Misguided Journalist Terry Glavin Misunderstands ‘Idle No More’

Don Maroc-Cowichan Conversations Contributor

MISGUIDED VICTORIA JOURNALIST MISUNDERSTANDS IDLE NO MORE

by Don Maroc

Terry Glavin is a well know media commentator on all things cultural  and political. He claims to be left-leaning although he doesn’t always  come off that way in his books and regular column in the Ottawa  Citizen.

In his latest book about contemporary Afghanistan, Come from  the Shadows, his claim to authenticity is his access to the story line  of the northern Tajik provinces.

Like many others who have never been to Afghanistan, I sort of  accepted Glavin’s version, in spite of concern about believing the  Tajik version of events.

I recall that the northern war lords, Tajiks,  fought the Taliban government after the Russians high tailed it. It  also was said that the northern provinces are where all the opium  poppies were grown after the Taliban outlawed the practice in all  areas under their control.

Terry Glavin-Trashes Chief Theresa Spence in his Ottawa Citizen Column

Like many Canadians, I accepted rather uncritically most of what  Glavin wrote, that is until the last couple of weeks when the Victoria  writer seemed to slip his moorings in an effort to understand the  blossoming Idle No More movement.

He seems to have a bit of a grudge against Chief Theresa Spence, but  who knows maybe he has some reason. He starts off with appalling stats  about young First Nations’ people committing suicide. Which we are all  concerned about among the Cowichan Tribes.

He then writes, “Since December 11th, Spence has been camped in a teepee on an island in the Ottawa  River, threatening to starve herself to death — to kill herself —  unless the prime minister and the Governor General accede to her  variously contradictory and ambiguous demands.”

That kind of takes one’s breath away. First of all it’s a rather  snotty analogy, Chief Spence is not committing suicide. The noble lady  is taking a risk that our coldly calculating Prime Minister will have  to back down and talk with her whether he likes it or not, because  Stephen Harper knows that if something terrible happens to Chief  Spence his political career is toast.

Attiwapiskat Chief Theresa Spence Continues Her Hunger Strike

Mr. Harper may not care a lot about Chief Spence and what she represents but he certainly is very  concerned about his own hide.

As for finding her demands to be, “contradictory and ambiguous”, it  appears that as Glavin ages he may be having a problem with reading  comprehension, just as many of us are.

Then it looks like Terry has regained his grasp of reality when he  compares the Idle No More movement with last year’s Occupy Wall  Street. But no, making it look like he’s lost his left-wing credentials  Terry said of Occupy, “It ended up more like the Tanganyika Laughter  Epidemic of 1962, and so far, Idle No More appears headed in exactly  the same direction.”

Poor Terry, he doesn’t seems to realize that Occupy created a new  financial-political dialog for the U.S. which had a profound effect on  last November’s presidential election.

Like many journalists Glavin must have been dozing through some of  his university political science classes. The reason Chief Spence  insists on having the Governor General present at her meeting with  Prime Minister Harper is that Mr. Harper is not the Head of State for  Canada, he is only leader of the largest political party in  Parliament, chosen to be the government by the Governor General, who  represents the sovereign Crown in Canada.

PM Stephen Harper- Playing A Divide and Conquer Game

Chief Spence insists on dealing nation-to-nation, not conqueror to vanquished as Harper tends  to do.

Then out-of-touch Glavin throws up his hands with the tired old  complaint against the Occupy immaturity, “Nobody’s in charge. It can  mean whatever you want it to mean. Wow!”

Sorry Terry that kind of a comment does not deserve a response.

Then Glavin plays one of his trump cards, “And never mind that  Kahnewake Mohawks have about as much in common with Kwakwaka’wakw  people as with Corsicans or Marsh Arabs.”

True, there are significant differences between Cowichan culture and  geography and that of the Iroquoian Mohawks, although they both deeply  understand and respect the natural environment they live in.

They also know they share a common enemy, currently represented in Canada by the  Harper government.

Glavin believes that under the leadership of Vancouver Island’s Shawn  Atleo the Assembly of First Nations has made “remarkable progress”  working with Harper.

Then in his clever prose Glavin writes, “Sorry,  but the choice isn’t between the Folk Devil Stephen Harper and those  graceful blue creatures from Avatar. It’s between play-acting in  period costume and actual and real political engagement. Unless it’s  the latter, Idle No More will collapse under the weight of its own  contradictions.”

Poor Terry, like many other worn out old leftwingers, seems to have  succumbed to the twisted, mean spirited views of Harper’s Wild Rose  conservatism.

Idle No More Rallies Are Being Held Throughout Canada