GO RED DRESS IN RED, DEMAND REDRESS.FOR FIRST NATION WOMEN OF CANADA

WEAR RED FOR REDRESS in support for the GO RED CAMPAIGN OF FIRST NATION WOMEN 

by Celine Leduc edited by Norman Simon October 4 2015 

Red is associated with the heart and heart diseases. Red is also associated with blood. Go Red is a campaign that highlights and features MISSING AND MURDERED First Nation women in Canada. I have a broken heart as First Nation or indigenous women are being raped, kidnapped and too often murdered. LET US DEMAND REDRESS from our leaders.

No one cares that their blood is spilled in vain. No one seems to care that the blood of the innocent is being spilled. No one seems to care. Their lives matter. They are daughters, mothers and someone’s friend. They often leave behind families worrying, wondering, thinking, asking and now demanding answers to the ultimate question, "Will she come back?"

Few politicians have taken up this important cause. Even fewer have done anything. My heart is breaking because of the inaction on the part of elected officials. Bring back our girls falls of deaf ears. This is why I am writing this short piece to create solidarity with First Nation women and to make October 5, 2015, the day we go RED at Waking UP Woman. The date that was requested was October 4 which is a Sunday. I did make a mistake on the date, however. October 5, is a Monday. We can generate more attention as we all go out wearing RED and speaking not for, but about the MISSING AND MURDERED First Nation women and demand from political leaders to speak about their plan to help the women.

I see RED anytime I read an article in newspapers that speaks of those MISSING women and girls. I see RED when no one talks about the MISSING girls. I see RED when pleas for an inquiry fall on deaf ears as the buck is passed to the Police. I see RED when I find out that the RCMP stated in a report that over 1000 First Nation women have gone missing in the past 10 years and no one has spoken about them. We are blinded by uncaring media and we have become deaf because of uncaring reporters and journalists as we did not hear their pleas, their cries, and their voices. Some journalists do care. Canada AM on Monday October 5, 2015 will have a feature about the Missing and Murdered First Nation women.

IDLE NO MORE has had a campaign that is now being listened to. It is time for us to cast a vote. We are asked to make a choice as voting matters. Let us ask our politicians to prioritize the cause of First Nation women who have gone missing and been killed.

MISSING and MURDERED First Nation women in Canada should go viral and should have the support of every woman in the world. Because, indigenous women all around the world are missing and killed. It can be done in solidarity and empathy with the Yezidi women, the Assyrian women, the Syriac killed by violent men of IS, the Nigerian women kidnapped by Boko Haram. We can gain support from various communities: the Jewish community whose women and men were in the Holocaust, African American and Canadian women who were enslaved, the LGBT community where women have been raped or even killed.

Each and every woman regardless of her skin tone, her religion her ethnicity or origin, can relate to First Nation women and, in my opinion, should join the GO RED campaign. I add GO RED DRESS IN RED, DEMAND REDRESS.

Say NO to verbal rape

Say NO to verbal rape by Celine Leduc edited by Norman Simon   August 28, 2015

CJAD in Montreal, reported a very disturbing incident that involved Valerie Assouline the Conservative candidate in federal riding of Pierrefonds/Dollard des Ormeaux that was not only sexist but sexual harassment and sexually explicit. I could say that it was a verbal pornography that encourages sexual abuse and condones rape of women, all women.  She took action and called the media and CJAD responded with an article.  Highlighting these problems matters as she condemns all attacks be they verbal, graphic - such as graffiti, or defacing posters of the candidate. This time the vandals and hooligans went one step further: they used sexist and sexual explicit messages.

This is very disturbing and needs to be talked about. Women from all parties should get together and talk about this important topic.

Vandalism: Political campaigns and posters are targeted by graffiti artists. You see mustaches on candidates, glasses are added, the vandals use a marker, a paint brush or a spray-paint can.  At times you can see a swastika. Or political comment on the leader regardless of his/her party.  I have seen words like communist or leftist spray painted on posters of the NDP or the Green Party.

Racism: Nazi or the swastika spray-painted on posters of Jewish candidates. Even some said “Jews go home”  First Nation candidates had words like “savage”.  Muslim women had words like “terrorist” or Muslim preceded by a religious slur spray painted.

Sexism: First Nation women candidates saw words like “savage” or “Fat Cow” spray painted.   Black women could read: “Whore” on their posters. Derogatory words I saw targeting women of all parties included: Whore, Lesbian, and the "F" word used a prefix…

This graffiti destroys private property, on one hand, and is sexist and racist on the other.  Women have been sexually discriminated against for years.  It is time for it to STOP.  ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!  STOP raping women physically and with words.

These racist and sexist vandals, hooligans MUST be exposed as such.  In an ideal world, they would be held responsible for their choice of words and would be prosecuted and labelled as racist, sexist,  misogynist jerks.  Too many men have swept it under the proverbial carpet. Time to lift the carpet because it is hiding a hill that can become a mountain. 

Some may think that the vandals are teenagers while it has often been proved that some older men in the 50s and 60s were the criminals. These men need training; first in gender equality, second in respect of women, all women, regardless of their political affiliation, nationality, ethnicity, religion, or sexuality. We share one thing in common that makes us daughters, sisters, mothers: We are WOMEN. 

