Canada Day

Today is Canada Day, my second ever and the country's 127th, although it was known as Dominion Day until 1982. The following conversation took place in my earshot between a Canadian and an American:

American woman: What is Canada Day?
Canadian man: It's like our Independence Day.
American woman: But you're not independent.

Not sure what I think about all this. For the first time in my life, I am poised to potentially feel a sense of belonging in a country, not simply geographical but social and political too, and even, dare I say it, pride. And yet, it is still a mere abstraction, an abstraction of an abstraction. I find nationalism in most forms absurd. What others see as nationalistic pride, I see as geographical accident. Perhaps this is the refugee's perspective.

Based on the above conversation, I have some thoughts: Can it be dismissed as quirky Canadian contrariness that the Queen's face still adorns the currency and her regent still holds office? Can any society claim egalitarianism with a straight face while maintaining monarchical ties? As for the American, I think she places too much value on her country's independence from a colonizing force whose sway has long since diminished, and pays not enough attention to her country's dependence on foreign economics and internal moral imperialism. The hard-fought Constitution that sits at the heart of American pride is under daily attack from the very politicians that run her country. Arguably the same can be said of many other countries, too, Canada included, whose own Charter of Human Rights sits now in the cross-hairs of Prime Minister Harper's beady aim.

(I think I may be confusing "country" with "government" - again, perhaps unavoidable for someone for whom geography has always been politicized - so please forgive me if my questioning seems oblique.)

So, what do we celebrate when we celebrate national pride? All this World Cup nonsense, people waving flags, losers weeping, territorialism, ascendancy, feudalism, on and bloody on? I'm really asking here. Tell me, if you know. Are we proud in the sense of somehow participating, even peripherally, in a successful venture? Are we giving props to those who made sacrifices to make the venture successful? Or are we simply expressing gratitude that we live in relatively free, harmless societies?

Here's my last thought: I think the genius of certain governments is to have co-opted basic human rights, like health, dignity, freedom. They have branded these things, turned them into products which only they can dispense. But they are rights, not benefits. We wouldn't have to fight for them if they weren't withheld in the first place. And who's doing the withholding?