"Une photo par jour" - Romeo Saganash

[Jeff]

So forgive me, but I've only just discovered that Romeo Saganash, my candidate of choice in the NDP leadership race, is a thousand-fold more impressive than I'd imagined. Saganash participated in a web photo essay project called Un Par Jour, in which he posted a picture each day for three years. Not, in the web's clapped-out convention, of his own face, but rather of what he saw, with captions reflecting his thoughts as he experienced it. It's a beautiful project, and his studies are magnificent.




29 avril 2009 Romeo Saganash - Soon
At that moment, enthralled, even her heartbeat became a drumbeat; His!



18 mai 2009 Romeo Saganash - What Was It After?



19 avril 2009 Romeo Saganash - Tezcatlipoca's Gift to Quetzacoatl
When the god of night visited the god of peace and creativity, and offered him his reflection! Miroir, miroir, dis-moi!



10 janvier 2009 Romeo Saganash - La seule guerre est la guerre contre la guerre!
Who was it that said: "I wasn't disturbing the peace, I was disturbing the war." Hennacy?



25 janvier 2009 Romeo Saganash - IF
"If you weren't so stupid, you'd be mine!" Overheard, while riding an Angel in my dream the other night!!



11 février 2009 Romeo Saganash - Makun, Poet

Magical was the moment! After a seven hour drive to get to his village, I entered his restaurant to have some tea before a speech and then, I'm not certain what inspired him, he pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and read me a poem he wrote: "You see, the beauty of a woman lies not in the clothes she wears, nor in the face she shows, or in the way she combs her hair.The beauty of a woman is in her eyes, because that's the entrance to her heart, where Love resides. All women are beautiful."



13 février 2009 Romeo Saganash - Smack for the Birthday Boy Maurizio
Who once told me that, had he came a day later, his Mamma would have named him Valentino!!



3 mars 2009 Romeo Saganash - L'Attente
And wondering about what I just read: "An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field." (Neils Bohr)

[Allegro]

^^^

An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.

Word.

And, thanks, Jeff for the photos, too!
Romeo Saganash won’t be forgotten.

~ A.

[Jeff]

Cheers, Allegro.

I hope Canadians are not the idiots I take us for, and this is our next Prime Minister.

A couple more:



9 mars 2009 Romeo Saganash - Unique Perspective
"What in the 20th century did more to liberate Western women," asks the article. "The debate is heated. Some say the Pill, some say abortion rights and some the right to work outside the home. Some however, dare to go further: The washing machine." GOING FURTHER with the humble washing machine? Ouf! Article in the L'Osservatore Romano, a Vatican newspaper.



24 août 2009 Romeo Saganash - Visite Nocturne

And this, too:



20 avril 2010 Romeo Saganash - Always Spellbound by Her

[82_28]

Ah, the old eyes canard! Just kiddin'. I only trust people through their eyes and handshakes. I try and always shake the hands of all who I know, hug when I can and it's the people with the dead eyes who always give the measliest handshakes and the most perfunctory hugs. I am only, truly with my girlfriend because of her eyes and come to think of it, all the women I've ever loved, their eyes are always most important to the fact that my love grows for them. Beautiful, Jeff. Thank you for sharing and go NDP!

[Jeff]

18 novembre 2010 Romeo Saganash - Red Moccasins and Other Statements

[Allegro]

... 18 novembre 2010 Romeo Saganash - Red Moccasins and Other Statements

21 janvier 2012. As if a gypsy's forever child. C’est la haute couture peut sembler familier. Non?

[Jeff]

21 janvier 2012. As if a gypsy's forever child. C’est la haute couture peut sembler familier. Non?

Weird; I can't get to any photos more recent than Aug 22 2011.



20 août 2011 Romeo Saganash - Words Unheard Of
And so they arrived.
The entrance hall of the place felt strange, the odour unfamiliar; the dim lighting told an uncertain sojourn far from home. The words of the man in a black robe were unheard of, they resonated like those I had heard one Summer while my Dad was guiding a couple of American fishermen on Lake Loon Walk. I could not understand his words, nor why I was there.


