The Language Of Genocide

 

“Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. ”

― George Orwell

It is very easy, in the majority of cases, to become quickly inured to the world's suffering. Whether it be earthquakes and crime in Haiti, famine in Africa, or the war Russia is waging against Ukraine, we reach the point of compassion fatigue, facilitated no doubt by the lack of any apparent resolution to the dire circumstances so many experience in today's fractured world. 

One hopes against hope that the genocide taking place in Gaza may prove an exception, however, despite the efforts of so many to make the Israeli response to the October 7 attack by Hamas look both reasonable and necessary. And one of the latest to make such an effort is our own (were it not so) Stephen Harper.

Shree Paradkar writes:

On Wednesday, former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper was in Jerusalem, shaking hands with the butcher of Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to his tweet, Harper witnessed "an Israel scarred by the unprovoked horrors of Oct. 7, but also united in its determination to end the threat of Hamas once and for all."

"Unprovoked." "Ending the threat of Hamas." Phrases being repeatedly used to justify the unjustifiable.

It is no doubt a human tendency to try to interpret the world along absolutist terms; things are either good or bad, thereby circumventing the hard work that critical thinking requires. For his fellow travellers, Stephen Harper is providing such a service.

But historical context is needed.

The Hamas commander named the attack "Al Aqsa Floods" saying it was meant to avenge Israel's brutal attacks on Al Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem — long a flashpoint site — during Ramadan in 2021.

Whatever one makes of that statement, it's a reminder that one can't look at what's happening without context. Insisting on erasing the context of current events — as seen with the repetition of the word "unprovoked" — is very much in Israel's interest. It allows Israel to position itself as the innocent party and to reduce the unspeakable violence it has unleashed to a "they-asked-for-it" rhetoric.

But there is much more involved here, years of abuse and repression that the world refuses to acknowledge.

There is so much mutual pain in the region that to ignore the underlying conditions of violence is to create conditions that lead to violence.

Some of these conditions include decades of repressive and vicious Israeli military occupation in Palestinian territories, with Israel routinely displacing, imprisoning and killing Palestinians. Israel's illegal blockade segregated Gazans from the world for years by banning them from travelling outside. The majority of Gazans are refugees who face sweeping restrictions on the entry and exit of goods. Israel even controlled the flow of electricity and water; more than 90 per cent of the water in Gaza was unfit for consumption before Oct. 7. A Washington Post report found there had been no natural surface water in Gaza since the early 2000s.

For even greater context, there is an array of videos available on YouTube attesting to the mistreatment of Arabs in the entire region.

Paradkar also talks about how the Palestinian cause has been conflated with Hamas and Islamic extremism, making it easier to dehumanize them, meaning

no matter how Israel treats Palestinians, whether it attacks Gaza's hospitals, kills and maims children, doctors, academics and journalists, or whether the International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel must take action to prevent genocidal violence by its armed forces, in Israel's view and in the eyes of its Western allies, it remains the wronged party.

It is this mentality that Harper has shamefully tapped into, making it easier to minimize and justify Israel's ongoing atrocities. 

Decades ago, George Orwell warned us about the destructive effects of political language. Sadly, it seems we have learned little to nothing in the intervening years.

Two Strong Black Women And A Racist Meet At The Bar

Two strong Black women,  Fanni Willis in Georgia and Latitia James in New York, have proven relentless in their pursuit of justice. As proven last week, despite efforts to disqualify her from prosecuting Trump, Willis is defiant, indeed, contemptuous, of the efforts to stop her. 

You can watch her full testimony here.

Similarly, James has every intention of seizing Trump's assets if he doesn't pay the monumental fine imposed in his financial fraud case.

Oh, how it must enrage that well-known racist and misogynist, Trump, and his MAGA cult, to see these indefatigable Black women give him no quarter.

I love it.

Not To Put Too Fine A Point On It

 ..... but

H/t Theo Moudakis

UPDATED: Egregious Incompetence Or Egregious Indifference?

I realize that progressives are largely loathe to criticize the Trudeau government. Given the simplistic, either-or, black-and-white thinking of much of the electorate, such criticism is fraught with peril. For that significant segment of shallow voters, the reasoning seems to be that if the current government is found wanting, the only alternative is to support PP and his Conservatives. Why the NDP is almost never considered as an alternative is a bit beyond me.

Nonetheless, we do no one any service if we ignore or minimize the egregious shortcomings of our current government. Two recent reports highlight what is either federal incompetence or massive indifference. The first pertains to the almost unbelievable cost of $60 million (from an original estimated cost of $80,000) to develop the botched ArriveCan app, which earned a scathing rebuke from Canada's Auditor-General, Karen Hogan.

