How About a Memorial to the Victims of Harperism?
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, 11 February 2015 20:44
- Written by editor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( T h e B u l l e t ))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 1081 .... February 12, 2015
_____________________________________________________
How About a Memorial to the Victims of Harperism?
J. F. Conway
"Only a fool would deny that millions have been the
tragic victims of communism, but that number pales,
surely, in comparison with the victims of capitalism."
— Roy MacGregor, Globe and Mail, 31 January 2015.
Roy MacGregor was commenting on Harper's latest ideological propaganda foray into keeping us safe by reminding us of all the bogeymen out there on the very big, broad left. (Harper's definition of communism is really quite loose, just look at some of his past comments on Pierre Trudeau.) Harper is building a big ugly memorial to the victims of communism on a million dollar piece of public land right beside the Supreme Court. (Could this be revenge for... their decisions dismantling key pieces of his agenda?) And it is ugly, really ugly -- just look at the sketches of the proposed memorial. It is right up there with the ugliest of Stalinist politically correct statues and monuments imposed across the Soviet Union before its implosion in 1991.
Stephen Harper would be a rather sad and pathetic figure if he didn't hold the power of the Canadian state firmly in his grasp. This allows him to impose his folksy fanaticism on the rest of us. He is without doubt the most fierce right-wing ideologue to occupy the office of prime minister since R.B. Bennett, who in 1919 vowed to crush communism "under the iron heel of ruthlessness." And he proceeded to do so. But Bennett had some real, tough class enemies to deal with in the days of the Winnipeg General Strike and the Great Depression. Alas, poor Stephen, born so long after his time. Today there are no dangerous communists in Canada to crush. All our prime minister has to crush are "lone-wolf, home-grown, and radicalized" terrorists: psychologically deranged individuals who tie their delusional system to mad, suicidal acts of targeted revenge at the behest of Islamic State propagandists.
