Stephen Lewis

So last night Jen invited me to go see a lecture given by Stephen Lewis, a journalist/diplomat etc... who is very vocal about his dissapointment in the global community's failure to respond to the the continuing deterioration of the quality of life on the African continent. He's actually very interesting and I encourage anyone to read up on him and of course, if you feel moved make a donation to his foundation.

After a quick stop to pick up some non-perishable food items for a donation we went to the Hall Building. The lecture was being given at Concordia and organized by the CSU meaning the potential for a riot was already high.

I'm very wary of these politically vocal students, not so much because I believe that people shouldn't be politically active, but rather because I believe that many students are passionate about certain issues more because they need something to identify with, some place where they feel like they belong. Which is all good except I sometimes wonder if having a bunch of emo hippy types supporting a cause is more of a hinderance than anything else. I find they lack a certain amount of credibility but that's just me.

Sure enough when waiting in line all the usuals were there. The line was full of oddly dressed, socially akward individuals who seemed to be taking the entire event as a big social event. They were cutting in line, hugging each other and giggling away at anything and everything. They all seemed to be vegan somehow. I saw more than a few people putting humus on some kind of cracker. People were told to bring non-perishable food items to the talk but I find that the receptacle for such items was suspiciously empty. Way to go ya bong smoking, hemp wearing simpletons. You showed no love for the hungry.

During the talk there was a girl in back of us who really got on my nerves. She forced laughter at the oddest times. Any time Stephen Lewis used a big word she would blast this pretentious cackle. I believe she was trying to prove to her friends (or herself?) that she had a big fancy vocabular and in actual fact had NO IDEA what the guy was saying. Finally after the talk it was time for the question period, otherwise known as, "Let's kiss Stephen Lewis' ass."

One after another, students would get up and thank him for being such a compassionate human being, before asking there question. "Thank you Stephen Lewis for being such a humanitarian... I love you so much. I tatooed your name on my vagina!!! Please remember my name!! I dont' shower because water depletes the St Lawrence, home to many organisms that need that water to live... But I hope you'll marry me anyway."

The oddest question was when this white girl got up and asked a two part question (of course).

White Girl: "Stephen Lewis I want to have your baby!!"
Stephen Lewis: "That's not question."
White Girl: "My second question is, why aren't there more black people at these events??"

As all the black heads in the audience turned around grinding their teeth, she went on a tirade of how she always goes to talks about conflicts in Africa and finds that for the amount of black students at McGill and Concordia, they always seem to be underrepresented at these talks. I was hoping a good old fashion ConU riot would ensue but alas, Stephen Lewis in a pretty intelligent way. He suggested that one of the reasons for the low turn out of African students may be that they were suspicious of what a non-Africans motives are when they claim to be concerned about the situation in Africa. He even said that they might suspect Stephen Lewis of having some political agenda.

And for that I admire Stephen Lewis. Very sincere straight forward kind of guy and obviously very perceptive. I think it shows true empathy when you can even imagine why people might be suspicious of you and just take it in stride. You can tell by the way he speaks that he is very passionate and hurt by how people are being dehumanized on the African continent.

Then one girl got up and berated us all for not signing some petition for something... I can't remember. But again... the total opposite attitude. No empathy, just an accusatory, self righteous emotional outburst to an audience who was probably unaware that there was any petition to sign. I certainly hadn't been aware of any. Besides, I always wonder what happens after a sign a petition. What power does a petition have? Has a petition ever accomplished anything aside from alleviating the guilt of an over-priviledged North American population?

Of course there were lots of people there and not all of them looked like naive flag burners. Stephen Lewis' talk was really interesting. Of course a lot of the impact of the talk came from the details and the numbers he was able to throw at you. Did you know that the US spends more than 8.5 billion dollars a month on the war in Iraq? A MONTH! Lewis brought this up to emphasize the point that the war on Iraq has become an excuse to reneg on all the promises that were made to fight certain travesties that take place in Africa. To name a few, the maternal death rate, sexual violence, hunger, AIDS and other horrors that may or may not come as a surprise to you. It's worth learning about. I do hope people with some clout and some power can get on board with his kind of thinking and make a difference.