Will This Be Jason Kenney's MS St. Louis?

According to the Canada Border Services Agency, Hungarians — the bulk of whom are said to be Roma — are the top users of the Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration Pilot Program which kicked off in the Greater Toronto Area on June 29.

 

 

But Roma Community Centre executive director Gina Csanyi-Robah likened the program to a “bribe” and said many people are “misinformed” about it, as information doesn’t seem to be available in Hungarian.

 

 

I really, really hope I'm wrong about this.  I hope that somewhere, ten years down the road, somebody will poke me in the ribs and say "remember when you were fretting about ethnic persecution in Hungary turning into a repeat of genocide?  Boy, did you screw that up!"

 

 

"We need to roll back these hundreds of thousands of Roma outlaws. We must show zero tolerance towards Roma crime and parasitism," Jobbik chairman Gabor Vona told a rally of several hundred people in Heroes' Square in central Budapest.

 

 

The evidence, however, suggests otherwise.  Democracy in Hungary isn't what it once was.  The EU has made some critical noise, but there aren't any teeth behind the criticism.  As Hungarians grapple with the same economic same challenges being faced across Europe, there's an increased focus on placing the blame on minority groups like Jews and Sinti-Roma.  It all sounds familiar.  At Why Should I Care last night, Barbara Falk (a professor at DND) talked about how the Raoul Wallenberg monument had been desicrated with pig's blood.  During a recent trip to Budapest, she wondered if that was what Berlin felt like in 1933.  She's not the only one thinking that.

Here's another repeat of history; using all kinds of excuses about cutting costs and focusing on legitimate refugee claims, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney is finding ways to send Sinti-Roma in Canada back to Hungary.  His messaging on this file sounds eerily familiar to that of a predecessor of his, Frederick Charles Blair.  Blair is remembered by history not for filtering out fake refugees or for saving Canada money, but for shutting out Jews trying to flee the Holocaust. 

 

 

It's all well and good for Kenney to make positive noise about funding and support and doing what's best for Canada, now, but history will judge him on the consequences of his actions.  How is this program being communicated to all, but especially to Hungarian refugee claimants?  Are we living up to our end of the bargain?  What is Canada doing to closely monitor what's happening in politics and on the ground in Hungary?  Have we learned anything from past mistakes?

 

 

Again - I really hope I'm wrong.  I fear that I'm not.  It would be better for everyone if Jason Kenney comes to his senses and we never have to find out.

The Return of Ethnic Violence to Europe: The Greatest Trick The Devil Ever Pulled...

Sova’s promotion “raises questions” in light of his past statements, Vainer said. “It is hard to accept that a young, educated man would claim the Holocaust never happened in Romania,” Vainer, himself a Romanian lawmaker, added.

Vainer also said Sova’s promotion “did not send the correct message to young people.”

It's a funny thing, what a little time does to public memory.  A generation that is born without significant poverty, warfare or real-time experience of the consequences of ethnic hatred are wont to ignore the lessons history has to teach us on that score.  Which is why we are doomed to repeat it.

It's not too late, but time is running out.

                I shouted out,
                Who killed the Kennedys?
                When after all
                It was you and me

CFN - To Each Their Own Doesn’t Always Work – Harper Government Please Don’t Let it Happen Again

It is disingenuous to look at bigotry strictly through a political lens. Ignorance, hatred and fear-mongering are not the exclusive property of the political left or right; as Buchenwald demonstrates, atrocities have happened under both fascist and communist regimes. Indifference isn’t the product of a political system; it’s what happens when we zero in on our own interests or ideologies so exclusively that we ignore the well-being of others. When the water hole shrinks, as the saying goes, the animals look at each other differently.

Today, we are facing a global economic crisis. Europe in particular has been hit hard. As the crisis deepens, nations within Europe and beyond are circling the wagons. “Your debt, your problem” is a meme that’s gaining traction. These fiscal woes are fueling an increase in social tensions, much as they did in the early decades of the last century. Political extremism and xenophobia are on the rise, accompanied by a swelling tide of ethnic violence. In Greece, this alarming trend is represented by the growing influence of Golden Dawn, an anti-immigrant political party that has even incorporated the Swastika into its branding.

In Hungary, the systematic discrimination faced by Roma and Sinti is becoming increasingly violent. Focused as they are on addressing the financial crisis, European leaders have been “too preoccupied… or unable or disinclined to deal with” this mounting social crisis. In other words, they’ve labeled it someone else’s problem.

