George Galloway's Speech

Nice going on Minister Kenney. Last night the church was packed with supporters of George Galloway and covered by the mainstream media. The speech was broadcast in many other cities simultaneously. If this ridiculous and unjust ban was never put in place Galloway would never have gotten this much coverage. His words are now being heard by more Canadians than would have been possible without Mr. Kenney's actions and his supporters will grow as more people realize he speaks the truth. Nice work Kenney.












Finally, I have a confession to make. I have donated money to the people suffering in Gaza. I also support most of George Galloway's views. I suppose I am a security threat and a 'terrorist' supporter then in Mr. Kenney's eyes? So, I urge the police to come arrest me and prosecute me, since we are living under those laws now. I await to make my next blog in jail.

George Galloway Banned from Canada - OUTRAGE

Jason Kenney, who's answering machine recieved an earful from myself this afternoon, the immigration minister of the Harper MINORITY Government has disallowed George Galloway, RESPECT anti-war MP from the UK from coming into Canada. I for one was planning to see him when he speaks in Toronto March 30th. I have heard this event will go on as planned and I will be there no matter what.

This is sickening. The reasons given for the 'honourable' Mr. Kenney's decision is that George Galloway disagrees, more or less, with the NATO mission in Afghanistan. I got news for you Kenney...various members of the Parliament you sit in disagree with the mission. Is it time to ship Jack and others somewhere else? Is it time to deport a good chunk of the country now?

I am truly disturbed by this. I am living in a country that doesn't allow foreign dissidents speak to civil society because it disagrees with the government. I have never personally seen such a blatant disregard for freedom of speech in my life. Mr. Kenney is part of a dying trend and he knows it full well, for the Harper regime's days are numbered and this action has done nothing good for them. Kudos on Olivia Chow for calling Mr. Kenney the Minister of Censorship. Kudos to Mr. Kenney for making George Galloway a martyr for this cause.

This decision will be a failure, for since this morning more than 1,000 people have joined the facebook group, signed the petition, and I imagine my message wasn't the only one on Kenney's answering machine. This political repression will only strengthen the anti-war cause and the BDS movement against the Apartheid State of Israel. When one knows he is losing the true desperation is evident.

Here is a video just filmed today of George Galloway facing his accuser from the Jewish Defense League, a known terrorist organization that has been operating in Toronto (and at York University) as of late :


I will see you George on March 30th before a thunderous crowd, which will be twice as large as it would have been had Kenney not made this repressive but doomed to fail decision.

Jewish Voices Condemning University Repression

This statement was rejected by both the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail(as an op-ed). Please help this important statement get into broadcirculation - pass it on to your networks (faculty, community, MPs,university presidents, unions etc.). You may also wish to write to the Star and Globe and express your dismay that they have chosen not to publish it.


Jewish Canadians Concerned about Suppression of Criticism ofIsrael

We are Jewish Canadians concerned about all expressions of racism, anti-Semitism, and social injustice. We believe that the Holocaust legacy "Never again" means never again for all peoples. It is a tragic turn of history that the State of Israel, with its ideals of democracy and its dream of being a safe haven for Jewish people, causes immeasurable suffering and injustice to the Palestinian people.

We are appalled by recent attempts of prominent Jewish organizations and leading Canadian politicians to silence protest against the State of Israel. We are alarmed by the escalation of fear tactics. Charges that those organizing Israel Apartheid Week or supporting an academic boycott of Israel are anti-Semites promoting hatred bring the anti-Communist terror of the1950s vividly to mind. We believe this serves to deflect attention fromIsrael's flagrant violations of international humanitarian law. B'nai Brith and the Canadian Jewish Congress have pressured university presidents and administrations to silence debate and discussion specificallyregarding Palestine/Israel.

In a full-page ad in a national newspaper, B'naiBrith urged donors to withhold funds from universities because "anti-Semitic hate fests" were being allowed on campuses. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff have echoed these arguments. While university administrators have resisted demands to shut down Israel Apartheid Week, some Ontario university presidents have bowed to this disinformation campaign by suspending and fining students, confiscating posters, and infringing on free speech. We do not believe that Israel acts in self-defense. Israel is the largest recipient of US foreign aid, receiving $3 million/day. It has the fourth strongest army in the world. Before the invasion of Gaza on 27 December 2008, Israel's siege had already created a humanitarian catastrophe there,with severe impoverishment, malnutrition, and destroyed infrastructure. It is crucial that forums for discussion of Israel's accountability to theinternational community for what many have called war crimes be allowed toproceed unrestricted by specious claims of anti-Semitism.