And if I may use this thread as a bit of a Saganash data dump, he's impressed me again with a letter stating his principles re the Middle East. (No link, unfortunately; only found on Facebook.)

December 12, 2011
Thomas E. Woodley, President, Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East
9880 Clark St., Suite 225, Montreal, QC H3L 2R3

Dear Mr. Woodley,

Thank you for your letter of November 12th requesting my position on issues of importance to Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME).

To begin, I would like to highlight my complete agreement with the three values on which you indicate that CJPME bases its policies:

1) As a practitioner in the field, I am entirely committed to international law and to the rule of law more broadly.

2) I believe equal expectations of all parties to conflicts is an element of basic fairness, noting that equity sometimes requires support for a leveling of the playing field before equal expectations can be imposed and fulfilled.

3) Especially in situations such as the conflict in the Middle East where ongoing violence has continually interrupted the peace process, a firm commitment to non-violent negotiation is a minimum requirement for progress.

I am very pleased to share these values with your organization and know that they give us a firm foundation from which to work together for peace.

In response to the questions you have asked, I would like to begin by saying that there is reason for hope. As you noted, I have some experience and expertise in international law and international relations. I have seen patient and persistent commitment to the process pay dividends for everyone concerned.

Over the course of my campaign for leadership of the New Democratic Party, I have spoken often of my approach to bringing people together and I believe that it has very strong applicability to this situation. If parties can come to the table with respect, listening attentively to what is said, and search for solutions based in the common ground that exists rather than focusing on what divides them, then they can and will make progress.

For this approach to work, there must be a trusted and secure environment for dialogue. International law provides that environment. Regrettably, in the Middle East, the principles of international law are violated daily. This must end in order to create the space for successful dialogue. I am firmly committed to ensuring that the context for peace is established, so that the parties can move forward together. I believe Canada can and should play that role.

As I believe you are aware, colonization and colonialism are circumstances with which I have considerable familiarity. Suffering and subjugation is a condition that I cannot wish upon any people, but it is an inevitable result of colonialism. Therefore, I believe we must oppose such action everywhere it occurs. Settlements have been established in the West Bank contrary to international law. There have been United Nations resolutions condemning these and yet, it appears that they continue. Illegal colonization is contrary to constructive dialogue and will not help bring about a lasting peace.

The blockade of Gaza exacerbates economic and humanitarian conditions that must be overcome in order to create the conditions for constructive dialogue. As long as people are unable to build their own economies and fully exercise their rights of self-determination, the establishment of expectations regarding governance is impeded and the possibility of nation-to-nation dialogue is constrained. Clearly, the broader implications of the blockade with regard to meeting basic medical and alimentary needs must also be addressed to alleviate the pressing humanitarian challenges that exist.

More broadly, I would like to say that I have fought for many years to defend the rights of all peoples to self-determination and self-government. This is the way to defeat colonialism and the way to promote both human rights and economic progress. Those are the conditions under which peace can bloom.

My own history is as a member of a colonized people who are fighting our way out from that circumstance. I note that we are doing this through peaceful means at all times. Respect for the rule of law is a condition that must be self-imposed if it is to be expected of others.

The three values that CJPME and I share, when applied to the situation of Palestinians and Israelis. provide the conditions for progress. I wish you well in these efforts and offer my full support to helping all parties find the way to peace and justice in the Middle East.

[Harvey]

Can you clone him and send us a copy?

[Allegro]

21 janvier 2012. As if a gypsy's forever child. C’est la haute couture peut sembler familier. Non?

Weird; I can't get to any photos more recent than Aug 22 2011...

I tossed a wild card onto the table. My apologies, Jeff. My inept, conscious and good faith approach with metaphor can mostly cause people to scratch their heads, it must be admitted. IOW, I need an editor, again. If I write anymore about that, I'll likely step with both feet into a furrow I've just begun digging.

_________________
This underscores what I'm supposing has pretty much disappeared among the many but certainly not all.

Over the course of my campaign for leadership of the New Democratic Party, I have spoken often of my approach to bringing people together and I believe that it has very strong applicability to this situation. If parties can come to the table with respect, listening attentively to what is said, and search for solutions based in the common ground that exists rather than focusing on what divides them, then they can and will make progress.

