Maybe it'll make the late edition. Apparently I was bumped by some guy from Detroit who thinks burning the flag is bad. I find that kind of funny since the e-mail that started all of this said that the protestors should get more coverage and be expected to burn flags.
Anyway, since the CBC is afraid to give voice to the pro-flag burning lobby I'll put the e-mail I sent them.
"Evan and Carol:
You asked what we thought about burning the American flag and so on at protests.
Given what that flag has come to symbolize around the world it is inevitable that some will choose to burn or deface it. The situation is, of course, much worse under George Bush, but US imperialism was also alive and well under Bill Clinton. While it may disturb the American people to see their flag on fire they should consider why that is happening. People are becoming increasingly angry at a nation that harms the less advantaged people of the world seemingly at will and responds with overwhelming violence should anybody dare to oppose them.
You also wanted to know what should be done with protestors. I think they need to be given more of a voice...a chance to respond on an equal footing to George Bush and others they are protesting against.
It would have been a wonderful thing had Paul Martin and his government given the opportunity for one or two people from the protest movement to speak either directly preceding or immediately following the speeches of Bush and Martin. Instead those around Bush and Martin did everything possible to keep them from seeing the very real resentment to their policies. It might have done George Bush some very real good to have to sit in a chair on the side of the stage while somebody warmed the audience up for him by giving the other side of the story.
The popular media, especially the CBC because of its mandate, should have given equal time to the protestors and at least keynote speeches made on their stage at the Parliament Buildings. Instead we were allowed to see just a few closing lines of Naomi Klein's speech. I feel bad having to point this out, but Ms. Klein is well versed in her area, better spoken than George Bush, and arguably has a much more Canadian message than anything that has come out of the mouths of George Bush and
Paul Martin in the last four or five years.
Give more voice to the protestors, CBC. Newsworld has 24 hours of programming to fill each and every day. Instead of repeating footage of the same talking heads repeating the same pro-business rhetoric over and over again, then wondering if it's okay to burn a US flag, you would do well to represent a group that is vocally representing the feelings of many Canadians."
