Quebec City Mosque attack suspect Alexandre Bissonnette (Facebook)
Quebec City mosque attack suspect Alexandre Bissonnette charged with 6 counts of 1st-degree murder – Montreal – CBC News. According to Alexandre Bissonnette’s Facebook page, he followed several profiles with right-wing ideologies, including Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader of France’s National Front. (Facebook)
A 27-year-old Laval University student, Alexandre Bissonnette, has been charged with 6 counts of murder and 5 counts of attempted murder while using a restricted firearm (CBC). The attack is considered an act of terrorism. Alexandre Bissonnette was a fan of Mr Trump.
There were vigils on the evening of 30 January 2017 and both the Ottawa and Quebec Parliament’s flag were flying at half-mast. The current outpouring of sympathy towards the Muslim community will not take the victims back to their family and Muslims are afraid, but I hope it will be of some comfort. Quebec Premier Couillard has made it very clear that Canadians had been killed and wounded. I have yet to hear how Canada plans to protect its Muslim citizens, but I presume police surveillance will be increased. The shootings are particularly egregious since they occurred while Muslims were worshiping. This tragedy has hurt Canadians profoundly, from coast to coast, and especially Quebec Canadians where interculturalism has been adopted.
It’s a Canadian tragedy reflecting the shift to the Right affecting various countries.
Quebec City mosque shooting victims include businessman, professor and fathers of young children – Montreal – CBC News
The Victims:
Azzeddine Soufiane, 57, was the owner of a halal grocery store;
Khaled Belkacemi, 60, was a professor of Engineering at Laval University;
Aboubaker Thabti, 44, worked in a pharmacy;
Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42, and Ibrahima Barry, 39, brothers
Mamadou Tanou Barry, 42, worked in information technology;
Ibrahima Barry, 39, worked for Quebec’s Revenue Ministry;
Abdelkrim Hassane, 41, was a programming analyst for the Quebec government.
All victims had children and all victims were Canadians, whatever their origin. A fund is being raised to cover funeral costs. We are awaiting details regarding the wounded.
President Trump’s Visit to Canada
United States President Donald J. Trump is scheduled to meet with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week. Yesterday, 30 January 2017, President Trump “cracked down on immigration and travel.”
Despite the might of American President Trump, I believe that protection of Canada’s identity, values and environment will be foremost in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s mind. Canadian Prime Ministers must respect and love their American counterparts, they need not please them. Our border both joins and separates us. (See Canada-United States Border, Wikipedia.)
A member of a Quebec police SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team escorts a woman from houses not far from the scene where two gunmen opened fire inside the Centre Culturel Islamique de Québec (Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec) during evening prayers on Jan. 29. (André Pichette/EPA)
Six people were killed and 19 wounded in the shooting at the mosque. Here, municipal police patrol outside the Mosque on Monday morning. (André Pichette/EPA)
Six men were killed and five are in serious condition after an attack on Quebec City’s main Mosque. According to Radio-Canada, the French-language CBC, there is one suspect, but we are at an early point in the investigation.
Women and children were not killed as they do not worship in the same room as men. The Mosque had been vandalized earlier when a pig’s head was deposited at the door of the building.
Motivation has yet to be determined with precision, but the target was a Mosque, the most important Mosque in Quebec city.
—ooo—
Quebec Premier, Dr Philippe Couillard, “doesn’t explicitly blame Trump but replies: ‘We are obviously in a world where people tend to divide themselves rather than unite themselves.’”
Premier Couillard “calls on Quebec to be a beacon, to be as inclusive as possible.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is travelling to Quebec city with the interim leader of the opposition, Rona Ambrose. For information on Islamic facilities in Quebec City, please click on the following link.
I would not blame President Trump, but I hope he will soon realize that Islamophobia is putting Muslims at considerable risk around the world. I hope he will also realize that Canadians were attacked. Canada is endangered because it welcomes Muslims and is located immediately north of the United States.
He must reverse his stand on immigration or poison the mind of possible terrorists. If he dares suggest that terrorist attacks are to be expected in countries that welcome Muslim immigrants, he will hear differently.
Meanwhile, we will have to intensify the protection of Canadian Muslims.
