They say when a population puts pressure on a corrupt system, the system pushes back. So it’s not surprising to see the Harper Government crackdown on dissent, but the level of his attack on democracy is so great that even Stalin and Mao would be impressed.
After already labelling protestors as “extremists” andmuzzling scientists, Harper is now attacking federal librarians and archivists for what they do during their private time. Harper introduced a new code of conduct which says that any public speaking, regardless of the topic or venue, has to be cleared by the government because it is “high risk.” For example, if librarians spend their day-off speaking to a group of school children about preserving literature, it has to be cleared by the government first or they could be fired.
Now if this doesn’t enrage people who care about civil rights then I don’t know what will. This code even includes volunteers and students who work with the librarians and archivists. The reason the government gives is that public employees have a “duty of loyalty” to the “duly elected government.”
This is reminiscent of the old Soviet Union. Dissidents were condemned as “anti-Soviet,” because they weren’t loyal to the government. Noam Chomsky says this is “a natural usage among people with deeply rooted totalitarian instincts, which identify state policy with the society, the people, the culture. In contrast, people with even the slightest concept of democracy treat such notions with ridicule and contempt”.
Harper is turning Canada into a totalitarian state. We all should stop looking to the Mayans and Nostradamus for clues about our future, we should be looking to George Orwell. Stephen Harper is using Orwell’s 1984 as his moral compass, and not in the way the author intended. The irony of Harper’s policies are devastating. He muzzles institutions who are supposed to be dedicated to sharing information. He forces citizens to ask the government if it’s OK to criticize the government. If we don’t start rebelling, soon we’ll be hearing Harper say “war is peace,” “ignorance is strength,” and “freedom is slavery.”