It appears that there is now resolve on the part of authorities in Ottawa to end the occupation in the core of Canada's capital. Over the past three weeks a mixed bag assembly of protesters has morphed into an intransigent and seemingly fanatical group which has entrenched itself at several locations. The goals of the participants are vague and varied and delusional, based on bizarre notions of personal freedom.
It's deeply disturbing that some of these protesters claim to be Christians. And appalling to learn that some conservative congregations in the Ottawa region have been contributing jerry cans of fuel used to keep trucks going.
The United Church of Canada has responded to what is happening in Ottawa and in other locations across the country, aware that racism and xenophobia are also part of the toxic mix of discontent. Below are a a portion of a statement by the Anti-Racism Common Table and a prayer from our moderator, Richard Bott.
It is as the Anti-Racism Common Table of The United Church of Canada that we write to you today, in the middle of one such manifestation with protests that claim to be anti-vaccine mandates taking place across the country.
The right to protest and voice objections are valued in every democratic society. As the Anti-Racism Common Table, we support the right to protest non-violently. We are also moved to express our deep concerns about the current “Freedom Convoys” and demonstrations occurring across the country.
We are concerned that these demonstrations have become places of hate and oppression. We do not support the use of symbols of hate such as swastikas and the Confederate flag; the appropriation of Indigenous cultures, ceremony, and symbols such as the Every Child Matters flag; and the use of racist, ableist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic, and anti-immigrant language and threats. We have seen this not just at the protests themselves, but also on social media in support of them. Our commitment to becoming an anti-racist, intercultural, and reconciling church requires that we name this clearly.
God of Love and Life,
today I saw banners of hate
lifted to the sky
in a place that is dear to my heart.
The battle flags of a failed nation-state,
confederated for the continued enslavement
of Black people;
the swastika of another failed nation-state,
whose core principles brought forth
the Shoah—
the systematic murder of
over 6 million Jews
and a eugenic platform to eradicate
anyone who did not fit
its image of perfection—
flew in the midst
of a protesting crowd
of Canadians.
Protest I understand,
even if I feel the reasons are misguided,
and wrong.
But those symbols of
White Supremacy,
representations of a desire
to enslave and eradicate—
those flags of hatred's horror—
they should never be flown
in a way that honours them
and the principles for which they stand.
God, help us
to put those symbols in the places
that will make us remember
what they represent, with horror and grief,
and fight against them
ever being raised up
as possibilities for the future.
God, help us
to challenge the unthinking hatred,
the fear and the greed that give it power,
the anti-Semitic hatred,
the idea that "White is Right."
God help us.
Because we can't seem to do it
on our own.
Amen
—Moderator Richard Bott
Why does it seem that there is so little concern for the wellbeing of children who have forced to take part in the Ottawa insurrection? Some thoughts in my Groundling blog today
https://groundlingearthyheavenly.blogspot.com/2022/02/suffer-little-children-in-ottawa.html
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