These are frightening times. The Canadian economy could use an infusion of money, but the Keystone Pipeline should be safe before crude oil travels to the United States. I hope President Donald Trump is not considering using the very pipeline President Obama had to close because it wasn’t safe. If that pipeline has been closed, exporting crude oil is not advantageous to Canadians until the pipeline is safe. I am certain former President Obama asked experts to assess the safety of the pipeline before closing the project. If it isn’t safe on the Canadian side of the border, the side Canadians control, prudence dictates vigilance and the construction of a safe pipeline, one that will not leak or threaten the environment in any way. So I had to edit my views. Exportation of crude oil may benefit Canada, but not if it uses an unsafe pipeline.
The First Nations and other Canadians must make sure they are drinking uncontaminated water and protecting the life of animals and the soil. Canada ratified the Paris Agreement. If the planet dies, we all die.
President Trump is also endangering relations between Israel and Palestinian authorities. According to Isabel Kershner of the New York Times, Israeli are feeling “emboldened” by Mr Trump’s election to the presidency. Israel is therefore beginning to build housing units in the “conquered territories.” Naftali Bennet, Israel’s education minister, is encouraging Prime Minister Netanyahu to begin “a process of annexing the West Bank settlements to Israel.” Annexationwould be a violation of the United Nations Security Council’s resolution calling for an end to the encroachment of land not allotted Israel. The United States did not veto the United Nations Security Council‘s resolution 2334 (23 December 2016) condemning encroachments by Israel on territory it was not given in 1948, when Israel was created.
The New York Times also quotes Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s “hard-line” defense minister: “We are going back to normal life in Judea and Samaria[.]” These are the West Bank’s biblical names. Israel seems to be claiming Palestine, on the grounds that it was home to Israelites two thousand years ago. In fact, the Jewish diaspora started before the Jewish-Roman wars, the last of which was fought by Emperor Hadrian (24 January 76 – 10 July 138). There is no Judea. The only territory Israeli can claim is the territory it was allotted by the United Nations in 1948. With respect to annexing territory, priority is given international laws, not scriptures. (See Jewish diaspora, Wikipedia.)
Yet, last Sunday, 22 January 2017, the Jerusalem City Council approved 566 new housing units in East Jerusalem. Oded Revivi, who represents the more than 400,000 settlers in the West Bank, says that settlers “hope that this is just the beginning of a wave of new building across our ancestral homeland after eightvery difficult years.” President Obama was cautious, but President Trump could be helping Israel provoke Palestinian authorities, the United Nations and the Arab world.
Bust of Hadrian Musei Capitolini MC817 cropped (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)
Conclusion
The United States may also move its Embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. People are protesting. The Middle East is a very sensitive area. At the moment, the conflict in Syria is abating but it could be reignited if the United States supports expansion. Peace is the main goal. Former President Obama was simply very cautious. Isil is the target of the Coalition fighting terrorism.
Millions have fled the Middle East creating a crisis in Europe. Peace and reconstruction are the current objectives.
Having made his views regarding Muslims and Mexicans public knowledge, President Trump’s only option is to help stop the crisis. I fear a resurgence of terrorist attacks. In fact, war could erupt. Europe cannot accommodate every refugee and Europe must not be imperiled.
President Trump is impetuous. Climate change and peace in the Middle East are sensitive issues. The new President should be careful.
Demonstrators protest outside the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv against President Donald Trump on Jan. 21, 2017. Among their messages: don’t move the embassy to Jesuralem(Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)
Amazing Grace
Moses breaking the Tabletsof the Law by Rembrandt, 1659 (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)
A dear friend, John, tells me Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and his government have studied the matter of exporting crude oil to the United States. It appears advantages outweigh the risks by far. Most of the KeystonePipeline is in the United States and Canada’s economy is ailing, so Canada is exporting.
Voltaire at Postdam by Pierre Charles Baquoy after N. A. Monsiau (Photo Credit: Wikipedia)
« Quelques arpents de neige »
I therefore stand corrected. Prudence is essential, but Canada’s economy dictates measured risks. Voltaire (21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778) called Nouvelle-France a “few acres of snow” (« quelques arpents de neige »)(Candide, Chapter 23). He may have been criticizing the French government. Nouvelle-France had lost its Huguenots, Calvinist Protestants, its merchant class, when Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes, an edict of tolerance towards Protestants.
