Ben Rowswell

Former ambassador turned nation-builder with the team at Catalyze4.. This account mirrors @benrowswell.bsky.social - reply there for any engagement.

[Ben Rowswell @benrowswell]

Today marks the anniversary of the Treaty of Niagara - in my Substack I explain why this was the founding act of Canada's sovereigtny. https://t.co/Tl1QEA4JML

[Ben Rowswell @benrowswell]

Europe lands a blow for digital sovereignty https://t.co/XofvkDi0je

[Ben Rowswell @benrowswell]

Canadians have come forward to help victims of #Venezuela’s devastating earthquake. $7 million from citizens and $7 million from our government
https://t.co/pLddxstRsk

[Ben Rowswell @benrowswell]

Irvin Studin puts it well - the PM's preferences for ad hoc coalitions with middle powers is a useful new direction, but we would do better to frame our foreign policy as maximizing Canadian power https://t.co/bu0m88cVXO.

[Ben Rowswell @benrowswell]

I just happened to be in Windsor for this awful day for Canada. Our citizens paid entirely for this magnificent bridge, but it will now be used as a cash cow for U.S crony capitalists. No more concessions

[Ben Rowswell @benrowswell]

Resources devoted to the Venezuelan earthquakes are one tenth what Haiti had to recover from its 2010 catastrophe. And yet the U.S. has now taken $8 billion out since assuming control of the country. https://t.co/LjJ0sI9cca. This is what Marco Rubio’s control brings to #Venezuela

[Ben Rowswell @benrowswell]

One and a half years in, Stephen Marche takes stock of Canada’s race to disengage from the U.S.: it’s happening quickly but can never be quick enough
https://t.co/3MkUkL806z

[Ben Rowswell @benrowswell]

NATO is much more than the United States. As I mentioned on CBC, the U.S. President may generate a lot of drama, but the democratic members of NATO are making rapid strides at defence ties between us even as the U.S. changes its tune from day to day.
https://t.co/5aorfxdKgy

[Alex Neve @AlexNeve24]

If you have been following the unrelenting attacks against the @CMHR_News' new exhibit, Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present, do read this thoughtful opinion piece in the Globe and Mail from Yasmeen Abu-Laban and Abigail Bakan.

At every turn, for months, the critics (who had not even seen the exhibit) have sought to derail it or shut it down. It was decried as objectionable because of who was not consulted (though so many were), whose story was not included (overlooking that this is a moment, long overdue, for the Palestinian story to be told, by Palestinians themselves), and now by taking apart curatorial decisions about words used and not used to describe the horrors of October 7th.

It is hard to imagine any other people being subjected to that degree of scrutiny, in a small exhibit that simply shares very human memories of what it was like (and continues to be) to lose home and homeland, by way of very personal displays that include keys to a once-upon-a-time family home and beautiful embroidery.

What the critics have conveyed, once again, is that there is to be no public space to hear Palestinian truth and understand Palestinian lives; no public space for Palestinians. Once again, the "Palestine Exception". Rights are universal, free expression is universal, except for Palestinians. Stories are to be told, voices are to be heard, except for Palestinians. We all have agency, our humanity is shared, but for...

I have heard from many people who have now seen the exhibit; from many people who were at the packed reception the evening before the opening. They did not tell me about what was wrong and what was missing. They spoke of what was so very right and what was (who was), at long last, included.

I wrote to Minister Miller last December, urging him not to interfere, to respect the museum's independence and be supportive of the exhibit going ahead. As I said at the time: "...it is only through learning, and the deeper understanding that follows, that we will move forward with a full embrace of universal human rights and ensure that the embrace extends to Palestinians."

That is why this matters so very much, and why the museum should be commended, not pilloried, for opening up that embrace.

https://t.co/6vNNrmAKvS

[Ben Rowswell @benrowswell]

In 250 years, the U.S. has come full circle - from defender of freedom to its most powerful opponent. https://t.co/SyCYaJcScv
Nowhere is the United States wholehearted embrace of authoritarianism clearer than in #Venezuela

[Ben Rowswell @benrowswell]

Commemorating a country's anniversayr can be an opportunity to improve it, not just to accept the past uncritically. The inspiring Bryan Stevenson explains how, as his country celebrates its 250th anniversary tomorrow: https://t.co/nGeXyy3hdw

[Ben Rowswell @benrowswell]

Canada is building sovereign AI—now it needs to secure it https://t.co/1Oe2wvy4NP via @BetaKit

[Ben Rowswell @benrowswell]

Indigenous leaders call for an investigation into the Alberta government's corruption: https://t.co/ZpJtSENz7U. Time for a settling of accounts

[Ben Rowswell @benrowswell]

Prime Minister Carney commits to reopening Canada's embassy in #Venezuela. We should never have left in the first place. Let's use this prod to reopen embassies in Iran, Syria, Afghanistan & everywhere else Canadians will need help after the next disaster https://t.co/VGmO9LehRl

[Ben Rowswell @benrowswell]

There are consultations to ensure broad consensus, and there are consultations to delay. Too often on First Nations issues, we see the latter. https://t.co/prYCRFL2CP

[Ben Rowswell @benrowswell]

Why do we use American language in Canadian debates? "Woke" is what the white supremacists use to denigrate African American vernacular. We Canadians should use our own terms, free from authoritarian influence down south

[Strathcona Lodge @Strathcona56286]

@benrowswell Woke activist took over the CMHR then used the same playbook - calling out staff and exhibits as not aligned to the ideology, getting resignations - at the Royal BC Museum.

[Strathcona Lodge @Strathcona56286]

@benrowswell Woke activist took over the CMHR then used the same playbook - calling out staff and exhibits as not aligned to the ideology, getting resignations - at the Royal BC Museum.

[Ben Rowswell @benrowswell]

Please do; you know how to find me. So far Berlin's public comments have been far from convincing, but I'll practice what I preach and listen. We have to find a way to listen both to Palestinian and Israeli stories without burning down national institutions.

[Artur Wilczynski @Arturmaks]

@benrowswell Sorry Ben. I know the museum and was there for a conference last fall. I also engaged with them in my role as Head of Delegation to IHRA. I also know Mark Berlin very well and heard how the museum messed this up. Happy to make the introduction to him so you hear his side.

[Artur Wilczynski @Arturmaks]

@benrowswell Sorry Ben. I know the museum and was there for a conference last fall. I also engaged with them in my role as Head of Delegation to IHRA. I also know Mark Berlin very well and heard how the museum messed this up. Happy to make the introduction to him so you hear his side.

[Ben Rowswell @benrowswell]

Shutting down a national institution devoted to human rights? Not a very democratic instinct. Let's try listening to other perspectives, and if we disagree then finding a respectful way to do that.

[Apu (🇦🇷🇨🇦 for 🇮🇱🇮🇷🇺🇦) @Apuntes_]

@Arturmaks @MarlaGilsig @benrowswell If it’s not a Human Rights museum but leftist propaganda funded by taxpayers it should be shut down.