July 27. As a billion Muslims around the world prepare for the Eid after a month of fasting, most of us do so with guilt and a heavy heart for the those in Gaza that will spend the day waterless, shelterless, newly orphaned. Worse, a parent having recently buried a child.
Hello, it’s 2am and I am hopelessly awake. Guilty, resentful, disappointed, and rudely awakened. Both literally and metaphorically. As Ramadan came to an end last night, and we sat down for the last day of the breakfast evening meal, a child, fighting tears, brought to my attention that “children in Gaza won’t get Eid.” For a lack of anything to say, we sat hugging each other, food abandoned. Blissfully, a child’s mind allows absolute solutions. After a long-drawn peace plan (involving crop circles, miracle growth for hair, invisibility shields, and clone troopers), I was able to offer some consolation. I lie awake, having made promises that I can’t keep. I lie awake because of my own lost innocence. Suddenly unsure of legislated equality, my right to be heard, and all else failing, diplomatic Canadian neutrality.
On Saturday the 26th, there was a very large rally for justice in Gaza. The grounds of the Ontario legislature, Queen’s Park and University Ave, was a sea of protestors. Surprisingly, most of it didn’t make the news. What did make the news was “a near riot situation” (Toronto Star) between a small group of worked up Israelis and pro-Palestinians. Why does this city that boasts and prides itself in its strength in diversity fail to notice the message its own masses were trying to send?
Why did the media deliberately ignore the message of so large a community? Is it scared to walk its own talk of an inclusive society? The voice of a society demanding justice on humanitarian grounds, regardless of whom the justice is being demanded for. Is it afraid that there may be, gasp, diversity in opinions other than what torie foreign policies would have us believe?
The footage that made it to the evening news was the one of a small corner of the south west corner of Queen’s Park, and an almost faceoff between a few alpha jerks, not the throes of anti discriminatory placards. It seemed bent on scavenging on differing sentiments, on a sensationalised news angle. It downplayed the purpose of the rally, a cry for immediate and fair action. Nobody mentioned that it was a high UV index day, and a majority of the protestors, a lot of them elderly, were fasting. It conveniently ignored that the very emotionally charged rally (thousands strong) fell silent as it walked past Princess Margaret’s and Mt Sinai.
Or dare I say, the definition of justice is a variable contingent upon race, class, and political history? If it is why was there a cursory mention of the injured Palestinian children on posters, but no mention of tour buses and cars honking in support of the Palestinian victims down University Ave that day?
Or maybe the rally fell short of potential ratings. Maybe the lenses were scoping for the makings of good television? If it was, it couldn’t have done better than a rabbi, an imam, and a priest in a room. So why did no one report on rabbis, imams, and priests in solidarity at the protest demanding justice for the innocent lives being sacrificed mercilessly in Gaza?
July 28. Eid in Gaza today: A hospital bombed, blood puddles near a play ground, rickety, streaked stretchers, mourning families. Yada yada, yada. Now, on to other news: “A baby chipmunk that can’t stop stuffing its face… ”
