Back In The Day, We Were Against Fascism & War
StopWar is perfectly entitled to argue that pro-war, fascist Jew-killers should be allowed to raise money, propagandize, and otherwise operate freely in Canada. Argue away, you might say to StopWar. Just not in my name.But that won’t quite do if you’re a member of the B.C. Teachers’ Federation, or the Hospital Employees Union, or the Vancouver Green party, or the New Democratic Party, or the United Church of Canada. If you belong to any one of about 160 organizations that StopWar lists as endorsing members, or if you simply happen to live in Vancouver or Burnaby, then StopWar is speaking in your name.
And don’t you dare try to speak for yourself about these things. You will be told you don’t know what you’re talking about, or that you’ve “bought into” something called the neoconservative agenda, or, worse still, that you’re a Zionist.
So, in July 2006, while Israel was fighting for her very life, and Lebanon and Palestine were being ground to bits, and Iraq was descending deeper into a hell of throat-slitting and suicide bombing, Canada’s “antiwar” left had openly opted for war.
And the words on the placards left no doubt about which side it was on: “We Are All Hezbollah”.
In case anyone's curious, the groups StopWar wanted left at large in Canada were 1) Those peace-loving people who only a year before had claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that killed three Israeli civilians, and 2) The Mahatma Ghandi enthusiasts most famous for hijacking the cruise ship Achille Lauro and singling out a Jew in a wheelchair for the peace-loving treatment of being tossed overboard to his death.
That's what it's come to, I'm afraid. Back in Toronto, the Canadian Peace Alliance actually opposes a UN peacekeeping force being sent in to sort things out: "Israel and the US are set on complete destruction of any democratic opposition that is against the rule of the US puppets. The call for a NATO or UN force is merely an attempt to bring international legitimacy to those goals."
Well, not in my name, thank you very much.
Not in Pat Martin's name, either: "As a trade unionist and an NDP MP, I do not want to be associated in any way with the Ontario CUPE resolution on Israel, not do I want anyone to think that the labour movement, the NDP, or the Left generally, is anti-Israel."
These guys would want precisely that, but there's a problem: "Israeli agents represented by the Canadian Zionists succeeded in nominating some NDP candidates and in co-opting others, as part of a plan orchestrated by Israel and its supporters."
Those good auld Israeli agents. They're just everywhere.
It's all leaving the NDP wobbling around up there on a tightrope.
At least this guy gets it.
Meanwhile, the NDP lost Tarek Fatah earlier this month, and now he's been driven from his post with the Muslim Canadian Congress by the same sort of the people who open their arms to white supremacists.
But maybe that's not fair. It is getting hard to tell the fascists from the pacifists in all this, after all.
Just don't be giving me a hard time about how this isn't what Canadians of the left are really about. I know that already.
Stand up and be counted yourself.
UPDATE: Britain's National Union of Students stands up to be counted and condemns George Galloway for his praise of a "racist, antisemitic fascist."
Let's be having you then.
posted by Terry Glavin at 12:39 PM
14 Comments:
Zionist stooge.
My late and rather un-pc pa, who worked in the construction industry, used to say that any company with the words "Dominion," "Canada" or "Canadian" in its name was more likely than not to be owned by Italians. Nowadays, any organization with "peace" or "justice" in its moniker is guaranteed to be largely comprised of US/Israel/capitalism haters.
As a peace activist myself, I as well am stumped by some of the things coming out of the peace movement these days. I helped run the peace movement in Victoria in 2003 re Iraq, and we would never have been so careless as to appear to support a terrrorist organization. It's very disturbing, and it's why I'm trying to dissasociate myself with Stop War and affiliates. (I live in Vancouver now).
I will go to the rally on Saturday, because I thinking the killing has to stop, but I likely won't be one of the more enthusiatic participants.
My focus is now on the human rights angle, as I have been involved with Amnesty International for some time. I like the releases and reports they and Human Rights Watch have been putting out with respect to Lebanon.
Chomsky, Fisk, et al, are people who I look up to when it comes to foreign policy comment. I have quoted them many times in my own writings. I think they are capable of more nuance than StopWar seems to be displaying these days.
Diane,
You seem to be making assumptions about exactly what I think. Yes, the US and Israel are terrorist states. I never said they weren't. That StopWar would say that is not the problem that I have with them.
On that note, I'm going to stop hijacking Terry's blog.
Stephen: Yes, the US and Israel are terrorist states.
For that to be true, one would have to use such a loose definition of the term "terrorist" that it would become useless, in the same way that "fascist" is thrown about with enthusiasm. By definition, nations cannot be terrorist.
