| | A blistering spring night. W and I buddled up to skipp though downtown. As we walked up to the intersection of Metcalfe and Sparks, we were hit by the glaring flashes of police sirens and smell of pungent kerosene. A peek to the parliament hill revealed a dark calamity of people shouting slogans surrounded by police talking intently on their FM radios. There was some speckles of torch fire going. It was chaos. The scene looked like it belonged more in London or Boston, rather than the quiescent streets of Ottawa.
As curious and nosy as we were, I stopped a dude and his two companions to get the 411. I think he was really excited someone from another race cared to know what's going on so he started talking in fits about the war that is happening in Sri Lanka, that Tamils are being killed, that the protest is to get the message to Canadians of what is happening there. I remarked that they must be really braving the cold up there. At this comment, the man flared up. He started waving his hands wildly and screamed, "don't you understand? don't you know what genoside is?!? That's what's going on there! GENOCIDE! Go up there and have a look! They will tell you!". It was kind of awkward after that. The hill did not look inviting and W is not in any condition to be walking through an emotionally out-of-control crowd. I didn't know what to say or what sort of look to muster up. So we just mumbed thanks and carefully backed away.
I must admit I felt somewhat uneased and guilty afterwards. Turning away is so..against my nature.
This morning, a Tamil coworker told me some more about the protest. Apparently, its been ongoing for the past six days here in Ottawa and in London, UK. Some people have gone on hunger strike and a few have ended up in the hospital. Unfortunately the public response has not been good. He felt frustrated that there's so many people are suffering and dying back at home but no one (i.e. Canadian or British government) is getting involved. I mentioned the chaos and how turned off I felt about it. He admits that he personally feels the protests are not good for getting help, but at least it gets some publicity (which is true, otherwise I wouldn't be writing about this, I would write about my weekend in Kingston).
For some inexplicable reason, war and suffering touches me in a deep and profound way. I'm sure it does for many, otherwise why are there all there so many books about war and movies set during the war? It's this horrid fascination. It's like why people like to watch hockey or football - the violence, the savagery, the gore, the adrenaline. No wonder people can't get enough of it. But as for the suffering, I guess its less easily remembered, otherwise, there wouldn't need to be a need to build memorials and have Remembrance days. We must be genetically engineered to forget.
Speaking of memorials, I remember there was a Holocaust memorial in Boston near the Union Oyster House. At the end of the memorial, there was a large monolith that leaves the visitor with this quote ... They came first for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up. ---Martin Niemoeller
I couldn't help but think of this quote and how strange it is that genocide is actually in the world around me, but not in my world. It is removed from my life and I am trained to be diplomatically nonchalant. It is sort of sad - I feel like I don't have much compassion or sympathy or righteousness, but then again, sometimes I wonder if wars are a by product of such sentiments, among other things. But regardless, as far as humanity goes, genocide is a terrible thing. No other animals that I know of, will purposefully kill another group of its kind as a mean of securing resources. What a horrible thing it is to be human.
I don't know enough about what's going on in Sri Lanka, but as far as this protest goes, I think its totally not getting the message across, and very counterproductive - the longer its dragged on the more annoyed I am and the less I want to help. I would soon rather be sponsoring someone to bike across Canada to carry a message of peace than a group who's actively disturbing the peace that many Canadians had fought and died for (and many more struggles to find).
Last night, I met up with W again. We ended up walking through the same quarters with the same gut-wrenching cries of the protesters and the swarms of police. This is the eight day. The screams are louder. I brought up my Tamil coworker's perspective, and we discussed as we made our way to the Black Thorn. W think its important for the countries to use their own inner strength to pull through difficult times. I don't know what I feel. My extensive research on history of Sri Lanka via Google returned wikipedia pages that are marked with "this entry is considered biased" or "this entry is currently under editing restriction...". I'm aware that there is a war and people are suffering. But I can't make a decision without the facts. And the fact are not getting to me through the roaring through loudspeakers or the silent hunger strikes. Instead, maybe its a better idea to put this energy into getting properly educated, working up through the ranks of society, and becoming more influential based on actual accomplishments and achievements. Rather than crying for help for eight days, maybe spend that time to strengthening yourself and working on your cause?
Or write a book or something.
Anyways, enough with the screaming already. I can't hear anything. |
| | Posted 4/14/2009 11:45 AM - 21 Views - 2 eProps - 2 comments
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now let's hear about ur kingston vacay :P