Brian69
Not the Messiah
As most are already aware the large protests by Canadian Tamils created quite a stir downtown. On the one hand I sympathize with their fears about relatives caught in the conflict; on the other hand this is a war that has been ongoing for decades and has gone back and forth with little atrocities and human rights violations on both sides. Now that it is drawing to a close the apparent victory of the Sinhalese isn't sitting to well with the Tamil people, and understandably so.
For my part, if the LTTE wasn't so well represented in flags and comments by the protestors I'd have no problems with them provided they were done at City Hall or some other open space. Freedom of speech and assembly are rights for everyone in Canada. But to block traffic and cause some degree of chaos downtown seems to run counter to the idea of getting the Canadian public on side. And to make an open show of support for the LTTE when abuses have been documented against it (included the murder of a popular Indian Prime Minister) won't help win public sympathy. I wonder if this might cause a backlash among the public and and end up fueling hard feelings on both sides.
Thoughts?
(this could go in Toronto Issues but I believed it's more appropriate here)
For my part, if the LTTE wasn't so well represented in flags and comments by the protestors I'd have no problems with them provided they were done at City Hall or some other open space. Freedom of speech and assembly are rights for everyone in Canada. But to block traffic and cause some degree of chaos downtown seems to run counter to the idea of getting the Canadian public on side. And to make an open show of support for the LTTE when abuses have been documented against it (included the murder of a popular Indian Prime Minister) won't help win public sympathy. I wonder if this might cause a backlash among the public and and end up fueling hard feelings on both sides.
Thoughts?
(this could go in Toronto Issues but I believed it's more appropriate here)