Blog about politics (mideast and pro-Israel, Canadian and local Montreal), world events, and random thoughts.

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The World I Know is updated on a semi-regular basis by segacs.

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3:30 PM
The Pope is dead

According to Vatican spokespeople, it's official: Pope John Paul II has passed away.

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12:08 AM
April Fool's

Yep, it's that time of year again. April 1st. The day when salt in your coffee and sugar on your eggs doesn't mean senility has set in early.

Since I'm not motivated enough to think up a gag, I'll just wish everyone a good "poisson d'avril"... and if you're a teacher, be especially sure to check your back for signs and check your seat for super-glue.

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12:02 AM
Duh alert

North Korea has the world's worst human rights record, according to British Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell. He urged the UN Human Rights Commission to pass a resolution condemning the country:

Kim Tae Jin, a North Korean who was imprisoned by the government before defecting in 1997, told the commission that "there is absolutely no freedom in North Korea."

"In a political prison camp in North Korea, one must forget that he or she is a human being," said Kim, who spent five years in a camp and endured eight months of torture and interrogation.

"There were numerous people who spent 20 to 30 years in the prison camp simply because of some ludicrous crime their grandfather allegedly committed," said Kim.

Mr Rammell said that the European Union will sponsor a resolution at the commission to condemn North Korea's record of abuses, adding that he expects it to be passed by a large majority.

I'm absolutely shocked... not that North Korea's human rights record is unimaginably bad, but that the UN Human Rights Commission would consider taking a 5-minute break from its full-time Israel-bashing activities to actually comment.

I'll believe it when I see it.

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11:55 PM
UN: We don't stop 'em, we just try 'em

The United Nations has ruled that people accused of war crimes in Darfur can be tried by the ICC.

That's a real comfort to the nearly 200,000 dead and over 2 million homeless and starving people in Sudan, who were failed by the UN's total and utter failure to prevent or even name genocide when they saw it. Again.

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11:46 PM
Non to Anglais

Francophone kids in Quebec will still not be allowed to go to English schools, according to the Supreme Court decision that came down today:

The Quebec government is welcoming two Supreme Court decisions on the province's language laws.

The court ruled against an attempt by francophone parents to win the right to free access to English public schools.

This is an English-rights issue in a way... but in reverse. It's not anglophones in Quebec who are the second-class citizens here, it's francophones. The oppressive language policy allows us English kids to become fluently bilingual in grade school, but doesn't allow French kids to learn English at an early age and become fluently bilingual. That's why so many people feel stuck in Quebec - especially those who live outside Montreal, where English instruction in French schools is often of poor quality.

Quebec is my home but it's also a very closed, defensive society. Paranoia about English means that restrictive legislation designed to "protect" French actually holds Quebec Francophones hostage here. It's a policy of fear with no basis in reality, since all evidence indicates that learning a second or third language at a young age helps, rather than hurts, kids' language skills in their mother tongue.

And of course all the politicians who merrily protect these laws don't care; they send their kids to private schools, where many of them do learn to be fluently bilingual.

There was a bit of a silver lining, as a second ruling tried to make it easier for immigrants to have access to English schools. I predict that the legislation will be reframed to avoid that as well.

And so, Francophone parents will continue to be restricted by policies intended for the "common good". Not much changes.

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11:22 PM
No longer about the students

It's pretty clear that the student strikes no longer have much to do with the students.

Last week, the McGill Daily reported that the PQ youth wing and that major Quebec labour unions were supporting the student strikers, in an effort to topple the Charest Liberal governement and get the PQ re-elected. Yesterday, the Liberals angrily accused the unions of funding the strikers, lashing out at them for mixing issues:

Liberal party whip Norm MacMillan says unions appear to be piggybacking on the student strike in order to advance their own contract negotiations with the government.

"Everybody's in negotiations right now: civil servants, teachers in universities and CEGEPS," he notes.

MacMillan says some union money may even have paid for buses to help the students mobilize large demonstrations.

The university students federation doesn't deny some funding has come from outside groups.

It's not exactly news that the labour unions in Quebec overwhelmingly support the PQ and have been engaged in a bitter battle with the Liberals since their election. And the student cause seems to be a popular one; a Léger poll conducted two weeks ago found that 24% of people think that the government should cave to the student demands, and another 48% believe that a portion of the $103 million in cuts should be re-invested into the bursaries program. Furthermore, 44% of people said they would be willing to forego a tax cut in order to put the money back into the bursary program.

In the media circus surrounding the protests, rock-throwing at police, arrests and threats of cancelled semesters, the voice of dissenters is getting drowned out.

I'm talking about the students who actually want to go to class. The ones who want to graduate eventually. The ones who recognize the value of their education, and are willing to make an investment into it. Though disorganized and quiet, there are an awful lot of them. And they're tired of being deprived of classes they paid for, of having their opportunities that they've worked hard for yanked away from them, and of the general attitude among their fellow students and even professors that they're "selfish" or just plain "wrong".

Times like this, I'm glad I'm not still a student. Because it's tough enough dealing with the pressure without having to face the Quebec reality: that this is a socialist province where everyone seems to think that society "owes" them. Everyone wants to take out of the system, nobody wants to contribute into it. This is how we end up with massive economic failure. (But of course, the students and the labour unions have a perfect solution to this: tax the rich more. Never mind what happens when all the rich leave the province; they'll just tax the next richest.)

Or, to quote the CASSEE spokespeople:

Members of the CASSEE say they've tried holding demonstrations.

Blocking traffic and offices works better, they say.

"We started by drawing up petitions, we held protests; our pressure tactics have escalated," said Xavier Lafrance, another CASSEE spokesperson, and a political science student at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal.

[ . . . ]

Funding for higher education could be raised, they said, by ensuring private corporations pay their taxes - in full.

[ . . . ]

"Aggressive unionism is a Quebec tradition," added Mathieu Cousineau DeGarie, a third CASSEE spokesperson.

"We at the CASSEE want to revive that tradition."

So they continue to strike. And I continue to rant. Because nothing will improve while the student unions are allowed to hold the Quebec education system - and its students - hostage. No government has the political capital to change the situation; only the students can make a difference by rallying to oppose their oppressors. Sadly, their voices seem too scattered, and students opposed to the strike have no choice but to grumble and sigh.

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11:11 PM
Terri Schiavo

I didn't want to post on the death of Terri Schiavo, mainly because every media outlet and op-ed writer and blogger has already said way too much.

But watching the media circus surrounding her last days, I have to pause to express my disgust.

The whole thing is so sad. This was a family battle, between a husband who claims he was just trying to let his wife die in dignity, and parents who have been in denial about their daughter's condition for fifteen years and just wanted her back like she was, realistic or no.

It should have remained a private matter. Instead, it turned into a Democrat-versus-Republican, knock-down, drag-out media circus. The fact that the top story on Entertainment Tonight was the Schiavo case and the reaction of celebrities should say everything there is to say about what's wrong with this whole thing. A private tragedy should not be our entertainment - tonight or any other night.

Lynn said it better than I could, as usual. To that, I'll just add that, working in the direct mail fundraising field, this doesn't surprise me much.

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7:59 PM
Blog break

Hmmm, seems I'm on one, doesn't it? All kinds of stuff going on right now. Back soon.

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