We recognize that anti-Semitism is a reality in Canada as elsewhere, and weare fully committed to resisting any act of hatred against Jews. At the sametime, we condemn false charges of anti-Semitism against student organizations, unions, and other groups and people exercising their democratic right to freedom of speech and association regarding legitimatecriticism of the State of Israel.

Signatories: Abigail Bakan, Adam Balsam, Sharon Baltman, Julia Barnett, Lainie Basman, Jody Berland, Sam Blatt, Geri Blinik, Anita Block, Elizabeth Block, SheilaBlock, Hannah Briemberg, Mark Brill, Stephen Brot, Meyer Brownstone, ElizaBurroughs, Smadar Carmon, Gyda Chud, Charles P. Cohen, Nathalie Cohen, David Copeland, Natalie Zemon Davis, Eliza Deutsch, James Deutsch, Judith Deutsch,Abbe Edelson, Jack Etkin, Elle Flanders, Danielle Frank, Ursula Franklin,Dan Freeman-Maloy, Miriam Garfinkle, Alisa Gayle, Jack Gegenberg, MarkGolden, Brenda Goldstein, Sue Goldstein, Cy Gonick, Marnina Gonick, RachelGotthilf, Amy Gottleib, Kevin A. Gould, Daina Green, Lisa FrancesGreenspoon, Ricardo Grinspun, Cathy Gulkin, Rachel Gurofsky, DeboranGuterman, Yesse Gutman, Freda Guttman, Judy Haiven, Michael Hanna-Fein, JeanHanson, Jan Heynen, Maria Heynen, Adam Hofmann, Jake Javanshir, JeannieKamins, Marylin Kanee, Howard S. Kaplan, Gilda Katz, Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta,Mira Khazzam, Bonnie Sher Klein, Mark Klein, Martin Klein, Naomi Klein, Joshua Katz-Rosene, Ryan Katz-Rosene, Judy Koch, Anton Kuerti, Jason Kunin, Aaron Lakoff, Michael Lambek, Natalie LaRoche, Richard Borshay Lee, AndyLehrer, Gabriel Levin, Gabriel Levine, Joel Lexchin, Kim Linekin, AbbyLippman, Lee Lorch, Martin Lukacs, Audrey Macklin, Elise Maltin, RichardMarcuse, Wayne Mark, Gabor Mate, Arthur Milner, Anna Miransky, Dorit Naaman,Joanne Naiman, Neil Naiman, Michael Neumann, David-Marc Newman, David Noble,Clare O¹Connor, Robin Ostow, Andre W. Payant, Jenny Peto, Simone Powell,Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Fabienne Presentey, Yacov Rabkin, Diana Ralph, Naomi Rankin, Judy Rebick, Ester Reiter, Jillian Rogin, Richard Roman,Joseph Rosen, Herman Rosenfeld, Martha Roth, Marty Roth, Ruben Roth, E.Natalie Rothman, B. Sack, Ben Saifer, Miriam Sampaio, Jacob Scheir, FredSchloessinger, Alan Sears, Shlomit Segal, Edward H. Shaffer, NoaShaindlinger, Ray Shankman, Eva Sharell, Elliot Shek, Sid Shniad, MaxSilverman, Samuel Singer, Elizabeth Solloway, Susan Starkman, Greg Starr,Jonathan Sterne, Jeremy Stolow, Rhonda Sussman, Vera Szoke, Joe Tannenbaum, Howard Tessler, Marion Traub-Werner, Ceyda Turan, Sandra Tychsen, CherylWagner, Jon McPhedran Waitzer, David Wall, Naomi Binder Wall, Kathy Wazana,Karen Weisberg, Barry Weisleder, Paul Weinberg, Judith Weisman, SuzanneWeiss, Abraham Weizfeld, Ernie Yacub, B.H. Yael, Yedida Zalik, Melvin Zimmerman

Conservatives Attempting to Kill Student Movement

Ontario Progressive Conservative Campus Association organizing Conservatives to attack OPIRG through devious means

March14, 2009Leaked Tape Exposes Tories Sponsoring Student Government Takeovers And Attacks On Non-Profit Organizations at campuses across OntarioAudio files, photos and transcripts leaked to the websitehttp://wikileaks.org/ has exposed the Ontario ProgressiveConservative Campus Association (OPCCA) as hosting workshopsdedicated to teaching Campus Conservatives how to take over studentgovernments and defeat perceived enemies including the OntarioPublic Interest Research Group (OPIRG) and the Canadian Federationof Students (CFS). These files and photos, gathered from a series of workshopsoccurring in early 2009 on campuses across Ontario, provideevidence that, with the apparent support of representatives fromboth the Ontario Progressive Conservatives and the ConservativeParty of Canada, the OPCCA is attempting to covertly influence thepolitical climate of Ontarios university campuses.

