Whatcha gonna do about it?!

I'm so tired of the phrase "must be held accountable". What an over-used, cliched, and often-times empty threat!

Recall the Gaza flotilla of late-May 2010 when the Israeli army surged aboard a fleet of boats headed for Gaza to distribute badly-needed medical, educational, and infrastructural supplies. The raid on the boats left nine people dead at the hands of the IDF, including a 19 year-old Turkish civilian. I found it almost laughable that Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu called this a "clear case of self-defense of the IDF soldiers". Really? The IDF entered International Waters, and boarded a boat carrying non-blockaded goods, and then attacked the unarmed civilians onboard. How can that possibly, in the mind of any logical-thinking human being, be deemed a case of self-defense!? But I digress...

Before I began this post, I wondered what exactly the international community had done to "hold Israel accountable" for the murder of people who were only trying to enhance the incredibly poor quality of life for Gazans? (Notwithstanding that this flotilla should have followed standard procedures for shipping equipment into Gaza, since when is it acceptable for armed people to board a civilian ship in international waters, kill unarmed civilians, and seize the vessels? Last time I checked, that was called "piracy". Not to mention the fact that the blockade on Gaza is unlawful in and of itself - meant to stop weapons and ammunition from entering Gaza, the blockade also banned chocolate, diapers and numerous medical supplies.)

Fortunately, wikipedia has an article on exactly that:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_flotilla_raid#Reactions

I discovered that many countries condemned, protested, and expressed deep concern and regret over the actions of Israel. Only four countries downgraded their diplomatic relations with Israel and/or withdrew ambassadors: Ecuador, Nicaragua, South Africa, and Turkey. Good for them!

I was pleased to know that the Human Rights Council adopted a vote of 32-3 that condemned Israel's actions and would begin a fact-finding mission to investigate violations of international law in this instance. Hopefully this case will yield positive results that will provide justice to all the people affected by the horrible way the IDF acted.

In this instance, maybe Israel will be "held accountable" after all...?...despite clearly being held unaccountable for its occupation of Palestine including the building of the apartheid wall, construction of illegal settlements, wanton destruction of Bedouin villages, violence against Palestinian civilians, diverting water from Palestinian villages and using that water to irrigate their illegal settlements within the West Bank, and the list goes on...

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After the successful protests in Egypt led to the ousting of long-time dictator Hosni Mubarak, other Arab countries, including Libya, are following suit to overthrow their repressive and oppressive regimes! While Arab leaders are stepping down (Egypt and Tunisia) or trying to quell revolutionaries with promises that they will not run for re-"election" (Yemen), Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi has threatened his country with a bloody massacre, promising to crush all the "cockroaches" who oppose him!

This is an incredibly frightening thing for the leader of a country to say!! The other frightening thing is that the international community has no idea how to respond, other than to condemn Gadhafi's actions (obviously) and say that he would, of course, be "held accountable". Would that be the same accountability that Mubarak is enduring, as he sits with his feet up in Saudi? Mind you, will the US really charge Mubarak for his years of oppression when it was they who funded it? ($1.3 billion in military aid each year)

Hopefully Gadhafi will be "held accountable" for the lives he has commanded his military to take.

I suppose the really ridiculous thing is that all of these countries are talking about "holding people accountable" as though they bear no responsibility themselves. The international community should be trying to *prevent* atrocities and crimes against humanity before they happen!

Speaking positively of my own country, Canada: "Under the previous Liberal government, Ottawa had pushed for the “responsibility to protect” doctrine, which would oblige the international community to take action if a sovereign country is obviously failing to protect its citizens from mass atrocities. The concept has won support from the UN in recent years, but Libya could be a crucial test of the principle."

( http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/africa-mideast/world-leaders-unsure-of-how-to-respond-to-gadhafi/article1918231/ )

Let's see if the Harper government has the balls to act (likely not...).

Hopefully the world leaders will start acting before it's too late and they have to issue yet another official declaration of their condolences at lost lives and a condemnation of the Gadhafi regime. Save the ink, save your voices, save some lives and take action!

