The Folly of Independence

...whether the danger of subordinating individual rights to the collective will of the majority is acceptable in a free society...

...Montreal in 1992 clearly is not Vienna in 1900...

...As a writer, he may not have all the answers, but he is surely asking the right questions about a country and province he loves dearly...

...He is contemptuous of those who would lead Quebecers toward the chimera of independence, which he regards as a "bourgeois conceit" of the intellectual class and politicians...

...and the hypersensitivity of Quebec intellectuals...

...the self-appointed vigilantes snooping around and taking pictures of illegal English signs in stores...

...Richler is not the first to note this, and it is amply documented...

...On the other hand, Richler contends that the anti-Semitism he observed in the Laurentian resorts "in the late '40s is a metaphor for what ails Canada now," a hostility toward the other...

...Nearly all of the instances he cites, though, are from earlier periods...

...A prominent publisher, meanwhile, suggested that Quebec would be better off if Richler moved out...

...He argues, essentially, that practices accepted today in Quebec, and even in other parts of Canada, would be deemed ridiculous by foreigners...

...Admittedly, his is the view of Anglophone Montrealers, a group distressed by increasing limitations on its linguistic rights, by the steady decline of its population (due largely to the departure of young adults), and by the prospect of living in a Quebec independent from the Canada they are accustomed to...

...But they ought not to be allowed to obscure the crucial political matters confronting Quebec and the country: whether the province's independence is justified, let alone worth the costs...

...Recounting the story of his hometown and province, he offers numerous vignettes based on observations and personal encounters, many with prominent actors in the drama...

...Still, he feels strongly that the way they have gone about pursuing them has made Canada "one of the world's most unnecessary and goofy trouble spots...

...With a deft hand, Richler exposes the logical inconsistencies of Quebec nationalists (for instance, claiming that French culture is vibrant and original, but that its existence is "so fragile that the mere sight of a bilingual street sign is sufficient to propel it into the nearest intensive care unit...

...In the process he highlights the foibles of Canadians, especially their politicians, and ruminates on a host of topics: history, sociology, ethnic affairs, writers, bureaucrats, culture, anything that might be relevant to his main theme...

...On the contrary, instead of evaluating the arguments logically or engaging in sober analysis of public policies, he pokes devastating fun at the various manifestations of nationalism...

...These include the late Quebec Prime Minister Rene Levesque's protestations that he hated imposing harsh and restrictive laws...

...One cannot help but be dismayed, for example, that the Canadian Jewish Congress, the representative body of Canadian Jewry, was called on by many quarters to dissociate the Jewish community from Richler's stance, and to repudiate what some thought were allegations that Quebec society is anti-Semitic...

...that their policies, particularly on language, are excessive...

...More acidly he writes: "If Quebec's independence was a projected book, rather than a political cause, it could only be published by a vanity press.' The tale Richler tells, while not widely known externally, is familiar to all Canadians...

...and whether Canada can find a way to preserve itself at a time when other nations are falling apart because of an inability to cope with diversity...

...One columnist decried the book as a trashy polemic...

...Of the Americans who do know it, probably few regard it as a funny place (although it has produced a fair share of comic talent...

...Reviewed by Harold M. Waller Associate Dean of Arts, McGill University Despite its proximity, Canada tends to be neglected in the United States...

...Equally upsetting is the fact that the Congress felt compelled to react by in effect taking responsibility for the expressed views of an individual Jew, despite the disclaimer that his "Jewishness is entirely beside the point...

...is intrinsic to the situation it describes: the evolution of nationalism since the election of the secessionist Parti Quebecois in 1976...

...and that endless flirting with the idea of independence is dangerous...

...In the case of the last charge, the rest of Canada is not spared, although naturally the emphasis is on what has been happening inside the province...

...Certainly anti-Semitism was a prominent feature of Quebec nationalism in the early part of this century, through the '30s...

...Repugnant incidents do occur, of course, and these are faithfully chronicled by B'nai B'rith in Quebec, just as they are in Ontario, Alberta and throughout the United States...

...Born and raised in Montreal, Richler appreciates the aspirations of French Quebecers...

...Some people went so far as to insist that it be banned...

...Nor can it be denied that a disturbing anti-Semitic attitude persists among segments of the Quebec population...

...That is unfortunate, for besides being ancillary to Richler's case, the charges of anti-Semitism have deflected debate from pressing questions about language policy and the practicality of independence...

...His observations brim with rich and biting wit...

...But the true humor of Oh Canada...

...But what has most unsettled Quebecers is Richler's declaring that anti-Semitism has for decades been an underlying theme of the province's nationalism...

...Such reactions can only send a chill up the spine of any Quebecer who is not part of the majority, defined by a mix of linguistic and ethnic characteristics...

...One of Canada's premier writers, Richler points his sharp pen at Quebec's language laws, concentrating on the sillier aspects designed to ensure that the province's public face will be unmistakably French...

...Anti-Semitism does not inform public policy and is not a focal point of political debate...

...Though most of what Richler recounts is factual, he makes no pretense to writing a history...

...By standing apart and viewing the fray from the perspective of an outsider, yet at the same time using his intimate knowledge of the province in providing a context, the author evidently has struck a raw nerve among the Quebecois...

...Indeed, the bulk of the uproar over the book (itself an extension of the response to the earlier article) has focused on this issue...

...For having the temerity to wash dirty linen abroad, first with a lengthy piece in the New Yorker last fall and now with this extended critique, Richler has been vilified...

...His combination of anecdote and long essay is really a cri de coeur, an effort to persuade fellow Quebecers that their nation-building project has gone too far...

...Regrettably, too, unscrupulous nationalists are not above taking advantage of whatever anti-Semitic feeling exists, and their tactics need to be resisted vigorously...

...the text of the regulations that specify the size, position and prominence of French words on signs...

...Mordecai Richler'shighly controversial book, the subject of an abundance of newspaper articles and anguished outpourings in his native land, should go some distance toward changing the Canadian image...

...The region's French-speaking writers and intellectuals are quite skeptical—and occasionally hostile—toward anyone who questions the nationalist program...

...In spite of the distracting nature of his material on anti-Semitism, Mordecai Richler has produced a trenchant critique of independantisme in Quebec...