The coming Monday will be a day of immense reminders.
Historically, it is the anniversary of Guy Fawkes’ trial in the United Kingdom. It is also when the climax of the ‘Canadian Caper’ – when this country, in partnership with the U.S., helped Americans escape from hostilities in Iran – occurred, and, perhaps, most importantly for those who know their history, the 75th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation.
On that day soldiers of the Soviet Union entered the infamous concentration camp and misery monument in Southern Poland and freed people from a sick system. It was one which would have been tolerated by people in Parliament and elsewhere during the Cold War had Hitler been around then to fight communism or today if the Gestapo were out arresting Muslims on dubiously debatable terrorism charges.
The world was aghast, we promised that this would ‘never again’ happen and Canada, the United States and other countries resolved to move on from the racial strife and struggles that had too often permeated history before the Second World War.
I will admit that there has been progress since then. We can all celebrate the fact that lynching, race riots and flagrant bigotry towards the LGBTQ+ community are no longer broadly acceptable.
The problem is, under that veneer of positivity lies an ugliness growing in strength throughout this continent and in all corners of this nation. We have failed at destroying the kind of evil that set the stage for the Holocaust and one of mankind’s most destructive multinational conflicts. (more...)
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