Currents

He’s been disowned by a panicked Canadian Arab Federation in damage-control mode, threatened with grievous bodily harm by a predictable slew of blog-trolling rednecks and was presumably pressured to resign his executive position yesterday. But the unrepentant Omar Shaban, who has cursed his adopted country, is not hiding in a cave somewhere near Vancouver or leaving for some distant shore where both radical propagandists and narcissistic idiots are more welcome (Britain, perhaps?). He’s actually trying to defend his words.

According to Mr. Shaban’s blog from “Occupied Canada”:

My facebook status did read “F*** Canada Day”, and it was followed by a few other comments in response to some of the questions that people posted. Some consider that taking this position is disgraceful and shameful but I tend to disagree.

Canadian citizens may not be given to showy displays of patriotism (well, except maybe on Canada Day), but cursing the land where you were born, where your parents came to give you a better life (at least until they decided to go back to Lebanon and raise him in the Nahr El-Barid refugee camp) – is certainly disgraceful. No doubt, Mr. Shaban relishes the infamy that has come unto his reputation. He breathes in the contempt of his fellow citizens. He feels no shame. Perhaps he even feels a sense of moral superiority. In any case, as he says, he tends to disagree with the prevailing view that he’s a vile and irredeemable embarrassment.

Moving on, Mr. Shaban claims that:

First of all, my statement clearly did not reflect CAF’s position; it was my own personal opinion.

Clearly? How does this statement “clearly” not reflect CAF’s position? CAF has been describes as making decidedly un-Canadian statements including “the promotion of hatred, anti-Semitism and support for the banned terrorist organizations” (NP). Why should Canadians expect that the rest of the executive of the CAF has done anything more with their tepid and uninformative press release (CAF Disassociates Itself from Recent Comments) than stop the bleeding after one of their own said what they were all thinking?

But now we get to Omar’s rationalization for his actions:

Secondly, I said “F*** Canada Day” and I regret the dark history that this country has. On our silent government’s behalf, I apologize to the indigenous people for this, and sincerely wish it had not happened to you. I apologize to the indigenous people of Canada because their feelings are not taken into consideration at “Canada Day” celebrations.

Of course! Mr. Shaban isn’t a tactless slimeball! He’s practically a hero. Oh, wait a second…

Omar never bothered to actually see what First Nations people might have to say about Canada Day before he decided to speak for them. For instance, here we have Mike Pinay, an elder from the Peepeekisis First Nation, talking about how Canada Day is a time for everyone to celebrate being a Canadian:

“We acknowledge what our forefathers have said, that we agreed to share the land with all the newcomers,” Pinay explained. “So we acknowledge that today on Canada Day. I look at it as a commemoration of all the good things that have happened.”

And then we have the words of Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, following Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s apology for the terrible abuse of Natives at the residential schools (Edmonton Journal):

But it signifies something even more important: a respectful and, therefore, liberating relationship between us and the rest of Canada. Together we can achieve the greatness our country deserves.

The apology today is founded upon, more than anything else, the recognition that we all own our own lives and destinies, the only true foundation for a society where peoples can flourish.

First Nations people have not forgotten their history. And both aboriginals and non-First Nations Canadians are also well aware that the state of Canada’s aboriginals is a national disgrace. The clear message here is that Canadians of all backgrounds want to see positive change come to aboriginal communities. Remember the past. Build a future – together.

Yet on the day when Omar took his “stand”, his supposed allies failed to show. There were no mass protests against the “occupier”. The Native artists and musicians in the Aboriginal Village at Major’s Hill Park and elsewhere were not forcibly conscripted into performing at Canada Day celebrations. Funny, that.

Omar’s statement that he would not celebrate Canada Day “until it is accepted as legitimate by the indigenous people” is a red herring that might be seen as akin to Brad Pitt’s forgotten declaration that he would not get married until all Americans – gay, straight, whatever – could get married.

But there may be a more nefarious motive at work in Mr. Shaban’s latest meandering yet defiant declaration; his explanation of his actions – which attempts to weave in Gaza and Afghanistan with the issues on Canadian reserves into a confusing diatribe – could make more sense if we see them as part of the standard tactic of Islamist fundamentalist propagandists, what Ed Hussain describes in the Islamist as the linking of a myriad of issues in the hopes of radicalizing an anti-imperialist, anti-democratic mass of permanent radicals. Burning his bridges, perhaps Mr. Shaban has decided exactly where he wants his “career” to go.

One can only hope that one day this poor deluded soul will understand what he has done and ask forgiveness. Canadians may not want to give it. But that’s not the point.

A little humility here, Mr. Shaban. A little shame.

The uprising changes everything.

From Terry Glavin in his Tyee column, “Iran: Whose Side Are We Really On?”:

The uprising changes everything, and not just inside Iran. No matter what happens next, the uprising will cause convulsions in contested fields of struggle from Afghanistan to Palestine.

Already, the spectacle of angry masses thronging the streets of Iranians cities is holding out the promise of a great awakening in “progressive” politics from Berlin to Seattle. In Canada, what was once unspeakable is now unavoidably central to any serious discussion of the Iranian cause and what it demands of us.

Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday dear Canada…
Happy birthday to you.

And many more.