[Jeff]

Beautiful, Allegro. Forgive me for making you spell it out.

Romeo's current FB profile pic:

[Jeff]

9 février 2009 Romeo Saganash - Barbed Wire Fence?
Her boots were blazing, but her dress was even more telling. Sophia once said: "A woman's dress should be like a barbed wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view."


And I like this, a lot, posted today on rabble.ca:

With Saganash demonstrating good political judgment on everything from courting Brian Topp's favour (by making it sound like he would consider endorsing Topp) before entering the race and sounding like an ally of Mulcair...to demonstrating good judgment on wedge issues like drug policy (only candidate "pro-legalisation"), Israel-Palestine (a rare candidate on the record as being more consistently pro-Palestinian), and using rhetoric that appeals directly to the NDP base (i.e. anti-colonial, anti-imperialist), Saganash has shown that he can be the right mix of radical, pragmatic, and personable that you need to be NDP leader. He is also a consummate outsider, just like most of the NDP base. We are the trampled upon, the disregarded, the often well-educated, well-informed, passionate and disempowered. We are the Roméo Saganashes of our own communities, whether or not we have his profile or his personal strength. Now we need to elect him leader and help him change the world.

[Jeff]

Okay, what the hell...

Light on the water
A portrait of MP Romeo Saganash

Jessica Lukawiecki
Published on January 30, 2012

Romeo Saganash, MP for the Quebec riding of Abitibi-Baie-James-Nunavik-Eeyou, candidate for NDP leadership, member number 398 of the Cree Waswanipi clan, sits in front of me, and tells me about Johnny, the brother he never knew.

Outside, the snow rages against the window panes, blanketing his office, in 135 Confederation Building, with a sense of calm. The workday is near its end – dusk has settled, but Romeo appears in no rush.

Johnny was taken away from their mother at the age of six and sent to a residential school, where he died less than a year later. All this before Romeo was born.

The conversation slows. I see the pain that crosses Romeo’s features – pain that is not his own, but for his mother. His mother, who for forty years never found out what had happened to her little boy. A ghost she carried with her, a burden that weighed her down.

Until, one day, a nurse approached Emma Saganash, Romeo’s sister and a journalist at the CBC, and said the words that were decades too late.

“I know where the boy is buried.”

Emma set out to find him.

“She had her crew with her, my sister, so they filmed the scene where they were looking for him,” Romeo says. “And we hear the other lady say, ‘well, you are standing on your little brother.’ And she crumbled in the snow – it was winter, and she crumbled.”

A break in the conversation – the impossible decision of whether to tell his mother. Finally, he shows her the film that Emma made of that day.

“I have seen my mom – cry – many, many times. Many times in my life,” Romeo tells me. There are tears in his eyes now.

“But never the way she cried that day. Never.”

...

“I find it difficult to imagine just how my mom felt every fall when her fourteen kids were taken away to residential school,” he says. “I just can’t imagine the parents in the Waswanipi community, when all the kids were gone from the reserve. I can’t imagine Waswanipi without kids. I try to put myself in their place at that time, when all of the sudden, one afternoon, all the children were gone from the community.

“I asked my mom one day, a couple of years ago, if you loved me that much, why did you allow them to take me away. And she said, the response was – it would have been boring for you to be the only child in the village, after all your friends have gone. Which makes sense, I think.

...

It’s Sunday, and Mary Saganash, standing no more than five feet tall, welcomes me into her kitchen. Her house is simple, neat. The TV drones in the background, interrupted by the chiming of a clock striking seven.

Claude has accompanied us – Mary speaks only Cree. They greet one another with the tenderness of old friends.

She sits us down at her dining room table. There is a certain hesitation in her demeanour, a reserve in speaking to us. Though she is kind, her eyes appear to drift.

“She says life has changed a lot,” Claude explains to me. “She says she was happier in the bush – life was different, life was easier.”

...

http://www.mcgilldaily.com/2012/01/light-on-the-water/