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Apr 11, 2010

Heaven forfend! - Another Nazi RC Bishop!

 

April 11, 2010


Michael, 

Retired RC Bishop Babini spoke his mind. Now he will have to deal with the wrath of the chosen, ever more desperate in plugging every little leak in the dam of discontent waxing against them.

<<

Allegedly speaking to the Catholic website Pontifex, Babini, 81, was quoted as saying: "They do not want the church, they are its natural enemies. Deep down, historically speaking, the Jews are God killers."

The interview was spotted on Friday by the American Jewish Group Committee, which said Babini was using "slanderous stereotypes, which sadly evoke the worst Christian and Nazi propaganda prior to world war two".

On its website, the American Jewish Group Committee quoted bishop Vincenzo Paglia, an official at the Italian Bishops' Conference, as saying Babini's remarks were "entirely contrary to the official line and mainstream thought of the Catholic church".

>>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/apr/11/catholic-bishop-blames-jews



Manuel Sotil




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Mondoweiss

 


Mondoweiss


New Israeli military order on 'lawful permits' would seem to allow expulsion of all West Bank Palestinians

Posted: 11 Apr 2010 10:05 AM PDT

IDF MO
Source files at: http://www.hamoked.org.il/news_main_en.asp?id=904

Israeli human rights organization HaMoked today distributed a press release warning that Israel had passed a new military order that requires all residents of the West Bank obtain an Israeli issued permit.

On Tuesday, April 13 2010, the Order regarding Prevention of Infiltration (Amendment No. 2) and the Order regarding Security Provisions (Amendment No. 112) are to enter into effect. The orders, signed by the previous GOC Central Command, Gadi Shamni but not revealed, are worded so broadly such as theoretically allowing the military to empty the West Bank of almost all its Palestinian inhabitants.

Despite the severe ramifications of the orders, the authorities did not publicize their existence among the Palestinian population as required, which raises grave concerns that they intended to pass them secretly without public debate or judicial review.

The orders substantively change the definition of "infiltrator" and in effect apply it to anyone who is present in the West Bank without an Israeli permit. The orders do not define what Israel considers a valid permit. The vast majority of people now living in the West Bank have never been required to hold any sort of permit to be present therein.

Israeli journalist Amira Hass reported in Ha'aretz today that the order would initially likely target Gazans living in the West Bank, as well as Gazan and foreign spouses of West Bank Palestinians.

It also seems clear that international activists and independent journalists living in the West Bank—to whom Israel is hardly likely to issue permits—would also be threatened, but the most disturbing fact remains that the wording of the order—as HaMoked warns—seems unambiguously to threaten the presence of all Palestinian inhabitants of the West Bank.

The military order allows for violators to be imprisoned for up to seven years or deported.

 Nigel Parry is a former webmaster of Birzeit University, co-founder of the Electronic Intifada, and a longtime independent media activist. He currently lives in Pittsburgh, PA.

IDF to turn dogs loose on Palestinian kids who throw stones

Posted: 11 Apr 2010 10:01 AM PDT

The argument that the New York Times has been pushing that children who throw stones at occupying Israeli soldiers are important evidence of the violence of the Palestinian protests (rather than impulsive angry resistance) is echoed (what a surprise) by a new Israeli term: "popular terror," to label these bad children who throw stones. Journalist Didi Remez picks up the Maariv story on the IDF's use of dogs against these kids as a "non-lethal" option.

"Disturbances have increased throughout Judea and Samaria in recent months," says Maariv; thus the IDF will turn to the "Oketz dog." Oketz is an army unit, with the charmingly choppy resonance of totalitarian names across Europe back in the day. I tell you: this is a society in deep spiritual crisis, now in an apartheid struggle, no longer on the verge of one. But expect the U.S. press to catch up to this story in 3 years, when it is too late to avert worse bloodshed.

1 out of 4 Israeli scholars work here

Posted: 11 Apr 2010 09:41 AM PDT

More on Israel in crisis. David Horovitz, the editor of the Jerusalem Post, and a leading Israel lobbyist, publishes a soulless list of Israeli employment and education statistics compiled by an Israeli-American scholar, Dan Ben-David, that show that: Educated Israelis are fleeing the country, and that the growing Palestinian minority is not as educated as its Jewish counterpart, and the Palestinians are way underemployed.

