SIDES

There is something i learned early on — in my twenties — from having discovered Albert Camus and The Plague, that has remained more or less intact after a long life lived — that it is usually hard to understand what is going on in the world around you when strife is upon the land, but at the very least one should try not to be on the side of the executioners.

Suppose you walk into a mall with your daughter by your side and for no immediately apparent reason someone shoots her and she dies in your arms — what do you do? What is the most appropriate response? 

I don’t think there are many, given even a moment to consider, who would include taking an automatic weapon and shooting everyone in the mall.

WHAT CANADIAN VOICES I ENJOY HAVE IN COMMON

i hear many voices commenting on current events in my usual radio wandering and there are a few that i really always appreciate:

the already mentioned michael byers from ubc; louise arbour, a jurist who has held many important positions in canadian and international law including justice of the supreme court and chief prosecutor of the international criminal court in the hague; and bob ray, an experienced political veteran who has been premier of ontario and subsequently held many offices representing canada at the federal level. 

what these observers probably most have in common is a belief that justice is the most important element of governance at every level and so, at this time in our political evolution, that interest is best served by principles operating most effectively in states and world organizations that ascribe to a policy of social democracy with a distributive economy. the largest body with an overall framework that supports that system is the present european union, a body not often credited with the great success it should be in ultimately overcoming the less noble ambitions of many of its members.