My Bourbeau ancestors were well-to-do citizens of New France. They were not farmers, but Huguenot businessmen. Huguenots fled to the United States when the Édit de Nantes was revoked, in 1685. They feared persecution and death. Some converted to Roman Catholicism and stayed in New France. They were good businessmen and prospered.
When François-Xavier Garneau (15 June 1809 – 2 or 3 February 1866) wrote his Histoire du Canada, he bemoaned the departure of Huguenots. His book was censored by the Church in Quebec and he had to remove his statement regarding French Huguenots. New France was an expensive venture, but there is wealth beneath our “few acres of snow.”
It may that the Prime Minister and his cabinet took a leap of faith to protect the economy.
Exporting and the Economy
Canada is committed to protecting its environment, but I am told Monsieur Trudeau needs to export some of its natural resources or take us the poorhouse. Precautions must be taken, but families should be fed. Poverty is one of the great ills of the world.
In short, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is working for the people and he and his cabinet must protect Canadians. We have taken in a large number of refugees and more may arrive. In fact, a number of Americans are buying real estate in Canada. We may be their refuge. There are no foreigners in Canada, just plain Canadians of every ethnicity and creed.
The Environment: Saskatchewan Oil Spill
Environmentalists are concerned and I am one of them. There are oil spills. Recently, on 23 January 2017, a pipeline leaked 50,000 gallons (200,000 liters) of oil on land belonging to the First Nations, Canada’s Amerindians.
Pipelines leak occasionally. A small crack may cause a catastrophe. One worries. It could be that pipelines are affected by very cold weather. If such is the case, we need better pipelines.
I once lived in Saskatchewan and loved it. I worked in public relations for a year, but teaching was my profession. I accepted a teaching position at St Francis Xavier University, in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Yet, the accident happened in a place I called home.
Conclusion
My apologies to Prime Minister Trudeau. I hope sincerely that President Trump will respect Canadian policies. They differ from American policies.
It has begun! President Trump was sworn into office and on that very day, 20 January 2017, in the early evening, he required his administration to find conditions that would not be covered under a health plan. I presume President Trump was referring to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, passed on 23 March 2010. It could be that Mr Trump has asked his administration to design a new Health Care Plan, but I doubt it.
Presidents of the United States are not as powerful within their country as Canadian Prime Ministers, except the new President who is a dictator and sick. No, President Trump cannot abolish the so-called “Obamacare” in its entirety. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a federal statute. Usually, amendments to a law are governed by societal needs. Laws are not amended impetuously. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has helped millions of Americans who could not otherwise afford medical treatment.
Repealing the Affordable Care Act is an injustice. It allowed millions of Americans to receive the medical care they required, but could not afford given extremely high insurance premiums. President Trump is playing with fire.
And now, Canada is complicit in Mr Trump’s assault on the environment.
The Keystone Pipeline begins in Alberta, Canada, and could not be reopened without the consent of the Canadian government which, surprisingly, complied with President Trump’s request. The Keystone Pipeline is a danger to the environment but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has agreed to revive the project. In a Calgary town hall, he was harshly criticized. Reopening the Keystone project will enable President Trump to create jobs quickly and Canada will also benefit financially, but at a cost to the environment and to Amerindians. They are the First Nations.
A few weeks ago, Prime Minister Trudeau agreed to suspend drilling, an imminent danger to the Arctic in particular. What happened? Was Prime Minister Trudeau intimidated?
Trudeau’s French answer to a question asked in English may be considered understandable, but he must respect the rights of English-speaking Canadians. Quebec is unilingual, but Canada is a bilingual country. It is a problematical situation. Yet, all Canadians are protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Israel
Israel feels emboldened and will build in the conquered territories. President Trump is also about to move the American embassy from Tel-Avid to Jerusalem. Mr Netanyahu has President Trump’s full support. That could result in nothing less than a worldwar.Mr Trump should remain out of the Middle East. What about the two-state solution?
Immigrants
Mr Trump is building his wall separating the United States and Mexico. “No human being is illegal.” I am quoting a student. He is also expected to deport millions and to prevent Muslims from entering the United States. The process has begun.
Donald Trump is a dictator.
—ooo—
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a place where some “are getting ready for the crackup of civilization,” writes Evan Osnos of the New Yorker.
It was “no” to Mr Trump, and I am now asking Justin Trudeau not to change Canadian policies because of pressure from the United States. We cannot amend our decision to protect the planet.
