Sunday, July 2, 2017

Update - apathy and ignorance rule in BC

Including my own I add.

I am convinced that a million blogs, videos and petitions aren't going to change anything substantially. What is required is direct action that challenges the authority of the State, a la Gandhian satyagraha (non-violent civil disobedience - in Sanskrit, 'standing firm in truth'). This means street protests and withholding financing (taxes etc) from the politicians. Otherwise it is just blah blah blah. We have to be willing to go to be arrested, go to jail, spend money on lawyers, even be imprisoned. This is not going to be an easy fight because frankly most Canadians are indifferent to political action that has any costs.

If there was an equivalent to Tommy Robinson's group in UK, if there was a less Christian and less conservative group in Canada like Britain First that was fighting Islamization, I would join it. There isn't.

Here is what has happened with me lately - admittedly all very small and local....

1. Pool sign updated: After seven years of misinformation the administration has finally changed the children sign to something sensible. It used to read that kids *under* age five should use the appropriate changing room. Now, it has been changed to 'over'. Duh.

2. Women Only signs removed: No more ads are posted advertising the women only swim. The practice continues on public holidays (such as yesterday, July 1, Canada Day) but it is not in the publications or posters. Why, I do not know. I believe it is to keep a low profile. This must also mean that whoever should know about it already does.

3. Woman in women only swim photo: Don't know if I mentioned this before, but the woman in the photo that accompanied the event looks Iranian. Co-incidence?

4. 30 minute question: The women only swim occurs from 8 to 10 a.m. Public swim opens at 10:30. So, there is 30 minutes of buffer. I will investigate to see if previously the public swim opened at 10 am, and this event is indeed digging into public time.

5. Russian's opinion: In the hot tub I spoke with an immigrant who has been in Canada for 40 years. He agreed completely with my perspective that public money should not be spent on sectarian swim events. However, while he would sign a petition, he said that in his opinion there are much more important matters. Therefore he would not engage in any civil disobedience such as occupying the lobby in a direct action.

6. Long polite discussion: I asked two other men in the hot tub their opinion of the event. One was ethnic Chinese and in his 30s (?) and the other Caucasian and perhaps early 40s. Both thought that the women swims are a good idea. We had a polite argument about it, most of it between the older man and myself. Basically he thinks that minorities must be catered to. The Caucasian man made the same arguments that the Mayor does. I asked him what he thought about if a high caste Hindu doesn't want to swim with low-caste people, should we cater to that restriction also? I found his reply illogical - 'but he doesn't have to, the girls don't have a choice, their culture doesn't allow them to'. And the City of Coquitlam should cater to this mentality? Yes.

7. Prince George businessman agrees with me:  A man in his late 20s of undetermined ethnicity (parents South Asian?) agreed with me tentatively, that the women only swim is a bad idea. He said that Canadians have become to soft and it sets a bad precedent.

8. Sauna silence: The night before the 'women only swim' I attempted to get some reaction out of patrons (mixed ethnicities, mostly Chinese and Korean, but some Middle Eastern, Filipino and Caucasian men also). I announced to the group the nature of the event, what are the rules and my opinion of it (the purpose is Islamic) - hoping to get some discussion going. I do not know if people are shy to discuss public policy or there were language issues, but no one responded. It was as if no one heard me or pretended that they didn't. Complete silence, as if I had farted instead of tried to bring up pool policy for open discussion. This really disappointed me. I have no issue talking with people who disagree with me or agree on only some points, but I found it bizarre compared to say political discussions I have had on New York and even Vancouver subways. Maybe when people are half naked they don't want to talk politics? One man, a Filipino, upon leaving expressed his sympathy for my concerns. Everyone else was poker faced. This is one reason I find Canada strange, everyone is so afraid of being considered impolite.

9. Canada Day: I was wearing one of my favourite T-shirts, the 'Sikh Martyrs Colouring Book' image of Arjan Dev being tortured by Mughals in 16th century. A non-turbaned South Asian man said he liked my shirt.
The City of Coquitlam had set up many booths including one where the public could add post-it notes to reply to the question how would you like to see Canada improve or words to that effect. I wrote out 'Halt (star and cresent symbol) immigration' and put it high up with a row of several others. The attendant immediately, as in within seconds removed it. I reprimanded her saying 'that is my opinion'. She replied, 'How about I put it here' where it blocked the question text. I do not know how long it remained. I had not posted a racist comment (religion is not race) such as 'halt green immigration', I had not said anything advocating violence such as 'kill Mormons' or even anything personally political such as 'Impeach Trudeau'. Would she have objected if I had written 'increase Muslim immigration? or something general such as  'increase immigration' or 'decrease immigration'? She did not explain herself and I did not enquire.

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