Toronto has recently become the site for political protests that seemingly have nothing to do with its domestic politics.
A month ago, a series of protests against Sri Lankan military actions by Toronto’s Tamil community took over the city. Now, Iranians in Canada are demonstrating the outcome of the recent Iranian elections.
But a notable absence may be the lack of protests by the Korean community. With a population of about 50,000 in Toronto and a veritable cornucopia of issues to get upset about, Koreans (to who protesting is akin to a national sport) still seem rather serene.
Janyce Kim, the former president of the sizable Korean Christian University of Toronto Students Association, offered an explanation.
When asked why Toronto hasn’t seen any large-scale demonstrations against North Korea’s continued nuclear armament or its detention of two American journalists when the same issues prompted massive demonstrations in their homeland, she answered, “Maybe Koreans are not coming together for big rallies and protest in Toronto because there’s not much the Canadian government can do?”
That’s a common concern.
I remember discussing the Tamil protests at a party about a month ago, and though most were understanding of-some even sympathetic to-the protester’s cause. But others were completely at a loss as to why anyone would protest Sri Lankan government actions from here.
But achieving the lofty, elusive goal of change is not the only point of a political protest. CBC Radio One personality Jian Ghomeshi, who attended Sunday’s Iranian protests, may have inadvertently articulated the greater implications of a political protest disconnected from domestic politics when he summarized the demonstration thusly:
“This is about supporting the same kind of democracy, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of ideas, and having every vote counted that we support and want in this country and that Iranians deserve in Iran.” (via)
In other words protests are protests. Not only do they raise the profile of an issue that might otherwise be ignored in the daily tide of media, a protest measure our values against those brought from afar.
In other words, distant politics aren’t so distant.