If Mr Trump phones our Prime Minister, Mr Trudeau can say that he cannot give answers until he has spoken with Canadians. It’s an old trick.
I will close here because my computer “crashed.” I repaired the old one and I am using it, but it is dying. The new one should arrive today or tomorrow.
Justin Trudeau, Canada’s Prime Minister, was in Sherbrooke last Tuesday, 17 January 2017. There was a town hall meeting and both French-speaking and English-speaking Quebecers were in attendance.
There was an incident. An English-speaking woman asked a question in English, but Trudeau answered in French. French is Quebec’s official language but outside Montreal, inhabited by citizens of the world, Quebecers’ everyday language is French. Prime Minister Trudeau was criticized for answering in French.
Canada is an officially bilingual, bicultural and multicultural country, but Quebec is an officially French-language province promoting interculturalism. Interculturalism is a form of multiculturalism, but not altogether. It encourages interaction and a “cross-cultural dialogue.” Interculturalism’s theoretician is philosopher Martha Nussbaum. Interculturalism recognizes a common bond between all human beings despite different cultural customs. (See Interculturalism, Wikipedia.)
Quebec is officially unilingual because the survival of the French language is threatened in North America. French-Canadians are a minority and most live in Quebec and in the Maritime Provinces. To protect itself, not only is Quebec unilingual, but it has language laws.
Quebec declared itself an officially unilingual province by virtue of its Official Language Act(Bill 22), passed in 1974. Two years later, in 1976, the province elected the Parti Québécois, a separatist party. On 26 August 1977, the Charter of the French Language (Bill 101) was voted into law and granted Royal assent. Several English-speaking Canadians had started leaving Quebec after the October Crisis of 1970, quelled by Trudeau père. English-speaking Canadians left Quebec:
Quebec unilingualism and attendant language laws are reflected in its education system.
Children whose parents are English-Canadians may attend an English-language school.
It may be possible for a child born to French-speaking parents outside Quebec to be educated in English, but the child may have to attend a French-language school.
It is also possible for a child born to mixed parents, such as an English-speaking father born outside Quebec and a French-Canadian mother, born in Quebec, to be educated in English, but problems may arise. The child may have to attend a French-language school.
Language laws also apply in other areas. For instance, a driver is unlikely to see the word “stop,” a French word, on a Quebec stop sign. Moreover, overhead monitors providing traffic information are unilingual. That’s dangerous.
In other words, while they may ensure the survival of a French-language Quebec, the language laws are a hindrance. Out of the 10 Canadian provinces, only New Brunswick is officially bilingual. The only officially bilingual province of Canada is New Brunswick and the only officially unilingual province of Canada is Quebec. Its official language is French.
In the remaining 9 provinces, children may attend an English-language school, a French-language school or a French “immersion” school. Many English-speaking children learn French at an immersion school. To my knowledge, there is no such thing as an English immersion school.
Because Quebec has not signed the Constitution Act of 1982, its Health Insurance Card is not accepted outside Quebec, but hospitalization costs are covered. The Health Insurance Card of residents of other provinces are valid in Quebec. This problem will be solved when Quebec signs the Constitution Act of 1982, which Quebec Premier Dr Philippe Couillard intends to do.
Payingincome tax to both the Quebec government and Canada may also be an irritant. But I should point out that Quebecers are eligible for services not covered in other provinces, such as daycare. The cost of daycare has now been increased, but minimally.
Trudeau père was a blessing to French-Canadians living outside Quebec. He fashioned an officially bilingual and bicultural Canada. Suddenly, one could watch Ici Radio-Canada, the French language counterpart of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (the CBC), from coast to coast. French immersion schools became fashionable. It was a brave new world. Trudeau père was also a blessing to immigrants. We are a multicultural country. No one is a foreigner.
Rights and Reality
Ironically, it is unlikely that in a province other than Quebec, a person could ask a question in French and expect the question to be answered in French. There are exceptions, but English is spoken in 9 of the 10 Canadian provinces, so French-speaking Canadians living outside Quebec may have the “right” to ask a question in French but, unless they are addressing Prime Minister Trudeau or a bilingual political leader, they may not be answered in French, particularly if most persons in at a gathering speak English. If the question is asked in French, both the question and the answer may have to be translated into English. Outside Quebec and Canada’s national capital, Ottawa, the majority of Canadian citizens speak English.