Women, both individually and collectively, are waking up. They are taking charge of their lives and are entering  politics.  Each woman who is a candidate has a cause that matters to her.  Let us listen to their message, discuss the issue, think and respect. Let us use words to offer a rebuttal or to offer an alternative solution. Let us use our pens and the power of words to expose those misogynist hooligans who rape women verbally, who spray paint sexually explicit words, be they on the sign of any woman candidate of any party. It is easy to dismiss it and say, “Oh well, she is (add the party)”. The reality is that it affects all women.

The “old boys” Clubs had signs saying, "No girls allowed."  Yet, there is a New Boys’ club where men include WOMEN. I think: WOMEN as a group, must be stick together and develop a gender inclusive girls/women's club or sisterhood.   

Application of Bill 89 in Quebec is chaos: Negligence guilty! by Free Pen

Application of Bill 89 in Quebec is chaos: Negligence guilty!

I think that you have received my reflection which  I sent this morning, reflecting the vision influenced by decisions that prohibit all religious and other  critical opinion which  opposing them  .I  think  that c constructive critically  is essential for the formation of a multicultural society that respects each other.

 Otherwise,  Bill 59 would be capitalized by the name of religion to get its ideology that privatizes any other person of it’s freedom of expression…

Therefore, Quebec would be an Islamic state that allows to captivate no Muslim  girls and women  to  sell  them and  exploit them sexually , and  we seek another businessman to buy them  for be free.

To avoid falling into this ideological trap, I wish the  free  citizen of Quebec act against this law that reflects the hidden intentions of not understanding of this religion ...

I would be proud to organize awareness lectures, explaining the dangerous consequences which   law will result…

Humanists trying to find a solution by creating organizations to support these victims to buy them for to be  free.

 The hope was then focused on the new initiative of the Canadian businessman "Steve Maman , hoping  at least to participate to make these girls and women abducted by ISIS under the eyes of some and silence of others.

When such an act is the effect of a cataclysm, it inevitably calls questioning. Sexual slavery fatally strikes these two communities for a year, threw grief and amazement among the population.

Twelve months of rainfall have produced irreparable deaths, suicides, affected families and a nightmarish balance, estimated disproportionate facing an offensive that was certainly dangerous and violent, but also had exceptional.

 How is this possible?

Flooding affected mainly Christians and Yazidi and, to a lesser extent, other communities which it depend on this region. The many images, videos barbarities taken and relayed on TV channels and social networks show a devastated region.

Yet these communities live in this land for centuries in coexistence and that are part of the social weave that cannot be separated since history and geography have shaped in such a way. Unless this coexistence suffers from "birth defect" or unhappy conventional defects.

In this attack, this minority deplored the kidnapping of their women and girls sold publicly by the Heads of ISIS by enacting a decree that organizes this inhumane procedure. Some women engulfed by the barbarities of these monsters, scared and desperate suicide.

 Why ISIS thus behaves with conviction?

Just because there is a fatwa authorizing these facts prevented the high council of Muslim scholars of Saudi Arabia, architect of Islamic theories. All what is way of life, human relations, economic, religious, cultural .... .

This organization does not meet any human standard, it does not even have an organizational level but which influence the decisions of the United State, which confirms a truth become a credibility since its creation in 1971 the world has seen the error of its design and expansion of its powers.

Laxity

Except for serious, it is not enough to recognize the error, but especially to identify faults, assign responsibility to exclude and finally establishing a religious and educational reform at the highest level.

In this regard, what happens when it comes to performing the fatwas of this archaic institution: the United conceived laws, either general or religious order that refer to a conventional history and mutual interests between the family Royal of that time and the creator of the organization wahabiste "Ben Mohamed Abdelwahab, which uses the traditions and customs of this region, currently run these laws are responsible for any defects.

Indeed, it is not necessary to be curious to see the lack of modernity and progress scary this type of monarchy. Otherwise, to show to the world, combat extremism!

And why did not we proceeded to repair and reform in these institutions who sow death and barbarism around the world?

Should the dead are recorded about it?

The fact is that the religious status and mutual interests linking both Royal and religious lacking obstacle.

Indeed, the Christian and Yazidi minority  has lost more than 3,000 of their girls and women in the name of religion, designed by theorists, under the gaze of the world yet it has surpassed both in terms of that size community Geographic.

This sexual exploitation therefore becomes an impossible burden to bear for humanity that is far from having the means to ensure simple tasks related to the protection of victims of this slavery of the 21st century.  Mister Stephen Harper, Prime Minister Of Canada, is the only leader in the world who took the initiative to visit the region by helping with funding to these refugees for better management.

The hope was then focused on the pressure on these theorists pain of others and those who support them financially and ideologically, hoping at least that these barbarians are rejected in their lives and their religion.

 (Free Pen) I-Peacemaker-Poet-Author/Algeria

SHOT GUN WEDDING --- JUMPING THE BROOM

SHOT GUN WEDDING  by Celine Leduc August 2015 edited by Norman Simon 

A man forced to take responsibility,

A woman impregnated by the man;

He lusted for her,

She lusted for him;

He knows her in the biblical way,

She knows him carnally;

He blames her for his fall,

She reminds him, "You wanted me;"

He says I wanted you but not the child,

Is he not responsible for the child?

They lusted after each other,

Yet never really knew each other;

Friends they were not,

Friends they never will be;

A shot gun unites them,

Sadly not their LOVE child.