Presenters and participants are caught on tape advocating for thecreation of front groups for the Conservative Party to masqueradeas non-partisan grassroots organizations, influencing the politicaldiscourse on campus, stacking student elections with Party members,and conspiring to defeat non-profit organizations because ofpolitical differences, all with the intention of hiding theiraffiliations to the Party in the process. This apparent attempt by the Conservative to interfere with studentgovernance and undermine non-profit organizations is ethicallytroubling. We urge students, journalists, and citizens alike totake action on this issue and keep our campuses free from influence-peddling by political parties so as to uphold a strong and healthyforum for democracy.

York University 50th Anniversay

York is turning fifty,
time to advertise all over the city
But this year, I will celebrate with pity
Because this isn’t the greatest university.
You think this institution is nothing but amazing
Let’s expose the challenges students are truly facing.
York hides the things it should be ashamed for
Advertise itself from Keele Street to the Bookstore.
I walk around this campus and all I see
Is a money hungry corporate, media machine.
Fifty thousand students suffered during the strike
While our Admin witnessed a payment hike
And all of sudden it’s YFS that’s disliked?
Instead of bargaining responsibly with our TAs
York squealed through the easy way.
You better not have morals or a single perception
Don’t you even dare have ideas of expression
This institution is committed to nothing but oppression
Silencing student activists and drowning them in depression.
When selected students were attacked through racial remarks
These students were ignored and were left in the dark
And the culprits responsible had a day in the park.
When a “No Sweat Policy” was simply asked forIt took three days for the message to get through the glass doors.
When we use Vari Hall as student space because there is a strong message we want to convey
We are responded with threats of having it taken away.
When students are harassed and filmed without permission
York says this behavior is allowed and makes no diplomatic decision.
I am sorry York, for sounding so cold
But it is the truth that must unfold
Maybe when you turn 100, good stories will be told I can tell my grandchildren,
when I am old
That my University was one that was better than gold.
I can give them an explanation that’s reasonable and plausible
To say that it was at York, I redefined the impossible.

-S.D.

Ontario NDP Leadership

Well, the Leadership Convention has come and gone. After Howard Hampton has stepped down, we had a four way race between Peter Tabuns, Andrea Horwath, Michael Prue and Gilles Bisson. It was an exciting race, despite what the media might have covered, or didn't cover for that matter. In the end Andrea Howrath, from Hamilton won the leadership race. We will see in the coming years, or months, if this is the change we need. I wish her the best of luck. I was supporting another candidate myself, but am pretty glad to see Bisson was not the winner at least, that would have been disasterous if a DINO (Dipper In Name Only) won. Now, the real fun begins.

Song on How I feel Today

Off to Hamilton...

Jewish Tribune Attacks the Z-Files

Please read the link first . http://www.jewishtribune.ca/TribuneV2/index.php/200903031404/SAIA-activist-is-also-NDP-representative-at-York-University.html

Well, it appears this blog is famuous now. Part of me knows full well that they are printing an article about an individual student at York University because they consider me a threat to their cause. Indeed, the BDS movement is growing rapidly. That they would take time to look at my personal blog is somewhat strange and creepy quite frankly to me, but I put this information out there, so that's what it is like putting one's face out there in politics and in public spaces. It is still strange that a newspaper would go out of it's way to discredit a student at a University.

Their conclusions are false, no doubt. Guy is also member of NDP goes to York. Guy is also anti-Zionist at York, therefore this reflects the NDP as a whole! They are writing, in short, about nothing, connecting two things I am passionate about without any real basis. I am one individual within the NDP, and I am one individual within the NDP@YorkU. It is nothing but an attempt to draw lines together that don't exist and continue the groupthink that is being perpetuated here. I am also a broadcaster at CHRY 105.5FM at York...should this newspaper be publishing an article that CHRY 105.5FM is anti-Israeli by default? It says more about them than me, so I am not going to bother too much in reply.

