solidarity

An anonymous (of course) commenter chastised me for not blogging about the Iraqi constitution, as if I'm some kind of international news service, or as if somehow the existence of that piece of paper should change my opinion about anything.

One story I have been following with great interest is the teachers' strike in British Columbia. I'm thrilled to see the teachers standing together in support of their right to collective bargaining, despite court orders and whatever else the government can throw at them. The strike is technically "illegal" - because the provincial legislature passed a new law declaring it so.

I've read some letters in the Globe And Mail whining about "what message does it send the children when teachers break the law?" - and some terrific letters in response, reminding us that there are many kinds of lessons. If our highest value is obedience to the law, we'll need to remove some heroic names from our history books: Gandhi, King, Mandela, Tubman, Chavez, to name a few. Laws, after all, are made by humans. They are often unjust.

There are other lessons, too - about justice, solidarity, and the value of work. And about hypocrisy. Do we really value education, or just pay lip-service to that ideal?

Yesterday on "The National," we saw footage of a tremendous rally and sympathy strike; thousands of BC unionized workers walked off their jobs to attend. That's the power of a unionized work force.

A young male teacher said, "I've never been a part of anything this big before." That feeling - of being a part of something larger and more important than oneself - is incredible. Fighting for something side by side with people all striving for the same goal is a rare joy.

I wish there was something I could from here to support the striking teachers; I'm at least due for a letter to the editor.

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