Bully for you, Canada

Bullying. Wikipedia says it’s a form of abuse attempting to create or enforce one person’s (or group’s) power over another; the abuse can be emotional, verbal and/or physical; bullying behaviour’s often rooted in the bully’s inability to empathise with the target; and bullying can occur in any context in which human beings interact with each other [1]. I haven’t read anywhere that bullying’s a good thing. Indeed it’s universally frowned on and decried. Except by bullies, of course. Internationally, nowadays one of the biggest bullies – if not the biggest – is Iran. Recently Iran attempted to bully Canada regarding the documentary film Iranium [2, 3] that explores the Iranian nuclear program vis-à-vis Islamic fundamentalism in Iran, and perceived strategic threats against the West. An 18 January screening of Iranium by the Library and Archives of Canada was cancelled after the Iranian government protested to the LAC [4]. The LAC also received threatening phone calls and suspicious letters. The next day, Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore ordered that the film be shown. He said ‘The Iranian Embassy will not dictate to the Government of Canada which films will or will not be shown in Canada’. So the LAC in Ottawa’s scheduled to show Iranium on 6 February [5]. Good on you, Canada. And good for you, too. Freedom of speech and expression trumps bullying. Every time. Canada, I’ve saluted you before for taking a stand for free speech and what’s right [6]. I now do so again. Bully for you [7].