The significance of these figures is, that it doesn't matter if you talk about the Green Line or the '48 territories, or the occupied territories, Israelis must learn to live with Palestinians. This is our Jewish test in the 21st century, to reckon with our power. To quote the great Meir Ariel song about the bifurcated soul of Israel/Palestine: "At the end of every sentence you say in Hebrew sits an Arab with a Nargilah."

Until Jews come to terms with their other, there will be no progress. Israelis must open their hearts, and emulate the gentile governors of the west, and liberalize their society and extend all the privileges of Jews to Palestinians. It's the only way. Imagine if Israel could be a light unto the world? 

Here is Horovitz's analysis [emphases mine]:

For every 100 British academic scholars hard at work in Britain, the figures showed, 2.1 British scholars had moved to the US. For France, the number was 2.9. For Italy, 4.2. For Canada, where cross-border movement is a two-way street, the number is 12.2. And for Israel? For every 100 Israeli academic scholars hard at work in Israel, a staggering 24.9 have moved to the US.

...Turning to employment, Ben-David again unveiled a picture still grimmer than conventional wisdom holds. Focusing on men aged 35-54, "those in the age group who have no excuse for not working," he showed nonemployment in the OECD averaging 11.9%, with Spain the worst afflicted at 14.5%. InIsrael, the rate is 18.9%.

The most troubled sectors, as is widely known, are the Arab and ultra-Orthodox sectors: some 27% of Israeli Arab males and a staggering 65.1% of haredim in that age group aren't working.

And here's where Ben-David's economically and socially terrifying peek into the future really begins to resonate. Because if you look at who the Israelis of tomorrow are going to be, you realize that, as things stand, we are becoming a country of more and more nonworkers. In 1960, 15% of kids going into primary school came from the Arab and haredi sectors – the sectors so blighted by not working. By the 1980s, Arabs and haredim were up to 26% of new primary school kids. In 2000, that figure hit 40% and, as of 2008, it had shot up still further, to 48%. By 2040, according to current projections, Ben-David said soberly, "78% of primary school enrollment will be haredi and Arab. If we don't grapple with these sectors, we're goners."

...The employment rates of Israelis aged 29-54 with a university degree contrast utterly with all the negative statistics. Among Arab women in that age range who don't finish high school, fewer than 10% have work, but among Arab women with a degree, the figure is 70%. And it's around 90% for Arab men and for non-haredi Jewish men and women.

Put simply: Employment is a function of education. Get a degree, get a job. Improve education here, and you raise growth, tackle poverty, raise incomes.

Tutu: Issue is the same in Palestine as it was in South Africa, 'equality'

Posted: 11 Apr 2010 09:26 AM PDT

A letter from Desmond Tutu to the divestment-sponsors at the University of California, circulated by Emily Schaeffer, human right lawyer in Israel/Palestine, who asked Archbishop Tutu to write the letter.

Dear Student Leaders at the University of California – Berkeley

It was with great joy that I learned of your recent 16-4 vote in support of divesting your university's money from companies that enable and profit from the injustice of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and violation of Palestinian human rights. Principled stands like this, supported by a fast growing number of US civil society organizations and people of conscience, including prominent Jewish groups, are essential for a better world in the making, and it is always an inspiration when young people lead the way and speak truth to power.

I am writing to tell you that, despite what detractors may allege, you are doing the right thing. You are doing the moral thing. You are doing that which is incumbent on you as humans who believe that all people have dignity and rights, and that all those being denied their dignity and rights deserve the solidarity of their fellow human beings. 

I have been to the Ocupied Palestinian Territory, and I have witnessed the racially segregated roads and housing that reminded me so much of the conditions we experienced in South Africa under the racist system of Apartheid. I have witnessed the humiliation of Palestinian men, women, and children made to wait hours at Israeli military checkpoints routinely when trying to make the most basic of trips to visit relatives or attend school or college, and this humiliation is familiar to me and the many black South Africans who were corralled and regularly insulted by the security forces of the Apartheid government.

