The Emerging Narrative
Like all good stories, we’re tuning into this emerging narrative in mid-stream. The stakes are already high, the players already engaged. What happens next will be determined what came before; as we plunge into the Undiscovered Country of the future, we’ll get periodic flashbacks that will help make sense of the present.
Democracy is at risk. The threats are coming from without, but I fear also from within.
Conflicts happening in distant lands are touching us in ill-defined ways; the simmering stew of hostility that is the Middle East seems far away to some, but closer and closer each day.
Charlie Hebdo was a wake-up call reminding us that we are vulnerable, that those who mean us harm can strike us where they please, when they please.
Meanwhile, the War on Terror is increasingly being used as an excuse by our own governments to validate incursions into privacy, for our own protection. Voices of opposition are being shouted down so as not to distract from the important work of righteous leaders. Values we supposedly hold dear are being upturned, in a cynical bit of spin, for their own protection.
Dehumanizing torture. The erosion of our democratic process. The oppression of counter-narratives, even when they’re evidence-based. Rules designed to maintain the integrity of our democratic society being skirted for the sake of political expediency.
It’s more than a little possible that the problems within are fuelling the problems without. Sadaam Hussein was supported by the US before he was taken down by them based on the excuse of false testimony by a tortured prisoner. The War on Terror led to further incursions, distrpution of lives and the torture of men perhaps now involved with ISIL.
In Canada, security is increasingly being touted as a critical issue by a government that has shown a disregard for civil liberties and a contempt for the institutions of democracy.
Yet all is not bleak.
In response to Charlie Hebdo emerged #JeSuisCharlie — an international movement that united millions of people, even political foes, beyond one shared belief; fear is not the answer. Unity is.
It doesn’t matter who you are, nor does it really matter who the massacred satirists were. What matters is that we are all people, and we hold these fundamental principles in common:
- the freedom to grow
- the freedom to learn
- the freedom to participate
- the responsibility to participate in a way that doesn't diminish these principles for others
As the world heats up, the forces are aligning into two camps, as they do in all good stories.
There are those who promote people and their ability to grow, learn and participate.
And there are those who put themselves and their ideologies first, whatever the consequences to others.
Slowly but steadily, people are uniting against oppression in all its forms and recognizing that their freedoms cannot come at the neglect of others; be it democratic participation, equitable justice or freedom from oppression in any form, we either stand together or fall alone.
Meanwhile, the storms keep getting worse.
Democratic erosion. Encroaching terrorism. A wakening populace. Winter coming.
What happens next has not been written. Don’t let anyone tell you only they should hold the pen.
After all, this is our story.
