The Lessons of January 23, 2010

Continue the Momentum – Defeat Prime Minister Harper!

A spontaneous democratic movement of the Canadian people inspired by media-savvy youth has dealt a body blow to the smug arrogance of Prime Minister Harper’s minority government and his US Republican Party advisors. [1]

Right wing think tanks, media pundits and jaded academics are desperately casting about to explain to their political masters, how they got it so wrong, that Canadians didn’t care about Parliamentary democracy.

 What January 23, 2010 proved is that the majority is not silent, in particular the youth that are ahead of the right wing spin and hype of all of the political parties. Youth mastery of the internet is doing an end run around the media moguls and slick pundits.

The coast to coast mass protests reflect the fact that millions of Canadians, in particular the youth hardest hit by unemployment, are simmering with anger and discontent at a right wing minority government demonstrably anti-democratic and indifferent to their future, their economic interests and needs. Regardless of their attitude to the war in Afghanistan they are opposed to stifling the debate on its terrible cost in human lives and seek the truth on the government’s attempt to cover up evidence torture of Afghan detainees.

The January 23, 2010 protests are a continuation of the popular democratic movement that arose in support of the December 2008 Liberal, NDP, Bloc accord to form a coalition government [2] to oust Harper Conservatives. 

That movement never died because objectively it represents a broad consensus among the electorate opposed to the war in Afghanistan, the plundering of public purse by the banks and impending cuts in the March 4th federal budget to social programs.

The majority of the electorate, regardless of political affiliation is beginning to realize that Prime Minister Harper and his government act for a minority political and economic interest that believes they are destined to live well, while the majority suffers and that they must be defeated and a new type of governance elected.

The Harper minority Conservative Government has turned its back one time too many times, on the plight of 1.5 million unemployed, the youth confronting a bleak future, and the majority of workers who must sell their labour power to live.

January 23, 2010 has a future because it has a purpose…the defeat of the Harper Government.