JUMPING THE BROOM  by Celine Leduc August 2015 edited by Norman Simon 

Parents speak to each other

A couple wants to be one;

Characters matters,

Similarity is needed;

Complement each other,

Her strength, his weakness;

His strength a student, he is,

He learns from her and she from him;

They are different, yes,

But so similar as each knows the other;

Friends, they become, best, they are,

First criteria they do not jump the gun;

Lust comes, lust goes

Friendship lasts forever.

MORNING COMES

MORNING COMES  by Celine Leduc edited by Norman Simon 

Morning rises, the first ray of sun.

The golden rays break at dusk;

Mourning rises with death

When my heart is but darkness;

Morning, the first light so bright,

A pageantry of colors dance;

Mourning, all colors left at dusk,

My heart is but night, without light;

Memories, of one shot – it is dark,

My heart no longer shines – mourning;

Your body in my arms --- lifeless

Cold invades my soul --- mourning;

Memories of your smile – so bright,

My heart rejoices --- morning.

Your body in my arms --- LIFE

Warmth is in my soul --- morning;

In the cold of night I mourn

Alone in darkness, I am blind;

My eyes can see a shining star,

Reminds me of your smile;

Oh! My shining star, guide me to you,

Show me my way home into your arms;

Your golden smile in the morning,

In your arms it is forever day!

EMPATHY

EMPATHY by Celine Leduc August 2015

My friend told me

“Feel my pain.”

I ask:

“Why?”

She answers:  

“It is about EMPATHY”

I retort:

“Too much bother.”

She quips:

“Why? Do I not matter?”

I state:

“It is not pleasant!”

She retorts:              

“It is ok to distort?”

I jibe:

“Truth I want to hide.”

She asks:

“Why? Why hide.”

I joke:

““Cause I’m white.”

She banters:

“You whitewash truth.”

I shrug

“Yep, makes me pure “WHITE””

She smiles and gives me a HUG

I smile back and hug her back.

I feel her pain: EMPATHY

She feels my pain: EMPATHY

Thank you Norman Simon for editing 

STOP THE ROCKETS STOP BOMBING LISTEN TO THE WOMEN

STOP THE ROCKETS STOP BOMBING LISTEN TO THE WOMEN

Stop the bombing Stop the  rockets listen to the women  by Celine Leduc

Bombs fly in the night sky. Bombs fly at dusk and dawn.  It is raining It, is raining bombs and blood.  The earth is soaked in the blood of the innocent and not so innocent.  Men justify the war to bring peace, however the region is in pieces.  Torn by the violence. Stop bombing! Stop the rockets!  Lives are shattered, families torn apart, women and children suffer the loss they cry, their tears are real as they mourn the loss of life.  For years women have asked, have demanded STOP the bombings! STOP the rockets! STOP the killing!  Stop the violence! We, women, WANT PEACE for our children.  No man listens, men say we are here to protect our women and children.   Yet, they attack, send missiles to destroy a country, they refuse to recognize.   No man sits to negotiate for peace. The men are too busy rocketing the other side forcing the hand of defense.   Yes on the nightly sky rockets fly, birds no longer fly fearing death, children become orphans, women widows because men want to protect them.   Women voices are heard around the world and no one seems to listen to them, why?  Women all women want peace! 

Women from the area have a very long tradition of saving the area, it is recorded in the Bible, Qur’an and Hadith and in oral history and legends.  The knowledge is passed down from mother to daughter, in the saying: “behind every great man there is a woman”.   A new version or tradition should be started:  A man’s greatness is:  his willingness to listen to women”.   Let us not forget or remember that behind every name there is a story of glory, the name whispered in your ear has a history and tradition.  

Women in the Hebrew Bible are fewer than men however their contribution matters, in Egypt, Sudan, Persia, Yemen or North Africa. 

Egypt:   From Mesopotamia they came Abraham and Sara to Egypt to buy land from Pharaoh.  Pharaoh wanted Sarah as his wife thinking she was the sister of Abraham, however she was his wife.  Pharaoh almost sinned and as a penance he gave Sara and Abraham Hagar.   Hagar was a reminder of what happened in Egypt.  Hagar was Sarah’s handmaiden and became Abraham concubine at the request of Sarah.  Sarah was barren and Hagar gave him a son Ishmael. There was rivalry and enmity between the women, Sarah was unkind.  Sarah told Abraham send her and her son away after giving birth to Isaac.  Abraham did not listen and was told by the Lord, listen to Sarah, your wife.  Sarah freed Hagar and Ishmael.  The two sons of Abraham grew up they loved their mothers and gave them grandchildren,   because they listened to their mothers they prospered and had a long lineage, they fought as brothers to be the first. We know Ishmael was Abraham’s first born however for Hagar and Sarah both were first born.  Abraham foresaw the enslavement of his people and the birth of a liberator. They became slaves as predicted and   bad Pharaoh was cruel to the Hebrew.  He said first born Hebrew male were to be killed.   His daughter (Bethia Judaism) wife (Assyah Islam) did not agree they rebelled and disobeyed Pharaoh.  Miriam was told by her mom, make a basket and put my son in it, and watch what happens.  Bethia or Assyah saw the basket with the child, he was adopted and raised in Pharaoh’s House, and his name was Moses/Musa.  Civil disobedience by women saved lives. Moses said: Let my people go and they were let go. Bad Pharaoh decided to follow them and kill them, the Nile parted engulfed Pharaoh and his army, and they were saved. Out of Egypt (K’Met, Kush or Nubia modern day Sudan) we have Nefertiti who believed in monotheism, the one god ruled over her land.  Her reign was prosperous, here people worked, ate lived at peace because they were no wars.  She has a tomb in the desert and women from all religious background go and seek advice and inspiration, she inspired Dr. Ada Aharoni who founded IFLAC (International Forum of Literature and Peace). Leah Rabin and Jehan e-Sadat talked to their husbands and told them women want peace, peace was brokered, and the women went on to speak peace even after their husbands were killed.   Romans came to conquer the land of Nubia/Kush Augustus Caesar a misogynist who thought women were not to rule,  gave his word to the Queen I will not invade.   Amanishakheto of Nubia/Kush signed and honored the peace treaty which was sealed with a bust of none other than Augustus. He plotted against her, lusted after her land, after defeating and killing Cleopatra VII and stealing her land and her treasure.  Augustus did not respect the peace treaty, sent in an army only to be defeated.  As his army fell so did his bust its pedestal. Amanishakheto left it at the entrance of her palace so everyone would walk in would walk on the Augustus head. She did not go to war, she did not invade other lands.  She defended herself protected her people and put an end to aggression and invasion.

