Friday, July 08, 2011

CPCCA : Waving at anti-Semitism

Yesterday the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism released its Final Report -two years in the making - on what co-chair and former Lib MP Mario Silva referred to as the "wave of anti-Semitism we are witnessing in our nation". A 71% increase.

Yet a mere seven months earlier in December, here is the CPCCA's other co-chair, Con MP Scott Reid (at the 13:33 mark) :
Avi Lewis : "There's no wave of anti-Semitism in Canada?"

Scott Reid : "No, no, no, no, absolutely not. No, it's funny I've heard people who have criticized us saying that we think this but no there is absolutely no spike in the kinds of anti-Semitic incidents that I think appall us." 
Yet there were both Reid and Silva yesterday - gravely intoning at their presser about the need for government to get involved because "Canada is witnessing an unprecedented increase in anti-Semitic incidents and hateful discourse".

What? Just since December?

Well no, because we're talking "the new anti-Semitism" here, or as Silva puts it : "demonizing Israel as an apartheid state."
Criticism of Israel is not anti-Semitic, the report explains, unless you refer to its [current right wing] government['s policies] by the word apartheid.
Especially Israel Apartheid Week.
Especially on campus, where the first Israeli Apartheid Week in the world was held in Toronto in 2005, a movement now gone global.

Reports on campus 'new anti-Semitism' and its lefty or clueless profs and administrators take up 21 pages of their 80 page report. And they have recommendations :
All university staff and students should be encouraged to document and report antisemitic incidents whenever they occur.

We recommend that professors be held accountable for academic rigour of their curricula.

We recommend that Federal Government and/or the Inquiry work with the provinces to help administrators develop suitable tools and structures to deal with this burgeoning problem in an effective and principled manner.
On law enforcement : The Inquiry Panel recommends that police forces across Canada send their officers to the "Tools for Tolerance" program at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in LA.
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On funding NGOs to do monitoring :
We recommend the creation of a permanent, publicly accessible “ambassadorial” position under the auspices of the most appropriate Department (Foreign Affairs, Justice, Multiculturalism) to develop and implement policies, projects and research on combating antisemitism, including the provision of funds to NGOs to further these aims.This office should also monitor implementation of priority recommendations and ensure compliance and accountability.
What, like Israel's NGO Monitor perhaps, the group Kenney credited in his defunding of KAIROS?
Well, we're right off the thought-crime map now, aren't we?

But what about actual anti-Semitic hate crime? Via StatsCan : Police-reported hate crime in Canada, 2009 - but in my own words where not in quotes:
54% of all hate crime incidents reported in 2009 were : "mischief, (e.g. graffiti, vandalism to religious property)"

The second and third highest percentage in hate crimes was : "minor assaults (13%), in which little to no physical harm was caused to the victim, and uttering threats (10%)"
All the other hate crime categories were around 1 or 2%.
There were 283 hate crimes targeting Jews reported to police in 2009. 
"In 2009, hate crime rates were generally highest among youth and young adults. For both victims and persons accused of police-reported hate crime in 2009, the rate peaked among those aged 12 to 17 years and generally decreased with increasing age."
Teenagers and hateful graffitti.

Meanwhile 100s of unnamed First Nations women have been kidnapped, beaten, and killed.
No special $½-million committee for them. No Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Aboriginal Death on the world stage for them.
Hell, the Sisters in Spirit aren't even allowed to use their own name anymore and what federal grant money they had to research those missing women has been rolled over into a general RCMP missing persons fund end of that story.

Speaking of funding ....
CPCCA presser June 2, 2009 : "We will voluntarily disclose all sources of funding."

Scott Reid on video yesterday at CBC :

"We had a number of donors who donated on condition of anonymity and uh the uh we passed a bylaw to ensure that no donations from groups such for example advocacy groups, from trade unions, from businesses would be accepted. These were all individual donations ."
I'll bet. And after all that, you still haven't come up with a reasonable definition of your new anti-Semitism.
"Tools for Tolerance" indeed.
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Update : The definitive smackdown from Dr. Dawg
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6 comments:

Beijing York said...

Excellent piece, Alison. I'm glad you mentioned the disgusting hypocrisy vis-a-vis the hard core racism faced by Aboriginal people in this country. The treatment and defunding of Sister in Spirit is a disgrace and an insult. The RCMP is getting their funds. The same RCMP that have often abused and beaten the "natives" they arrest.

(These days I'm not sure what words to use - my FN friends and clients call themselves Indians but you know, that's kind of like the owning the "n" word. I do know that many are absolutely pissed with the term "aboriginal" especially as used by the Harper government.)

Dr.Dawg said...

Good stuff. Nice catch on the wave!

Nadine Lumley said...

Thank you Brock May who just posted: Equally annoyed with 'Power & Politics' one-sided presentation of the Committee's Report yesterday, with both of its co-chairs offering absurd 'analysis' of anti-semitism.

Truthy Alert: Criticism of Israel's apartheid crimes is ^NOT Anti-Semitism.



The CBC Newspeak: The federal government needs to take more action to combat rising anti-Semitism in Canada and around the world, a report by a panel of MPs concludes.

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Politics/1244504890/ID=2045744272

(I asked a Jewish friend what he thought, he laughed and said it was ridiculous, maybe his family may have encountered anit-semitism back in the 50s but nothing to be concerned about today).

p.s. I support the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. That is all.

Nadine Lumley said...

Why is HarperCon **SO** fanatical about supporting Isreal bombing innocent Palestinian civilians? What’s the secret agenda at work here?

‎Surprise! It’s always about money: Canada does ONE BILLION DOLLARS of trade with Israel annually. Most of it military. (At the 5:30 mark).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ2MY58RunM

‎... the standard picture is that the U.S.(and by extension Canada) is an honest broker trying to bring together two recalcitrant opponents- Israel and Palestinian Authority.

That’s just a charade.



http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/30/noam_chomsky_wikileaks_cables_reveal_profound

Alison said...

Nadine : Money but also control. The very vagueness of both the 'new a-S' and the panel's recommendations makes it an excellent device for stifling dissent at home - apply as needed - and the media just lapped it all up yesterday, didn't they?

Yes, sadly, it was always a charade. Has always been.

Did you see this? Jewish group gives Pseudo Parliamentary report failing grade Lols. It was very high school. Loved the bit about the fake coat of arms.

Dawg : You're brilliant! Linked.

BY : 'FN' most commonly used out here but formally or for when you don't know which tribe; 'Indian' with people you know.

Anonymous said...

Arab citizens have full citizenship rights. Calling it "apartheid" is factually incorrect. This is the language of "not anti semites" or are totally "not anti semitic" and completely "not Nazi".

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