In South Africa, we could not have achieved our freedom and just peace without the help of people around the world, who through the use of non-violent means, such as boycotts and divestment, encouraged their governments and other corporate actors to reverse decades-long support for the Apartheid regime.

Students played a leading role in that struggle, and I write this letter with a special indebtedness to your school, Berkeley, for its pioneering role in advocating equality in South Africa and promoting corporate ethical and social responsibility to end complicity in Apartheid. I visited your campus in the 1980's and was touched to find students sitting out in the baking sunshine to demonstrate for the University's disvestment in companies supporting the South African regime.

The same issue of equality is what motivates the divestment movement of today, which tries to end Israel's 43 year long occupation and the unequal treatment of the Palestinian people by the Israeli government ruling over them. The abuses they face are real, and no person should be offended by principled, morally consistent, non-violent acts to oppose them. It is no more wrong to call out Israel in particular for its abuses than it was to call out the Apartheid regime in particular for its abuses. 

To those who wrongly accuse you of unfairness or harm done to them by this call for divestment, I suggest, with humility, that the harm suffered from being confronted with opinions that challenge one's own pales in comparison to the harm done by living a life under occupation and daily denial of basic rights and dignity. It is not with rancor that we criticize the Israeli government, but with hope, a hope that a better future can be made for both Israelis and Palestinians, a future in which both the violence of the occupier and the resulting violent resistance of the occupied come to an end, and where one people need not rule over another, engendering suffering, humiliation, and retaliation. True peace must be anchored in justice and an unwavering commitment to universal rights for all humans, regardless of ethnicity, religion, gender, national origin or any other identity attribute. You, students, are helping to pave that path to a just peace.

I heartily endorse your divestment vote and encourage you to stand firm on the side of what is right,

God bless you richly,

Desmon/d Tutu. Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town.

Finkelstein is on the road

Posted: 11 Apr 2010 07:43 AM PDT

Norman Finkelstein and Jody McIntyre are on a speaking tour that takes them through the Midwest over the next few days, then to New York, and then on to the west. Hope to catch them. I keep wanting to have a two-state-one-state dialogue with Finkelstein, ask him why he's convinced that two-state is a viable option or, more to the point, is dismissive of one-state thinking.

Eldar summons 'hundreds' more Anat Kams to save Israel from itself

Posted: 10 Apr 2010 08:57 PM PDT

This is a society in crisis. Can you imagine an American newspaper printing this column? Akiva Eldar in Haaretz:

Right now, hundreds of clerks and officers are sitting in the Defense Ministry, the Foreign Ministry and the army lacking the courage to contact a journalist and divulge that the ministers or commanders in charge are endangering their children's future.

Some are keeping to themselves the real story behind the big lie peddled by Ehud Barak, Shaul Mofaz and Moshe Ya'alon - the falsehood that "Yasser Arafat planned the intifada," which gave rise to the disastrous "there is no partner" ideology. The real story, of course, is contained in documents stamped with the words "Top Secret".

h/t Dan Sisken

Obama imposed 'peace plan' would deny basic Palestinian rights

Posted: 10 Apr 2010 08:49 PM PDT

Reports in the New York Times and Washington Post that the Obama administration is considering presenting its plan for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have created a lot of buzz and pushback from supporters of Israel.

However, the reports do not address the fundamental question: what would the plan mean for Palestinians and Israelis? In a sentence, it would mean the continuation of a pattern where the Palestinian leadership agrees to major concessions to secure an agreement with Israel, an agreement that would have little basis in international law

The basic outline being talked about is based on the so-called "Clinton Parameters" that were presented after the breakdown of the Camp David talks.

Here's Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera English's senior political analyst, on what the "Clinton Parameters" mean:

After US president Bill Clinton failed in 2000 to get Ehud Barak, the Israeli premier and Yasser Arafat, the PLO chairman, to sign a comprehensive agreement at the Camp David summit, he made clear where he stood.

Sharing of Jerusalem; no right of return for the Palestinians; a return to the 1967 borders with mutual adjustments to allow Israel to annex big settlement blocks; and a demilitarised Palestinian state.

That's how Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former national security advisor, conveyed them to the Washington Post's David Ignatius before his meeting with Obama, along with other former national security advisors.

