I've Found a Canadian Hero!

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Brigette DePape stands up for Canadians.

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Here's an interview on CBC with DePape:


Where the interviewer, Evan Solomon, goes wrong is to talk of the Conservatives as a "majority". They gained a majority of seats, but they got a minority of votes. If a "majority" government votes to round up all the blue-eyed blondes, should we all just roll over and say "but it is a legally elected government, and I've got to show respect". Nope. You have a right to protest. She injured nobody but she made an alternative view obvious. That was good. She does bend the truth by talking about "3/4 of Canadians disagreeing with the Harper agenda". It is closer to 55%. When Evan Solomon says "he has the majority" and implies that that gives the government to right to run roughshod over Canadians, that isn't true. A majority must respect minority rights and the minority has a right to protest when the majority ignores the rights of a minority. So Evan Solomon should get over his "shock" at a Canadian protesting. We are a free people and one of the freedoms we have is to disagree with the government and to protest its actions on "our behalf"!
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From a CBC report:

A 21-year-old page lost her job Friday after walking onto the Senate floor during the speech from the throne to protest against Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Brigette DePape, a recent University of Ottawa graduate, carried a sign reading "Stop Harper" and walked out in front of Gov. Gen. David Johnston as he read the afternoon speech.

...

DePape went as far as to prepare a news release, which a friend distributed after she was removed from the Senate chamber by security. The release identified her as Brigette Marcelle, but the Senate website and her email address identify her as Brigette DePape.

"Harper's agenda is disastrous for this country and for my generation," DePape said in the release. "We have to stop him from wasting billions on fighter jets, military bases, and corporate tax cuts while cutting social programs and destroying the climate. Most people in this country know what we need are green jobs, better medicare, and a healthy environment for future generations."

The release said she was a page for a year but realized that working in that job "wouldn't stop Harper's agenda."

"This country needs a Canadian version of an Arab Spring, a flowering of popular movements that demonstrate that real power to change things lies not with Harper but in the hands of the people, when we act together in our streets, neighbourhoods and workplaces."

Now for the criticism...

Here is the expected response from "management":

A release from Senate Speaker Noël Kinsella said he the page's actions constituted a contempt of Parliament.

I put Noël Kinsella in the same category as Baghdad Bob and spokesmen for Gadaffy or Bashar al-Assad. Sure it shows disrespect for an institution, but when you have a leader who shows disrespect for his own people and the values of Canadians, then such a protest is justified.

And a quote from a right wing Senator:

Mike Duffy, a Conservative senator, said "stunts" such as the one DePape pulled Friday hurt democracy, rather than further it.

This is the kind of knee-jerk stupidity you would expect from a third rate news reporter who was put into the Senate by Harper. Here's the depth and breadth of Duffy's commitment to freedom of thought. From Wikipedia:

In March 2010 Duffy criticized the University of King's College and other journalism schools in Canada for teaching Noam Chomsky and critical thinking. He went on to say that journalism schools in Canada were churning out leftists who thought private enterprise was bad. The head of King's School of Journalism reacted with surprise to Duffy's criticism, saying that Manufacturing Consent was not part of the curriculum. She also said she would not apologize for teaching critical thinking to journalism students. A number of editorial comments were written in response to Duffy's criticism.

Here's what a pretend "leftist" (i.e. the leader of the Green Party, a party more concerned about seal pups and bad science than in the needs of the poor and disadvantaged) said:

Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said the protest was inappropriate and in the wrong place.

"I sympathize enormously with youth in this country who feel they've been abandoned when the single greatest threat to their future isn't mentioned in the speech from the throne, and that, of course, is the climate crisis."

I love this "sympathy" which means nothing. Elizabeth May is a hypocrite. Her real "sympathies" are with her four footed friends, not with real people suffering at the bottom of the social heap.

Brigette DePape showed courage and a willingness to stand up for her beliefs. She knew she would be bashed about the ears for "disrespect" but she obviously felt that Harper's megalomania (a Tory edict requiring the government of Canada to be referred to as the “Harper government”) and commitment to making Canada's rich even richer while abandoning the bottom 90% required action.

She could have been arrested. But luckily Parliamentary security didn't. But she will pay a price. She will find much of corporate Canada will close their doors to her. She will find it hard to get a job. The comfortably rich don't like people who cause them to become "uncomfortable".

Brigette DePape shows idealism, a sense of humour, and a commitment to her belief in using art to communicate ideas in this video from April 2010:



I enjoy her viewpoint even though I don't buy the global warming hysteria. I like the fact that she has a viewpoint and is working hard to put it out there for people to consider. I completely agree with social justice, sustainable development, and art as a tool for social change. Those are causes I'm behind 110%.

I'm against destructive "protests". But DePape showed imagination and courage by surprising the Senate. Good for her. It got media attention. That's the secret to planting ideas. First you have to get the word out. Then you work hard to nourish it through hard thinking and constructive criticism and layer in efforts from others to help leaven a popular uprising. Hopefully Canada will have a its own "Arab Spring".