Amar Wala
Launch
I want to start this, our first blog post by thanking my mother, Shernaz Wala for putting up with me while we struggled to launch this website. I have no doubt been a pain in the ass the last few months (even more so than normal). Thanks mom.
My mother recently returned from Bombay, and among the usual gifts she brought home (Indian sweets, nuts, knock-off designer shirts etc.) was a copy of Newsweek magazine’s Asian Edition. It was the March issue, and the cover boldly declared “The death of Human Rights”. The article, by Joshua Kurlantzick, argues that Human Rights have been placed on the back burner by many developed nations. Kurlantzick states that,
Across Europe, Asia, and Latin America, many democracies have abandoned global human-rights advocacy, trotting it out only for occasional speeches or events like International Human Rights Day.”
He’s right.
However, there’s a serious problem with his next sentence. Kurlantzick adds that,
With the prominent exception of Canada, the developed world has fallen mum.
It’s statements like these that are the reason we have to make this film.
Canada’s reputation as a human rights champion is so engrained into the fabric of western discourse that evidence to the contrary is often concealed, or worse yet, ignored. And while it’s important that the world know about the mistakes we’ve made, and continue to make, it’s even more important that WE know about them, so we can end them. Security Certificates are a reality, they are ugly, but they are real. And we can’t ignore something we know is wrong because it’s hard to talk about. Like any Canadian, there’s a part of me that wants to believe that we are the “prominent exception” Kurlantzick talks about, but it’s simply not true.
I for one refuse to come from a country that holds people without charge, and allows for secret evidence, and I think most Canadians feel the same way I do. They just don’t know that this is happening. We’re going change that, with your help.
We want, and need all of you to be a part of this film. Your participation and support does more than help get the film made; it tells the security certificate families that they are not alone, and tells the Canadian government that they represent us, and that we REFUSE to represented in this manner.
Thank you,
Amar.