Bishara rightly points out that the terms presented above wouldn't be "fair or just," because they would relinquish the "right of return" for Palestinians displaced by the 1948 Nakba, a right "enshrined in international law and international humanitarian law, and isn't for Obama to deny, nor even for Mahmoud Abbas, the PLO chairman, to give away."

And a demilitarized Palestinian state? With Israel keeping a presence "in fixed locations in the Jordan Valley under the authority of the International force for another 36 months" and having Israeli "early warning stations" inside the West Bank (as the "Clinton Parameters" state)? That doesn't sound like an end to the occupation.

Also not considered is the fact that, as Dr. As'ad Ghanem, writing in Haaretz, says, the current Palestinian Authority, with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad at the helm, "is seen by the Palestinians as an American puppet. His government is not legitimate, even according to the Palestinian constitution." A Palestinian government with no legitimacy agreeing to an American-imposed peace plan won't do any good, especially with a Prime Minister who has been sharply criticized for apparently giving up the right of return to areas within Israel.

Helena Cobban, blogging at Just World News, has also criticized the potential Obama peace plan:

Clearly, it's time for something new. Like taking the whole issue back to the U.N. Security Council where it rightly belongs, and where it should and can be addressed on the clear basis of international law and international legitimacy. No more of this unworkably-complex business of redrawing loopy boundaries around illegal Israeli settlements and requiring millions of Palestinians to simply sign away their rights.
 

Now think of all the U.S. synagogues with banners saying, 'We support Israel in its quest for peace'

Posted: 10 Apr 2010 08:39 PM PDT

haithamI'm told that documentary photographer Haitham Al Khatib, who was arrested in Bil'in on Friday, has been released by the Israelis. Above is a photograph by Hamde Abo of Haitham's arrest, during a protest at the wall which confiscates Bil'in's land. You can see the camera in his right hand, at far right. Kiera Feldman says, "This leaves the village of Bil'in with five people in Israeli jail, out of 1800 residents.  And with Haitham's release, that still leaves over 6,700 Palestinians in Israeli jails--over 300 of them are children, according to the Guardian."

Scottish minister is talking BDS

Posted: 10 Apr 2010 08:24 PM PDT

Report at Pulse on two events of note in Scotland: the First Minister calls for a review of trading relationships with Israel because of the Dubai passport abuse, and five Palestinian protesters who had disrupted the Edinburgh festival in 2008 to decry actions in Gaza were cleared of an anti-Semitism charge.

Israel is a society in crisis

Posted: 10 Apr 2010 07:39 PM PDT

Headline in Haaretz: "IDF order will enable mass deportations from West Bank."

A new military order aimed at preventing infiltration will come into force this week, enabling the deportation of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank, or their indictment on charges carrying prison terms of up to seven years...

The new order defines anyone who enters the West Bank illegally as an infiltrator, as well as "a person who is present in the area and does not lawfully hold a permit." The order takes the original 1969 definition of infiltrator to the extreme, as the term originally applied only to those illegally staying in Israel after having passed through countries then classified as enemy states - Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria.

The order's language is both general and ambiguous, stipulating that the term infiltrator will also be applied to Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, citizens of countries with which Israel has friendly ties (such as the United States) and Israeli citizens, whether Arab or Jewish. All this depends on the judgment of Israel Defense Forces commanders in the field.

The new guidelines are expected to clamp down on protests in the West Bank.



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Israel's List of Broken World Records

 


 

 

