| OK, I just think that linking native protestors in Caledonia to Palestinians, which your link appears to be doing, is wrong-headed. Canada's issues and the issues in the Middle East must stand on their own merits. Anyone trying to link them, either aboriginal or non-aboriginal, is grasping for cheap political points by gaining from the demonization or victimization perception of the linked groups. Canada is a country recognized under international law and so is Israel. In the long run, issues and wrongs done by our fathers we need to address, but those of our grandfathers and great-grandfathers we do not. IMO, people claiming rights to Israel because of an associated group supposedly there 2500 years ago do not have any validity, nor do those of aboriginals based on where they were living more than 100 years ago. Things are what they are -- Israel is a done deal and so is Canada. On the other hand, wrongs committed during living memory to people still alive must be addressed, and that is the only realistic and fair thing to do. Palestinians have many wrongs committed against them during their lifetimes. Aboriginals do not, unless you count in poor management of drinking water systems paid for, like everything else, by the government. In the long run we need equality, rights, and the opportunity for all, applied the same to all. |