As for the last statement, it is categorically false. The 'opinions' that I took down were not recent as I did this almost a year ago. I had a long list of Canadian blogs linked on the left-hand side of this blog, from all political perspectives. I took that list down because I felt many of them were far right-wing, racist and border-line fascist to be quite honest. Either way, I find something disturbing about a newspaper going out of it's way to defame a student by using quotes from his personal blog.

I make no apology for being a New Democrat, as I am a Left of Center individual I know not where else I would be in the political party spectrum. As for being a supporter of Sid Ryan, damn right and I am proud to support George Galloway and I'd like to see him come here and debate the people who try to defame me. Nothing can defeat those who follow the truth and no intimidation will move me on this issue, whether it be faulty attacking ads in propogandistic papers or people following me around on campus.

Israeli Apartheid Week article - Let it Begin!

By Judy Rebick and Alan Sears |

March 1, 2009 PrintEmailDiscussWrite to editor Support rabble As Israeli Apartheid Week gets underway, there is a major campaign currently underway to deny freedom of expression on campus to those in solidarity with Palestine on the basis of alleged anti-Semitism.

The Equity Office at Carleton University banned the Israeli Apartheid Week poster and the Provost issued a statement that threatened students with expulsion. B'nai Brith took out newspaper ads calling on University Presidents to "prevent Israeli apartheid week" in order to "take a stand against anti-Semitism on campus." This builds on a pattern established last year, when McMaster University banned the use of the term "Israeli apartheid" (eventually rescinding the ban) and the University of Toronto cancelled room bookings for a Palestine solidarity student conference.

The argument that criticism of Israel is inherently anti-Semitic rests on the notion that Israel is singled out for undue criticism because it is a Jewish state. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney used this logic when he said recently, "We do see the growth of a new anti-Semitism predicated on the notion that the Jews alone have no right to a homeland."

This statement is only legitimate if we completely ignore the situation of the Palestinians, the residents of the land Israel claimed as a "Jewish homeland." The recent assault on Gaza, in which more than 1,300 Palestinians were killed, including at least 346 children, is just the latest in an ongoing saga of displacement, occupation and dehumanization dating back to 1948. Critics of Israel are not singling it out for undue criticism, but merely holding it to the same standards as all other nations in such areas as respect for human rights and international law.

Defenders of Israeli policy routinely attempt to direct our attention to abuses happening in other places and insist that a hidden agenda must underlie any focus on Israeli brutality in this unjust world. This argument would lead to paralysis in human rights activism by claiming that one must address all cases at once, or only the "worst" cases. Should we have told Rosa Parks, who refused to go the back of a segregated bus in Alabama in 1955, to quit whining as conditions were even worse in South Africa, or colonized Kenya, or for that matter for Palestinians in refugee camps?

The deployment of anti-Semitism as an accusation to silence criticism of Israel is also a serious setback in genuine struggles against anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination. It is based on a claim that the State of Israel is the single outcome of the history of the Jewish people, the final end of generations of diasporic existence. It attempts to make the Zionist project of a Jewish nation the only legitimate project for all Jews.

This nationalist project has largely marginalized Jewish universalism, which argued that the future of a minority, diasporic community depended on winning widespread freedoms that applied to all members of society. That meant that in Canada, for example, the Jewish population was historically very active in struggles for a wide range of social rights and against the idea of Canada as a Christian nation.

The misuse of equity claims to silence Palestinian voices is a setback in the advancement of a human rights agenda. Further, it is a dangerous strategy that makes critics of the State of Israel into enemies of the Jewish people despite themselves. It even casts those of us who are Jewish allies of Palestinian rights as enemies in the battle against anti-Semitism. Further, it disarms us in the face of anti-Semitic incidents, weakening the credibility of organizations that have used the term too broadly and blurred the line between opposition to the State of Israel and anti-Jewish prejudice.

Anti-Semitism has no place in the Palestine solidarity movement and as Jews in that movement we can attest to the fact that the leadership of the Palestinian rights movement and many Arab and Muslim communities are actively addressing anti-Semitism wherever it raises its ugly head. On the other hand, false claims of anti-Semitism from pro-Israeli groups undermines their cause and creates more polarization, fear and anger around these issues than there needs to be.


Judy Rebick and Alan Sears are both university professors and Jews in solidarity with Palestine.