I decided when I was in my teens that formal religion is a political structure that both soothes people in the face of injustice and provides a power structure for the powerless. I was pretty pleased with that so I just moved on with life…after all, I was a teenager. I tried to make knowledge-based ethical decisions and overall I don’t have any long term regrets.
But by not
actually examining what that meant I was pretty stuck in conundrums.
Like, how I
accepted colonialism. Not just in how Canada was settled but by how Israel was
treating the Palestinians. I accepted the narrative that Jews deserve a country
and it would include land around Jerusalem. I guess I expected to see in real-time how newcomers and the existing people would come together to make a new
nation while forgetting that while Canada and First Nations started out ok treaties
were twisted to expand power to the newcomers. I truly believed that after how
Jews were treated in WW2 they would be more compassionate and inclusive (words
I can use now to express by fuzzy expectations). After all, they’d been shoved
in, essentially, reservations; demonized, vilified, and had their good stolen
from them. I grew up I the 70s.
The other
was how I accepted religion as a respectable political system. Since I grew up
Catholic I had the example of Vatican City so Jews having a homeland seemed reasonable; after all, everyone had treated them pretty shitty during the war.
But, not being Jewish, I didn’t get the entire narrative. The State of Israel
inhabited empty land. This is typical colonizer talk for taking over resources
and ignoring the people already using them but I hadn’t really thought of that.
Even the 2 state solution based on religion – how could it not be when Israel is built on a religious foundation.
One thing social
movements have done for me gave me words to express my thoughts in a common
language that more people can understand without a whole lot of extra words. Not
just in terms of political structures but religious structures.
Should
police be a formal part of Pride (or any progressive) celebrations – no as they
are part of a system that chooses to punish using a violent immediate response.
If not now then in the recent past. Is structural racism a thing – there are structural
injustices designed to keep poor people poor and biased people happy to categorize
who to gets exploited in an attempt to boost themselves. Most of this happens
to people who are easily identified as different so yes, racism.
A lot is being made of high percentages of USians currently identifying as “none” and what that means. I think I am one. This frees me to use religious language on my terms. Am I spiritual – I do have a sense of wonder and appreciation. Do I think there’s a soul – I think we have a core personality that we recognize intuitively recognize that is a product of our body chemistry (hence body dysphoria). Is there a god – I don’t know and don’t think it matters as there is no convincing evidence even in terms of consistent rules.
All this to say…what Israel is doing is inexcusable use of colonial power against an indigenous population. There have been many hints in media of how the system is working – from expanding “no go” spaces to dismantling village solar systems installed by NGOs to teargassing farmers as they tend crops – Israel counters all criticism with accusations of anti-Semitism. They are finally doing things out in the open and … no religious judgment here, the Israeli government is violently authoritarian and stealing land from indigenous people.
Publicizing a reopening plan is a good move at this point. Basing it on vaccination (not the infection rate, hospitalization rate or booster administration rate) is an effective strategy - although it seems strange to publish at a time when many provinces are locking down. The province has control over vaccine administration. There is a central online booking site but more importantly there are many "walk in/drive thru" sites open to skirt, or accommodate the 3 hours paid, work hours. Have heard no complains and doesn't seem difficult to scale up but 🤷♀️
The government also set a pretty low bar. On the day this roadmap was published there was 65% vaccination compliance so getting to 70 wasn't going to be a difficult task, and that threshold has been met. This is also a reward for those of us who did follow the mandates to keep other's safe. I can't see Fed's opening borders until the Provincial Health Services set a S.M.A.R.T. metric...the bane of every red tape cutting governments🙄 I can only think there's so much compliance because the Premier was recently re-elected so there's confidence in his leadership.
Our lives won't change much but other people's will as there are more in person socializing opportunities...and isn't that what many of us have been missing?
*I have no problem with the idea of a surcharge for road maintenance BUT I think it should be applied to all registered vehicles, not just EVs, as a fuel tax replacement. Alternatively it could be added as a fuel tax to the owner's electric bill but that seems clunky. I even understand the solar power thing as SK has supply chain control as SK energy is a crown corp. rather than a publicly traded utility.
