Oh Canada, We Need To Talk About It
The National Election is Next Year, And No, It’s Not Too Soon to Talk About Fascism
The National election is next year and as a singular voter, I am not sure how I feel about having a Liberal government in office for another dozen years.
However, given that the NDP, The Liberals, The Conservatives, and the Green Party are all in cahoots, the question remains: Who the fuck do we vote for, that will work for the people, and listen to the people by the people?
I don’t have an answer for you—I wish I did—but I do have a list of things you should consider when you vote.
I’ve recently concluded, given the war in Ukraine, Haiti, Congo, the DRC, Sudan, Tiger, Palestine, and many other places I don’t even know the names of, that when we vote in the “Western world,” we are voting for the whole wide world.
What’s more important than voting for the whole world is being aware that our vote has global consequences.
Now they try to tell you how you vote in British Columbia won’t affect Ontario, but that’s because they deliberately don’t want us talking to each other.
BC only gets BC news, Alberta only gets Alberta news, unless they run out of shit to tell us and decide to give us a snippet of what’s happening across the country, when we live in this country, we have no idea what’s happening in other places. Again, this is deliberate.
When I place my vote, I will be thinking about my mother who lives and works in a wheelchair. I will be thinking of myself who is also currently disabled with one leg down, and an uncertain future of how I might heal.
I am thinking of:
- The neighbors I have who are disabled or differently abled.
- The LGBTQ2S+NB folks I love and cherish whom have also taught me how to be myself.
- The children who can’t yet vote, but know what they want from the world.
- The adults who do vote but vote against their better interest because they’ve been conditioned to believe that “this way” is the only way.
- I vote for my community and my planet.
- Indigenous people still fighting for freedom in a country they never gave up, but instead, that was stolen from them.
- Black, Brown, and Asian folks who don’t know me, but who need my vote to make their lives better.
Now I know this seems a bit over dramatic, but I want you to consider the fact that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris ticket, sent over 17 billion dollars to shoot bombs all through Northern Palestine.
When
We
Vote
In
The
Western
World
We
Vote
For
The
World.
And every vote fucking matters. It is important, imperative, that you remember that your vote isn’t just a one-off, you aren’t just voting for the local MLA or MP, you’re looking for someone who can lead your community into the next wave of evolution.
An MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) is elected by the public in their constituency or electoral division, to serve as a representative in the Provincial Legislative Assembly.
These are hugely important roles because they are basically like our senators, it is their job to say “This is what my community wants, and needs,” and it’s our job to make sure they speak for us, given the information we share with them.
So, this means organizing.
Which means writing letters to your friends, family members, and allies. It means making phone calls to the local politicians and asking them to stand up for the people of Palestine.
It means acknowledging that if it can happen in the USA if it can happen in the UK, it can and will happen here.
More and more across the world, we’re seeing politicians promise peace, only to contribute everything they have, to creating war zones in pockets of the world that can’t afford to fight back.
When it comes to Ukraine, the people of the world look at the Ukranians as if they are heroes, when it comes to Palestine, Tiger, Congo, the DRC, Sudan, and Haiti, those who fight back against evil regimes are told they are terrorists. Make the math make sense, because we have our politicians making up lies and feeding them to us as if it were truth every day.
Justin Trudeau posted this yesterday:
“The news out of Amsterdam last night is horrifying. This is a dark moment for our world — and one we have seen before.
My heart goes out to the victims and the entire Jewish Community today. Canada condemns this disgusting antisemitism.” — Justin Trudeau
The very fact that the internet itself had to play the journalism game so that the truth of what happened in Amsterdam, is astonishing at the very least.
It should be studied in universities and even high school now that I think about it. How many times has the internet had to rescue the world by telling the truths that the world leaders would rather be lies?
From October 7th, 2023, to Anonymous and the Holy Year of 2024, the internet never fails to make sure that the truth of what is happening on this planet reaches the people it needs to.
Regardless of how many times the government tries to shut down our platforms, we find a way, we need to continue to find a way to usurp the power structure that we live under so that we can all have equitable lives.
We must vote as if our lives and the lives of everyone on the planet matter to us because when we vote for the National leader of the country, we are voting for a person who has the power to send bombs to any place in the world that they want to.
We must be cognizant of the fact that if we want the war-industrial complex to be dismantled, then we must be the ones to dismantle it.
When I was a kid in Catholic School, I learned that we — being our government — sent men and women — because trans folks “Didn’t exist” back then, to war zones to “protect” the innocent.
Or rather than learning that, this is what I was taught to believe. After growing up, and speaking to many of a served soldier, I’ve learned that our soldiers from Canada do just as much killing as any other soldier.
Every soldier who fights for “Their country and countrymen,” are people who are complicit in the death of innocent people on this planet.
Usually, it’s Black, Brown, and Indigenous people being murdered en masse, but even before October 7th, when Russia invaded Ukraine, we were preparing to stand for the innocent among us.
What’s happening in this world right now is stoppable, the only decision you have to make is whether you are interested, ready, and willing, to be the hero you love reading about and seeing on television.
Or I mean, you can continue to sit back and do nothing.
I know that there are many youth who read my work and are getting ready to vote. I ask of you only one thing when you go to cast your vote…Cast your vote as it matters.
Cast your vote like YOUR vote, can be the one to change the world. Do that by doing your research. Listen to your fellow constituents, and read up on the people running for office. Ask yourself what’s happening in your province, and find out if it’s similar in other provinces.
Do your due diligence so that when you enter that polling booth, there is absolutely no question in your mind, that the person you’re voting for, is the person you truly believe, can lead this country into its next great era.
Good luck voters.
Sending all my love,
Devon J Hall, The Loud Mouth Brown Girl
