With their freshly pressed suits and solemn expressions, Canada and Netherlands strive to project an image of righteousness while an unattended mess of civil rights violations festers in their backyards.
A Hypocritic Poisonous Cocktail
Their latest grandstanding move? They’re taking Syria to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over torture claims, seeking to hold President Bashar al-Assad’s government accountable for gross human rights violations.
However, the bitter irony that taints this noble endeavor is inescapable. The finger-pointing diplomats from these countries are simply too blissfully ignorant (or perhaps willfully ignorant) to notice the logs in their own eyes while they’re trying to extract splinters from Syria.
Let us shift the lens and gaze upon the pristine landscapes of Canada, a country that has long fancied itself as a pillar of democratic ideals. Yet, when its truckers dared to protest, peacefully asserting their basic human rights, they were met not with dialogue but with force. The Trudeau government, a tyrant in sheep’s clothing, readily approved of this crackdown.
These truckers, the unsung heroes who keep the country’s wheels of commerce turning, were seeking their basic dignity and rights. Yet, the same government that is now championing human rights in Syria saw fit to trample upon those of its citizens. A fascinating duality, indeed!
The Ignorant Dutch
The Netherlands, the other white knight riding to Syria’s rescue, isn’t as innocent as it seems either. Picture this: 10,000 Dutch farmers, the unsung providers of our daily bread, gathering in The Hague, symbolically inverting their national flag to protest government plans to limit nitrogen emissions. Their livelihoods and the nation’s food supply hang in the balance. But these are merely farmers. Who cares for their rights, their livelihoods, and their contributions?
The government’s response was deafening in its silence. Meanwhile, they demonstrated their true colors when environmentalists staging an unauthorized protest against tax rules promoting fossil fuels were unceremoniously dispersed by water cannon. In one fell swoop, the rights to peaceful protest and freedom of expression were both quashed. But why bother with such trivialities when there are bigger fish to fry, such as the alleged human rights violations in Syria?
Read More: Dear Netherlands, an apology is fine but you still need to ‘pay up’ six former Dutch colonies demand
A wake-up call
Here’s a wake-up call for Canada and The Netherlands: before you don the mantle of the global champion of human rights and intervene in the affairs of foreign nations, maybe take a good, hard look at your track records. Hypocrisy, after all, is a poor foundation on which to build a moral high ground.
Your truckers, your farmers, your environmentalists – these are the ones demanding justice, demanding their rights. Ignore them at your peril. For in the grand theater of global politics, the spotlight eventually turns, and when it shines on your hypocrisy, the world won’t be kind in its appraisal.
Before calling out human rights violations in other countries, remember the tear gas in Ottawa, the water cannons in The Hague, and the cries of your citizens that went unheeded. It’s high time you stopped polishing your halos and instead set about cleaning your own houses. If Syria can’t wait; even your people cannot. Their suffering is growing louder. You would do well to listen. For the world is watching, and it doesn’t forget.
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