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What happened to Canada?
Norman Finkelstein questions our nation’s acceptance of Israeli policies
by Jason Chesworth
March 03, 2009
Originally published at Scene and Heard.ca

The Government of Israel flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan river. The Palestinians can run their lives freely in the framework of self-rule, but not as an independent and sovereign state. Thus, for example, in matters of foreign affairs, security, immigration and ecology, their activity shall be limited in accordance with imperatives of Israel’s existence, security and national needs.
– Likud Party Platform “Peace & Security”

Towards the end of his 60-plus minute address on Israel’s invasion of Gaza, at U of T on January 15th, former Harvard professor Dr. Norman Finkelstein, made a simple comment that received a surprisingly supportive round of applause from the largely Canadian audience.

“I don’t know what has happened to Canada”, Dr. Finklestein stated plainly. “I was here 25 years ago and met a Palestinian man who had refugee status and was living in Montreal. I asked him how he found it, living in Canada, and he said, ‘to live as a refugee is always difficult, but if I had to live anywhere in the world, Canada would be my first choice. In Canada, you can experience the country the same way as Canadians do.’”

In the 25 years that have since passed, Norman Finkelstein simply can’t account for why our outlook on international affairs and foreign policies have shifted away from keeping the peace and moved towards engagement.

Surely, the supportive applause was largely due to the fact the audience was filled with Palestinians, activists and students, but to those of us sitting on the sidelines without an ethnic, religious or familial tie to the conflict; the applause appeared to come out of an appreciation for Dr. Finkelstein’s courage to continue a discussion that is nearly impossible to have in an era that is steeped in hope for change and progress.

Finkelstein, the son of Holocaust survivors, has long been demonized for his criticism of Israel’s aggressive policies towards the Palestinian people, regardless of the political representation of Palestine (PLO, Fatah, Hamas). A frequent lecturer, contributor to various news outlets, Dr. Finkelstein regularly chronicles the asymmetric, disproportionate and increasingly illegal warfare tactics employed by the Israeli Defense Forces against the Palestinian civilian population.

But what of Dr. Finkelstein’s question: “What has happened to Canada”? The irony of an American asking a Canadian audience this question notwithstanding, it seems a particularly important question to be asking at this time in our history if we are even flirting with the idea of asking the next and more pressing question: “What will happen to Canada?”

To take an educated guess, Canadians by and large, see themselves as peacekeeping, human rights defenders who err on the side of moderation and have a basic Foreign Policy to foster democratic principles throughout the world. In short, we’re good, peace-loving people. Except for the fact that the majority of us appear to have a deep “hate-on” for a Prime Minister who can’t seem to lose for winning; Canadians seem to view themselves as a “do-good” type of folk occasionally hamstrung by self-serving elected officials – not as de facto supporters of illegal wars or the use of illegal weapons.

Finkelstein was sure to point out that it wasn’t only Stephen Harper and the PMO’s way of thinking that he didn’t understand; but also that of our intellectual elite and general acquiescence to the notion that this conflict falls under the banner of “self-defense” for one party and not for the other. It was difficult to leave the lecture hall without considering the kind of pro forma support a citizenry gives its tenuous leadership in the form of silence.

Old adages used to subjugate discussion or debate, such as, “this war has been going on for a thousand years” are difficult to make sense of, knowing that the war being fought on the other side of the world was (as we left the lecture hall), happening in real time with real weapons, costing lives that were very much in the present day.

It was impossible not to consider that, the battles being fought throughout Gaza had illegal weapons (white phosphorous, Dense Inert Materials Explosives), being rained down upon a civilian population who had already been weakened financially, emotionally and left without adequate food and potable water by more than 18-months of strict sanctions already put in place by Israel. Food, water, electricity and money had already been in scarce supply within Gaza’s borders well before Israel unilaterally decided to end the six-month ceasefire.

And what will happen to Canada? Will we continue to support countries that aggressively expand their interests at the expense of an already decimated population?