workedover.ca

While following the election coverage in the U.S. through alternative media, I have heard the term “empty suit” being used to describe both John McCain and Barrack Obama. This term implies that the politician is a medium (an empty vessel) through which special interests and corporate power govern. When it comes to the current Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper is both an “empty suit” and an “empty person”. The funding cuts to Canadian cultural programs and projects abroad (not that there was much money there to begin with) speaks volumes about an individual who simply exists and does not live. For Stephen Harper, culture is simply a waste of money and a means of funding a progressive group of people (who aren’t part of his constituency). Jack Layton told me in a recent email that Harper “fears the fearless.” In the 21st century, culture is a massive contributor to the economy. In fact, the creative class grows with the increased access to technology by the average citizen. One should value Canadians who see the world as full of possibility and who project our culture outward to the rest of the world. Unfortunately as art critic Rene Ricard once said “you can never convince those who use their gifts to enslave that you have used your gifts to be free”.