A new pariah state
Syria has been a police state for years. But it is only now that the truly brutal, and even murderous, nature of Bashar Assad's regime has been made plain.
Since mid-March, hundreds of innocent protesters have been gunned down in the streets. (The exact number is unknown, because the government has banned all foreign reporters, and blocked local cellphone networks, in an effort to prevent the outside world from learning the extent of the bloodshed.) Tanks are roaming towns in several parts of the country. Government agents are going door to door, rounding up activists and throwing them into jail.
There are reports of dissent in the military: In several instances, soldiers reportedly have been killed by their comrades for refusing to shoot on unarmed demonstrators. And some legislators have quit their posts, rather than be complicit in the crackdown. Still, the Assad regime may survive the current crisis. It might just murder its way to short-term survival.
Even if this happens, however, the protesters' sacrifices will not have been in vain. For decades, Syria has postured as a beacon of Arab "resistance" against Israeli aggression -and has acted as a weapons conduit for the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist group and militia in neighbouring Lebanon. Now, Syria is becoming a pariah in the Arab world: Even the Iranians -who cheered on the revolutions in North Africa -seem mortified by events in their client state.
If the Syrian regime survives, it will be in massively weakened form. The traditional raison-dêtre of its government -confronting Israel -will become a joke, for Damascus will have shown itself to be more brutal to its own Arab citizens than even the hated "Zionist entity" is accused of behaving toward Palestinians.
President Assad's days are numbered, in other words. It's just a question of how many of his own people he kills on the way down.
A proud moment for Parliament
Amid all of the commentary about last week's election results, little attention has been paid to an impressive fact: Seven aboriginals -five Conservatives and two NDP -were elected to Parliament in this election, the highest number ever.
They are (beginning with the Tories): Leona Aglukkaq in Nunavut -who already had the distinction of being the first Canadian of Inuk ancestry in Cabinet; Rob Clarke, who is Cree, in the Saskatchewan riding of Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River; Rod Bruinooge, a Métis entrepreneur and filmmaker with a well-developed political resumé, in Winnipeg South; former policewoman Shelly Glover, who identifies as Métis, in the Manitoba riding of Saint Boniface; Innu leader Peter Penashue in Labrador; Jonathan Genest-Jourdain, a lawyer from the small Quebec Innu village of Uashat-Maliotenam; and Romeo Saganash, founder of the Cree Nation Youth Council, in the Quebec riding of Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou (whose Bloc Québécois opponent -wrongly -claimed him to be unelectable because he was aboriginal).
This is a great moment not only for these seven politicians, but for Canada: To our collective disgrace, it was not until 1968 that the first Status Indian was elected to Parliament. (Indeed, they could not even vote until 1960). And it is a welcome sight to see aboriginals assume their rightful place in mainstream politics -including a five-MP contingent within the majority ruling party.
Their presence in the halls of power also makes this an interesting time for aboriginal politics in this country. Till now, the de facto political center of gravity for many aboriginals has been the Assembly of First Nations (AFN). This group now is led by Shawn Atleo, a relatively young, well-educated, progressminded hereditary chief from the Ahousaht First Nation on Vancouver Island. But no matter who leads it, the AFN is limited by its mandate: It is a group that represents the interests of aboriginal band leaders -not the reserve-resident rank-and-file. The seven aboriginal MPs elected last week, on the other hand, must be accountable to their constituents.
We also hope they will help inject fresh ideas into the debate about aboriginal issues. The Liberal approach -symbolized by the failed Kelowna Accord -revolved around money. But aboriginal communities need more than just handouts. They also need more encouragement to join the Canadian economy as active, capitalist partners, a process well underway in some of the more prosperous reserves located on the B.C. coast and near urban centres.
While Parliament's aboriginal MPs were elected to serve all their constituents, not just those who share their ancestry, they could pay this country a special service by bringing their communities' needs to the forefront of Tory policy-making.
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