Sunday, January 13, 2008

Canadian Freedom of Press, Speech Under Islamofascist Attack

Bad enough that Oriana Fallaci had to flee Italy after her writings came under government assault, and her life came under assault by Muslim fanatics, for "offending Muslims".  Bad enough that Hirsi Ali had to flee Europe after her associate Theo Van Gogh was shot and had his throat cut on an Amsterdam street, and after she came under government assault also, for daring to "offend Muslims".  Now, it is creeping into the English-speaking world, specifically in Britain and Canada, where new "hate speech" laws are being used by Star Chambers to enforce the hard-left and Islamofascist version of political correctness upon the entire populations.  Muslims can vent poisonous hatred daily in the mosques, and the mainstream news says little or nothing about it, other than to issue denials.  Muslims can commit violent "honor" murders of their female relatives on Western soil, leaving behind a trail of evidence about the Islamic fanaticism of their motivations, but the MSM won't even mention the "M" word -- even while the occasional violent Christian fanatic who kills their family members is clearly identified as such.   But if you dare to write a book informing others about what's going on behind the Islamic veils, educating people as to what the MSM hasn't dared to speak, then you are committing "hate speech" which gets you in trouble with the over-funded Stalinist bureaucracy.  (Hint: the only way to truly restrain such abuses is to smash the government budgets down to the bare minimum.)

For the record, we can still get copies of the offending book mentioned below, and will happily ship copies anywhere in the world, if needed in a plain brown paper wrapper marked "Islamic prayer rug" -- that way it will sail right through Custom's, as opposed to marking it "book" which is increasingly likely to have it routed to the Ministry for Free Thought where such things are scrutinized for their cultural sensitivity.   We also have lots of similar books and DVDs exposing authentic Islamic hate speech -- imams and mullahs calling for beheading of infidels, violent overthrow of Western democracies, calling for more terror bombings, "kill the Jews", etc. -- available from our on-line bookstore:
http://www.orgonelab.org/cart/xsaharasiatoday.htm
Get 'em while they are legal.

And, oh, once again, Merry Christmas and Happy Hannuka!  Is it still legal to say that?     J.D.

PS.  Whatever happened to "I totally disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it."?  Too "old fashioned" I suppose.

2 items below.


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http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=24033

Stand By Steyn
by Robert Spencer
Posted: 12/19/2007

The Canadian Human Rights Commission and the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal have begun proceedings against Mark Steyn, author of America Alone. They are responding to complaints from the Canadian Islamic Congress about an excerpt from the book that was published in the Canadian journal Maclean's. "The article," the CIC claims, "subjects Canadian Muslims to hatred and contempt," and was "flagrantly Islamophobic."

To be sure, the article was pretty strong stuff. Here's a bit of it: "There are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe -- without swords, without guns, without conquests. The fifty million Muslims of Europe will turn it into a Muslim continent within a few decades." Even worse, it goes on to say: "Just look at the development within Europe, where the number of Muslims is expanding like mosquitoes. Every Western woman in the EU is producing an average of 1.4 children. Every Muslim woman in the same countries is producing 3.5 children."

"A Muslim continent"! "The number of Muslims is expanding like mosquitoes"! No wonder the CIC was upset. And not just the CIC: writer Jim Henley, whose articles have appeared in The New Republic and The American Spectator Online, quoted the "mosquitoes" line and called Steyn a "racist." There were just two problems: The "Muslim continent" statement is not only factual, it's stated in words no one can characterize as inflammatory. (Also, it's been said by Libya's strongman Muammar Qaddafi). Second, "The number of Muslims is expanding like mosquitoes" was not Steyn's phrase. He was quoting Mullah Krekar, a jihadist who currently resides in Norway, although officials have been trying for years to get him out of the country.

And that sums up the problem with the Canadian human rights commissions' action against Steyn: he was simply reporting on contemporary European reality. It was not Mark Steyn, but Algerian leader Houari Boumédienne who said at the United Nations in 1974: "One day, millions of men will leave the Southern Hemisphere to go to the Northern Hemisphere. And they will not go there as friends. Because they will go there to conquer it. And they will conquer it with their sons. The wombs of our women will give us victory." Those who want to silence Steyn want to suppress facts and limit free speech.

