'. . . You Know What You Are, And So Do We.'
I had my say in the Ottawa Citizen yesterday. Today, Citizen columnist John Robson follows up on what we first brought to light about the Cairo conference here, and here, and here:. . . I realize that most progressive politicians, academics, journalists and citizens would never attend such an event. But it's not enough. They must publicly and indignantly refuse to rub shoulders with people like the Canadian Peace Alliance, who have been rubbing shoulders with Hamas, Hezbollah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Jamaat al-Islamiya. Unless, as writer Terry Glavin warned in yesterday's Citizen, they don't mind seeing causes they support hijacked by lunatics. And unless they cherish the disgraceful title of fellow travellers.
. . . Blowing up civilians isn't peace and you know it; Hezbollah loathes homosexuality and you know it; the Hamas Charter speaks of killing Jews, not Israelis, and you know it; and so on. Why expend useful argument on unresisting villainy? You know what you are and so do we.
posted by Terry Glavin at 8:42 AM
7 Comments:
"But it's not enough. They must publicly and indignantly refuse to rub shoulders with people like the Canadian Peace Alliance, who have been rubbing shoulders with Hamas, Hezbollah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Jamaat al-Islamiya."
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come on give me a break.So know those that participated in a Peace March must go before the ??? and prostate themselves begging for forgiveness.The "left" is made up of a huge number of little groups,some that have a strange ideology(granted).How is this to be accomplished.Should the "left" put together a list.
Or perhaps only those that sign the Euston Manifesto would be considered the "good left".
yikes....
http://engagedspectator.wordpress.com/
First they came for dirk604 and I didn't care..
Dirk:If disavowing and disowning fascist sympathisers is too much to ask of you, well, don't bother yourself then. It's completely up to you.
"So know those that participated in a Peace March must go before the ??? and prostate themselves begging for forgiveness."
If it was a recent peace march organised by a Canadian Peace Alliance member organization, yes, that's reasonable. It's the CPA that has made itself look ridiculous by adopting resolutions that amount to:
* giving Iran a free pass in its pursuit of nuclear weapons
* letting Afghanistan fall into the hands of the most abusive theocrats in recent history
* tying Israel down so badly it would be destroyed
... not to mention its active collaboration with home-grown Islamists. In Vancouver, you can add unquavering support for Castro and Chavez to the mix. I'd disavow any prior support for that.
It ain't 2003 any more and peace protests are no longer about rightly opposing Canada joining the mess in Iraq -- we stayed out. That done, peace marches have degenerated into supporting little other than what's described above.
You don't need to prostrate yourself before anyone. Just don't show up for the next peace rally and if anyone asks why, tell 'em what those rallies stand for.
I don't see anyone commenting on this blog other than you talking about the "left" in general, Dirk. The barbs are being aimed at the leaders of "peace movement" and a too-large number of lefties (including the NDP leadership) who've traded traditional social democratic principles of democracy, solidarity with workers and the oppressed, and the defence of human rights for such silliness as anti-imperialism and other byproducts of academic radicals.
Fair enough,let me use an example.
Say there is a rally to support Palestinians.
There will be for sure Hamas supporters.And there will definitely be Hamas banners at any rally in support of Palestinians.After all their the elected government.
And the overall thrust any Palestinian rally would be about peace,and getting the occupiers to leave.Both justifiable,both goals are based on basic justice
So what should I or others do,not participate,because there might be some participants who happen to espouse a warped logic.
I don,t support some of the ideas of Hammas but I still have to recognize them as the democratic choice of Palestinians.Just by that fact alone I am "rubbing" up against Hammas.
Hammas is rubbing off more like it.
So maybe Dirk you should think about who your "allies" are - have you read the Hamas charter? It's easily available on line, and it cites approvingly from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Maybe if you want to have a pro-Palestinian rally you should refuse to let Hamas banners be put up and refuse to let Hamas supporters speak at it. How is that so hard?
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