Overall, Hogan found that the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and Public Services and Procurement Canada "repeatedly failed to follow good management practices in the contracting, development and implementation of the ArriveCan application."

"This is probably the first example that I've seen such a glaring disregard for some of the most basic and fundamental policies and rules," Hogan told the House public accounts committee on Monday.

The Star's Rosie Di Manno had this to say:

It was supposed to cost $80,000. Maybe your tech savant kid could have done it for 80 bucks.

Serial incompetence which caused the Canada Border Services Agency to release 177 versions of the digital software between April 2020 and October 2022 — driving travellers nuts — and at one point falsely informed 10,200 users that they needed to pandemic quarantine for two weeks. While outsourcing companies — from which the contracted firms raked in hefty commissions of 15- to 30-per-cent — actually did no work on the project at all, CBSA officials were wined and dined at various restaurants and breweries (one off-site virtual meeting was dubbed “ArriveCan Whisky Tasting’’), and five of eight federal health bureaucrats racked up $342,929 in bonuses over those two years.

It is almost as if the government had a giant Kick Me sign attached to its metaphorical rear end.

Everything about rolling out the ArriveCan app was reckless and negligent at every stage, crucially in sole-source contracts with GC Strategies, in reality a two-person outfit that hired subcontractors to do the actual IT work, 76 per cent of which did not work at all, according to Hogan’s findings.

“The Canada Border Services Agency’s documentation, financial records and controls were so poor that we were unable to determine the precise cost of the ArriveCan application,’’ wrote Hogan. At a news conference afterwards, she continued to flog just about everyone involved. “Overall, this audit shows a glaring disregard for basic management and contracting practices throughout ArriveCan’s development and implementation.’’ Adding: “This is probably some of the worst financial record keeping that I’ve seen.’’ 

And this taxpayer contempt is not the worst of the government's crimes. No, that distinction has to go to  the feds' inability to rouse themselves from their torpor to fill a growing list of judicial vacancies, vacancies that are having some real-world consequences. In a case filed by a human rights lawyer, Federal Judge Henry Brown issued a rebuke to the Trudeau government:

Brown says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Justice Minister Arif Virani failed to do what Wagner asked and are failing Canadians who rely on the justice system.

There were 85 vacancies when Wagner wrote his letter in May, 79 when the case was filed in June and 75 on Feb. 1.

Things have reached a crisis level. Given the Supreme Court ruling that trials must be conducted within 30 months of charges, a number of prominent cases have recently been tossed for violating that stipulation, including ones for human trafficking and sexual assault.  Such transparent injustices can only cause the further erosion of faith in the justice system and, by extension, democracy itself.

This post has attempted to describe what happens when a government grows jaded, tired, and contemptuous of the people it was elected to serve. This happens all the time, but what surprises me is the speed with which the federal Liberals resurrected their arrogance after being in the penalty box for so long.

Clearly, they have done so at their electoral peril.

UPDATE: Theo Moudakis offers this succinct assessment:

 

 

 

Political Pandering Of The Worst Kind

In the ongoing debasement of democracy, Ontario's Doug Ford is certainly playing his part. With his populist deck fully stacked, his latest effort to pander to the lowest common denominator has been dealt: no more driver's licence plate renewals! 

This is wrong on a number of levels, but worst of all in the way that it plays to the notion that government exists only to make life easier for the individual, not society as a whole. And the problem this measure seeks to address? The fact of over one million lapsed plates; since Ford scrapped licence renewal fees, many have forgotten that they still have to renew them online.

“I’m here to announce today, actually, that we’re getting rid of that totally — registering your vehicle,” Ford said.

“We did the first step: getting rid of the sticker. Now, we’re getting rid of the re-registration. They’ll be automatically re-registered. So people won’t have to worry about that at all.”

Now, if one has a Machiavellian cast of mind, one will see the political advantages for Ford. Not only does it enhance his "street cred" with Joe average, it also puts the opposition parties on notice - oppose this measure and you will be seen as elitist and out of touch. My guess is that both Marit Stiles and Bonnie Crombie will have little to say about it for that reason. However, if they are smart they can object to it with conviction and practicality.

Putting aside the ongoing infantilization of the electorate, all they have to do is talk about the danger of increasing the numbers of drivers with no insurance, Up to this point, to renew one's plate, one had to provide proof of insurance coverage. That requirement is now gone, and hence, the roads will pose even more danger than they already do.

But this government is all about short-term advantages, not long-term consequences. Sadly, I expect it will boost the Ford government's popularity considerably.

Continuing with A Theme....

 

H/t Theo Moudakis

The Art Of Misdirection

 Well-played, Danielle.

H/t Graeme Mackay

Given that only 0.0037 of Albertans over 15 identify as transgender or non-binary, that is quite the feat!