Loading...
The Citizen, 2000-05-24, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 2000. PAGE 5. Other Views Humans’ ongoing love affair Well, how about it - is the spiralling cost of gasoline driving you squirrelly? Are you about ready to take that high octane gasoline nozzle and stick it where the sun doesn't shine? Here’s a heretical thought for you: we aren’t paying enough at the pumps. It’s not my argument. It comes from the lips of William E. Rees, an economist and a professor at the University of British Columbia. And I'm not sure he’s wrong. What the professor has done is add up the hidden costs of each liter of gas we buy when we fill ‘er up. The health costs, for instance, of all that pollution associated with the burning of fossil fuels. The environmental degradation. The millions of dollars our government forks over to the Big Oil Boys in the form of lavish subsidies and generous tax breaks. Professor Rees reckons that if we were really paying the freight, each litre of gas we buy would cost us anywhere from 2 bucks to $5.40 a pop. Maybe he’s right. I do know that we humans have an ongoing love affair with our cars. And we all know that love is blind. A couple of years ago I visited the city of Florence, Italy. Florence is one of the great urban treasures on the planet. Unbelievable architecture. Breathtaking paintings and sculptures. Exquisite piazzas and galleries and streets. Discussing the art of protesting Protesting seems to have changed somewhat since I first got involved in it. I must admit that it has been some time since that happened although I once got inadvertently mixed up in one in Paris and I found that the French police were much less inclined to let people have their say than in Canada. I had just come out of a subway station when I found myself in a noisy protest at the point where the police arrived from the opposite direction. They didn’t take any time to observe or ask questions; they just waded in with their truncheons and I was wise enough not to stand there and proclaim my innocence; I immediately took off and managed to avoid the clubbing that some of the participants (or bystanders) got. German police bent on breaking up protests do not include subtlety in their arsenal. They come armed with powerful water cannons which proceed to soak everybody within range (or knock them over). But then the Germans have always been known for their excellent tank corps, many of which, by the way, have trained in Canada since Germany became a member of NATO. I must check to see if the use of a water cannon is part of the course. So it was that I watched on TV the recent demonstrations in Washington, D.C. and read the copious accounts of all points of view. By and large the protests were not too successful, at least not to the extent that they were in Seattle, if you mean by success the prevention of delegates from reaching their meetings. To be honest, I was convinced from the beginning that there was just as much dissension inside as there was outside. In fact, in Seattle, even after the demonstrators had been brought into line, the World Trade Organization discussions broke up without any decision whatsoever being made. Then, too, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the two objects of ire at Washington, have been the subject of considerable discussion even among those of Arthur Black I couldn’t wait to get out of the place. Florence ... stinks. It is polluted with honking, spewing, farting vehicles that befoul the air, clog the lungs and befuddle the mind. If Michelangelo or Cellini or Giotto were to revisit their beloved metropolis, know they would run, screaming for the Tuscany hills. Dante would think he’d found his Inferno. The internal combustion engine has turned Florence into a screeching, fume-shrouded, lung-searing urban nightmare. Saddest thing of all, hardly anyone seems to notice. It’s a little different in Canada - we have more space - but we depend even more on the automobile. And the end result isn’t any prettier. Rush hour in Vancouver or Montreal or Toronto isn’t that different from rush hour in Rome, Paris or Singapore - it’s still bloody awful. Actually if you’ve got a twisted sense of humour, it’s ever so slightly hilarious. In London, rush-hour traffic now moves more slowly than it did a hundred years ago when Raymond Canon The International Scene us who support them in principle. We don’t like some of the conditions which they impose on countries using their services and they seem too beholden to the United States in whose country their offices are located. In short, they are ripe for some internal reorganization, a point made forcefully by the Canadian Federal Finance Minister Paul Martin, at the time of his speech to the delegates. You may have run into the new acronym, NGO, which is used to describe many of the demonstrators at such meetings. It means Non Governmental Organization and it can mean any group, no rhatter how small or large, which is against some current policy and which wants it changed. Some of these NGO’s have commendable goals and take their work quite seriously; others are just as likely to resemble some form of anarchy and like to protest for the sake of it. They are willing to support any point of view, as long as there is a wad of cash along with it to fund their activities. There are other groups in between and separating them is no mean task. Many of them are also good at writing Letters Policy The Citizen welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must be signed and should include a daytime telephone number for the purpose of verification only. Letters that are not signed will not be printed. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity and content, using fair comment as our guideline. The Citizen reserves the right to refuse any letter on the basis of unfair bias, prejudice or inaccurate information. As well, letters can only be printed as space allows. Please keep your letters brief and concise. people travelled on foot and by horse. Some places - in Western Europe particularly — are just beginning to fight back. Governments there are beginning to discern the obvious civic benefits (and municipal savings) of improved bus and street car systems and seriously dedicated bicycle lanes. Last fall, 150 cities in France, Italy and Switzerland got together and agreed to ban automobiles completely for one day. Some cities, like Verona and Sienna, have said to hell with it, and banned cars entirely. In Paris a few months ago, more than two dozen government ministers showed up for a cabinet meeting riding bicycles and electric scooters. Even Ottawa has made noises about kicking some money back into our national Via Rail passenger service which it’s been quietly strangling for decades. All of which makes our grousing and mewling about the price of gasoline faintly silly. Seventy-five cents a litre for gas got you down? That works out to what — $2.50 a gallon? Well, heads up, chum. You’re also paying over five bucks a gallon for homogenized milk; eight bucks a gallon for orange juice and twenty-five bucks a gallon for Evian water. Maple syrup will set you back more than fifty bucks a gallon - if you can find it at that price. And you don’t even need a driver’s licence. plausible letters of protest to the editors of numerous newspapers. One of the most unique I have read was a year ago from a protester who objected to commercial fishing as the fish, too, had feelings and did not like what we were doing to them. Some readers may remember the good old days in Hyde Park in London, England, where soap-box oratory was to be found most days of the week. One speaker was most vocal in his assertion that both the monarchy and parliament should be abolished. It attracted quite a crowd of angry people and the lone policeman on duty found himself with a potential violent reaction on his hand. While the speaker was catching his breath, the policeman stepped up and, in a cheery voice, said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, you are blocking traffic. Would all those in favour of abolishing the monarchy kindly move to the right and all those in favour of abolishing Parliament move to the left.” Everybody laughed and the crowd broke up peacefully. Now that is what I call handling a protest. - 1 ~~~~~ Final Thought Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or pretty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. - Sir Winston Churchill i Bonnie Gropp short of it Opposing views Talk at our home continues to test not just our ability as parents, but.our beliefs and open-mindedness as well. Dinner table discussions of late have bemused me to say the least. This one-time free spirit, anti-establishment, anti-everything, is suddenly faced with the reality that her views once wonderfully idealistic have lost some of their credibility in light of reality. Formerly so certain in my convictions, I have arrived at maturity with the rationalization that perhaps there is a reason adults all tend to think alike. Some of the things I so strongly opposed as a young person, today make a little more sense. Or at the very least have enough validity as to not be discounted too quickly. Lively debates have been sparked due to our teenagers’ opinions on a variety of topics from nationalism to Christianity. The challenge has been to determine whether those views are potentially harmful or just in direct opposition to that of the parent. At first taken aback to have my ideas contradicted by the younger generation, I have had to learn to give careful thought to my response. Because the bottom line is, that while some of their views may seem at first an affrontery to all that I have come to accept and live by, I am also pleased that they are independent enough to form their own opinions about life and its issues. Sometimes, this is where their father and I come to disagree adding a third element to the interchange of words. As other parents, he sees a contrary position to be one of rebellion, formed primarily as a counter reaction to that of the older generation. While I may not wholeheartedly disagree with this view, I have in taking a step back, been impressed by the intelligence with which my ‘frivolous’ teens argue their point. While I may consider an idea misguided I can’t ignore that they have been thinking. And while I may not always give wholehearted approval to some of the notions, I stalwartly try to give them an open mind. So if I stand back and decide that their views are not based on rebellion, but rather from assimilating information to form an educated, albeit ingenuous, conclusion, I have to believe this is good. Parents should guide and instruct their children. But is it right to force our opinions on them, expecting them to accept them as their own without question? Or is it better to set a standard then encourage them to think independently? Seeing young people question authority, hearing them speak their minds isn’t something new. Through history there have always been the outspoken, the flamboyant, the eccentric, but their kind gained momentum ironically as my generation came of age. This parent, who reached adolescence in the late 1960s, has had to keep reminding herself that a different opinion is not necessarily a lack of respect in a teenager. On the contrary, anyone who listened to me automatically had my respect. That said, I still can't resist telling my kids the day is coming when what the old folks believe may not seem so crazy. In the words of Plato: “You are young, my son, and as the years go by, time will change and even reverse many of your present opinions. Refrain therefore awhile from setting yourself up as a judge of the highest matters.”