It was not Steyn who said that "Islam will return to Europe as a conqueror and victor," and that "the conquest this time will not be by the sword but by preaching and ideology." That was Al-Jazeera's Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradhawi, who is widely hailed as a moderate reformer in the West. Did Steyn say that Muslims "will control the land of the Vatican; we will control Rome and introduce Islam in it"? Nope. That one comes from a Saudi Sheikh, Muhammad bin Abd Al-Rahman Al-'Arifi, imam of the mosque of King Fahd Defense Academy.

The Canadian Human Rights Commission is putting itself in the peculiar position of penalizing those non-Muslims who report on such statements, as if it is somehow an act encouraging "hatred and contempt" to reveal the unpleasant reality that comprises mainstream Islamic rhetoric today. There is no indication that the CHRC has done a thing to investigate the possibility that some Muslims in Canada might hold the views of Mullah Krekar, Qaddafi, Boumédienne, Qaradhawi and Sheikh Muhammad. When the CIC's President Mohamed Elmasry said in 2004 that all Israelis over age eighteen were legitimate targets, the CHRC took no action. But Elmasry, you see, is part of a protected victim class.

Actions like the one against Steyn threaten the foundation of free society. Once you declare one group off-limits for critical examination, once you declare that these people -- whoever they may be -- must at all costs not be offended, then you have destroyed one of the essential elements of free speech and political debate. In a free society, people with differing opinions live together in harmony, agreeing not to force their neighbor to be silent if his opinions offend them. If offensive speech had been prohibited in the 1770s, there would be no United States of America, and that is one of the reasons for the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Of course, Canada is a different case -- but wherever offensive speech is prohibited, the tyrant's power is solidified. That is no less so in this case, although the tyrant in question is of a different kind.


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http://www.hfxnews.ca/index.cfm?sid=97308&sc=465

Commentator defends publishing controversial Muslim cartoons  CALGARY

KEITH BONNELL
Canwest News Service

Contrition wasn't on Ezra Levant's mind.

The controversial conservative commentator went into an Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission hearing in Calgary with guns blazing yesterday, using his website to republish the same cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that got him into trouble in the first place.

And Levant's dispute with some members of Alberta's Muslim community became even more personal this week, as the head of a Calgary Muslim group said he now fears for the safety of his family due to "lies" Levant has been spreading about him.

"Contriteness implies that you've done something wrong for which you need to apologize or atone," Levant said moments before his 90-minute meeting with the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission.

"I have not done anything wrong."

The commission is investigating Levant's decision two years ago, as publisher of the Western Standard magazine, to print a series of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

The same cartoons already had ignited violent protests and death threats from Muslims around the world after the images appeared in a Danish newspaper.

Syed Soharwardy, head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, filed a complaint after the Western Standard published the cartoons, and the commission is now investigating. The cartoons included an image of a Muslim man with a bomb-shaped turban.

Levant, his lawyer and his wife attended a closed meeting yesterday with a human rights officers.

The commentator said he was asked about his rationale for publishing the cartoons.

"I don't need to be reasonable. I have maximum rights of free speech," he said later. "I have the right to publish this for the most offensive reason, for the most unreasonable reasons."

The commission's director said it would decide whether the complaint should be dismissed, go to an arbitrator or go to a full human rights complaint hearing.

For Soharwardy, the issue has become intensely personal.

He fired off a letter to Calgary police yesterday, complaining about statements made by Levant on his blog that refer to the Muslim leader as a "radical, Saudi-trained imam who has publicly called for sharia law to be imposed in Canada."

"I have asked him, what kind of training did I get in Saudi Arabia?" an angry Soharwardy said from Calgary.

He said Levant has also called him anti-Semitic, despite the fact Soharwardy's mosque celebrates Hanukkah with the local Jewish community.

"These people have the intent to incite hate against Muslims," Soharwardy said.

"God forbid if somebody reads from his website - (if) any fanatic reads it - and he attacks me, who's responsible?

"If any crime (is) committed against me or my family, I will hold Mr. Ezra Levant responsible."

Levant isn't backing down, calling his appearance before the human rights commission "an interrogation."

"To me, this is offensive," he said.

"A secular government bureaucracy has essentially been hijacked by a radical Muslim imam. It's being used to further his fatwa against these cartoons."

"We have a great tradition of free speech in Canada," he said.

"My freedom to publish a cartoon that some radical Muslim imam doesn't like - well, that's the free west for ya."

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