38 AM, July 31, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Leather, I hate to break it to you baby but all the women in Ontario are lookin' pretty hot right now. It's hot out!

10:37 AM, August 01, 2006  
Blogger Leatherhands said...

Hey Pammie!
It's fucking sick out there, eh kiddies? Last night was bizarre; sitting on the front porch late at night and it still felt like a blast furnace. Freaky.

10:51 AM, August 01, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

We had a wild thunderstorm and power outages last night. It's just too fucking hot and I have a Jeep with no air..I have the top off but it's like driving around in a bag of hot air.GASP.

10:56 AM, August 01, 2006  
Blogger Leatherhands said...

Ouch. Sorry, hon. If you don't have AC in your car or home, you're screwed today.
We had a lovely small twister touch down about 1km from our house a couple weeks back (happens once in a while in Newmarket) so I'm a always bit leary when I see that pukey green sky forming.

11:06 AM, August 01, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm a little bitter today. I should be floating in a pool today with an ice cold beer in my hand...I need more vacation. Damn.

11:14 AM, August 01, 2006  
Blogger Leatherhands said...

I hear ya...I took three measly days off last week, and took the kiddies on a trip. Spent a fortune at Niagara Falls, Marineland, etc. while we parented/entertained/kept the children engaged, blah blah... non-fucking stop.
The kids had a blast, but I had no alone time, or time for reflection. Now I'm completely exhausted, and back at it. Several hundred bucks lighter to boot.

11:25 AM, August 01, 2006  
Blogger K-Dough said...

Just got back from the Hillside Festival in Guelph. Lotsa curries, beer, hash, great alt music and camping with the friends and kiddies. Awesome.

Vacation this week. Just back from shi shi urban world music class with the daughter (that we never get to see her at cuz we are always working). Strange- they all know our nanny but neva hoid of us.

About to fill up the Dora pool for the young K, blend a cool ice espresso and blast some salsa in the backyard. Life is good.

11:32 AM, August 01, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

K-dough, you are a lucky bastard. I was off last week sailing on the St Lawrence. Now I'm back to work, short a few brain cells and ass just a little bigger.
You know what? I always thought it was funny when my kids were very small and we ran into children they had met at playgroup or school and they would chat. It was like they had a double life. The "at home" kid and the "about town" kid.

12:31 PM, August 01, 2006  
Blogger K-Dough said...

She runs naked among the lawn toys and pool as I type, a little stoned and sunbaked. Mmmmmmmmm. Treble Charger's Red playing in the background. Perfect.

1:55 PM, August 01, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

With a wide-brimmed hat and SPF 45 sunscreen, I hope.

Have one for me,K. I'll be thinking of you while I'm sweating on the way home from work.

2:10 PM, August 01, 2006  
Blogger scout said...

the heat wave on the west coast ended last week.....thank gawd! feel for those where it's continuiing.

got out this morn and hiked around behind our place....lots of paths, trails, untroddden land. damn, the noise of a buddhist retreat for the dali lama reached my ears....can't he just meditate and the thing will be built instantly?

no offense to the smiling guy but hope there's no noise complaints when the retreat is finished from us firing up our chainsaw or when i'm using the grinder making copper smudge bowls.

and snarfed your idea on the poll at the side k-dough. thanks, had fun making one :)

right, back to sneaking a surfing break then onto work!!!

3:35 PM, August 01, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Love this post.

I have a very big place in my heart for Tibet and Tibetans.

I will likely never vote for Stephen Harper, but i'll give him props on being more critical of China than the Libs, and props to the MP's that gave the Dalai Lama that award/honorarium recently.

I would weep with joy if the Chinese government pulled their army out of Tibet and recognized an independent Tibetan nation.

Never Give Up!
-The Dalai Lama



TZ

9:51 PM, August 02, 2006  
Blogger scout said...

i love the dali lama too....but not the noise from his retreat!!! he's been to bowen island before, uannounced of course....his friend and biographer victor chan lives here. i caused a stir with our local council members when i painted the tibetan flag on a concrete wall by the ferry. they think 'i don't get it' because there's a design panel here, but i think they don't get it for having a design panel.

3:06 AM, August 03, 2006  
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2:12 AM, August 17, 2006  

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