Terry, you don't credit the quote that begins your post. Is it by you? Either way, I have to take issue with this: So, in July 2006, while Israel was fighting for her very life,... Hardly. A border skirmish and abduction of two soldiers is hardly a threat to a nuclear-armed state.
I misspoke. Not a threat to the existence of a nuclear-armed state is what that should have been.
And just glanced at the Straight while ordering my wonton soup take-out. "...Nasrallah’s fat, stupid face"?
He doesn't look particularily fat to me, and from everything that I've read of him, he certainly isn't stupid, whatever else might be said of him.
I understand Israel's position in regards to some extremely hostile neighbours, but there's a difference between someone threatening something and being capable of following through with it. Israel's continued existence is not in peril at this time. That may change in the future once everyone in the region has nuclear weapons, but it is certainly not true at the moment, and I have a great deal of trouble accepting this invasion of Lebanon as Israel fighting for its life.
While they are certainly within their rights to respond in this way, I think it's foolish, and will have a paradoxical effect.
And sorry about the hairsplitting, we cross-posted.
FYI, if you haven't seen it, there's a good piece on this conflict by Shalom Lappin over at the EM site which reflects my own view, which is that Hezbollah cannot be defeated through military means, and that the best means for moderating it and removing its military capability were democracy in Lebanon and a healthy Lebanese economy. Israel has now destroyed both of these.
The other piece on that page (The Left should be supporting Israel in this war, by Eric Lee) is more of a "Hezbullah bad!! Good socialists must crush!" kind of article.
Well crap, that will teach me not to read all the links. There's a wealth of untapped writing there. Thanks, I'll go back and read those other ones.
Jeez, not just the links, I somehow missed the entire thing. Good post. Well, with the exception of your assessment of Dyer's article. I can't figure out why you think it over-the-top.
For those looking for an action to end the fighting in Lebanon that is independent of StopWar, Amnesty International is holding a candle vigil calling for a ceasefire. This is from an e-mail I received from them:
Amnesty International is organizing a global Ceasefire vigil on Monday, August 7. Although this is a holiday weekend in most of Canada, many groups are organizing vigils - for groups outside Vancouver interested in holding a vigil, instructions are included below.
In Vancouver we'll gather at the corner of Georgia and Homer Street (LIbrary Square) Monday night at 7 pm. We will create and hold a banner with the word CEASEFIRE on it. Please join us. If you have a candle, do bring it along. (We'll stay for no more than an hour.) Please note this is an apolitical event in support of victims and survivors on both sides.
For the most recent Amnesty report on this issue, go to http://www.amnesty.ca/amnestynews/upload/MDE1507006.pdf
Amnesty International
Vigil for a Ceasefire
Monday, August 7 at 7 pm
Corner of Georgia and Homer Streets
(Library Square) Vancouver
(nearest Skytrain station about one block away at Stadium)
"Why not try Chomsky, for example, as a source of information for those of you looking for more than analyses that fail by way of omission?"
Yeah. What can one say?
Only that that Stop War monicker is strongly echoing the term "stoppers" so beloved by the population of Albion...
Best, and enjoy your trip.
Hey, it's me again.
I want to make a few unrelated points.
1) That there may be some in the anti-war movement who are pro-Hezbollah, or in some way selective in whose violence they oppose. Please don't use that to cast aspersions on the larger anti-war movement. Most peace activists I have encountered are just as disgusted by Al-aqaeda, for example, as by the neocon cabal in Washington.
2) My earlier rant about Stop-War in no way execuses Israel's actions in Lebanon. There is no question that, as Human Rights Watch has said, war crimes have been committed. Israel is a terrorist state, and it is not anti-Semetic to say so.
3) Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, and it is not anti-Moslem to say so. Robert Fisk has basically said so. However, I can understand why Lebanese civilians would rally around it. It the only entity that is standing up to this foreign invasion, though going about it the wrong way.
4) I went to the Euston Manifesto site, and was quite frankly disappointed. The anti-War left was characterized in a negative light as if it was simply based on kneejerk anti-Americanism. This is a bogeyman frequently brought out by the neoconservative right in the US. It is propaganda. I am a severe critic of the current US government, and with good reason, but that by no means makes me anti-American, any more than criticising the Iranian government makes me anti-Iranian. Also on the site, support for Israel's slaughter of Lebanon was actually considered a legitimate position whose argument actually merited consideration. I'm all for dialogue among progressives, but I do have limits.
5) As a peace and human rights activist, I pull no punches. I take no prisoners. You kill civilians, or you torture prisoners, or vilate human rights in other ways, I will oppose you, regardless of who you are and what your agenda is.
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