I would not dare say that French-speaking citizens living outside Quebec are victimized, but there can be no doubt that certain theories cannot be put into practice other than exceptionally. Many Canadians are bilingual but most communicate in English rather than French.
But it is possible for English-speaking residents of Quebec to spend their entire life in Quebec without ever needing to learn English.
The 17 January 2017 town hall meeting was held in an officially French-language province. As a Canadian, the lady whose question, asked in English, was answered in French had the “right” to expect being answered in English and could have asked the Prime Minister to do so. It was an informal venue. But the problem is elsewhere. Canada is bilingual, but the province of Quebec is unilingual. So what does one do?
—ooo—
The truth is that Trudeau is very respectful of English-speaking Canadians. His mother is an English-speaking Canadian and Trudeau is very fond of Queen Elizabeth II. It should also be noted that he speaks French and English very fluently. I prefer not to throw stones at him for supposedly letting down English-speaking Canadians living in Quebec. He has not betrayed his father who made this country bilingual, bicultural and multicultural. I would say that he got caught between a rock and a hard place. Had he spoken in English, he could also have been criticized.
All I fear is that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be intimidated by President Trump.
Donald Trump takes the Oath of Office as his wife holds the Bible and his youngest son looks on. (Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Michelle Obama, Melania Trump, Donald Trump, Barack Obama at 58th presidential inauguration, January 20, the Capitol, Washington, D.C. (Jimmy Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
President Donald J. Trump’s Inauguration
I have just watched the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump. His address was ambivalent. After thanking attending former Presidents, he stated that as of 20 January 2017, it would be a new America. It was as though no one came before him.
President Abraham Lincoln and President John F. Kennedy were assassinated, but he did not name them. He did not mention Franklin Delano Roosevelt nor did he mention Mrs. Clinton, whom he defeated. He didn’t say that when President Obama took office, the United States had to pay a huge debt accrued during wars waged in the Middle East. America had been great in an undefined and somewhat mythical past and he would make it great again because power would not be in the hands of politicians in Washington. He was giving it to the people.
He did not address the larger issues: the climate, the oceans, the rainforest, peace in the Middle East. However, he will crush terrorism. Although America renews itself with each administration, it has a past and it must keep up with the times. President Obama has left the United States in much better condition than it was in 1908, and the Affordable Care Act was a landmark.
Mr Trump said that the carnage was over. Yet he was endorsed by the National Rifle Association, who oppose gun-control, and the Ku Klux Klan, who peddle hate.
Seal of the President of the United States
I will always remember President Obama inviting all former living Presidents of the United States to the White House. The United States had moments one wishes to forget and also to remember. Not so long ago, on 9/11, the United States was attacked. Back in 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked, which is when the United States entered World War II. Young men died on the beaches and cliffs of Normandy and troops then travelled north to liberate Europe and take out of various concentration camps the few who had survived Hitler’s demented “final solution.”
Yet, while I bemoan President Trump’s indictment of all the leaders who preceded him and his messianic discourse, I don’t think he meant to trivialize the four former Presidents who attended the inauguration. He escorted the Obamas to their helicopter quite cordially and then took Melania’s hand and walked her back to the stairs. They turned and stood until the helicopter departed.
Times have changed. Medical tests are now performed using sophisticated tools that often cost a fortune. Such innovations and other changes have made the cost of healthcare prohibitive. Consequently, it is no longer possible for most individuals to pay health bills out-of-pocket. The rising cost of healthcare has also led to the unaffordable premiums demanded by Insurance Companies and to aberrations such as refusing benefits to the victims of a catastrophic disease. Diseases such as cancer are viewed as pre-existing and therefore uninsurable conditions.
Insurance and Pharmaceutical Companies
Insurance companies are businesses and, as businesses, their main objective is to make a profit. They therefore adjust rules and raise premiums accordingly. The same is true of pharmaceutical companies. Medications are priced so pharmaceutical companies make money. It is not possible to make America “great again” by ignoring so obvious a fact as costly advancements in medicine.
A large number of societies, in Europe for instance, have recognized that individuals cannot afford today the healthcare they could afford fifty years ago. Therefore, governments around the world have relieved citizens by funding healthcare, thereby keeping up with the times and ensuring the safety of citizens. The United States has been slow to modify its social contract. But on 23 August 2010, the Affordable Care Act was voted into law.
