Ezra Levant is the type of extreme neo-con we all love to hate. He publishes a ratty little magazine dedicated to those of his ilk (pro-war, let's bomb Iran into dust, let's cleanse the world of Muslims)called "Western Standard" out of Calgary, Alberta.
You remember those Danish cartoons that caused all the trouble in 2006? Well, Ezra took them to his heart and copied them in his hate-mongering little magazine.
A complaint was lodged in short order by an Imam with the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission and our Ezra was charged with "advocating hatemongering".
Here's where it all gets very interesting. This complaint was taking seriously, even though Ezra was perfectly within his rights in using the free speech guaranteed him by our constitution, hateful and horrible though that speechifying was. He was hauled up before the commission and was asked pretty scary questions by a snide little bureacrat about the opinions he expressed and why he expressed them with the penalty of being punished by law.
Ezra had a camera rolling, his wife and lawyer present and even though requested by the government to keep the hearing secret exploded it all on YouTube.
I am horrified and I hope you are too.
There seems to be a limitless supply of this type of shit-stirrer who take a creepy delight in being as provocative as they possibly can and then just laughing at all the venom and distress they've caused. There are plenty here in the UK, particularly all the weirdos running the British National Party and all those loopy nationalist outfits.
ReplyDeleteThis is totally outrageous. How did he get away with bringing in a camera when he was told to keep the hearing a secret? I am disgused.
ReplyDeleteNick and H:
ReplyDeleteMy concern was that we are all entitled to free speech, even this horrible moron, and that our rights guarantee self-protection.
His rights were clearly disregarded. No question he was hate-mongering but the questioning took an extremely fascist turn...
XO
WWW
It's interesting that the first two comments on this topic show a bias in favor of the actions of the Human Rights and Citizenship Commission. Neither is it totally surprising. The right to freedom of speech should be sacrosanct in any democracy, but the effectiveness of George Bush's 'war on terror' doctrine, not just in America but throughout the Western world, has caused the inviability of that right to be drastically curtailed. In some areas, and I'm thinking specifically of a certain Muslim cleric from London, England, who used his mosque to incite violence and foment terrorism, it is possibly justified. Under anti-terrorism laws he was found guilty and jailed. Our friend Ezra was not, however, fomenting violence, so far as I can judge, but however obnoxious, was simply exercising his right to publish certain cartoons. On that subject, anyone who cannot tolerate the poking of fun or some degree of criticism of their beliefs, has to be viewed with great suspicion.
ReplyDeleteThe question of censorship has always been a subject for debate, and theoretically in a free society there should be none, but we all know this is not the case. I was incensed once while watching an arts program on US TV to find the breasts of nudes in certain Renaissance paintings had been digitally 'fuzzed' out. It's not only freedom of speech that suffers at the hands of the moralistic and popish.
However obnoxious the individual, this case comes down simply to whether he had the right to publish these cartoons, or not. Under Sharia law, he would have been severely punished, but thankfully the Western world isn't subject to Sharia. Let us hope it never is. Consequently, Ezra Levant had every right to publish them, and anyone who tried to stop him is outside the law, as I understand it, making the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission out of order by charging him.
Of course, I'm no expert on Canadian law, but any restriction on free speech, especially when used just to placate religious or moralistic indignation, is an infringement of human rights under international law.
Muslims against Sharia! Welcome!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you are out there and 'get' this shameful excising of our right to free speech. As you say, increasing the great divide and the only 'winners' of course being the hatemongers of all stripes.
Amen to that RJA!
ReplyDeleteFree speech and incitement to violence and terrorism are very,very different animals.