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Maybe it's easy for a 25 year-old Canadian girl to sit back and criticize the world scene for its seemingly lackadaisical attitude towards genocide...but too often the greed for oil allows politicians to sit on their laurels lest they disrupt a relationship with a country that lets them drive their Hummers and other tree-killing SUVs.

Where are our priorities?! Where are the consciences of these people?!

Together but Apart...

Akin to the philosophical question: "If a tree falls in the forest and no is around, does it still make a noise?", I pose this query: "If two people agree to be a 'couple' but they live 1000 miles apart, are they still a couple?"

My boyfriend lives in the mid-Western United States and I live in basically the middle of Canada. Since we don't get the chance to talk much in-person, we spend a lot of our time communicating via Google Chat, Google Video, and Skype. Fortunately these resources are free, but that doesn't mean that both of us haven't spent a considerable amount of money and time traveling to visit the other.

We have actually been really lucky that we have had the time and money to see each other fairly frequently. We even spent 5 weeks together in Europe in September. After that we were able to see each other every 3 weeks. We can't keep that up forever, as we've realized when we examine our dismal bank accounts. Therefore we're trying to go a solid two months without visits.

Two months feels like an eternity. I've been trying to fill up my calendar as much as possible so that I'm busy enough that time will start to fly by. So far I've noticed that I'm exhausted and still incredibly aware of the hours and days slowly ticking along.

But back to my original question: If two people agree to be a couple but live miles apart, are they still a couple? It seems like an oxymoron. When you think of yourself as being in a relationship, you assume that you will spend a considerable amount of time with the one who dominates your thoughts 90% of the time. So when that person lives in another country, you are relegated to your thoughts alone and the daily (hopefully) phone call/video chat. Not really an effective or substantial way of demonstrating your "couple-ness".

Still, there's not much more you can do when you can't just stop by their place on their way home from work. So you have to find other ways of cementing your bond: letters, postcards, voice messages, little ways to let the other know you're thinking about them.

And to be fair, when we ARE together we are most definitely a couple. That doesn't do much to quell the disappointment every time we have to say good-bye, though. Long-distance is hard and it sucks. I feel for everyone who doesn't live in the same city as their beloved.

So you do what you can with what you've got. As for me, it's off to another video chat and after that I'll be back to X-ing days off on my calendar and counting away at those slowly-moving hours.

Valentine's Day?

It's been so long since my last post and I honestly don't know if anyone reads this anymore...so I can feel completely free to go off on a wonderful tangent :)

So it's Valentine's Day...hurray...or not?

This is the first Valentine's Day in my entire existence that I have been "with" someone - that someone being my boyfriend of the last 7.5 months. We are in a "long-distance" relationship (a.k.a. a very shitty position to be in), so, while we talk every single day, it's still hard to maintain the kind of close relationship you would have if you saw someone in person every day.

My boyfriend is not a romantic guy. He will admit this. That's ok. I love him anyway. He also thinks Valentine's Day is a complete sham. That's ok, too. I love him anyway. He told me not to expect anything for Valentine's Day, so I guess I should have been prepared. But...but...but...I cannot help but be envious of everyone's facebook status that reads "Best Valentine's Day ever!! Roses and a romantic dinner!" or "What an amazing Valentine's Day - breakfast in bed and couples massages!"

So what if Valentine's Day is a huge commercialized holiday designed to make people spend money on chocolate and flowers?? It makes people feel special and cared about. No, it doesn't mean your honey loves you more on Valentine's Day than on any other day, but it's an opportunity to demonstrate your affections and what's so wrong with that!?

Of course I didn't receive anything for our 6-month anniversary either...My boyfriend will be the first to admit he's terrible at buying gifts. I don't think it's hard to buy girls presents: earrings, necklaces, scarves, perfume, candles, body wash, tea, lotion, gift certificates even. [To be fair, he did take me to Iron and Wine at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, which was a freaking awesome show.]

Anyway, I will survive the obvious dis-acknowledgement of Valentine's Day. My point is that, despite it being a money-making scheme, receiving flowers/chocolate/a love letter is always a treat and quite honestly I'm in dire need of a pick-me-up these days so the green monster is burning behind my eyes and into my fingers (hence the post).

Sorry for putting you on the spot, boyfriend...you just gotta step it up a few notches, ok?? I still love you!!