Life as Privilege
The rules started to change after World War II. Governments around the world, beginning to my knowledge with the Scandinavian countries, set about putting into place, social programmes that protected the people. In the United States, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt‘s New Deal brought relief to impoverished Americans. As for the Affordable Care Act, it is also a new deal that has made it possible for millions of Americans to see a doctor. However, unconscionable and somewhat petty Republican Senators seem bent on destroying it and letting people die, women first. A Republican Senate, led by Mitch McConnell, is therefore making it abundantly clear that life is not a right, but a privilege, the privilege of those who can pay. What will they do if they fall on hard times?
The Affordable Care Act is essential legislation and it cannot be taken away from United States citizens unless Senate has something better to propose and to implement. Societies must face reality. Healthcare is too expensive for individuals to protect themselves. Even those who have health insurance are denied the care they require. Nations therefore need a health plan. Besides, a new administration has nothing to gain by picking up its rifles and shooting at the former administration.
The American Civil War is over and, according to the Declaration of Independence, one has a right to Life.
Detail of Elihu Vedder‘s mural Government (1896), in the Library of Congress. The title figure bears a tablet inscribed with Lincoln‘s famous phrase. (Photo and caption credit: Wikipedia)
President Obama bids his Nation Farewell
On Tuesday 10 January 2017, President Obama gave his farewell address to his nation. The subscript was: “Yes we can,” his rallying cry and perhaps the rallying cry of most democracies. Democracy is not a perfect form of government. Too many voters are uninformed or misinformed, but a democracy remains the best form of government we have. However, on 8 November 2016, democracy failed the United States. Americans voted into office a nominee who is unable to play his role as President of the United States. I suspect a large number of his supporters did not know Mr Trump. It seems, moreover, that rules deemed sacred under his predecessors have to be less stringent to accommodate President-elect Donald Trump. It started during the electoral campaign.
According to Canadian scholar Marshall McLuhan the medium is the message. I may be rearranging Mr McLuhan’s theory, but not by much. When Americans voted Mr Trump into the presidency, they probably embraced an image. They saw in Donald Trump a successful white American and felt so comforted that they elected him and conferred upon him a degree of immunity. In the case of Mr Trump, sexual misconduct seemed a lesser offence. So did lying. In fact, whether or not Mr Trump had paid his taxes did not seem to matter, nor did his inability to fulfill the duties of a president of the United States. He’s “the Donald!”
Mr Trump may have known he would need assistance. He appointed his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as his main advisor. As for Mr Kushner’s wife, Ivanka Trump, she will probably play the role of first lady more than Melania Trump, Mr Trump’s wife. Mr Kushner has not come up through the ranks, but it doesn’t seem to matter. It is as though the presidency were under revision.
Still fresh in my mind is the obstructionism and scapegoating President Obama faced day after day. He could not do anything right, but incoming President Trump is unlikely ever to do anything wrong. I suspect Mr Trump is the one who will criticize the press, and not the press Mr Trump.
President-elect Donald J Trump
Democracy
Yet, as noted above, it appears President Obama is of the opinion that democracy is its own corrective. In a democracy, the government is the people. One elects one’s leader(s) and one then attempts to keep them honest. There is little doubt that, four years from now, Americans will vote again and that a different president may be elected, but protecting the planet cannot wait four years.
President Obama’s address was indeed empowering. Americans remain the government. At times, President Obama seemed to be inviting Americans to get organized and to resist: “Yes we can.”
Can fallible democracy be its own remedy? It may be, in the long run. But in the short term mistakes may be made. President Obama stated that he would support a good health care plan, if a good health care plan was proposed. I could be mistaken, but it seems President Obama was expressing confidence in Donald Trump. It may have been simple civility.
And now, Mr Trump is saying that “big pharma” is “getting away with murder.” That would be Bernie Sanders‘ opinion. Pharmaceutical companies are like Insurance Companies. They are businesses and their goal is to make a profit.
However Senate took a “major step toward repealing health care law.” As a result, there could be another election sooner than we think. There is a huge price to pay for destabilizing and humiliating a nation. And there is an even greater price to pay for letting less affluent citizens suffer and die. What these politicians are doing is denying the middle class and the poor the services the well-to-do can afford.
Conclusion
I will miss President Obama enormously. The United States’ first black president earned the respect and the admiration of the world. For eight years, a humble but brilliant Barack Obama was the world’s finest leader.
