The Oath

Our Minister of Immigration and Citizenship who is also responsible for Multiculturalism, the Hon. Jason Kenny ordered yesterday that anyone taking the Canadian Oath of Citizenship had to be seen and heard by the Judge administering the Oath and it had to be done in either of Canada's Official Languages, French or English.  Since 1977 and until now the Oath was taken in various forms, in a variety of languages and the Judge or Consul administering the Oath could not be certain if the person understood what was happening.  The new measure clearly spells out that the Judge who administers the Oath of Citizenship has to see the person's face and hear them say it in our Official Languages since it is a legal process.

It's the old principle come forth and be heard which is the principle of Justice given by the King under the Oak tree, it goes back at least one thousand year if not more. However there are people who are screaming loudly against such a simple measure. The media has turned this into a feminist issue because it involves Muslim women who wear face covering in public. Editorials on Freedom, Tolerance and accommodation, Canada being such a welcoming country, allowing just about anything to please just about everybody. I have come to understand that the free Press is not about informing you as it is about fomenting discord in society under the guise of trying to inform you. A lot of the editorials are half baked and ill conceived and gloss over facts by being facile.

The measure announced clearly states that anyone, man or woman, even a child over the age of 14 must show their face to the judge so that he can see them pronounce and make the Oath. It is not just a question of hearing someone but of seeing them. It is a public gesture you are showing yourself in public and affirming your allegiance to the Crown and to the Country. But again the critics say we should not even ask foreigners to take the Oath, apparently is infringes on their rights. They should become citizens simply because they are here. What a concept, more a fantasy really. Other Western countries demand that you speak the National language to be able to drive a car or become a Citizen. Exam are given in the National language and you have to pass a test administered by a Government inspector, the pass mark is high and citizenship is given after a long painstaking exam. In Canada we simply ask that you go through what can be called a simplified process and take an Oath in public. I think here of the American process or the French, Italian, Polish, German, Swiss, Austrian or British processes to acquire Citizenship, much more difficult than Canada. So why the indignant cries from the media?

In a Court of Law, you swear in front of a judge and everyone present that you will tell the Truth, when you marry, you say to all assembled that you are entering into matrimony, it is your pledge. It is something we do here in Canada, our pledges, our Oaths are public displays, it is our tradition. It should be pointed out that in Canada to obtain a driver's licence which is a Provincial jurisdiction you are required to show your face to obtain a driving permit because an ID photo is inserted into the driving permit, no one Muslim or otherwise has protested. But wait, for Canadian Citizenship which is a high privilege, you have all this moaning. Why?

What I have noticed in the last 25 years in Canada is an evolution, there are some people and they are loud, who simply  reject any notion that belonging to a society, any society, involves responsibility to others or duty to that society. There are many selfish people who only wish to take and see what they can get for themselves.  Rejecting commonly held values for such people has become a virtue. The Oath of Citizenship in certain quarters has been ridiculed amongst many other public symbols which makes our Canadian identity.

What I find particularly disturbing is the CBC, the State broadcaster, making itself the mouthpiece of such groups, giving them a platform. People are encouraged to phone in and voice their opinion, so the sample of calls being broadcasted ridicule the notion of Citizenship as not important, taking an Oath is not important, it does not matter. Our society is Patriarchal so of course men tell these Muslim women that they cannot cover their faces in public. It is dangerous, to have men say such things we are told. The Citizenship Oath is just a ceremony of no importance apparently. We are asking foreigners who wish to become Citizens to jump through hoops like circus animals. Since when is taking an Oath comparable to some kind of cheap trick? This last remark comes from a University Professor in Ottawa, presented as an expert.  The number of offensive remarks being broadcasted on the CBC are nothing short of shocking and maybe this is what the public broadcaster wants, shock value for ratings. Responsibility, Civic duty is not important because individual rights come first. What appears to be important is the notion of what can the Country do for me, is this the last stages of a culture of entitlement.

