Go home Quebec, you're drunk

[sabotabby]

It's a sad and strange day when I agree with anything that comes out of Jason Kenney's mouth, but broken clocks, twice a day, etc. Quebec's proposed charter of values that will ban public servants from wearing any religious symbol (but really we mean Muslim religious symbols) is so completely batshit insane that I'm amazed it got this far.

I wonder what even constitutes a religious symbol. I mean, I used to wear ankhs and pentacles and inverted crosses, not out of any religious conviction but because I was Goth As Fuck. In Montreal, would a Habs jersey count? I mean, it's really unclear. Also racist. And loopy.

There is a certain type of New Atheism that's essentially a continuation of White Man's Burden by other means. This is its exemplar.

Comments

You're being too kind

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

There is a certain type of New Atheism that's essentially a continuation of White Man's Burden by other means. This is its exemplar.

I think you had it right when you said "also racist". This is the PQ sinking to its tribal roots and playing the race/culture card for all its worth, hoping to shore up its frightened, largely small-town base of support and meld it with an urban bourgeoisie uncomfortable with foreigners brown people being, well, foreign. The former are basically just scared of that they haven't really seen much of, outside of the local restaurant serving mets Chinois, but among the latter I suppose are some well-meaning Francophone's burden types as well.

But it's ugly and base and dangerous. René Levesque is probably spinning in his grave; but Jacques Parizeau is rubbing his arthritic hands and chortling.

Meanwhile, if I were living in the province, I think I'd be giving strong consideration to putting on a skull-cap or turban or large crucifix — or maybe all three at once.

Or maybe we should all just start wearing a hijab in solidarity until this racist filth is washed out of the body politic.

[sabotabby]

It's weird because I always thought beyond the silly separatist thing, the PQ was reasonably socially progressive. (I guess because the BQ's politics were leftish, though I don't know if that's still the case.) I used to hear stories growing up about how racist Quebec was, but never quite believed them because Montreal always seemed so urban and diverse and cool. Not that Montreal = Quebec, but it's the only part of the province where I've spent huge amounts of time.

I think a mass donning of other people's prominent religious symbols is a nice protest. I feel like there could be real ecumenical (and secular) solidarity on this one, which is the one possible redeeming thing in this whole debacle.

A potted history of Quebec Separatism by Young Geoffrey

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

But first,

I think a mass donning of other people's prominent religious symbols is a nice protest.

Reminds me of this one from last spring, when a soccer team without a Sihk on it decided to don turbans to protest the banning of turban wearing. (Ban's been reversed, not after the Canadian soccer authority said it wasn't kosher, of course, but only after FIFA did.)

It's weird because I always thought beyond the silly separatist thing, the PQ was reasonably socially progressive.

I take issue with calling the separatist thing "silly". It grew out of a very real oppression of French by English and (along with Trudeau's push for linguistic equality across the whole country) resulted in a vastly altered and greatly improved situation in the province. French Canadians really were second-class citizens, even in the province in which they were the vast majority, until the 1970s.

It was also a social democratic movement and (much like the NDP) still is in much of its grass roots. That said, it was also at its base an ethnic movement. "Québec au Québecois!" was at least in part code meaning "Quebec for white, French- from-France (whoever long ago)!". The inclusive, social-democratic movement and the xenophobic/racist elements of the party have always been uncomfortable bed-fellows at best.

When Jacques Parizeau drunkenly rambled on about how the '95 referundum was lost because of "money and the ethnic vote" the racist cat was out of the bag. And Marois seems to have decided that it's the only winning card she has to play.

Right. I have a book to typeset. Must be off ...

[sabotabby]

At one point it was not silly. But it's silly now. There were times when I would have voted Bloc if I'd lived in Quebec (because they were more socialist than the NDP), and an Anglo friend of mine actually wanted to run for them for the same reasons, but the separatist thing hasn't made much sense in my lifetime, anyway. Pre-1970s is a different matter.

[metawidget]

I think that's what a lot of us thought about the PQ's progressiveness, but then they tried to compete with the ADQ.

[sabotabby]

What's the ADQ?

[metawidget]

Right-wing sort-of-nationalist party that sort of disappeared last election (but maybe into the PQ in spirit). Mario Dumont was the leader and when he retired the party more or less went away.

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

The PQ stopped being a social-democratic party the minute Lucien Bouchard became its leader. Bernard Landry followed along the same way, but then Marois pulled a good old Liberal move by campaigning strongly on the left, and people ate it up because she was from the old socdem guard, and she wore the red square. But times have changed, and so has the PQ, which put away the red squares shortly after they got elected.

[sabotabby]

This surprises me not a bit.