Philistines settled in Palestine in the 12th century BCE, which confirms that Palestine had long been a nation (see Palestine, Britannica). After the three Jewish-Roman Wars, fought between 66 CE and 136 CE, Palestine was renamed Syria Palaestina by Roman Emperor Hadrian (24 January 76 – 10 July 138) after he crushed the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132-136, thus named after Simon bar Kokhba (d. 135). The Bar Kokhba revolt is the third of three Jewish-Roman wars, but it is sometimes called the second, the Kitos War being omitted.
Emperor Hadrian renamed Jerusalem Aelia Capitolina, and Jews could no longer enter the city.
Expulsion of the Jews during the Reign of Hadrian
Nationalism
The concept of nationalism was not new to the 19th century. Traits and circumstances shared by a number of individuals such as language, religion, foklore, location, not to mention climate, lead to nationhood. We owe the théorie des climats (the climate theory) to Montesquieu as well as Madame de Staël, the author of De l’Allemagne(1810-1813).
Although nationalism was not born in the 19th century, the 19th century is nevertheless associated with an unprecedented surge in nationalism.
The Congress of Vienna, held in 1815, but suspended when Napoleon returned from Elba, the Hundred Days, les Cent-Jours, was one of nationalism’s first 19th-century location. France returned land conquered by Napoleon and Prussia returned Alsace-Lorraine to France. However, nations represented at the Congress of Vienna, France, England, Prussia, and Russia, quite shamelessly rearranged Europe. During the 19th century, European countries conquered by the Ottomans, as of 1453, fought wars of independence leading to the attrition of the Ottoman Empire. Also to be taken into account is the balkanization of several states. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, fragmented countries in Eastern Europe were victims of genocidal ethnic cleansing. The term balkanization was coined at the end of World War I.
Zionism
Zionism also grew out of 19th-century nationalism. Its founder was Theodor Herzl(2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904). Zionists dreamed of a land of Israel which it lost beginning in the 8th century BCE. The exile was completed in 135 CE, when Roman Emperor Hadrian had the Bar Kokhba revolt crushed. Israeli nationalism seems to be developing into a state and faith nationalism.
The Balfour Declaration
At the time Jewish scientist Chaim Weizmann (27 November 1874 – 9 November 1952) was negotiating the Balfour Declaration (1917), he said the following:
“Mr. Balfour, supposing I was to offer you Paris instead of London, would you take it?” He sat up, looked at me, and answered: “But Dr. Weizmann, we have London.” “That is true,” I said, “but we had Jerusalem when London was a marsh.” He … said two things which I remember vividly. The first was: “Are there many Jews who think like you?” I answered: “I believe I speak the mind of millions of Jews whom you will never see and who cannot speak for themselves.”… To this he said: “If that is so you will one day be a force.”[1]
His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country. (See Balfour Declaration, Wikipedia.)
Chaim Weizmann‘s statement is misleading. Yes, the Jews had Jerusalem a very long time ago, but they had lost their land and had been exiled. As noted above, this process had begun in the 8th century BCE and was complete as of 135 CE, when the Third Roman-Jewish War was fought under Roman Emperor Hadrian. Although several Jews remained in the newly created Syria Palaestina, most left. Assyrians, a MesopotamianEast Semitic-speaking kingdom and an independent state since the 25th BCE, converted to Christianity “[b]etween the mid-second century BC and late third century AD, a period which also saw Assyria become a major centre of Syriac Christianity and the birthplace of the Church of the East.” (See Assyria, Wikipedia.)
Assyrians, who or many of whom had converted to Christianity, were not exiled. However, in the 7th century in particular (see Muhammad, Wikipedia), countries from Asia to the Iberian Peninsula were Arabised, a process that continued after Constantinople fell to the Seljuk Turks, in 1453. Ottomans were Muslims and conquered several countries in Eastern Europe that fought wars of independence in the 19th century.
