Is calling the Prime Minister a "white supremacist terrorist" hate speech? Black Lives Matter - Toronto spokesperson Yusra Khogali's description of Justin Trudeau as a "white supremacist terrorist" at a recent rally against Islamophobia has sparked significant backlash. Right-wing media are using it to attack BLMTO while liberal commentators have called on Khogali to resign as spokesperson.... Continue Reading →
Backers of ‘anti-Semitism lessons’ fail to speak out against all forms of racism
Is a school lesson plan, widely used across Canada, designed to fight racism like its promoters say? Or is it also a clever cover for defending Jewish and white supremacy in the Middle East? A recent 12-page Canadian Jewish News insert about Elizabeth and Tony Comper raises the issue. According to the supplement, in 2005 the Bank of... Continue Reading →
Putting Palestine into the NDP leadership race
To the sound of crickets chirping from opposition benches Justin Trudeau’s government has once again isolated Canada on Palestinian rights. But, recent developments suggest this shameful chapter in Canadian diplomacy is past its political best before date. On November 21 Canada joined the US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia and Palau in... Continue Reading →
Greens stand firm in face of Israeli bullying
In a major self-inflicted wound, Israeli nationalist groups recently turned support for a BDS motion targeting Israel's occupation into overwhelming approval. In addition, the resolution also demanded action to address the plight of Palestinian refugees and Palestinian citizens of Israel. In a further bizarre twist, Elizabeth May and others within the Green Party leadership have... Continue Reading →
Israeli nationalists undermine meaning of ‘remembering the Holocaust’
Is "remembering the Nazi Holocaust and where anti-Semitism can lead" a good thing? Unfortunately, thanks to people who constantly cite this horrible genocide in order to justify the illegal, immoral and anti-human behaviour of the Israeli state, one must answer, "it depends." Drawing attention to the Nazi Holocaust and anti-Semitism in Canada today often reinforces,... Continue Reading →
A day to remember
Remember. Remember that today marks the culmination of a militarist, nationalist ritual organized by a reactionary state-backed group. Every year the Royal Canadian Legion sells about 20 million red poppies in the lead-up to Remembrance Day. Remember that red poppies were inspired by the 1915 poem "In Flanders Fields" by Canadian army officer John McCrae.... Continue Reading →
It is never ‘left wing’ to support imperialism
Most people who identify as left wing would agree that systems of governance that enable exploitation by the world’s most powerful corporations, governments and individuals should be changed. Most would also agree that militarism and military solutions are best avoided. Why then do so many people ‘on the left’ support UN missions that claim to... Continue Reading →
Xenophobia, racism accompany right wing Israeli and Quebecois nationalism
What do today's right-wing Quebec and Israeli nationalists share in common? A claim to victimhood that enables them to deny their role in oppressing others. This commonality became clear when a prominent right-wing Quebec nationalist politician cited the French language and Jewish sensibilities to criticize immigration and the veil. It also reflected a historic reversal... Continue Reading →
Global affairs scholars too close to institutions they study
Should social scientists seek the truth regardless of whose toes may be stepped on and cite, up front, possible conflicts of interest regarding matters they study? All academia disciplines certainly claim independence of thought and transparency are critical principles that guide good research. So, what then are we to make of academic discussion of Canada’s... Continue Reading →
Mainstream media finally reveals truth about Rwanda’s dictator
It was a tough week for Romeo Dallaire, Louise Arbour, Gerald Caplan and other liberal Canadian cheerleaders of Africa’s most bloodstained dictator. Last Tuesday’s Globe and Mail described two secret reports documenting Paul Kagame’s “direct involvement in the 1994 missile attack that killed former president Juvénal Habyarimana, leading to the genocide in which an estimated 800,000 people... Continue Reading →
Israeli apologists blinded by ‘Zionist religion’
Israel apologists often complain about leftists “singling Israel out” or “obsessing” over the country, inferring a motivation of anti-Semitism. Putting aside the obvious truth that “obsessing” over the plight of an oppressed people ought to be considered a compliment and campaigning on any issue amounts to “singling” it out, the accusation often represents what a Freudian analyst would... Continue Reading →
Message to reporters: Do you enjoy being duped?
When reading wild propaganda about Canada’s role in Haiti I often wonder if the reporter is a sycophant or whether they’ve been duped. With the Caribbean nation set to hold its most credible presidential election in sixteen years Ottawa announced it was withdrawing support for the October 9poll. The Trudeau government’s decision to follow Washington in seeking to undermine the... Continue Reading →
Anti-Palestinian coverage part of broader media pattern
Media coverage of world affairs mostly focuses on Ottawa/Washington’s perspective. While the dominant media is blatant in its subservience to Canadian/Western power, even independent media is often afraid to challenge the foreign policy status quo. A recent Canadaland podcast simultaneously highlighted anti-Palestinian media bias and the fear liberal journalists’ face in discussing one of the foremost social... Continue Reading →
Tax dollars used to shape the news
Last Saturday the Ottawa Citizen published a feature titled “The story of ‘the Canadian vaccine’ that beat back Ebola”. According to the article, staff reporter Elizabeth Payne’s “research was supported by a travel grant from the International Development Research Centre.” The laudatory story concludes with Guinea’s former health minister thanking Canada “for the great service you have... Continue Reading →
‘Repressive regime’ in Ethiopia no ‘sea of stability’
Last Tuesday members of the Ethiopian community in Winnipeg called on Canada to sanction the North East African country. The protesters are angry about the regime’s violent crackdown in the Oromiya and Amhara regions of northern Ethiopia. Hundreds of peaceful protesters have been killed and many more jailed since unrest began over a land dispute 10 months... Continue Reading →
Could Christian Zionism explain Green Party leader’s threats to resign?
Elizabeth May’s response to Green Party members voting to oppose Canadian support for Israeli colonialism has been wildly anti-democratic. She has not simply disagreed with a majority of members, which could reflect healthy internal processes, but publicly derided the party’s procedures and members’ clearly expressed opinions. After diluting a resolution about revoking the Jewish National... Continue Reading →
Misuse of term ‘anti-Semitic’ will have repercussions
Sticks and stone may break my bones, but names will never hurt me -- and they may come back to haunt the name-callers. In finding anti-Semites behind every challenge to Canadian complicity with Israeli colonialism, mainstream Jewish organizations are emptying the term "anti-Semitism" of its historical weight. "The Green Party of Canada's vote in favour of... Continue Reading →
Greens face vote on tax subsidy to Jewish National Fund
Despite a backlash evocative of those who defended the Jim Crow U.S. South, Green Party members recently voted in favour of a resolution calling on Ottawa to stop subsidizing racist land covenants. The Greens will make a final decision on whether they support the principles underlying a half-century old Supreme Court of Canada decision outlawing... Continue Reading →
Real ‘aid’ means ending exploitation of Africa
What is wrong here? While Canadian companies exploit African resources for their own benefit this country’s charities call on us to join Africa “hope” walks. Last week Toronto-based Lundin Mining hired the Bank of Montreal to help it decide what to do with its stake in the massive Tenke Fungurume copper-cobalt mine in Eastern Congo (Kinshasa). Unfortunately,... Continue Reading →
What we’re told to remember and why
How can you tell when “remembering” horrible events is being twisted to defend the status quo and support the powerful against the weak? When a sports network airs a Nazi Holocaust themed show. Last week TSN ran a six-minute video feature about Hank Rosenbaum, a Polish Jew whose life was turned upside down when German troops invaded... Continue Reading →
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