The politics of complacency. We on both sides of this argument are swimming neck deep in it. What exactly is the issue here? That she is a young woman who upset a patriarchal bastion of colonial thinking, affirmative culture governing, has upset conservative thinking women, who feel that this woman was wrong for standing up and voicing her concerns with two words for 20 seconds in a political and monarcharistic domain? She was interrupting a speech pronounced by the Governor General. Stop Harper. Period, a stop sign symbol she posted those words on, hid the subversive "propaganda" under her skirt, and stopped the ideologues for a fraction of a second as the colonial guard took her arm and escorted her off the political stage. A media and political stage in a colonial building that reeks of the imperialistic and colonialistic history of a British Empire. A empire that utilized the Letter of Patent, Vatican doctrines, and mercantile greed to define and build the society we called now Kanata, Canada. A place where land was stolen from the first people, women and men subverted to colonial rule, and the women settlers stayed in the kitchen, made babies and let the "men" govern the country. It took women to upset the status quo in a male history, and herstory is being written now, as this performance artist, playwright, and ex- parliamentarian employee utilized her intelligence, aesthetics of will and action to create 20 seconds of change. Twenty seconds is a life time in the media and Worldwide Net, She has got people thinking, writing, arguing, grandstanding, empathizing, ridiculing, and others wondering, what the big fuss is about?
Is it a question of semantics, semiotics, basic signifiers who many of us identify with? Stop. (A stop sign) and then the word Harper. Next it’s the throne speech by the GG, not too far from the page, an array of judges, and then all the men and women and servants of parliament? Her Father disagrees with her actions, her mother and sisters support her. Others say it was the wrong place, shows her disloyalty, and that she was wrong. Under all those basic signifiers of that twenty second protest, we have the rule of law. The notion of “Stop” in a family , state, church, school or other societal apparatuses is drilled into us from the time of infancy. An affirmation of what is right or wrong to do. A stop sign, is that an extension of the word stop or is it a traffic signifier? Hers, it was a stop sign for the political highway, the governing and construction of law, language, and society under the affirmation of the affirmative culture which stood shocked for 20 seconds. How dare this girl do that in this building. Then we come to the word Harper, Stop Harper. Conservative party, of course they are going to demand her head, such public shaming in such an important institution like the house of parliament! Her sign over-powered the majority signifier of this media moment, the conservative governing party, awaiting the queen’s representative’s ratification of their mission statement and intentions as the governing party of Canada. With the Governor General as the royal signifier, her timing was impeccable and rightly timed, as she no doubt knows we are still part of the British Monarchy, the Queen’s subjects. Brigette Depape upset this bastion of British royal ratification, by simply walking a few steps and holds her stop sign. It was good that the GG barely flinched during his read, as it will only have been more fuel for the fire, if he stopped, stuttered or was taken back the former page's actions.
In closing, where do we turn to find new people to govern and who agreed with her actions? People say it was disrespectful of parliament. Is it a sign of respect or lack of respect? It’s a respect for life, mother earth and all of us as individuals who voted all the parliamentary people into power, and a lack of respect to us as a people from Ottawa, when we hear about and find out about hidden agendas, political wrangling, manipulation, swaying, and how people in power get complacent because the money’s good and other perks; and then some young woman comes in and holds up a stop sign that read Stop Harper. Our votes did not stop him, but can our conscience, our activism, our uprising, our Arab spring? Well, that’s where the ridiculing came in and I write, don’t be too smug out there in Kanata Land (Canada) because the “Indians are restless” The Natives are restless! We are leaving the reservation, and more than willing to take up arms to upset the status quo of all the complacent societal beings of democracy, and scream , enough of the consumer materialistic culture people strive on, we are taking back mother earth to heal her and protect her for her children, young people , adults and elders who care for mother earth under the arms of our Creator, not some granite building called the house of parliament, Politics in stone, Good work . Brigette Depape, we can change the diapers of the ruling class, and you started the first wipe!
No comments:
Post a Comment