Philistine captives being led away after their failed invasion of Egypt from a relief (Wermer Forman Archive/Heritage-Images)
Eschatological Connotations
As for Israel, its land of Israel and the dispersal of Jews, may find a correct description in the Encyclopædia Britannica:
Although the term refers to the physical dispersal of Jews throughout the world, it also carries religious, philosophical, political, and eschatologicalconnotations, inasmuch as the Jews perceive a special relationship between the land of Israel and themselves. Interpretations of this relationship range from the messianic hope of traditional Judaism for the eventual “ingathering of the exiles” to the view of Reform Judaism that the dispersal of the Jews was providentially arranged by God to foster pure monotheism throughout the world.[2]
The people of Quebec can understand the relationship between a people and a land, the pays du Québec. Quebec is a province, not a country. It has a Parti Québécois, consisting of Quebec nationalists, but Quebec has now chosen interculturalism, a form of humanist nationhood rooted in Martha Nussbaum‘s Cultivating Humanity.
Quebecers’ first homeland was its “literary homeland,” or patrie littéraire, a subject I have researched and pondered. One of my articles is online, in French. It is a reading of Antonine Maillet‘s Pélagie-la-Charrette.[3] Metaphors are taken from the Bible, mainly. I have lectured on this subject at the University of Stuttgart.
The Creation of Israel
In 1948, Palestine was a state. However, it had been part of the Ottoman Empire and was divided by the recently established League of Nations, whose blueprint was the Zykes-Picot Agreementof 1916. Mark Sykes, for Britain, and François Georges-Picot , for France, were protecting spheres of influence. Therefore, in 1920, Palestine was not free. From a possession of the Ottoman Empire, Palestine was transformed into a protectorate of Britain. As we have seen, in 1917, under the terms of the Balfour Declaration, Britain supported the creation of a homeland for Israel, but its Israel was in Palestine.
When Israel was created in 1948, statesmen may have hoped Israel would be in Palestine. That would have been the two-state solution, but partitioning Palestine made room for a State of Israel that would expand. The Jews had been the victims of various persecutions culminating in the Nazi Holocaust. The Holocaust then weighed heavily on a collective conscience, so it may have obscured safer resolutions. United States President Harry S. Truman had befriended a Zionist and may not have foreseen that the partitioning of Palestine could lead to a lengthy conflict and considerable resistance on the part of Palestinians, not to mention decades of resentment on the part of Arabs.
Moreover, it may not have occurred to President Truman and other statesmen that the creation of Israel was an option rather than an imperative. There were options. Many Jews moved to the United States and to Canada. Moreover, after denazification, survivors of the Holocaust could return to their homes if they wished. As for the creation of a land of Israel, the means were questionable. Given the objectives of Zionists, the establishment of a “land of Israel,” creating Israel, could not be mere ownership of a part of Palestine. After the diaspora and the Holocaust, the land of Israel had acquired mythical dimensions.
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On 23 December 2016, 14 members of the United Nations Security Council voted in favour of condemning Israeli settlements and the 15th member, the United States, did not veto their decision. In his Remarks on the Middle East Peace, Secretary of State John Kerry quoted Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations who stated that the United States had not acted according to “values that we share:”
Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations, who does not support a two-state solution, said after the vote last week, quote, “It was to be expected that Israel’s greatest ally would act in accordance with the values that we share,” and veto this resolution.
If the figures I published on 3 January 2017 are accurate, the financial support given Israel is staggering and it may have fostered in Israeli a sense of entitlement allowing it to occupy territory that it wasn’t apportioned in 1948. There is practically nothing left of Palestine.
Truth be told, Israel started encroaching on neighbouring territory almost as soon as it was created, and it has yet to return the Sinai Peninsula, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights, and East Jerusalem which it conquered during the Six-Day War, in June 1967.
Conclusion
If the United States provides military aid amounting to more than 10 million dollars a day to Israel, Israel is truly privileged and the statement of its representative to the United Nations: “values we share,” is inappropriate. Israel can no longer settle beyond borders not allotted Israel in 1948. If it does, it will endanger its own safety as well as the safety of the United States. The United States stands to be attacked as it was on 11 September 2001 and its support of Israel may encourage terrorist attacks in Europe. It short, Israel cannot spill out of its borders.
Finally, how can the United States refuse to provide social programs for its citizens if the money it collects from taxpayers, the middle class mainly, is used to support a nation that will not respect Palestinians and consider peace.
The two-state solution cannot forever be kicked down the road, nor can time be wasted on agreements that are not implemented. We cannot rewrite the past, but the future is ours and, more importantly, it is our children’s.
Nationalism is fine, but it does not justify encroachment on a neighbour’s territory.
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