Hussein Hoballah, Montreal
As part of the action to oppose the sex-education curriculum at Canadian schools, peaceful and lawful rallies have been organised in many Canadian cities. Though the calls to rallying, written in Arabic, were of similar content,
the organising parties haven’t been cited. That has made many of our community observers raise questions concerning the nature of these rallies.
Still, ahead of an Ottawa event, I decided to head to the city where laws and decisions concerning changing the family notion are made, and where legislations threatening the traditional family system (father & mother: male & female) are drafted. However, that night, I was briefed of a simultaneous rally in Montréal, whose organisers remained unknown to me though I tried hard to inquire about them. Eventually, I stayed in Montréal so that I could support the local rally, which was supposed to be synonymous with the one held in Ottawa.
Ultimately, I was shocked to find that only a few people had been there. One of the participants even said that it was us who looked ‘unorthodox’ while the mainstream media was claiming that public opinion was in favour of the government’s new pursuit – one in accordance with the bigger international plot to lure humans to change their sex identity.
I don’t wish to comment on the rally in Ottawa or any others before learning the details, but what’s happened in Montréal must be a lesson to all of us. Such a serious issue cannot be handled this way. Otherwise, the wrong impression will be implied regarding the rightful cause we’re taking action for. A prominent Ontarian activist had warned against calling for rallies without coordination with our community institutions in Montréal and other cities.
However, good questions I heard one of the protesters asking were, “Why are most of our institutions keeping quiet concerning this issue, which is threatening our community? After all, our institutions have a big responsibility in confronting the challenges we face. Has
our community even faced a more dangerous issue?”
Certainly those organising the rally in Montréal have done so in goodwill, being aggravated by the systematic targeting of families. Blessed be those who have organised the rally, attended it and raised their voices against the current injustices.
This is an ongoing issue, but for now it must be said that confrontation needs all efforts to be united so that we can protect our children and their future. Keeping quiet will cost us a lot, so we ask of the organisers of these rallies to keep taking action, but to coordinate it with the biggest possible number of our community institutions so that the rallies do lead to fruitful outcomes.
photo credit : sada alamshrek