Monday, September 7, 2009 at 4:37am

• Israel was established upon the ruins of another nation that it destroyed; Palestine
• Israel holds the world record in the number of towns & villages it ethnically cleansed…500+
• Israel holds the world record in the number of refugees it deported…4 million +
• Israel holds the world record in the number of homes it demolished…60 thousand +
• Israel is the country with the highest record of UN condemnation… 500+ times
• Israel is the country with the highest number of protective US Security council vetoes…100+ times
• Israel has killed more innocent civilians per capita than any other country…50 thousand+
• Israel has imprisoned more civilians per capita than any other country…250 thousand+
• Israel has rendered more innocent civilians handicapped per capita than any other country…50 thousand+
• Israel has injured more innocent civilians per capita than any other country…200 thousand+
• Israel has only two countries to defend its policies in the United Nations. These countries are America & Micronesia. The population for Micronesia as of June 2008 is only 108000
• Israel is the only country on Earth that denies the right of return of refugees
• Israel is the only country on Earth that still occupies a whole other country & parts of two other countries
• Israel is the only country on Earth that publicly steals the water of its neighbours
• Israel is the only country on Earth that has legalized home demolishing as a method of collective punishment
• Israel is the only country on Earth that uproots trees as a method of collective punishment
• Israel is the only country on Earth that deliberately targets civilian infrastructure and justifies it
• Israel is the only country on Earth that legalized assassination
• Israel stands unique in using human shields in military operations
• Amongst all countries, Israel is the only one that has legalized torture
• Israel is the only country on Earth that builds illegal settlements in occupied lands
• Israel is the only country on Earth that publicly jails activists without trial
• According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Israel has created the highest number of checkpoints
• According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Israel holds the world record in the number of curfew its installed on the Palestinians
• Israel is the only country on Earth whose checkpoints deny women access to hospitals, they give birth alone and babies usually die
• Israel is exceptional in being the only country on Earth whose checkpoints denies patients access to hospitals, and they end up dying
• Israel is the only country on Earth whose checkpoints are where wedding parades come to an end
• Israel is the only country on Earth who checkpoints school children, denies them access to school, and puts an end to their classes
• Israel is one of two countries that, against International Law, use cluster bombs and depleted uranium bombs. America is the other…what a surprise huh?
• Israel holds the world record in the number of soldiers refusing to serve in the army
• Israel despite being a rich country, receives the highest financial aid, more than the sum aid to all sub-Saharan Africa!
• Israel claims its enemies want to wipe it off the map, but it has indeed wiped a whole country called Palestine off the map!
• Israel is the county that has introduced nuclear weapons into the Middle East. But the only country in the Middle East that refuses to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty
• After East Germany, Israel is the only country that is building a segregation wall
• Second to South Africa, Israel is the only country to establish an apartheid regime
• Israeli engineers developed the worlds' first iron gates on roads
• Israeli engineers developed the worlds' first cities turned into jails with gates and opening hours
• Israeli engineers developed the worlds' first apartheid walls
• Israeli engineers developed the worlds' first electrified segregation fences
• Israeli engineers developed the worlds' first 'eyes specific' rubber bullets
• Israeli engineers developed the worlds' first abortion efficient, infant killing tear gas
• Israeli engineers developed the worlds' first humiliation guaranteed human cages
• Israel is the only country on Earth that has a political party that publicly advocates ethnic cleansing of native citizens (Palestinians)
• Israel is the only country on Earth that still has racist laws that discriminate against native citizens (Palestinians)
• Israel is the only country on Earth known to have a memorial dedicated to a terrorist where his followers gather and dance
• Israel is the only country on Earth that imprisons kids for political reasons
• Israel is the only country on Earth where you get a one month community service for intentionally, smashing the head of a child! How much more proof do people need to see that Israel is a terrorist nation?????! !!!!!!!!!
• Israel is the only country on Earth that does not hold its soldiers accountable for shooting peace activists in cold blood
• No other country on Earth has towns and cities allocated exclusively for one ethnic group
• The only country on Earth, where people live in homes stolen from living refugees is, Israel
• The only place on Earth where people cultivate fields stolen from living refugees is, Israel
• Israel has the highest number of towns built upon ethnically cleansed villages, whose former residents are living refugees
• Israel ranks amongst the top countries in lack of security

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ISRAEL IS OBLIVIOUS TO THE LESSONS OF THE HOLOCAUST

 


ISRAEL IS OBLIVIOUS TO THE LESSONS OF THE HOLOCAUST

Before you read the following post, please read this  one .... THE FORGOTTEN CHILD OF THE HOLOCAUST


Images 'Copyleft' by Carlos Latuff

It is difficult to not remember the holocaust if you live in Israel…. it is not only something that occurred in history, it is something that is unfolding right here, right now. We read of the horrors in our history books…. we continue reading about them in our daily newspaper reports…

'NEVER TO FORGIVE….. NEVER TO FORGET'

'NEVER AGAIN'

Those are two of the most famous quotes associated with the holocaust. Two quotes that have completely lost their meaning. They are literally shoved down our throats every day by the ADL and other groups associated with AIPAC…. not in the context of what they mean…. but as justification of the crimes committed by the zionists today.

