lundi 15 juin 2009

La Fête nationale.

I have forever complained about our sovereignists hijacking what is billed as "La Fête de tous les Québécois". The recent antics of our Société St-Jean-Baptiste has proven, once more, that for our Patriotes only Francophones, and not all francophones for that matter, can be Québécers. Threatening to withraw sponsorship from a community event should Anglo performers, even willing to perform in French, were kept on the program is discrimination at it's very glorious best.
J'ai souvent affirmé que mon patronyme grec m'excluait, pour de nombreuses personnes, du groupe des québécois, moi et tous les autres possesseurs d'un nom exotique peu importe leur langue d'usage, or me voici, encore une fois, confirmé dans cette opinion. Depuis 1976, la Fête dite nationale n'est plus ma Fête...and it will stay that way for a long time still...or until the sovereignists come to their senses that they will never get their dream without the Anglos and guys like me.

15 commentaires:

  1. Costo, why don't you react in a different way? "La Fête dite nationale n'est plus ma Fête" type of reaction is, on my opinion, like saying to sovereignists: "Yes, it is your Fête only, not the Fête of all Québécers."
    Will they ever come to their senses? Who the hell cares, the hell with them! You are born and have lived all your life in Quebec: you are ALL Québécers! And Québécers are not just Québécers, they are Canadians.
    Bias and racism will always be present in human relations. C'est pour cela qu'il faut s'en foutre.

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  2. Vu de loin, Giovanni, vous avez raison. Malheureusement les souverainistes utilisent les chiffres de participation aux événements pour démontrer le supposé support de la population envers leur option. Ces festivités deviennent objet de propagande pour eux et je ne veux pas les aider à nous leurrer.
    They have an inclusion discourse but an exclusion behaviour. I agree racism and discrimination are human traits...that do not need reinforcement.
    Emotionnally I can not "m'en foutre".

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  3. Yes, I see things from too far away. But now I understand what you mean.

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  4. Emotionally, ne puvoir s'en foutre, I can understand it too well. Having been cosmopolitan since when I was very young, for years I could not 'm'en foutre' when people abroad or here expressed bias, racism etc. against Italians. I mean, it took me decades to get over it.

    Now, no matter what people say, being conscious of both our flaws and virtues, I really don't care and am very combattente about it.
    Forse la situazione in Canada è diversa, non so, ma bisogna condizionarsi un poco mentalmente, e cercare di fottersene, sviluppando il nostro orgoglio.

    For example, your heritage is so GREAT, Greek and French. Il y a tout l'Occident là dedans. What the hell should you care about the 'pure laine'?

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  5. At least this is my thought. It could be too abstract in the Canadian situation though. But I believe in mental conditioning to overcome emotions.

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  6. Yes, you are right about mental conditioning, indifference is another thing. Being proud of what one is does not make abstraction of the need to belong which is what the "pure laine", and they are very few, would deny us "others". At the onset of the Independance Movement, a leader called André D'Allemagne called for only "de souche French descendants" to have the right to vote in a referendum. He was defeated but not by much. That spirit is not dead in the extreme fringe of the movement as the recent events have demonstrated.
    The good news here is that there was such a popular outcry, even from some enlightened sovereignists, that the extremists have backed off and there will be Anglophone performers at L'Autre St-Jean party...and they will sing some french tunes to boot.
    All is not lost and we may, some day, have a true all Québécois inclusive bash.

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  7. No, indifference is not possible, I understand. Maybe less pain. This outcry seems good news. I wish you a near all inclusive Québécois fete, Paul.

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  8. My goodness, one does not have to go far to find narrow minded people.

    It takes decades to change opinions. In the States it took years for people to accept catholics, for example. When John Kennedy was running he had to defend his faith and his papal connections. Now, catholics here have become associated with ultra conservatives, fighting the liberal left.

    History is just a slow teacher, I guess.

    p.s. I so enjoy reading your multilingual discourses with Manofroma.

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  9. Thank you Rosaria. Well for once it seems narrowmindedness has lost the battle. Not the war yet though. The Anglos will be there after all.

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  10. Grazie Rosaria, sei sempre molto gentile e carina. E' un po' che manco dal tuo blog. Ma oggi ci sono tornato e ho scoperto molto sui tuoi figli.

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  11. Yes MoR and Rosaria's brood is well worth to scoprire and also to ascoltare.

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  12. Ah ah. But don't tell me Paul vous avez appris l'Italien at that barbershop only. You have a good conoscenza, il parait.

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  13. Very slim consceza, uomo di Roma, very slim. Doctus sum cum libro.

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  14. Rosaria is a sage, bello ascoltarla.

    Slim knowledge? But I'm sure you cam always figure out words in our language. Ciao

    Hombre de Roma

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