December 12, 2009

Canadian campuses NOT hotbeds of antisemitism

Israel advocacy and the threat to civil liberties
By Scott Weinstein

Testifying before the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA), Fred Lowy, the former President of Concordia University, stated the obvious: "By and large, Canadian campuses are safe and are not hotbeds of antisemitism of any kind". (1)

Lowy's statement must have irritated the CPCCA. Their mission --  to help stamp-out the free speech of Palestinian solidarity activists --  just got a lot harder.

Canada's modern witch-hunt

The CPCCA, composed of MPs from all the parties except the Greens, has a sinister plan for Canadians: label and criminalize as anti-Semites those who criticize Israel and Zionism. These activists and critics fall into what the CPCCA defines as the "new antisemitism" .

The suggested remedy proposed by the CPCCA's co-founders, Liberal MP Irwin Cotler and Conservative MP Jason Kenney, is to prime "the Government of Canada for a response" against such critics. The CPCCA shows the danger to civil liberties by Israel's advocates inside the Canadian government who are desperate to preserve the old order.

The conflation of Jews with Zionist ideology and the Israeli state by organizations like the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy is a recent controversial political invention – something even many Jews oppose. They believe it is just as important to fight real antisemitism by preventing it from being trivialized and re-framed by Zionists and Israel's apologists. 

The CPCCA featured kindred spirit Manfred Gerstenfeld, from the Israeli military/government /NGO Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. His testimony framed the CPCCA's opening press release: Canada and UK are "pioneers" of campus antisemitism, expert says. 

It is worth noting that Canadian universities appear not to playing the government's “new antisemitism” card. The CPCCA's Canada-wide invitation to universities to testify netted only three official representatives -- all of who echoed Lowy's assessment. Despite their testimony, the CPCCA did not issue a press release stating, "Canadian campuses not hotbeds of antisemitism of any kind", university representatives say." 

So why is the CPCCA dedicating so much attention to Canada's universities? Besides opposing university activism for Palestinian human rights, the CPCCA plans to release its report before the March, 2010 Israeli Apartheid Week events begin on campuses.

Campaigns and fines against free speech 

The CPCCA is not acting alone. Israel's apologists have been attacking human rights activists, unions, churches, artists, reporters, academics, and even Jewish Judge Richard Goldstone for his U.N. Human Rights Council's Report detailing war crimes committed during the Gaza invasion. This is a diversionary tactic to avoid dealing with the substance of the critiques.

Admonishing the CPCCA for “fanning the flames” of fears about campus antisemitism, Patrick Monahan, Provost of York University, declared,

"The difficulty is that there is a narrative (of antisemitism) that gets picked up by others who never set foot on the campus here, but purport to be experts on the atmosphere on our campuses. It is unfair to the students, because it sows fear, it sows division. It fans flames of more conflict. We hope that your report and work of your committee will not in anyway contribute further to that.” (1)

The university speakers opposed a proposal, revealed by CPCCA NDP member Judy Wasylycia-Leis, for a government policy to penalize a university for "allowing a wide ranging discourse that may not necessarily be in line with perceptions of the day".

Grassroots opposition building 

To make matters worse for the thought police, it seems the CPCCA's internal solidarity is cracking due to the public alarm generated by emails, magazines, university newspapers and blogs shining a light on the Coalition and related activities. Some CPCCA members are now ‘shocked' by the anti-civil liberty nature of their organization.

Although shut out by the CPCCA's careful selection of witnesses, Canadian grassroots organizations opposed to the CPCCA's agenda have been informing others and organizing a pan-Canadian network to mount an effective response. The Seriously Free Speech organization compiled submissions criticizing the Coalition from dissident Jews and others.

Independent Jewish Voices wrote a highly critical submission, and their online petition opposing the CPCCA is gathering signatures. PFEX (Palestine Free Expression) established a network in Toronto, while a Quebec group called College and University Workers United (CUWU) is taking a hard look at the CPCCA. 

For too long, politicians used to be able to capitalize on their uncritical devotion to Israel. Hopefully this state of affairs will change as sympathy for Palestinian human rights spreads across North America. In the meantime, disgraceful efforts like those behind the CPCCA continue to show just how determined some are to repress criticism of Israel. For the rest of us, an ethical stand for civil liberties and universal human rights remain the only response.

(1) Audio of CPCCA Hearings - see Hearing 4 for University Presidents.

 

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Scott Weinstein is a member of Independent Jewish Voices Canada and lives in Montreal.

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