The second quote 'Never Again' has also lost meaning…. never again to whom? If we look at the suffering of the holocaust victims in the death camps of Eastern Europe… we see the same suffering in the death camp known as the Gaza Strip today. The quote does not go … Never again, EXCEPT…. it's Never Again! Yet it is happening again…. by the very people that coined the phrase in the first place.

To even associate what happened in the past to what is happening today is immediately labeled as anti Semitic. Is trying to salvage the one time good name of the Jewish people anti Semitic? Is trying to prevent the horrors of yesteryear from becoming a reality once again anti Semitic?? What would groups like the ADL do if we were all silent and allowed this to continue? Who would they prey on with their cancerous venom of hatred?

The very name of that group is deceiving… Anti Defamation League… the word defamation is the communication of a statement that makes a false claim, expressively stated or implied to be factual, that may harm the reputation of an individual, business, product, group, government or nation. Most jurisdictions allow legal actions, civil and/or criminal, to deter various kinds of defamation and retaliate against groundless criticism. Perhaps the group should be called the Defamation League, as that is what they do best….

The actual survivors of the holocaust living in Israel today are a forgotten species. Their needs are ignored by the government forcing many to return to their native Germany. Israel seems to have gotten what it wanted as a result of the holocaust, those that suffered can continue to according to the state.They are 'paraded' by various organisations at Holocaust Remembrance ceremonies to remind us of the suffering they endured.... but their present suffering is kept pretty quiet by these groups.

In ending, I want to stress that I am not saying not to remember the holocaust, but rather let us learn from it…. learn that it must NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN…. anytime or anywhere. TO ANYONE!

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Zundel's Canadian Lawyer: Doug Christie's Speech at U. of Ottawa

 


 
Posted at The Radical Press:
 

Doug Christie Takes Powerful Free Speech Message to the University of Ottawa

Doug Christie Takes Powerful Free Speech Message to the University of Ottawa
[Paul Fromm of the Canadian Association for Free Expression (CAFE) writes: Just 10 days after a rowdy mob of protesters, egged on by a university administration that admonished the controversial U.S. Ann Coulter against "inappropriate" or hateful speech, won the University of Ottawa, unaffectionately known as the U of Zero, a reputation for censorship, when Ottawa Police advised that the appearance be canceled rather than they preserve law and order and free speech, Canada's foremost free speech lawyer, Doug Christie made a successful appearance before a packed standing room only meeting of 150. The meeting was organized by a number of free speech supporters and partially funded by the Canadian Association for Free Expression. Afterward, the audience listened with rapt attention and engaged the Battling Barrister in a lively discussion.]

       DOUGLAS CHRISTIE – CANADA'S FREEDOM OF SPEECH LAWYER
___________________________________________________________________________
Notes for Doug Christie's Speech
University of Ottawa, April 8, 2010

I'm here to talk about free speech. I'm not here to practice it.
Unlike Ann Coulter, I don't need a warning from the provost. I am a Canadian, trained by law in the way of silence, sullen silence, and code language. I have been trained by the Supreme Court not to engage in hate speech, even though no one can define it in advance, so I can avoid it.

There are general taboo topics which I must avoid or tread lightly around, like race, religion, ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, mental or physical disability or mental status. Then there are peripheral taboo topics like multiculturalism, immigration, affirmative action programs and a host of other ill-defined topics.

I have been trained to remain very sensitive to the broad political implications of these topics lest I face a very expensive lesson from the Human Rights Tribunal.

What the Supreme Court taught me when I appeared in Taylor and Zundel and Keegstra was that free speech has its limits in "hate" which means "extreme dislike." So presumably I must like all races, religions, ethnic origins, etc. equally or at least dislike them only moderately. Or at least pretend to, which is more Canadian. I cannot denounce any one as evil.

The Law Society, through its decision of Harvey Strosberg taught me that if I speak in public, "law students" may tape some but not all of my words, and the Chairman of the Discipline Committee can issue a statement to the media condemning me as "identifying with a lunatic fringe," even in the very act where he decides not to give me the benefit of a hearing where I could answer the allegation with evidence where both sides could be heard.