I am just happy that the Government has finally taken steps to ensure that the Citizenship Ceremony is restored to what it was intended to be to begin with, a dignified affirmation of the wish to become a Canadian Citizen. Foreigners need to understand that in taking this Oath, you have duties and responsibilities and that you will be asked to uphold certain principles, one of which is that we are all equals as Citizens and that women cannot as is the case in certain cultures, made into second class persons with no voice. In an open society like ours certain foreign cultural concepts have to be abandoned if you wish to be part of our Canadian Society, for the sake of harmony and social peace.

Certain cultural habits you bring with you from foreign lands are a private matter and not part of who we are as a Nation, you do not like how we live as Canadians, fine, but, if you wish to become a Citizen of Canada, you will have to accept our basic principles. Canadian Citizenship is a privilege not
a right!

The Oath of Canadian Citizenship

I swear (or affirm) that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen.

Further this week a poll by Forum research reveals that 81% of Canadians overwhelmingly support the decision of the Government to have no veils or face coverings at Citizenship Oath Ceremonies.
    

Cera una volta il mare nostrum

Once upon a time our common sea, this was the headline today in a leading newspaper in Italy, the situation in Libya is worrisome to the Government here with its complicated ties to its former colony Libya.
Also the boat loads of young men have started to arrive again at the nearest island to the African coast Lampedusa.  How much longer will the mad man hold up, while listening to his speech last night when he promised to kill everyone opposing him and take down the country if need be, I thought, I heard this before in May 1945 another mad man in Berlin vowed to burn everything and bring the nation down with him, he had the decency to shoot himself, wonder if Qaddafi will do the same. The Libyans have endured 42 years of this idiot's fantasies, he gave them nothing but hardship and now wants to kill everyone. He is obviously delusional, caught in some kind of paranoid world. That is family is still able to hold on to power with money they pay mercenaries from Africa to do the dirty work shows the despair to hold on at any cost.

His sons are not much better, they certainly have showed their hand now, how much more blood will have to be spilled in this end of regime folly. What is sad to see is how the human right speech of so many countries in the West is now exposed as being nothing more than widow dressing for the masses.  Many countries like Zimbabwe's Mugabe or China's Hu Jin Tao, or other dictators must be laughing, they have known all along it was a sham. Yes we talk a good game but when the chips are down like now, we see it is all smoke and mirrors. Protecting oil and gas and our lifestyle comes first, the response so far to Qaddafi's murderous rage has been confused and weak, again trade and profits trumps all. In France a leading paper published today a letter from a group of French diplomats denouncing their own President for his poor handling of French diplomacy, stating in their letter that you cannot improvise yourself a diplomat.

Next Yemen, Bahrain, maybe Iran, the Saudi King is also worried now, who knows, but what will be even more interesting, will the new governments be more open and more democratic. The young under 30 are the majority in all Arab countries, they certainly want major change and significant change not cosmetic. We will have to stay tuned to find out.

The debate over a cultural centre in NYC

As often as is the case today in our Western society, North America and Europe, there is much talk in public of inclusiveness where everyone has supposedly a chance to voice an opinion in the great debates on society. For weeks now a fierce debate over the Islamic Cultural Centre in Manhattan has been raging on in newsprint and on the internet.

What is taking place is not a reasoned debate of ideas but mostly opinions, often personal and political over the site of this centre and if it should be built at all. The pundits have used extreme language to attract attention and create a controversy that should not even exist in the first place.

The opinions and articles in the media, editorials or articles in various newspapers, controlled by wealthy individuals reflect their ideology on society. Politicians and prominent activists also spout about this cultural centre and about their own ever changing positions on the topic of Islam and Muslims in American society, prompting many American citizens who are Muslims to wonder if they will ever belong in their own country America. The common man who is the basis of our democracy is left behind to try to understand what is going on and try to form an opinion IF he or she cares to do so. As is the case in most debates today, ordinary people have no time or inclination to get involved because they are just trying to get by economically. So the democratic debate has become a sham.

The media brings it down to simple statements: Islam= terror, Brown people = poverty and crime, authors of the attack on World trade centre = all Muslims are bad people, Mosque = terror centre, Islam = violence, immigration = undesirables. Cultural centres = elitist ideology. All of this = America under siege. Very sad commentary all around when one comes to think of it on what was once a great society.

America is not under siege, any intelligent, educated and informed person knows this. The actions of a few do not equate to the way of thinking of many. But many mediocre people know they can make hay and exploit fear of the unknown for personal gain, like the Sarah Palin of this world and so many others.

