This is not so much a thread on globalisation, although that would be a good topic. I’m just bragging on my city and region again. Have you seen any of the press conferences with the mountains in the background? That specific location is less than an hour’s drive from my condo. There is an unbelievable amount of security for this conference. I went hiking on Tuesday in a neighbouring valley, one mountain range and about 20 miles away as the crow flies, and we had to pass through 3 check stops in the middle of the wilderness to get there.
Well thanks! Further to the G8 political issues, this was a cool quote made by Bono on the CBC evening news last night. Interesting comments about angry protest vs. working within the system, and about the role of the church. Bono is a bit of a controversial Christian, but he does say many things that make a lot of sense. MANSBRIDGE: Let me just ask you one last question and it's a personal on in a way and I don't want you to take it the wrong way. You know on a day like this, some people are going to wonder whether, in a way, you got had. You've had incredible access to some of the most powerful people in the world. You're committed to this cause. At the end of the day, some of them got campaign photos with one of the most popular figures in the world and you're disappointed and depressed and you didn't get the commitment you wanted. BONO: Um, yeah, I might be one of those people. If I'm speaking to you, Peter, next year, and there hasn't been a real historic movement to deal with the problem of AIDS in the world and to deal with a continent like Africa bursting into flames while we all stand around with watering cans, I'm going to feel like I have been had. And worst than that, I'm going to feel like I've been a tourist in other people's tragedies. And I'll feel I let those people down. And I'll tell you, I've always felt it was more glamorous to be on the barricades. You know, it's much more rock 'n roll to be on the barricades with a handkerchief over your nose and throwing rocks. And I always felt, you know, get into the ruin. The argument has a certain moral weight, moral force. If we can get into the ear of presidents and prime ministers like I have with Tony Blair and last week with President Chirac, I know that, I know I can make these people's case in a way that sometimes even the African leaders can't because they're beholding to the institutions like the World Bank and the IMF whose shareholders are the G-8. You know, and I, and I, I'm still, I'm still going to go there. I'm going to represent a broad movement and, but we will be back next year and you'll be hearing from me. And you'll be hearing from the sleeping giant that is the church. I mean the church, what is going on with the, with the churches? It is incredible. I tell these evangelicals, you know, in the United States, there's 2,300 verses of scripture about the poor. It's the central message outside of personal redemption, is the idea of dealing with the poor. And I'm asking them where are they? Where are they on this? You know, on a recent poll of evangelical churches, only six percent said they wanted to do something about AIDS. I mean it is, it is unbelievable and the leprosy of our time, if you like, but it's starting to turn, the church is starting to wake up. The students are getting louder and louder. And we are getting messages even from corporate America saying, I get calls saying what can we do? Can we help? And I think over the next year you'll be hearing from us and closer to elections, in all these countries who have met in Kananaskis today, they'll really be hearing from us. [note: It’s not just the churches in the US that should be singled out IMO. You could extend that to Canada and many other places in the world.] http://cbc.ca/national/transcripts/transcript#1FF47A-21
Grizz - I feel bad for Prime Minister Chrétien. He very much wanted this summit to focus on the situation in Africa but, as usual, the Middle East reared its ugly head. Once the group finally got around to Africa, they offered far less aid than most humanitarian groups had hoped. I'm afraid Bono will be disappointed. As for the location, Kananaskis is absolutely beautiful. You're lucky to live near it. I assume too, its remoteness was part of its appeal as Chrétien didn't want another "battle in Seattle" on his hands.
I'm glad you brought up Bono, Grizzled. He and I probably don't see eye to eye on everything...but it's clear his heart is in the right place...and he seems to be putting the words of his faith to action...and I respect the hell out of that. I grow more impressed with him daily...I agree entirely with him on the inactivity of the church on issues like this...the church ABSOLUTELY ought to be out there contributing time and other resources to helping with the AIDS epidemic...attending to the poor even more than they do already. The church is the one of the few organizations whose intended purpose is to serve those who are NOT its own members...when it becomes to inwardly focused, it loses the entire message of Christ and creates real valid skepticism towards the claims of Christians about Christ. I hope and pray that the church will respond to those calls...particularly to the AIDS epidemic worldwide.
Pole: Works for me! ;D Mrs. JB: They definitely held it there for security purposes. It’s a standalone resort in a park in a valley with very little other development around it. It’s only an hour’s drive from Calgary though, closer than Banff, so it’s not too remote. This Canada Day weekend it’ll be crawling with hikers from Calgary and elsewhere. You’re right, they didn’t get all they wanted, but they did get something. Was it a feeble gesture, or a good start? Hard to know. I tend to side with Bono on this in that I think it’s more effective to work with the system rather than to try to tear it down. I am open to the argument that both strategies work together ("battle in Seattle" style protest and nogiation/colaboration) but that’s not my first inclination. MadMax: Amen brother!
I had the great pleasure of visiting Victoria Canada once and I can say without a doubt it was the most beautiful place I've ever been. The only problem I had was at a strip club called the Red Lion. There should be a law against beautiful Canadian women taking all a stupid ass Americans money like that. Damn you to hell Miss Nude West Canada....damn you.