Dramatization of a conversation I’m likely to hear on my way to work in the morning: “I vaguely remember something in the news, something about a lady in a Persian rug store who got shot. I don’t know. But Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett died on the same day? I better catch Larry King interviewing their friends and family members. Let’s see, if I don’t see it tonight, I can probably catch the show tomorrow, or Saturday morning, or later that weekend, or any day next week…”

Not to take anything away from those who mourn the Prince of Pop and that lovely woman who acted in the original Charlie’s Angels TV series, but you’ve really got to feel bad for the Iranian opposition. The news cycle of celebrity-obsessed North American media will ensure that the next seven days are filled with stories about Michael Jackson’s musical talent and enjoyment of sleepovers with young boys and Ms. Fawcett’s courageous battle with cancer (with some choice stills of her early TV appearances thrown in for good measure).

Iran’s brave protesters will not be entirely ignored, but neither will their wounded and fallen get the attention that they very much deserve. Instead, news consumers will be fed a steady diet of celebrity news that we don’t particularly want, but which major media outlets think we need.

Until now, the opposition may have been buoyed by the robust support across the globe for their drive to bring real democratic change to Iran. The protesters certainly haven’t been getting any support from the censored and browbeaten (or just plain beaten) media in their own country (Reporters Without Borders calls Iran the world’s biggest prison for journalists). How disappointed and demoralized they’ll feel when the world’s attention shifts to eulogizing a famously talented man who couldn’t stop grabbing his crotch.

The mullahs in Iran must be loving it. Our evening’s broadcasts were clear proof that the decadent Westerners have the attention span of children. We decry political tyrants, but we knowingly accept and immerse ourselves in silly cults of personality so long as the icons are celebrities.

I hope I’m wrong. Canada and our allies have a huge stake in the Middle East. Right next door in Afghanistan, we’re helping an embattled new democracy remain on an upward path in the face of unrelenting violence by religious fundamentalists. Americans of course have an immense stake in the progress of democracy in Iraq, also right next door. Now we see a very rare glimmer of democratic change in Iran, which is under attack from more unrelenting violence from a similar breed of religious fundamentalists. It’s essential for responsible media broadcasters to keep our eyes on the news stories that continue to matter this week.

For the Tweeting Crowd
Some local Vancouver Tweeps who have noticed this disappointing trend:
FarFromSubtle Phew, I’m so glad Michael fixed that whole Iran thing before he died.
TeddysTogs Have you noticed with all of the celebrity deaths today—no Iran in the news?
BrandiCowen @accessd Priorities are screwed up. (Ex. Roommate’s friend came over crying about MJ, needed detailed explanation of situation in Iran. )
amiressy I didn’t give a fuck about MJ when he was alive and I sure don’t give a fuck now.There is a revolution going on in #iran people.FUCKIN HELL.

My brother just started using Twitter while suffering from a bout of insomnia the other night. He’d heard the buzz (not least from me) and he figured he might at least see what all the fuss was about.

I’m the proud recipient of his first Direct Message: “Can’t sleep either? Not sure exactly how useful this site is but I guess I will have to see what all the rage is”.

I thought about this for a bit and got back to him that perhaps it would be good to wait out, observe, see how others use Twitter and then a possible use for Twitter might come to him. It was a lame answer, but as I’d mentioned to him earlier, how one uses Twitter seems to really depend on your unique circumstances. Still, I couldn’t think of a better answer for him.

In my own experience, Twitter has been extremely useful to me as a way of promoting things I’ve been involved with, whether it’s events I’m helping organize or articles I want more people to read. It’s useful as an amplifier for what I already want to be doing: getting my message out. Even if very few people are actually on Twitter right now, influencers on Twitter who see my links to what I’m doing may help amplify their range through email, other social networks and the mainstream media (or perhaps even by picking up a phone).

This explains why so many Tweeps are social media marketers, PR wonks, communications specialists, journalists… you get the picture. And lately, Tweetdeck has enabled me to be much more “social” on Twitter, able to actually communicate and coordinate with some of my friends and colleagues (at the expense of time I am always conscious that I could be devoting to other activities, so I still try to limit my bi-directional Twitter usage).

If you’re not promoting something, I’d say Facebook is actually a more “social” application for keeping in touch with people you actually care about. At the very least, you probably actually know all of your Facebook friends, which cannot be said of most Twitter users’ Follower lists. Arguably, email is even more social, since the vast majority of people are still actually using it. You’re not social by locking yourself into a social media silo with all of your Twitterific friends.

At the end of the day, I’m still at a bit of a loss of how to really answer my brother’s question. As far as I know, very few of his friends, colleagues or family members aside from myself are on Twitter (Since I’m the only spin doctor in the bunch, that makes sense). It’s possible he might be able to use Twitter in a professional capacity, a la the social-media savvy doctor who authored Medicine in the Age of Twitter (although I can absolutely guarantee none of my brother’s patients will be using social networks).

But even then, I just don’t know. Maybe Twitter will just be a way of keeping in touch with his brother in Vancouver?

Soon, perhaps my brothers’ friends and colleagues will get on Twitter, joining the 1.45 per cent of Canadians who are already using it (That’s right – fewer than 2 per cent of Canadians use Twitter, even with all the press it’s getting). When that happens, I think Twitter will be useful for him. But until that happens, I’m leery of inviting him to drink more of the Twitter Kool-Aid.

While I’m on the topic, this video, Twouble with Twitters cracked me up. My brother may want to watch it before jumping in.