|
 |
||||
|
|
|||||
December 15, 2007 Canwest drops suit over parody against Mordecai Briemberg, hailed as victory for free speech campaign Vancouver -- A campaign to defend free speech pushed media giant Canwest to drop its legal suit against Mordecai Briemberg over a parody of The Vancouver Sun. "This is proof that people can stand up to bullies who misuse and abuse the courts to attack their political opponents," said Anne Roberts, a co-chair of the Seriously Free Speech Committee that was formed to defend Briemberg, a retired academic and this year's winner of the YMCA International Peace Award. Briemberg called it was "a significant victory," but only a first step. The campaign will continue until Canwest also abandons legal action against Gordon Murray and Carel Moiseiwitsch, who produced the parody in June 2007 that satirized Canwest's well-known anti-Palestinian and pro-Israel bias. Canwest's founder, Izzy Asper, described the media conglomerate in 2003 as "the strongest supporter of Israel in Canada ." The committee organized an international effort, including a petition, letters, a YouTube video, leafleting of public events sponsored by Canwest, and public forums, and garnered support from Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, MP Libby Davies, labour leader Jim Sinclair, author Joy Kogawa and UBC planning professor Bill Rees. "Canwest's attempt to silence and intimidate the public expression of views antithetical to those of the Asper family backfired," Briemberg said. "Our campaign has been endorsed by civil liberties groups, library associations, teacher organizations, and trade unions. Instead of silencing our voices, it has amplified them." The political activists' ordeal of being dragged through the courts for the past 10 months highlights the need for BC to re-enact anti-SLAPP legislation that discourages suits in which plantiffs have no intention of winning but pursue in order to burden groups with legal costs until they abandon their criticism or opposition. An anti-SLAPP law was passed by the NDP government in April 2001 but repealed in August shortly after the Liberals gained power. At least 24 states in the United States have adopted anti-SLAPP legislation and Quebec introduced an anti-SLAPP bill in June.
|