Archive for September 2012
Our Arctic Legacy
Remembering the “Occupy Movement”
This morning, September 17, 2012, the corporate media contain stories of the “Occupy Movement” of 2011. There are also analyses of whether or not anything has changed in our democratic society because of Occupy Wall Street; Occupy Toronto, etc..
John Macfarlane, editor of The Walrus magazine, has devoted his “Editor’s Note” in the October 2012 edition to the topic of income inequality. In his concluding paragraph he writes:
““It’s not as if we lack the tools to reduce income inequality, which are generally thought to include the creation of a culture of restraint, a commitment to effective regulation, and income redistribution.”
So, if we have the tools, why not use them? Do we wish to continue along the road we are presently travelling, with divergent lanes for the rich and the rest of us? Macfarlane says that:
“While it’s the subject of some debate, growing evidence suggests that extreme inequality adversely affects outcomes across a range of issues, including mental health, obesity, infant mortality, teenage pregnancy, life expectancy, literacy, numeracy, and, not surprisingly, social mobility.”
Read the whole editorial at http://www.walrusmagazine.com
Unity in diversity
The film, “Change Your Name Ousama” challenges the viewer, and Canadians in particular, to question their perception of Muslims in Canada.
Is there a new ethos in this country?
Is it true that 20 years ago we would have said, “THEY are different from us.”?
Is it true that now we say, “WE are different from each other.”?
Is Canada undergoing an experiment in the integration, NOT assimilation, of immigrants from around God’s world?
The words that Paul wrote to the church at Corinth are applicable to our society as a whole:
The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church:
every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t,
the parts we see and the parts we don’t.
If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing.
If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.
(1 Corinthians 12 – The Message)
Possibilities !
“Whether the future presents itself as still more beauty or as still more pain depends upon our choices as we respond to our role as co-creators in an ever unfolding creation.” Matthew Fox
Change Your Name Ousama !
Change Your Name Ousama !
Last night Shari & I attended a screening of a new film called; “Change Your Name Ousama”. This was a Toronto premiere of the film about Muslims in Canada, and the after-effects of September 11, 2001. One of the topics that it deals with is racism in Canada: anti-Muslim sentiments parallel anti-Semetic attitudes.
There is also an exploration of the challenges that we all face in our perspectives of “the other”, who we may not know. Film Maker Faud Chowdhury and CBC Security Correspondent Bill Gilespie show how Muslims in Canada became unintended victims of “9/11”
The film also provides an introduction to the diversity among people of the Muslim faith; cultural, national, ethnic, geographic, etc. For those who value an “either / or” approach to life, the complexities illustrated in this film will be frustrating.
This wonderful, educational screening, with a discussion period afterwards, was provided by Matthew Kellway, M.P. (NDP) for the riding of Beaches- East York in Toronto. I would recommend it, if you have the opportunity to see it, other than at the Montreal Film Festival or the Delhi International Film Festival.