Eliminating Muslim immigration. Restoring "true" Dutch culture. Paying lip service to "law-abiding" Muslims while questioning their right to exist.
The media may play him up like he's way out there, but the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party - which made impressive gains in recent EU elections - is actually towing an old political formula that we've lived with in Quebec for at least 33 years.
And it's going to work.
Check it out for yourself. Play this English-language interview, taped on Sunday in Denmark, and substitute the word "anglophone" whenever Wilders says "Muslim" and you have Quebec nationalist policies going at least to 1976, but really decades before.
Remember how we of the "sea of anglophones" were part of a nefarious cabal, poised to destroy the "legitimate" self-determination of (presumably non-aquatic) francos?
If Quebec can ban anglophone immigration, as it has effectively done with Ottawa's wholehearted blessings, what government can stand up to stop Wilders? And what took him so long to find the Quebec working model?
Now if only Rene "Flying behind the Wheel" Levesque had thought of deporting anglophones. No, wait, he did: painstakingly designed legislation that the "ballsy" Trudeau didn't have the balls to disallow drove 350,000 of us out of our homes (after 250 years in them), and the flight continues to this day.
What took you so long, Geert Wilders? Get your arse over to Quebec, sip single malt with Harel, Parizeau and Duceppe, and learn how to impose in Holland what Quebec nationalists (with the full support of the Canadian federal government and its main propaganda arm, the CBC) have been doing so well for decades over here! And hey, Pierre "1837 was only a Franco thing" Falardeau might even give you a few tips for the sequel to your talk-of-the-town film, Fitna.
Quebec Anglos are freedom loving people. There have been zero citizens within this community who were born in Quebec, grew up here, and then decided as adults to blow themselves up along with other citizens inside the same society for a political or religious cause, ie. London Subway. The majority of Muslims in Europe may be moderate, but don't deny the threat Europe faces to their society AND don't compare to a community that puts human rights before anything else.
ReplyDeleteGosh, are you all upset over that anglo music band story? I could fill your web site with names of English speaking immigrants who came to Quebec in recent years and love it here.
ReplyDeleteI've been to Scandinavian countries and can tell you: They don't want immigrants, and they are proud to tell you. Its not even a taboo topic, it's a mainstream consensus.
As a recent anglo immigrant to Quebec I find myself on both sides of the battle....continuing to learn french but pretty much speaking only english at home with my francais Quebecoise wife. Fete-ing St Jean avec un gros cannette de bleue and speaking french pretty much all the time in public, but never, ever reading/writing in french on the internet. With no memories of Quebec/Montreal prior to 2002 I really don't get the common understanding among anglo-quebecois that things aren't as good as they used to be. Montreal is still easily my favorite city, well, anywhere. It's lively, vibrant, colorful, most people speak two or three languages, etc. You can get away with tons of fun stuff. I really think the best way for Montreal to "get back on it's feet" is for anglo-montrealais(e) to stop talking about the past and start making a more interesting future. I've always been keen to the idea or creating a more interesting city and cheerleading the current trajectory. But then again, if shit hits the separatist fan and I start getting ostracized dans les rues for my accent en francais, I'd probably pick up my bags and move back to Vancouver. So, being born in Montreal, and having it as your childhood home is something I simply cannot understand, nor imagine what it's like. Memories are a funny thing. The consensus among all people I know (of all languages) is that French Quebecois culture would have been Cajun-ified (ie - lost) by now had major political events not happened in the past. I think having a place in North America with a real french culture is important, and quite interesting on almost all fronts. What is now Montreal may be a shadow of it's relative vibrant economic powerhouse past, but I think this has more to do with global economics, and the historical trade pattern shift than politics. Politics were just the media story and spin-off effects of the real economic events going on as Canada grew westward. From a Euro-influence (Montreal pre 1960) to a American influence (Toronto 1960s to now-ish) to now an Asian influence (Vancouver - the future....maybe - depending on rain, earthquake, and volcanic eruption patterns.). The West is booming, but it's not the same out there. Montreal is a much more vibrant city, and I can't see this really changing. Hey, look on the bright side, we're not Detroit.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for muslim euro politcs? yeah, I really have no idea about any of that. Cool observation about replacing muslim with anglo...but Anglos just get up and drive down the 401 with bags full of cash. I can't picture anyone in the West Island waging a holy war of any sort.
I'm always a little disappointed by how one sided your arguments always get on an otherwise fantastic blog when it comes to the perceived oppressed anglo. I would recommend you take a trip out west and try to function in french.
ReplyDeleteCH
Bravo, smart analogy. But your link to Fitna is kind of complicated. Wilder's film is hard to find on the Internet, wonder why?... Try http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=216_1207467783. And if Fitna arouses your xenophobic propensities, you might want to check out Pat Condell at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxbYBIlT6VE.
ReplyDeleteWhat legislation did Levesque design in order to deport anglophones ?
ReplyDeleteSince you didn't publish my question the first time around you I guess you didn't have anything particular in mind. Thanks anyway.
Oh boo-hoo.
