We have seen an increase in posters calling for passionate support for the Palestinian cause in Montreal in recent days.
• Also read: Pro-Palestine posters at subway stations in Montreal
There are no surprises here.
The Israeli-Arab conflict poses a challenge to the Muslim population that has settled throughout the West for 40 years.
In this confrontation, which some call “civilizational,” their preferences are clear. There is no need to be sad or happy about it: it is a fact, that’s all.
Joining these communities is the woke left, the Concordia version, which hates the West and sees its absolute incarnation in Israel.
poster
But that’s something else I want to talk about here: the simple fact that these posters plastered everywhere are mostly written entirely in English.
Free Palestine! Apparently no one thought to translate “Free Palestine!” and write “Free Palestine!”
In other words, those who are mobilizing in Quebec to persuade Quebecers to join the Palestinian cause are unable to do so in their own language.
We can see this as a sign of contempt.
It wouldn’t be surprising: Quebecers are increasingly being treated like foreigners in their own country.
And when they demand that we respect them even though we recognize that French is the nation’s only common language, they are called racists.
We can also see it as a sign of ignorance. French-speaking Quebecers have been symbolically expelled from Montreal for 25 years. Only in a few parts of the city are they no longer in the majority.
It is possible to live in Montreal without ever encountering them, except in the form of an ancestral presence that has left its name on the streets and subway stations but is absent from everyday life.
We encounter them all the less because many of those who remain on the island have internalized the new power structure: in Montreal they speak English as soon as they notice a foreign accent.
They now experience themselves as a minority who are not allowed to bother the emerging majority of the metropolis’ population with their identity presence.
I come back to these pro-Palestinian posters written in English.
They are paradoxical: they invite Quebecers to support a people without considering themselves a people.
Let’s look at, among other things, an indicator of the neo-colonialism that has plagued Quebec in recent years.
He took on several faces.
We wanted to expose Quebecers to the American imagination by forcing them to plead guilty when they faced an unfair trial because of systemic racism.
contempt
And now, in the name of diversity, they are being asked to sacrifice French and turn to English in order to be more open to newcomers.
In fact, they are being asked to resign.
The Palestinians’ right to their own state is undeniable, as is the right of the Jewish people to maintain and defend their state.
But if we want to make Quebecers aware of these problems, it should not be forbidden to treat them as an insignificant historical remnant.