Persia: Jews lived in exile in Persia, the story of Esther is a lesson for a good marriage based n trust and respect between a man and a woman.   King Ahasuerus had been married to Vashti who did not listen to her husband, when he asked her to come to him, she refused hence he divorced her.  Esther is an example of courage and wisdom and listened to her uncle Mordecai when he overheard a plot. Haman and his wife were dishonest and plotted a war against Jews.  Haman was appointed to be the greatness rank by Ahasuerus. Esther was told warn King Ahasuerus of this plot, she shivered as she had to convey her husband to her chambers.  She knew what happened to Vashti.  He was a good husband and came heard and listened to her concern as she told him of the plot of Haman. The Persian King Ahasuerus, had a decision to make, listen to Haman and go to war with the Jews (Hebrew) or seek peace and listen to his wife.  He listened to Esther and war was averted. Haman the evil and his wife were defeated and disgraced. 

War in the time of Judges. Deborah (bee) was a judge, a prophetess and a leader of men and women.  Deborah a prophetess saw Barak defeat Sisera the general bent of killing Jews after a treaty had been signed by Jabin the Canaanite.  She foresaw he would not stop. She predicted a woman would kill him and restore peace in a war torn area. Deborah thought it was her duty, however it was not to be.  A woman from the other side Jael was the chosen one.  She fed him, and then killed Sisera to restore peace in the area.  At times a woman needs to kill the one whose heart is hard and so full of hate. 

Later on Rome still wanted more land and they met again defeat at the hands of women, two sister lived in castles on each side of a river.  Yes, Zainab and Zubeida went on defending their home, their land, their people, after their husbands fell at the hands of Romans. Fearless they took up the fight to save their kingdom, they won. 

Saudi Arabia:  Khadijah of Mecca was a widow and a prosperous business woman.  She hired a young man named Mohammed and asked for his hand.  This young man was known for his honesty and skills as a negotiator.   He had a vision on mount Arafat that troubled him.  An angel came to him and told him to read.  She counselled him and encouraged him.  She knew before him that he was a prophet.  He listened to her, his fears melted away accepted his fate and he became the Seal of the prophet and Islam was born.  He won the heart of millions as he was a fair and honest man who did much for the women of his time.  He stopped infanticide, gave women the right to divorce, gave strict instruction to his Companions do not kill women and children at war. When his wife Khadija died he went to Medina, he married more than one woman many were war widows.  He consulted women his wives.  

North Africa: Tin Hinan the legend of the Berber a Queen, a mother of her people is the founder of the Berber, her legacy released by the desert her mummified body showed she wore: 7 gold, 7 silver bracelets adorn her arm two ring one silver one gold.  Leader of men during the day and mother at night. Just like Kenza a legend loved by all, for some she is Jewish others Muslim some think she is Christian.   She fought to keep her people free never attacked and yet her death is at times violent or peaceful, she is loved by all and a strong roe mode for women who are leaders.  One story tells us she was Jewish fought against Muslims and yet is respected by Muslims today because she was honest and fought to have her people free.  A statue stands tall in Algeria, she was a great Berber Queen.  

Yemen:  Remember Queen Sheba who wanted to meet Solomon because he was wise.  She rules over Yemen traded all over the Arab world including Israel and Ethiopia. Arwa al-Sulayhi of Yemen was a malika (queen) who ruled over Yemen under Muslim rule.  Women ruled in fairness and many were brilliant business women leaders of the armies and very much women who thought not only of saving the lives of their children but for all children to be safe. These women ruled with their husbands were respected by them and listen to. Some were widows and other may be single we do not know legends do not tell us, they only speak of their legacy of peace.  They did not attack but defended themselves. The women lived in the dessert, in cities and were guided by the Northern star protected by the moon, shown the way when the sun rose in the east they prayed to the one God and Hawk spoke to them gave advice.   A few years ago a young woman from Yemen sang old traditional songs Ofra Haza she was loved by Israeli and by Yemenite, she used her music to bring people together.  She died a sad death yet she is a star every claims as their own, Yemen and Israel.  

