Now, can one name a film about the killing fields of Cambodia? To my knowledge, there is only one feature film about that subject, The Killing Fields, about the late Dith Pran and starring the late Dr. Haing S. Ngor, both of whom survived a genocide that claimed nearly two million lives. That such an intense subject has not made the adequate rounds of celluloid (or digital) dabbling presents a disparity in an arena bent on taking stands.
However, Hollywood is not alone in its silent shunning about discussions and depictions of communism and its utter failure to be a practical and humane form of government. The National Capital Commission in Ottawa is afraid that its planned monument to remember the millions imprisoned and killed by communists everywhere will offend. Granted that anything one says or does these days is likely to offend, this particular monument should not be avoided for that reason. White-washing it to make palatable for some who cannot digest history and its ugliness itself is an offense to be avoided. Should one avoid the Holocaust or Guantanamo so as not to offend? Elitists would never dream of it. So why avoid mentioning how communists murdered so many millions? How can we learn from history if the pages have been streaked with black marker?
From the article:
...."Memorial to the Victims of Totalitarian Communism"....
Communism is totalitarian. It's kind of superfluous, really.
"I was unsettled by this name, and other members of the committee agreed
with me," Hélène Grand-Maître, one commission member, said at the public
approval hearing. "We should make sure that we are politically correct in this
designation.... I feel this name should be changed."
Perhaps Miss Grand-Maitre should list the sycophants who are offended. And the fact that she comes right and uses the term "politically correct" just shows how far we have to dig ourselves out.
Further:
Board member Adel Ayad noted that people who identify as communists might "not like" the memorial. "It's not communism itself that we should be fighting here.
It is rather totalitarianism we are against in any form."
Could anything more childish and dripping with denial? Why is Ayad afraid of specificity? Nazism was totalitarian and fascism, too. Islamist states are totalitarian but we cannot mention that without incurring some fire-bomb throwing ire. If communism is mentioned specifically then it would be hard to ignore the stares and the difficult questions it would undoubtedly face like: "Why did you send an entire family to a gulag?" and "Was it necessary to starve Ukrainians to death?" Yes, sin loves company or- better yet- to be forgotten at all costs.
Even further:
One commissioner questioned whether Canadians could even legitimately point
fingers at the brutality of Stalin or Pol Pot, given that our own federal
government had put Japanese-Canadians in internment camps during the Second
World War.
Completely dishonest intellectually and morally. Yes, our government sent Canadians of Japanese descent into internment camps- something they admitted to, apologised for and made reparations for. How any of that is even remotely comparable to the killing fields or Holodmor is beyond me. This kind of deflection and denial works well with Putin but not so in a country that rehashes "white guilt" on an almost daily basis. Efforts have been made to ignore Babi Yar, Katyn, the Chinese famine under Mao and North Korea. Surely, intellectually if not morally, we've hit a wall and realised we cannot ignore these events and atrocities any longer.
Please contact the National Capital Commission or the ombudsman.
info@ncc-ccn.ca
National Capital Commission
202–40 Elgin Street
Ottawa ON
K1P 1C7
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