ReplyDeleteI have a very hard time believing that you actually feel oppressed by the "fait français" in your everyday life. Any Muslim living in Scandinavia would probably be offended by the comparison you just made.
I wish you could see how easy life is in Montreal for those of us who are not monolingual sour grapes entrenched in a sterile debate.
À bon entendeur, salut!
To CH
ReplyDeleteHave you ever been out west? They may not speak in French all too much but they aren't hostile to it. If you ever drive out west you will see from Ontario all the way to B.C. some bilingual signs on businesses and road signs. Even Calgary makes an effort to accomodate by posting a Bienvenue au Calgary sign 100 feet after the Welcome to Calgary sign. I showed pics of them and other signs I saw on my roadtrip to a separatist I worked with and it changed his perception. He was quite impressed. I then pointed out the lack of any road signs in English in Quebec despite the large Anglophone population and even he thought that wasn't right. (At the time, Quebec did not even have welcome signs in English. They do now, along with two other 'foreign' languages Spanish and Portugese, and of course these are all half the size of the French text, but I digress.) In terms of functioning out west in French, this is mostly because of the demographics. I wouldn't expect to function in Lac St Jean in English unless I encountered an anglophone. And that surely wouldn't happen every day.
" I really think the best way for Montreal to "get back on it's feet" is for anglo-montrealais(e) to stop talking about the past and start making a more interesting future."
ReplyDeleteI cracked up for ten minutes after reading that.
Have a chat with some unionized francophone laborers anywhere in the province, and you'll cotton on pretty quick as to who's living in which century.
In reality, the english are just angry that they don’t run the show anymore.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous comments kind of suck.
ReplyDeletePS -- whoever posted that Montreal controls 35% of the national economy over 25% for Toronto; sorry deleted you by mistake; try again?
ReplyDeleteGod bless you, JD! It's great to hear the unvarnished truth about "cosmopolitan" Montreal every now and then. I grew up in Montreal in the late sixties, seventies and eighties and the racism on the part of many francophones was up front and in your face. Their message was simple: You (anglo or English-speaking immigrant) are not wanted here. They then backed up their threats with laws meant to expunge gradually the "fait Anglais" of Quebec. (Remember Bourassa implementing language testing of pre-elementary school kids?)Unfortunately, as you say, there were no strong federal leaders willing to tackle the problem. This means that Quebec anglos will never have any federal political backing (not enough votes, you see). The Canadian constitution lets provinces "opt out" of human rights charters too so you can't sue in the courts to secure your rights either. What's left then? Leaving. It's better to live "in exile" abroad than be a second class citizen in your own country. The treatment of linguistic minorities in Quebec is scandalous. I always have to smirk cynically when I hear Canada espousing human rights in the UN and other fora. Doesn't equality begin at home?
ReplyDeleteMorgan
ReplyDeleteWell put Nguyen... Here's an excerpt from Clifford Lincoln who took issue with Quebec violating the fundamental rights of its own citizens:
"In my belief, rights are rights are rights. There is no such thing as inside rights and outside rights. No such thing as rights for the tall and rights for the short. No such thing as rights for the front and rights for the back, or rights for East and rights for West. Rights are rights and will always be rights. There are no partial rights. Rights are fundamental rights. Rights are links in a chain of fundamental values that bind all individuals in a society that wants to be equitable, and just, and fair. Rights are bridges that unite people in a society through a set of fundamental values, and the minute you deny those rights, you withdraw that bridge, and create a gap between members of that society by denying those fundamental rights that bind them together.
"Rights are that delicate balance that equates the chances of people in a society, so that there is an equation between the rich and the poor, between the powerful and the weak, between the majorities and the minorities, between the State and the individual. Whoever tampers with a very delicate machinery of equity and justice in a society, which are expressed through rights, sets in motion a chain of events which someone more audacious may tamper with even more. That chain of events could be disastrous for a society whose beliefs are based on a sense of equity and justice for all.
"All of us are human beings first. We are not francophone, anglophone, rich, poor, weak and strong, first, we are human beings with rights. And for me, I will fight until my last breath for the right of some person to do something that society says he has that right to do and, in that case, that person, be it English or French or Chinese or whatever, has that right to paint that sign on the exterior of his building, and I do not think that it should be denied...
Anonymous comments suck, indeed.
ReplyDeleteThanks Anonymous for quoting Mr Lincoln. His position is quite obviously correct and democratic. The issue though I believe is one of rights enforcement. Problem in Que is that no one believes they're a racist (particularly those in the majority). As I said in my previous post, there's no mechanism (political or judicial) available to someone with a legitimate grievance in Quebec vis-a-vis anglo linguistic rights. That's why I split for greener pastures (believe me I didn't want to go) -- but life is too short to hang around where you're not wanted! To quote another man with guts and integrity (d'Iberville Fortier): I simply didn't want to be another "humiliated" anglophone Quebecker anymore. Lastly, we should all recall that the only "true" Quebeckers (or Canadians, for that matter) are the native peoples i.e. Iroquois, Hurons, Algonquins, etc. The rest of us were/are "settlers" from Europe and other continents.
ReplyDelete