Culture does not equate elitism or something foreign to the goals and aspiration of the common person in society. Unfortunately we hear too many extreme voices who advocate for the rejection of anything that is not, in other words, meat and potatoes, white and Christian, at the exclusion of all others. All the others represent a large percentage of American society today, according to recent census about 34% of the total population.

What is being proposed for the Islamic Cultural centre in lower Manhattan is a day care centre for kids, a conference hall for cultural purposes, a health club with swimming pool and a prayer room or mosque. Do not see how this can be in any way shape or form offensive or dangerous to anyone.

With the end of the Cold War in 1989 and the demise of Communism in Europe, the USA had no known enemy, so a new one had to be invented, Islam now seem to be that new enemy, simple really, ignorance breeds intolerance and fear, bingo new enemy. Sounds like an Orwell novel really, tell the masses what they should fear and who the new enemy is today.

While this debate goes on, important matters, like health and education and the betterment of society, go largely ignored, because solutions of those real issues are more difficult to come by and the Christian politicos have no ideas or solutions to present.

What is wrong with this picture

by John Cole, Scranton Times Tribune.


Today in Washington DC, on the Mall in front of the Lincoln Memorial, where 47 years ago the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous speech, I have a dream, what is being described in European news broadcast as extreme right wing activist who wish for a White Christian America and a whiter White House gathered to protest and listen to speeches.

Fascist leaders 70 years ago made similar speeches in Europe, offering simple solutions to anyone and everyone's problems or perceived problems, always invoking tyranny of Government, freedom and liberty under siege, endangered birth rights. In the USA the Religious Right wing which forms a good 40% of the Republican Party, if not more and the new extremists the Tea Party are the same people who in the past have been against desegregation of schools in the USA, voter registration for blacks, against the abolition of the death penalty, abortions, women's rights, sex education in schools, against all who are not white nor Christians, against other religions, Gay rights, in other words against the advancement of society in general because it attacks, according to them, their rights as White Christians to dominate the political agenda in the USA and control all leavers of society.

It is strange to see a country which loves to tell everyone that it is the land of the Free and the home of the Brave holding such a rally. The message here being delivered by persons like Beck and Palin is simple, we want to deny basic citizens rights to other American citizens we do not like and who in our minds offend us. Beck and Palin and others are not Civil Rights activists and did nothing now or back then, if they were alive in the 1950's and 1960's to support such rights. The extremist Republicans, Abraham Lincoln aside, are not in favor of Civil Rights. Unfortunately the level headed and moderate Republicans are swept aside here as the latest primary results showed.

How can this be in a democracy that one part of the citizens can deny other citizens their rights as citizens. It is not about controlling government excess or stopping tyranny. You have a freely elected Congress and Senate representing the people, that's their job. The extremists would like to deny basic health care to other citizens because they are unable to afford decent care, or deny some citizens the right to marry because the extremists have a fantasy view of marriage inherited from the Victorian era, or deny due process to people who entered the USA without legal means and the list goes on.

To me this is nothing more than the Klu Klux Klan modern version minus the bed sheets. All this opposition to President Obama is simply because he is not white, racism is well and alive in the USA and embraced by scores of White Christian Americans as a virtue.

The debate about the Islamic cultural centre in Manhattan near ground zero is based on ignorance, racism and hate. What if a Mosque is built on ground zero incorporated into the design of the new Freedom tower, it is a place of worship, of prayer to God, the same God of the Old Testament. You do have freedom of religion in the USA, not just freedom to worship Christian values, which by the way are the same as Jewish and Muslim values, as anyone who studied these 3 religions know. No it seems that the White Christians, politicians and commentators on FOX and in other media outlet feel it is OK to vent their ignorance in public if it brings in notoriety, votes, etc...

In the end it is very dangerous for the USA as a democracy and a society, a country deeply in debt to the People's Republic of China, a country which has lost much of its prestige by loosing both in Iraq and now in Afghanistan, a great power on the decline with many of its citizens unable to face reality and what is happening within their own borders.

It is all very sad to see, I only wish that reason prevail in the end, but that is probably wishing for too much.