As I gaze at the nightly sky one bird flies, a lone hawk. He is not a hunter or the hunter’s guide.  He is not the warrior he is a fearless bird.  Hawk does not fear bombs, he is the night watchman who informs women by telling them what men are doing at war.  Hawk has an all seeing eye.  Hawk and women know men act badly when women are not around.   Listen to hawk not the manmade symbol of hawk that symbolizes war and destruction but the hawk that flies fearless and free telling women and all children to be safe and hide.   Hawk advises women to take a stand and be firm, men need to be reminded that to be strong a man MUST listen to the women, a strong man is a man who listens to his mother, his wife, his daughters and all women.  STOP the rockets and bombs.  Silence the sirens so we can hear the message from Hawk, the voices of women who want peace for their children and grandchildren.  Are they not daughters of Hagar and SarahNefertiti, Kenza Tin Hinan as all come out of Adama (the earth)?  Adama feeds all her children, however she cries tears of blood because of the blood shed?  

THE BOMBS HAVE STOPPED IS THERE PEACE!

The bombs have stopped.  Politicians have negotiated a cease fire but have done nothing for a lasting peace.  The nightly sky is quiet the moon shines bright and the northern star can be seen by the nightly travelers.  Silence reigns no more sirens, no more rockets no more bombs to disturb my sleep.  I cannot sleep my body cannot rest as it expects the sirens to go off, or the rocket or bombs to drop and explode.  Finally, sleep comes one eye open, one ear listening to hear those sirens or bombs. A month goes by and finally I can sleep. Something falls, I jump out of bed fearing the worst, as I go to investigate, I realize it is not a bomb but something fell on the floor.  Shaking I go back to bed but I cannot sleep.  My mind is not at peace. Life goes on tomorrow today we will rebuild our homes, our cities our infrastructure.  Men go and rebuild, earn money rebuild our lives. Women help and support the men and care for children. No time to think about events the bombs have stopped but peace has not come.     

Months turn into years and still peace has not come.  Events have been shoved under the carpet, feelings have been ignored, and at times anger sets in. Why am I so jittery?  Why this anger? I did not always feel that way, what happened to me.  I scream instead of speaking gently. I curse my neighbor because he is not like me.  Many years ago our families were friends, our children would play with each other.  We worked and celebrate our holidays.  We were family! Why is it no longer so?   I want my children to know the joy that once reigned in our village.  What to do?  Knock on my neighbor’s door, a request “can we talk?”  “Yes!” We sit, talk about the past, talk about the war and the bombs, the war neither of us wanted.  Emotions run high, pain surfaces, as we remember our dead.  As we talk about those who died, we wonder together did he kill my brother, sister, mother, father, child, family or friend?  Neither of us can answer that question, we will never know. The reality is that they died because of a bomb, a missile, and or a bullet. We sit looking at each other and realize we have choices to make.  Can we rebuild our former friendship or do we remain enemies.  

Men and women sit and talk, about the war and justice!  No one can pinpoint what started the bombing. Justice was used we want justice, yet it became just ice as hearts froze and blindness set in. The blindness that prevents us from seeing the whole picture. We were blinded by our anger, our pain that became hate.  No one remembers the spark that grew into the fires of hell, the war.  All we know is the after effects, the death toll, and the casualties of war.  It does not matter who lost more people, what matters is that lives were lost.  People were maimed, lost an eye, a leg an arm or a hand.  We could no longer look in each other’s eye fearing to see pain and/or guilt. We could no longer walk to our friend’s house yet we could limp. No longer were we able to extend our hand in friendship as a piece of shrapnel blew it away. We talked about the devastating consequences of war the loss of life, of limbs, but more importantly the loss of trust and broken friendships.  

We open our hearts and our minds, promise one another to work on our friendship. Talk openly about the hell that war is to our children and grandchildren.  We will take responsibility for our actions and make our politicians honest and responsible.  Instead of justice we talk about fairness and equality to be negotiated with words and concrete actions.  We talked, we yelled, we screamed our pain and anger, we sat we talked, we listened and we heard each’s others pain.  We empathized and refused to sympathize as neither of us was a victim per say but we were survivors of a war.  We sit, drink and eat together a little bit wiser because we fed our spirit, our mind and our body with words and finally we can feel peace in our heart.  We are at peace with ourself and the other. The bombs have stopped and we found our way to peaceful coexistence one person at a time, one family at a time one village at a time. 

THE EPIPHANY OF PAUL AND PAULINE

THE EPIPHANY OF PAUL AND PAULINE  by Celine Leduc 2014 

On the road to Damascus Saul heard a voice:

“Why do you persecute me?”

Saul had an epiphany and became Paul.

He saw the error of his way

He was blinded, then he saw the light

He stopped persecuting Christians.

As he saw the light his focus changed

His mission was to convert Jews and Gentiles.

Disregarded and disobey Jewish law he says.

He made deals with the Greeks or Romans

The end is near! “He” is coming back.

Soon the Messiah will here. 

Paul writes the end is coming.

Rejoice the end of the world is coming

A prophet he became

An Apostle he was made

He heard and followed the voice.

Why do you persecute me? 

On the road to Quebec Pauline had an epiphany

She heard a voice: “You are persecuted?”

You are the White “N” of America!

The English persecuted you!

