On the night of August 21, 1968, the combined armies of the Warsaw Pact, led by the Soviet Union, rolled into Prague. Jets screamed overhead, armored vehicles rumbled on cobblestones, tanks thundered through narrow streets. It was the end of a premature experiment in freedom by the Czechoslovak government. The comrades in Moscow were not yet ready for “glasnost”. It was also the beginning of my exile and although I have traveled widely, learned much, triumphed occasionally, failed frequently and - when all is said and done - have built a good life and raised a family, that awful night still echoes through me.
My parents vowed to give me a life which would be freer than theirs had been. To a large degree this has been a successful endeavor: I have lived in free and democratic countries all these 50-odd years. The first nine years were spent in Tel Aviv, Israel and while that country was in a state of almost perpetual war, it was fabulously free. The fiery debates in the “Knesset” were like nothing we had experienced under Communism. The press was aggressive, inquisitive, wild and unencumbered. I then lived in London for three years. Not nearly as wild as Israel or as combative but still fabulously open and free.
Other than a four year interregnum in Iceland (which deserves its own column), most of my adult life prior to moving to the United States was spent in Toronto, Canada. I’ll admit I wasn’t too thrilled when I first moved there in 1980. It was less sophisticated than England and not as unrestrained as the US, resulting in a fairly tepid societal culture which didn’t quite agree with me. But as the years passed, Toronto changed dramatically from an unexciting backwater to a dynamic metropolis. The culinary selections especially, are out of this world. The theater scene is second only to Broadway and the West End and the city is now an exciting place to live - IF you can stomach the winters. There was never a doubt in my mind that Canada, one of the world’s oldest and most orderly democracies, was a place far, far superior than Prague would have been had we stayed behind and experienced the re-tightening of Communism. In fact, to even compare the two (a Communist dictatorship - until 1989 - and a wealthy western democracy) would have been laughable. I did move to the US in 2011 but truth be told - I really only had one reason: I could no longer take the winters. Little did I know that I had made the best decision of my life.
While comparing Canada to Communist Czechoslovakia back in the 80’s would have been ridiculous, the tables have radically turned. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined what Canada would become: a sub-Arctic banana republic; a quasi Communist dictatorship, a stifling bio-security state under the leadership of the clownish, corrupt dictator Justin “Check Out My Socks” Trudeau. There are refugees from Iran and Pakistan in Canada today who are packing their bags and returning to countries they had fled from a decade or two ago. Many former refugees from Poland and Hungary have already left since their former homes are now much freer and happier places than the Great White North. In Canada, unvaccinated citizens cannot board a plane or a bus. Mask mandates have mostly disappeared but the cowed citizenry still clings to masking in many places and some businesses apparently still don’t allow naked faces. In the latest outrage a Member of Parliament was ejected from the chamber due to her vaccination status (despite a legitimate medical exemption) Stop and think about this for a minute: a federal Member of Parliament is barred from serving the constituents who sent her to the Capital to represent them! This in addition to the fact that she represents a riding (district) in Saskatchewan and - since she cannot fly - has to make the 2000 mile drive in her own car, 3 and a half days each way.
Life under Communism in the 1960’s was less restricted. It fills me with rage I can hardly contain that the country where I spent 30 years of my life and where all my family still lives (I have not seen them in over two years) is almost as restrictive as Venezuela - though substantially frostier. A petty, low-IQ “leader” has embraced CCP- style medical tyranny with relish. Trudeau is unable to express one original thought or produce a sentence that does not sound like a Pravda editorial - yet Canadians returned him to office in September of 2021 and a large percentage of the population still supports this thug with a neat coif.
This is not what my parents imagined as we were crossing the border into Austria on September 3, 1968, seeking freedom, leaving rumbling Soviet tanks behind.
One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
Unfortunately, Canada is not alone in this medical tyranny. Two other Commonwealth countries, Australia and New Zealand adopted similar ways to deal with pandemic. Both elected, or re- elected recently left wing politicians, who like Justin Trudeau, admire CCP dictatorship. The Freedom Convoy was an eye opener and no doubt that wanna be dictator Justin Trudeau was urged by other leftist politicians pursuing WEF reset, to ruthlessly crack down on protesters which he did, while the mainstream media cheered and spread misleading propaganda created by Justin Trudeau and the deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freedland that even Herr Goebbels would be proud of. What most people don’t know that she is the granddaughter of Ukrainian Nazi journalist living under German occupation in Krakow, while approving that Jews were shipped to the nearby concentration camp Auschwitz. The liberals in power then, allowed him to flee Europe and settle in Canada in 1948. And tens of thousands of other Nazi sympathizers not only from Ukraine, but also from Slovakia and Hungary were allowed to settle in Canada.
Unfortunately, majority of Canadians swallowed the fake stories about the Freedom Convoy as easily as they swallowed the medical tyranny imposed on the population. The only good think came out of it that conservative members of parliament got rid of their leader who famously flipped flopped during the election campaign and basically allowed the unholy coalition of liberals and socialists (NDP) to have a majority in the parliament. In the meantime, Florida is a perfect place to take temporary refugee during winter months and keep our sanity. You are like the old Panasonic ad: ahead of time.
You've had quite the life so far. Thank you for sharing part of your story.