pheloniusfriar (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
pheloniusfriar) wrote2016-04-14 02:06 pm
pheloniusfriar) wrote2016-04-14 02:06 pm
Taking the moral low ground re: Saudi Arabia?
As part of my ongoing series of quixotic letters to those in power, I present the following.
The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau,
With regard to the sale of Canadian armaments to the Saudi Arabian regime, I think the Liberal government has failed an important test of whether they are fundamentally different from the previous (and globally reviled) government here in Canada. Whether or not the weapons and weapon systems Canada is selling to the Saudis are going to be used in the direct oppression and murder of civilian populations, it will assist in justifying their continued brutal practices through the legitimacy that comes with the sale of such equipment to them by a nation such as Canada. I have been following with great interest the talk around betterment of the environment in Canada for aboriginal peoples and other potentially positive directions being contemplated, but this foreign policy decision is such a catastrophic failure to act in an ethical and moral manner, my hope for any real change in the governance of this country just evaporated.
One week ago, I finished the requirements for my B.A. Honours in Women's and Gender Studies degree (or Feminist Studies as I like to say) and have a year left at university to complete my B.Sc. Honours in Theoretical Physics as well before going into graduate studies (on top of a successful 25 year career in the international high technology field)... I have seen a few things in my life and like to think I have a fairly clear perspective of "the big picture". While you may call yourself a feminist, and have shown strong indication that you support a feminist agenda in some particular cases, the decision to sell weaponry to the Saudi Arabian government is a decidedly anti-feminist decision as their indiscriminate targeting of civilians in Yemen demonstrates (we hope it is indiscriminate, perhaps it is discriminate and deliberate as part of a campaign of terror, which would be in keeping with their general behaviour). I know you are aware that modern feminism is all about identifying and undermining those power structures that disproportionately oppress women, and I appreciate that you are at least not actively campaigning against the notion of feminisms like so many do. However, here was a golden opportunity to take a huge step to disrupt just such a collection of power relationships (and one of the most repressive in the world), but Canada has chosen to side with oppression and take a huge payoff from those oppressors to turn a blind eye, and that is simply the wrong thing to have done.
I would like to close with a quote by Albert Einstein – often misquoted but the idea tends to be accurate even then – that seems particularly appropos to me in this case. It was spoken by him in tribute to Pablo Cassals in 1953, "What I particularly admire in him is the firm stand he has taken, not only against the oppressors of his countrymen, but also against those opportunists who are always ready to compromise with the Devil. He perceives very clearly that the world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it." I think that quote should be on plaques on the doors to both The House of Common and The Senate (and maybe in every bathroom stall and on the tables in the parliamentary cafeteria, but that could be seen as somewhat extreme I suppose) as a caution to consider when making government decisions.
Yours sincerely,
Phelonius Friar
A Canadian citizen
If nothing else, I guess I am at least sincere... I do wish I had been more careful not to conflate Trudeau's purported feminism with the policies of the Liberal government or Canada, and I know he said it would be government by cabinet (which I think is generally a good thing), but this part of the portfolio – the optics of what this country does – seems to have fallen to Trudeau, and this is bad optics that greatly diminishes anything he says in the future regarding human rights in general and feminism in particular.
The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau,
With regard to the sale of Canadian armaments to the Saudi Arabian regime, I think the Liberal government has failed an important test of whether they are fundamentally different from the previous (and globally reviled) government here in Canada. Whether or not the weapons and weapon systems Canada is selling to the Saudis are going to be used in the direct oppression and murder of civilian populations, it will assist in justifying their continued brutal practices through the legitimacy that comes with the sale of such equipment to them by a nation such as Canada. I have been following with great interest the talk around betterment of the environment in Canada for aboriginal peoples and other potentially positive directions being contemplated, but this foreign policy decision is such a catastrophic failure to act in an ethical and moral manner, my hope for any real change in the governance of this country just evaporated.
One week ago, I finished the requirements for my B.A. Honours in Women's and Gender Studies degree (or Feminist Studies as I like to say) and have a year left at university to complete my B.Sc. Honours in Theoretical Physics as well before going into graduate studies (on top of a successful 25 year career in the international high technology field)... I have seen a few things in my life and like to think I have a fairly clear perspective of "the big picture". While you may call yourself a feminist, and have shown strong indication that you support a feminist agenda in some particular cases, the decision to sell weaponry to the Saudi Arabian government is a decidedly anti-feminist decision as their indiscriminate targeting of civilians in Yemen demonstrates (we hope it is indiscriminate, perhaps it is discriminate and deliberate as part of a campaign of terror, which would be in keeping with their general behaviour). I know you are aware that modern feminism is all about identifying and undermining those power structures that disproportionately oppress women, and I appreciate that you are at least not actively campaigning against the notion of feminisms like so many do. However, here was a golden opportunity to take a huge step to disrupt just such a collection of power relationships (and one of the most repressive in the world), but Canada has chosen to side with oppression and take a huge payoff from those oppressors to turn a blind eye, and that is simply the wrong thing to have done.
I would like to close with a quote by Albert Einstein – often misquoted but the idea tends to be accurate even then – that seems particularly appropos to me in this case. It was spoken by him in tribute to Pablo Cassals in 1953, "What I particularly admire in him is the firm stand he has taken, not only against the oppressors of his countrymen, but also against those opportunists who are always ready to compromise with the Devil. He perceives very clearly that the world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it." I think that quote should be on plaques on the doors to both The House of Common and The Senate (and maybe in every bathroom stall and on the tables in the parliamentary cafeteria, but that could be seen as somewhat extreme I suppose) as a caution to consider when making government decisions.
Yours sincerely,
Phelonius Friar
A Canadian citizen
If nothing else, I guess I am at least sincere... I do wish I had been more careful not to conflate Trudeau's purported feminism with the policies of the Liberal government or Canada, and I know he said it would be government by cabinet (which I think is generally a good thing), but this part of the portfolio – the optics of what this country does – seems to have fallen to Trudeau, and this is bad optics that greatly diminishes anything he says in the future regarding human rights in general and feminism in particular.
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