I learned in McAleer and Malcolm Ross, both of which went to the Supreme Court of Canada, that expressing your religious beliefs on your own time, is no defence and placing the messages in the United States where it is legal, is no defence if you mention where you can get the message to someone in Canada.

I learned that our parliamentarians of all parties love free speech so much that they banned someone from the precincts of Parliament who wanted to rent the parliamentary press gallery, a place anyone can rent for a press conference.

What was the press conference about? That the Human Rights Tribunal had ruled in Zundel's case that "Truth was no defence," and the truth of the statement could not be proven by any evidence. I know because that someone was me, the only lawyer in Canadian history to be banned by all party agreement from the precincts of parliament. Because in Canada truth is no defence. Orwell was right about double speak. Randy White a so-called Reform MP said he did not want me in his work place. Orwell was right about a lot of things.

I have learned and been carefully taught to avoid the taboo topics, to measure every word lest a tape recorder in the audience be taken to the Human Rights Commission, the police, the Law Society, or someone likes to complain to the Human Rights Commission.

I have learned to talk about free speech but never practice it. Never say anything like Ann Coulter would say, coming from a free society. And being in a university setting is all the more reason to be very careful about how you choose your words. The left-wing political giants who run most universities are able to let loose the mob with a wink and the students know their success with many professors depends on how successfully they can entrap a political foe.

Universities are the most dangerous place to practice free speech. Even topics like abortion which you would not normally think involve a taboo topic can quickly be spun into forbidden territory and sexism can result in expulsion or criminal charges. The civility of universities is accorded to those who can mobilize the largest screaming mob. No one listens.

I have to even be careful how I speak about Freedom of Speech.

So let me just speak about freedom of speech. I have come here to praise freedom of speech, not to bury it. I do not want to be cynical or bitter. But since 1984 when I took up the cause of freedom, I have become aware of the price to be paid for this precious legacy of freedom.

My office has been vandalized, repeatedly; my name has been defamed in the press; I have been the target of spurious complaints to law societies, I have been banned from the precincts of parliament. The very press who today became the target of complaints themselves because they post on the internet, who have come late to the battle, because of their money and power, are turning the tide. They were not long ago in the forefront of the mob, vilifying my clients and myself, since it was not their ox that was gored.  Irony, thy name is Canada.

1984, the year Orwell entitled his most famous work was actually the year I got involved in the defence of James Keegstra. From that moment on, the lawyer who had defended successfully all manner of criminal cases from drugs to rape to murder and with no ill effects to his reputation other than professional jealousy became in the eyes of many, through the window of the media, a hated nazi-lawyer. This title, I have worn to this day, at first reluctantly and gradually resigned myself to it, knowing as "Human Rights" law tells us, "Truth is no defence."

I would never be elected anywhere to anything. Any party would expel me, the right of left for fear of the media. I was warned this would happen. "Better alone than in the company of hypocrites," I reasoned. There is one hope and that is that truth cannot be buried forever, and people will tell it come what may, even about race, religion, or ethnicity. There are some truths to be told on that score. They are the building blocks of culture and even the government of Quebec is recognizing this, even though they wrap it in convoluted language. Oops! I almost practiced free speech!

The best indication of what is the true value of free speech is provided by what happens when it is taken away. The thinking people become "bush league." The first reaction to a controversial idea is not to hear the person about whom you heard, but to adopt the mob-mind view.

Left-wing, multicultural, tolerant, good. Right wing, xenophobic, intolerant, bad. A few code words and the mob takes the argument to the streets. The psychological guillotine cuts off debate and civility like the real guillotine cut off heads in Paris in the revolution till there were no heads to cut off. Everybody was at the same low level of passive, intellectual obedience to the omnipotent state. Then a forceful tyrant like Napoleon can impose his will with very little difficulty. Do we really have to go through these cycles of oppression, revolution, depression? Have we no intellect to listen for ourselves, evaluate for ourselves, accept or reject an idea with a civil attitude of tolerance? Do we need to have a hysterical violent reaction to every idea of a different perspective?

