The True North, Strong & Free.

In the west, above the great Unites States of America, you'll find a quiet neighbour of massive size but not so massive population. Its people are dispersed on its lands due to bad weather conditions, it has a black sheep as does any other family that feels left out of everything and it is known for it's growing multiculturalism. This country is Canada, my home. 

I'm part of a visible minority but here in Montreal, people will never make you feel like you're a visible minority, they'll embrace your culture and want to be a part of it. Living here meant that I could have dinner in South East Asia, have coffee in the Middle East and have dessert in Latin America all in the same night. It also meant that I could observe my religion in peace and tranquility as long as I wasn't infringing on anyone else's boundaries. 

In that respect, every year a conference by the name of Reviving the Islamic Spirit takes place in Toronto with the purpose of celebrating our religion and teaching us something new about it. It is open to anyone and everyone and always creates a huge crowd in the the weekend that it takes place. This year, Justin Trudeau made his way to this conference as a special appearance and a show of support for canadian-muslims. 

As Trudeau made his way on stage, many were skeptical that he was only there for votes and that his motives were not wholly pure. Soon after he began his speech with peace and blessings upon his listeners though, many of those thoughts dissipated. He spoke of being proud to be part of such a great country and discussed his support for Muslims and other minority groups in Canada. His speech was extremely well researched and written, I can gladly say that he did his homework before making his appearance. 

For those fifteen minutes that he spoke, he made us all realize that, although for the most of us we were either ourselves immigrants or our parents at least immigrated to Canada, we were all canadians. Our voices matter and our needs are thought of in government decisions. Many said that he's a politician and that this was typical of someone who is thinking of running for a high profile position soon. I find that hard to believe because what Justin did was go out of his way and go against many of his entourage's advice to speak in a conference that supports a religion that is greatly misunderstood in the media and around the world today. He decided to show his support for a group of people whom very few leaders and international players are willing to speak up for today. 

So, today I say, let's be proud of our Country and it's warm embrace to each and every one of our religions and cultures. The maple leaf will always represent the true north strong and free but now it also represents multiculturalism and not only tolerance for it, encouragement and teachings of these differences as well. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMRj0JfhDnA

Oh Brotherhood.....

The clashes in Cairo are starting again and hundreds of people's lives are being sacrificed all because no one wants to listen. One cannot understand what is on that presidential seat that makes every man that ever sat on it incapable of getting off it by any reason other than death or international embarrassment. After January 25th, egyptians breathed a sigh of relief when the democratic process of electing a leader took place. Campaigns were set up, debates took place, flyers were passed out, bribes placed in all the right places and egyptians finally felt that for once the future of their country was in their hands. Lo and behold, we were faced with the problem that our long time allies faces, choosing between the lesser of two evils as does the US every four years. One candidate was from the old regime; a very well spoken politician who knows exactly what to say and when to say it, Ahmed Shafik was seen as the return of the anti-christ. Whilst the other side of the coin found a man who has no political abilities, no knowledge outside the sphere of his PhD, Mohamed Morsy was literally incapable of formulating a sentence when he sent his beloved message to egyptians abroad.

Dear God, what has this world come to? Please keep Egypt safe!

Now, ladies and gentlemen, we find ourselves back to square one, Morsy has secured his rear end to the presidential seat and is clearly not going anywhere anytime soon. It's as if they use crazy glue on that seat! History has a funny habit of repeating itself, and so here we are again in the midst of another frustrated revolution 2.0 hoping that he will get the point and vamoose! With the brotherhood backing him though, a religious group that has been preparing for the day it would take over Egypt since its indoctrination by Hassan El-Banna, I am very sceptical that he will get the point.

I'm on the fence when it comes to the brotherhood, although I'm not sure whether religion and politics should mix. They are an extremely organized group who know what they want and have the patience to strike at the right time and not in a haphazard manner. Thus, the reason for their success, unlike other factions of religion or politics, they plan and stick to it.

For the time being, one can only hope that the lives of innocent people will be spared, we need to take a moment and listen to one another and see how we can cooperate. It's funny because both the protestors and the brotherhood have somewhat the same goal in mind, the betterment of Egypt. So, why can't we work together?

A Tale of Two Countries.

The Arab Spring took many of the international world by storm, literally. Millions sat in baited breath as mass populations took to the streets in protest against their oppressing government, in countries that many in the West thought would never speak up. What began with Mohamed Bouazizi protesting against the injustices of his government and their mistreatment towards him flared across the Middle East and North Africa as millions of people followed suit and demanded a change. Among all the countries that participated in this great movement, two countries stood out among all the rest. Although I targeted them for different reasons, Egypt and Syria still remain an anomaly among all the Arab Spring participants. Let us take a look as to why this is.

Egypt began it's revolution on January 25th 2011 through the greatest use of social networking the world has ever seen. A Facebook event was created out of growing frustrations from local egyptians who were tired of the blatant corruption taking place in their beloved country. Safe to say that the government never really thought this movement would amount to what it amounted to, they began their takedown of the protesters through a series of violent attacks. I must stop and note that, as an egyptian myself, I've always said that we were a very particular people among the other arab nations. Not only is our geographic location and rich history the reason why so many tourists find themselves Egypt-bound all year around, we are also a very self-sustaining population. We truly have our own way of doing things that differs from the rest of our neighbours and that's what makes this uprising very different than the rest, the people themselves. Egyptians lived in Tahrir Square for two weeks until ex-President Mubarak stepped down from his post on February 11th 2011.

Now the other point that makes Egypt different than the other countries is the fact that Mubarak was formally tried after for his crimes against the people that once trusted him with their entire lives. Being president does not only mean a status symbol, as many have failed to understand, the position brings with it many responsibilities and towards a massive amount of people. Mubarak was eventually found guilty of premeditated murder of protestors among many other accusations for which he got a life sentence.

The other anomaly is still currently undergoing their revolution; Syria. The syrian uprising began shortly after the success of the egyptian people versus Mubarak. People took to the streets in hopes of ousting president Al-Asad because of a great deal of corruption and crimes against his people including murder and torture. He has yet to step down, he seems to think that he is not the problem and that the real issue lies in a grey zone that is outside his sphere of power and control, Sorry! Hundreds of people have lost their lives fighting for their freedom and yet he seems to feel that they are all wrong and that he is the rightful president of Syria. One can only hope and pray that he turns on his television set and realizes that his people will not listen to him anymore and will not stop until he is gone.

The reason why I felt I had to share this is because as an arab living in Canada, sometimes we need to stop and truly appreciate that which we have taken for granted. Across the Atlantic Ocean, egyptians and syrians sacrificed their lives for the ability to choose between more than one candidate in elections, to have freedom of speech and better living conditions. All of these are things that we have and yet we never will truly understand their value unless they are taken away from us one day. Take a moment and look around you at the life you're leading and instead of criticizing every mundane aspect of it, take it in and be thankful for the big picture. Be thankful for the simplicity with which we lead our lives and all the little things that fall through the cracks everyday. It is these little things that make the biggest difference in the end.