Live Together, Die Alone

"Jedem Das Seine" - roughly translated from German, it means "to each their own."  This is the message vistors read when they walk through the iron gate into what's left of Buchenwald Concentration Camp.

The message is pretty clear - don't worry about your neighbour, you'll be lucky to get through with your own neck intact.  That was the message the Nazis wanted their inmates to take to heart - you're in this alone.  Concentration Camps were carefully designed to build on divisions; their evil genius was that the Nazis themselves had to do little work in keeping Concentration Camp inmates in line.  They took care of all that internally.

What toppled the Nazis?  Three things; internal division, external cooperation and brave men and women who fought against the sytem that tried to cleave them apart and fought together for something bigger than themselves - the idea that every man for himself isn't going to work, that the whole is more than the sum of its parts, that we can live together.

As all things are cyclical, it appears this is a battle we're all going to have to fight again.

Jason Kenney and the Importance of Apologies

“I say a definite ‘no’ to Lukaszyk. I don’t think it makes sense to create a precedent to do a special caucus meeting for every visiting minister from the provincial government. Plus he is a complete and utter asshole.”

Words that Jason Kenney is probably wishing he never wrote – not necessarily because he wasn’t feeling them at the time, but because of the consequences he is facing now.

Still; a Harper Tory, Kenney has a whole Party track record of never being wrong, of defaulting to reactive attack or defense positions, not so much conciliation.  The emotional right (which is found in all Parties) has a lineage of instinctive behaviour; one might even say it’s genetic.  There’s a reason why the right sees the world through a polarized lens and solves problems by declaring a war on them.  War-declaring just sounds so authoritative and definite; it’s so much simpler to see the world as kill or be killed.

Once you’ve staked a position, even if you come to realize it’s the wrong one, it can be very hard to back down.  This whole “face” thing comes in to play – confidence, decisiveness, never accepting blame and the “strength” to never blink first are all associated as leadership traits.  The ability to step back from the abyss gets harder the closer to the ledge you get.

Which only makes it all the more impressive that Kenney has backed down, at least privately to the wronged party, and said sorry.  To apologize is to take ownership, admit culpability and, as a consequence, recognize responsibility to think things through at least a bit the next time.  We tend to mistake dominance as leadership, which isn’t the case; leadership is about vision and empowerment.

This is no small feat, and one Kenney should take pride in.  Apologizing for a silly mistake isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a demonstration of rational thought – which should be desirable in any leader.  If I were on the Oppositions benches, I would certainly make a point of mentioning this fact – not as a club to beat Kenney with, but through genuine respect at the gesture.  You encourage good behaviour by acknowledging what is right, not by punishing what is wrong.  that is, if you’re goal is a stronger Canada, not partisan interests.  That latter approach seems to be working well these days, doesn’t it?

If you can teach Kenney and, more broadly, Team Harper that there is much to be gained through ethical behaviour, you can perhaps encourage more of the same.  Lord knows there are policy directions that need to be changed quickly if we’re to avoid complicity in some very bad consequences.

Because no matter how comfortable one gets with saying sorry, it’s far more efficient to just do the right thing the first time around.

Letter to the Editor in the Globe and Mail

... Not from me, mind you, but still worth reading.  Jason Kenney is repeating history - it's not too late for him to change his approach, but if he doesn't, history won't be looking very kindly on him.

Roma persecution

The article No Real Refuge in Canada (June 15) makes the case that Roma refugee claimants will be adversely affected by Bill C-31. That is true enough, but overlooks how these refugees are faring under the current law.

Roma refugee claimants in Canada are primarily from the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, and the rejection rate for each of these countries in 2011 was over 90 per cent. It is the Immigration and Refugee Board, the independent tribunal that adjudicates refugee claims, which clings to the fallacy that persecution is unlikely in EU democracies.

Max Berger, immigration lawyer, Toronto

Stephen Harper and Jason Kenney, Take a Stand Against Neo-Nazism

“The time for fear has come for those who betrayed this homeland,” he said at a news conference, flanked by young men with shaved heads.

“We are coming.”

Do I have your attention yet?  Good. 

In an echo of Europe’s tortured past, Nazism, with its association with the Holocaust and horrors of the Second World War, not only survives, but in some instances is thriving.

I have zero interest in saying "I told you so."  I would much rather we avoid repeating mistakes.

We live in an integrated society and will be held accountabile by both our actions and inactions.

Jason Kenney and Stephen Harper - the ball's in your court.

Show the world that Canada stands against hatred and will always, always stand on guard for those in need.