The Roman maxim: "Audi Alteram Partem" was over the door of the law library at McGill University where I once spoke. I entered through that doorway to face a hostile screaming mob, much like Ann Coulter faced. They had never met me. They could never hear me. Why did they reject me before hearing me? Why not hear both sides? Sometimes all sides need to be heard. Until they are, how can you really form an intelligent and informed opinion?

I believe the truth is that the idea of tolerance has been used as an Orwellian doublespeak smoke screen for intolerance and is really about narrowing the scope of debate before the debate begins. This is consistent with Marxism, but it is not consistent with liberalism or of constitutional principles of free speech. Certain topics cannot be discussed.

We don't absolutely make it illegal to talk about certain subjects, we just make it so dangerous, with so many obscure and complex rules that no one dares to go there. Somewhat like gun laws. We don't overtly ban all fire arms. No, we would find too much resistance and rational criticism. The hypocritical Canadian way is simply to regulate them out of existence, gradually, just like controversial speech. Hate laws mean whatever we say they mean. We will only tell you after you say something if you have offended. This is the process of gradual Marxism. The state gradually disarms the citizen of their weapons and their free speech by slow degrees so that absolute control both physical and mental will be with the state.

The other side of this equation is the enforcers, state agents, professional complainers, the enablers of state power. The people who go from politicians to judge or from politician to president of a University. They create a network of willing and compliant officials who can be counted on to cleverly manipulate and manage the progress from freedom, which they call "anarchy," to the tyranny they call a "benevolent oligarchy."

Thus they acquire through a system of servants and paid enforcers, through Human Rights Commissions and police forces the only persons authorized by law to break into your house, seize your computer, examine your files, your books, your speeches, your appearances and even your surreptitiously recorded comments as in the case of David Ahenakew.

They can ruin you. They can prosecute you. They can and will vilify you in the press. As was done to David Ahenakew and then even if you win, you still lose. You go through court for four years of stress and when you are finally acquitted, no one says "sorry" or pays your costs. On the contrary, they repeat in the media around the world the words of the judge condemning you in the very act of acquitting you.
And the state has all the guns, police, sheriffs, jails, probation officers, all paid by the state which you support with your taxes. If you want to be a paid bully, there's a job for you. If you want to shoot people, just don't say so, join the RCMP. If you want to taser people like Dziekanski, if you want to shoot teenagers like Ian Bush, or misfits like Jess Hughes, and never be charges, join the RCMP.

Just be sure you don't admit what you did and the establishment will protect you. You are after all, protecting them. We are paying for our own enslavement. Only a few really know where we are going. The rest are following along for the ride, and the free lunch.
(Oops! Too much free speech!)

So if you want to carry on down the road to tyranny, just shout me down. If you want to go quietly into the night of tyranny, just ignore what I have said. Put it out of your mind and never think of it again. The legitimate function of the state is to preserve and maximize the freedom of the conscience, belief and opinion of the individual. It is not to enforce a social model of artificial cultural stew, enforced by law. We have inherent rights to survive as a free people only to the extent we articulate, manifest with rigorous debate and listen to all criticism with an enlightened and critical mind. Let us not presume we are possessed of all knowledge before the discussion starts, and set a limited agenda for social and acceptable speech.

Where once sex was a taboo topic, it has now become an obsession. Speech about race, if suppressed, becomes an obsession and if further suppressed, leads to violence. Let's get debate out of the closet on all matters. Let's use it, or we'll lose it.

I have not said anything. More than anything, I have been allowed to speak here without interruption on the belief I would be ineffectual and secondly I would make the administration look better than the last speaker who was cancelled. I realized this at the beginning, but it is an opportunity to make the point that the redemption of an individual like me, or a society like your university, or of a country like Canada, is only possible if we listen to each other and talk openly about all of our serious and sensitive issues. Unless this really happens, Canada isn't worth saving and neither is this university.

I will leave here knowing more than anyone in this room about the battles for free speech that have gone on in this country in the last thirty years. I see only minor changes occurring. This is your chance to ask what you need to know to make a difference.



--

Peace.

Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
Call anytime: 917-974-6367
ReporterNotebook@Gmail.com

Amazon's: DEBATING THE HOLOCAUST: A New Look At Both Sides by Thomas Dalton

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