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Days of Carltons Past
On September 23, war resister Jeremy Hinzman—who has spent four and a half years living and working in Canada as a conscientious objector—is due to be deported back to the United States where he faces a dishonorable discharge, court martial, and sentence in a military prison, the equivalent of a felony record. A protest was held by the War Resister Support Campaign (WRSC) in Toronto and other cities across the country Saturday to rally support and raise awareness that the government continues to deport war resisters despite, as we previously reported, public and Parliamentary support for them to stay.
WRSC are asking people to call the offices of Stephen Harper and Minister for Immigration Diane Finley tomorrow to register support for Jeremy Hinzman and to ask the government to accept the motion passed by Parliament. More details can be found on their website.
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Not really relating to the main story (though I do support the effort), I find the third picture in the series rather eerie. Brilliant photography.
Why is it that a lot of these protesters show up to these protests wearing clothes that the population whom they need to influence can only snicker at (here's looking to you Che T-shirt guy)? Note that the exceptions are older people who probably got more accomplished in terms of social progress in their time than the younger people can ever hope to achieve? How do you think Martin Luther King Jr. and the rest of the Civil Rights protesters showed up to their protests? That's right, wearing suits (well the men at least) or otherwise looking professional. They did this because they understood that how you'll be perceived by the people you need to freaking influence is what matters most. Otherwise the protesting is just a lot of hot air.
Dress the hell up for these things people. Otherwise you're just written off as people with no power whose "sticking it to the man" consists of wearing a stupid Che t-shirt probably made in China by some poor 11 year old slave.
I'm so sick and tired of the conservatives in North America actually understanding this concept and running circles around liberals with their policies that I'm against. Before I'm written off as some old dude, I'm actually in my 20s. But I understand the power of dressing for your audience. Funny thing happens when I meet with people in power that I need to influence and I'm dressed like I'm their peer. They actually listen and take me seriously. Next time protesters, look in the mirror and ask if Ms. Suburban Mom who sits down in front of the TV to watch the evening news would take you seriously. Then don't bother showing up if the answer is "no".
Totally agree with the comment above. The Che-T and camo pants on the guy beside him stuck out like 2 sore thumbs. If you don't respect your cause enough to look like you mean business, what are you there for?
Hmmm, what are today's well-dressed activists wearing anyway?
Reitman's - 1: Casual activists - 0.
So now activists have to be able to afford suits to be taken seriously? Let's all be really superficial. That'll help the cause.
They are residents of this city/province/country and their opinion is just as valid as that of any well-to-do suit. They should be taken seriously because they are passionate about a cause (more than can be said about a great many Canadians, suit-wearing or not).
Should the opinion of a homeless person regarding housing policies or funding for services be dismissed because they wear dirty clothes that are quite un-businesslike?
wkGq33W4 makes the mistake of assuming that all of these protestors want to win over the mass of people. While no doubt many of those attending take their cause seriously--which is hard to do, considering that Hinzman et al volunteered for an army known for its constant foreign adventures-- others are simply there as a form of moralistic public gesture. Still others are simply seeking to build the sect running the War Resisters' campaign.
I don't like war anymore than the next reader -- well unless of course you're the President of a weapon's manufacturer -- but Jeremy Hinzman -- and like -- joined the US Military voluntarily.
It's not like he was drafted.
Surely he knew he may be called to active duty at one point or another.
You join the military and you may be called into a war.
Given this, why the hell should Canada be home to these cry-babies?
You don't wanna go to war, don't join an outfit like the Marines, the Army or the Air Force. They all have a long history of going to war.
How Jeremy Hinzman failed to see that is a mystery. And why poor old Canada should harbor him + company is a bigger mystery.
But I agree with wkGq33W4, no matter how misguided the WRSC Member are, if they want to be taken seriously, they would do well to head off to Harry Rosen and buy some attractive Hugo Boss suites.
If you're going to protest, you should look great for the camera.
Forget the clothing, how do you take anyone seriously who holds a sign that says "Stop Harper from deporting Iraq war resisters", as if he is being deported by some executive decree and not as a result of having lost his lengthy court battle (with such extensive due process funded by the Canadian taxpayer). One would have hoped that those prepared to march on an issue would be at least minimally informed about it.
I don't think what they wear is of much consequence as to how they are perceived by most people. What irks me most often about protests is the variety of the message, especially on larger protests. On big anti-war marches there are so many different groups pushing their own messages, from unions to Marxists, to social orgs, it all results in a mixed message. I can't help thinking that protests would be a lot more effective if there was one message being put forward.
I'm guessing but I suspect that, rather than people wearing Che t-shirts, people seeing "Bush was behind 9/11" messages at an anti-war march find it a lot easier to dismiss the protest as a whole.
That's certainly true. I remember during the Iraq war protests, there was one group of beardos chanting "2-4-6-8, defend the Korean workers' state," as in North Korea. While it's easy enough to ignore people like that, you have to wonder why so many 'off-message' protesters attend issue-specific protests. I think part of it has to do with the nature of the left today, in that it abhors anything resembling hierarchy or homogeny.
The nature of the " left " -- at least in this country -- is best captured in the persona and presentation of Ontario's 19th Century -- I know this must sting Dalton -- Premier McGinty and Quebec's federalist Uncle Tom, Stefan Dion.
I use to believe in people like them. But having worked up close with the left, I know now they are even phonier than the conservatives.
They don't even mean well. They just pretend to mean well, because it makes for " great optics. " Especially during an election.
Anyone asking Harper to stop the deportation of our American deserter friends is explicitly asking for a dictatorship. To frame this as preventing an action ("Stop Harper") is entirely wrong - headed, when what is being demanded is in fact for the PM to commit an illegal, positive action (halting the deportation).
To frame the issue as being a decision of Harper's is at best ignorant, at worst a deliberate lie - the decision to deport was made by the IRB, then upheld by the Federal Court, Federal Appeals Court and the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear the case. The order to deport came from CBSA... So in fact, were the PM to interfere somehow, he would be negating the legitimacy of our courts and immigration bureaucracy - effectively, these protesters are asking for a dictatorship. I'm sure that 99% of them don't have even a passing familiarity with the legality of the case or what they are really asking the Government to do.
I'd also note that even were the Parliamentary motion it enacted into legislation, it would not have any bearing on Hinzman's deportation. The motion related specifically to affording conscientious objectors refugee status - Hinzman was determined by the IRB not to be a conscientious objector more than three years ago... So he'd still be on his way out.
It is clearly too much to expect reason to trump emotion I suppose.