You are the chosen race, the “Pure Laine”

Alleluia: I believe you are the Messiah!

You cannot take his name in vain

He is a Bishop by his name Levesque

A father of the Church of language

Yes she voted for Law 101

He commanded: Church and State separate

In his honor she introduced Bill 60.

The prophetic Bishop said:  “Religion is your doom.”

Religion blinds you, you cannot think, you must submit

To the unseen god, I am your messiah in the Flesh and I declare:

If you wear a Kippah, a Hijab, a Turban surely you lose your mind

Those cover will steal your thoughts subjugate your mind

They will zap your intelligence and you sense of justice.

Rejoice, rejoice citizens, the end is near.

Canada will no longer be, your doom!

Uncover your head, submit to my will 

Disobey Canadian and religious laws!

For I am equal to man this the law.

Is this why you act manly or mannish?

Canadian Hypocrisy at its worst: The humiliation and misery of Canada’s First Nation People

Canadian Hypocrisy at its worst: The humiliation and misery of Canada’s First Nation People

In the past, Canadian Prime Minister and the Quebec Premier have made both noble and inspiring speeches in regard to the lifelong struggles and challenges of South African legend Nelson Mandela as he and the African National Congress fought to end apartheid in their country. 

In the mid 1980s, former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was one of the first elected officials of any Western country to publicly support Mandela and demand his release by ending Canada’s trade with South Africa’s apartheid government.  

Provincial Canadian leaders have even used the ending of South Africa’s apartheid White-ruled government as a rallying cry / catalyst for their own political agenda. 

Current Prime Minster and leader of Canada’s conservative political party, Steven Harper and Pauline Marois the current premier of Quebec, upon hearing of Mandela’s death gave emotional speeches praising the legacy of the man the world refers to as “Madiba”. 

Like all great thinkers, Madiba from his early years understood that a “rising tide lifts all boats” so he earnestly fought until the day he died to provide every South African child with the opportunity to receive a top-notch education. From the very beginning Mandela articulated that receiving a great education was the best hope to uplift Black and Brown South Africans from tyrannical / generational poverty.

Hypocrisy is an evil that makes liars of all politicians

Although in essence most Canadian politicians have outwardly supported the initiatives of Nelson Mandela to improve Black South Africa’s educational system, in Canada the same courtesy has not been given to the indigenous people of the First Nations.

In short “Indians” of First Nations are subjected to antiquated and prejudiced Federal and Provincial laws that emasculate Canada’s indigenous people. 

Prime Minister Harper may apologize for the Residential Schools system abused and forced Indians” to become “White” to lose their Mother tongue and become for subject cruel medical experiments, however, apologies alone do not equate to fixing a broken educational system. First Nations have opened their own schools:  they teach their kids, their language, their history and their ways.  At this time these schools are being subsidized, if this law passes they might lose funding. 

As it currently stands, the politics of Canada, but particularly Canadians who desire an independent Quebec [“Le Parti Quebecois”] is not a friendly political party to reforming the educational standards of First Nation schools. 

Throughout the province of Quebec there exist language laws that legally mandate the French language as the official language of the province, hence affecting the comprehension of lessons being taught in “Indian Schools”.  Food for thought….”If textbooks supplied by the Province are all printed in conversational French, and in some reserves they are unilingual French then is it possible that some native students may not fully understand the text or other Natives?” It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that inter-generational misunderstandings via communication between the elders and then “conqueror and the conquered” is most likely to beget generational poverty.

Nationalism in Quebec or neo-colonialism and the new apartheid

Without a doubt the “French only laws” in the Quebec Province has created a discrete yet distinct division between people as some schools are taught in English others are taught in French.  Religion was blamed as a deterrent to success, religiously run schools like the Residential schools have closed in Quebec. The Duplessis children suffered and so did First Nation kids who were abused.   These schools were overseen by religious organizations, sanctioned by the government. Since the quiet revolution there is no confessional schools but English or French language schools.   Provincial language laws promotes unilingual (French only) schools and has become the new religion to obey.  In both cases it was political will of the conqueror that was imposed. 

Far too often in Canada it is because of culturally-suffocating-Provincial-laws that oversee and govern the life / education system of “Indians” that causes a “Native identity crisis” is manifested. If the Bill on FNEA as proposed by Harper passes it will give Quebec too much power over First Nation. 

Quebec Nationalism or the Parti Quebecois agenda wants to rule over to be in charge, have dominion over everyone regardless of their culture, religion or ethnicity, yet the only ones in charge are “White” French speaking and immigrants to this land. 

Praise Astérix follow Caesar

Astérix le Gaulois fought against the Roman and the preservation of his language and culture, he is a cartoon strip.  The Parti Quebecois claims to fight for all “Quebecois” however unlike Astérix they  are pontificating bureaucrats and act like Romans who care little about maintaining the integrity of Native customs and language scuttle about the country legislating and passing laws that strip away Native identity.

Case in point, during the recent “Maple Spring” tuition reform was at the forefront of public debate, to overthrow a Liberal government, rowdy acting Franco-Canadian-Quebecois students who were vehemently demanding free university tuition for their self and future students, never uttered a single sentence about the plight of public education in First Nation Schools; not one sentence, not one word.

My main concern is that eventually Canada’s First Nation will be relegated in history to the infamous oubliette of France. The oubliette (loosely translated as the forgotten ones), were the prisoners of French prisons that were left to rot, die and wither away.

Praise Mandela emulate the Afrikaner apartheid

Traditionally governments of Canada but specifically Quebec, have a long history of violating First Nation treaties remember 1990, and the Oka Crisis! Currently Bill 60 proposes to make any wearing any religious symbols illegal, this includes the forgotten First Nation who were forced to cover in the French way, like French women, today the government wants all women to uncover regardless of religious tradition or culture.   Province are in charge of education and if the First Nation Education Act passes Quebec will be in charge of First Nation.  No commission on reasonable accommodation or on religious symbols is required to understand that Quebec will be administered by “White” only French “pure-laine”. 

Like the Dutch in South-Africa (Afrikaners) in 20^th century who imposed apartheid, newly appointed French Quebecois Prime Ministers wants to be in a position to create their “perfect French educated-First Nation-colonies” that in essence will be only loyal to the interests of French speaking Quebec which is creating a new apartheid.

The forced assimilation of any “conquered people” into the culture of their “conqueror” is equivalent to systematically erasing the losing side’s history / identity. The conqueror becomes the identity thief.

It’s time for political hypocrisy in Canada and in Quebec to end. Speaking elegantly at Nelson Mandela’s funeral is good for the International Press and may win a few national political points, however without progressively enacting on the principles of promoting human dignity and civil liberties that Nelson Mandela stood for in life and stands for in his legacy, words without meaning only give comfort to fools, and it is my sincere wish that no Canadian is ever considered a fool.

In closing I beseech my brethren and sisters who call Canada home to, “Stand up and recognize the sacred sovereignty of our First Nation neighbors, it is possible to uplift a people via a great education without destroying their history, of this I am certain”.   

Quebec proposed Charter of Values attacks freedom of religion as they want to ban all religious symbols

This is the first in a series of poems looking at what people remember and forget.  

JE ME SOUVIENS  (I REMEMBER) by Céline Leduc 12/2013

I REMEMBER is the motto of Quebec

I remember the English colonized me.

I forget I colonized First Nations.

I remember multiculturalism is bad.

I forget it allowed me to keep my culture.

I remember the Church is my downfall

I forget it was Louis XIV and Napoleon politics

I remember my language matters

I forget I imposed language on First Nations.

I remember my culture

I want others to forget their culture

Quebec’s  new motto should be

I FORGET -- J’OUBLIE

Dear Bernie,

I hope it is all right with you that I am bringing our important exchange on the urgent need of a "Culture of Peace," to the IFLAC Newsletter and audience, as I know it would interest our memdbers and readers.

I admire your wisdom, depth and sincerity, in your analysis below, and your deep faith in research, science and sociology, to promote a better world beyond war. However, with the years and recent violent global developments, especially in the Middle East, I have become more and more convinced, that the intellectual approach is not enough in our attempt to reach the masses and the leaders of the world, that are after all, the ones who decide our fate.

The masses, and it seems, even the politicians, do not read serious sociological books anymore! We need to convince them of the urgent need of a powerful global peace culture, through a vehicle of the masses, which is unquestionably today - Television by Satellite. I have written an article about the urgent need of a WSPC: THE WORLD TV SATELLITE FOR A HARMONIOUS PEACE CULTURE, in my Homepage: www.iflac.com/ada

and you are warmly invited to read it and comment on it. In this article I speak about the great role of women, who are more than half the world, in the creation of this so urgently needed WSPC, but of course the W stands also for all the citizens of the"World", and not only for "women."

I warmly invite you to join IFLAC, and to send your response to the whole of our IFLAC list. Several members have commented on how honest, interesting and constructive your work, experience, and points of view are.

What we need to do now, is to all join hands and strengths together in harmony, and work effectively in unison, toward the changing of our prevalent dangerous "Violent Global Culture" to a " Global Harmonious Peace Culture."

LIERATURE AND POETRY

In addition to scientific and sociological research, at IFLAC: The International Forum for the Literature and Culture of Peace, we try to bring about the so needed "harmonious culture of peace", through what you have hinted at as being the "inner being" - by the writing and promotion of peace literature and peace poetry.

You are invited to visit my Homepage, and 25 published books at www.amazon.com that includes as well, the IFLAC PEACE CULTURE ANTHOLOGY, that attempt to promote peace values and the harmonious culture of peace. Many of these books have been translated into several languages, and they have received international prizes, and are used as Textbooks in schools, colleges, universities and various other institutions. My two recent books on this subject are: YOU AND I CAN CHANGE THE WORLD, and WOMEN CREATING A WORLD BEYOND WAR AND VIOLENCE.

I warmly congratulate you again, in my name and in the name of IFLAC, on your extensive sociological peace research and "Imagination." I keenly hope that more serious sociologists like you, students, teachers and people from all walks of life, including political leaders, would join our mutual peace efforts soon.

CONCLUSION

The creation of a better, more just, and more harmonious planet beyond war, terrorism and violence, should be the "Primary National Goal" of all the States and citizens of the world - before our beautiful blue planet is destroyed by a horrendous nuclear mushroom flame....

Prof. Ada Aharoni

IFLAC Founder - President

Berniephi@aol.com wrote:

Dear Ada,

I've just read your biography, and I much admire your outstanding work toward achieving peace in our world, a world that I believe we both see as deeply threatened in many ways, with those threats accelerating. And I much appreciate your looking at my website, and especially your critical remarks about the limitations of that website and sociology in general in failing to work on solutions and not just working on understanding problems.

By the way, have you ever met Chanoch Jacobsen, a sociology professor at the Technion? I suspect that he is no longer with us, as I haven't heard from him in several years. He contributed a chapter in the 2001 volume, Toward a Sociological Imagination: Bridging Specialized Fields (cited on my website). His emphasis was on the computer simulation of complex problems, somewhat premature, but the flow diagrams that are a prelude for such simulations are not premature.

Your criticism is very well-taken, for I have only just begun to move in a political direction, and there is very little of that emphasis throughout the social sciences, unfortunately. But "The Evolutionary Manifesto" on my website does indeed point in that direction, even if it is not very clear as to what it is suggesting, and even if it doesn't go very far. The 2nd recommendation (the 1st of deep democracy is, I'm sure, a direction that we share), that of the scientific method in everyday life, is in fact a powerful direction once it is spelled out. And I'm presently working on that in my half-completed manuscript, "Armageddon or Evolution? The Scientific Method in Everyday Life."

To explain a bit--and I will follow your lead with my own criticism of efforts to achieve peace--I refer you to the countercultural movement in the 1960s, mainly in the U.S. among college students, but in Europe and elsewhere as well (especially France) to an extent. The emphasis was certainly on democracy and peace (especially ending the war in Vietnam). But the students and others, who tried very very hard to change the world by developing changes in culture, followed a self-limiting path: they failed to understand the necessity of their own intellectual development as a basis for understanding problems in the world and themselves. One can hardly blame them, since social scientists and philosophers and those in the humanities had failed to integrate their knowledge, so that the students had very little to build on. Unfortunately, in my view much the same situation with regard to understanding human behavior and human problems prevails today. Specifically, I see direct efforts to achieve peace as succeeding in dampening some fires, but that is by no means enough to counter escalating fires throughout the world. And once again, I blame social scientists far more than any other group for this situation, since they haven't provided the framework of understanding needed for political leaders and others to use it to help them solve world problems.

What is to be done? My own orienation is very optimistic about the infinite human potential, especially with the aid of language and the scientific method, but realistic about the very limited time available to confront threatening and urgent problems. I can only give hints about my recommendations in a letter, hints that I'm trying to spell out in the book I'm writing (which builds on recent published books). Those books on my website point to our stratified or bureaucratic metaphysical stance or worldview--including yours and mine--which gets in the way of that individual evolution. More specifically--following figure 1-1in Beyond Sociology's Tower of Babel --our worldview has yielded an escalating gap between aspirations and their fulfillment (both materially and non-materially). That gap between what we want and are able to get is powered by escalating desires or cultural values and limited ability to fulfill them, powered by patterns of social stratification and bureaucracy. And as a result, we are able to obtain only very limited reinforcements or positive sanctions from ourselves and others--relative to the numerous situations where we fail in our own eyes to fulfill our goals. Figure i-2 in my Armageddon manuscript carries this argument further: this in turn not only affects our epistemology--we are unable to follow scientific ideals because they conflict with our worldview--but it also adds fuel to the fire of our problems.

Yet following figure i-2, all of this can be reversed: learning to use the scientific method in everyday life can yield the narrowing of that aspirations-fulfillment gap in the short run, more frequent reinforcements for the individual, and the raising of both aspirations and their fulfillment in the long run. Yet this takes deep understanding of the forces involved. And it involves absolutely fundamental changes in the behavior of the individual. We should, then, all work toward our own individual evolution as a basis for developing the understanding, the emotional force and the actions that solutions to world problems require.

These few abstract words can do little justice to the detailed arguments in my books--I know that I'm not being clear. Let me try again in another way--perhaps in several ways. Erich Fromm's Man for Himself suggests that we must somehow learn to love ourselves before we can learn to love others. Carrying this idea much further, our failure to love ourselves derives from our stratified worldview which points us outward rather than, interactively, both inward an outward. Throughout early human history people had to learn to confront problems in their physical environments in order to survive, yielding an outward orientation, rather than the invisible world that language enables us to enter. I see this as continuing into the modern era, making it verty difficult for us to learn how to reinforce ourselves and develop our understanding, ability to express our emotions, and act effectively.

Coming at my basic ideas in still another way, social science has emphasized concepts that deal with structures--or persisting behavior--as yielding the major forces that shape human behavior (such as cultural values, social stratification, bureaucracy, rituals, self image cultural norms, institutions). And those structures can in turn be linked together in systematic ways as I've tried to do in my books (e.g., the cultural value of equality coupled with patterns of social stratification yields an aspirations/fulfillment gap, anomie, alienation, and fosters a wide range of social and personal problems). Yet our everyday concepts emphasize the momentary situation rather than structures. As a result, no matter how much we attempt to change our own behavior or that of others, we fail to alter structures and our efforts at change are self-limiting. Yet an evolutionary worldview coupled with a scientific method used in everyday life which follows scientific ideals can reverse this situation, narrowing that gap and making progress on social problems.

More specifically, I think that we all should learn to work in two ways: attempting to solve fundamental human problems like war, and indirectly, learning to change our own orientation from a stratified to an evolutionary worldview.

I'd appreciate your comments, as I know I've communicated my thoughts only slightly.

Best wishes,
Bernie