| What
is it about this country that prevents
people from facing reality.
Why is it, for instance, that the
authorities ignore the excesses of the
Left, while any similar actions of the
Right would result in outrage?
For the most part we can blame what
the Germans call Der Zeitgeist, or the
Spirit of the Times. On the West Coast,
for instance, a riot against the
Canadian Free Speech League in the
Vancouver Public Library excited only
yawns. But if rightists had rioted
against the Left or against B’Nai
Brith, the event would have scorched the
front pages of the nation’s press. TV
pundits and editorialists would have
viewed with brow-wrinkling alarm, and
cartoonists would have had a field day
drawing swastikas.
The riot in question took place last
September 29th, as I attempted to raise
funds for my court challenge to the B.C.
Human Rights Act, under which I have
twice been hauled before kangaroo court
tribunals. About 150 invading leftists
— scum to a man, and woman — howled
for the blood of gladiators Doug
Christie and myself, while two dozen
policemen and six library security
guards could not control them as they
wrecked the affair. Bedlam had nothing
on it. Yet no charges were laid. Which,
these days, is par for the course, the
Zeitgeist being what it is. But the real
story is what the library did or did not
do about it.
Multiculters, Jews (if it isn’t
anti-Semitic to say so!) Communists and
Socialists screamed that “hate
groups” like the Free Speech League
should not be allowed to darken the
library doors, and never mind that the
title of my talk was “The NDP’s
Attack on Free Speech — a reference to
that party’s appalling Human Rights
Code that permits Premier Ujjal Dosanjh
and Co. to go after anyone who tells a
Newfie joke.
In response, the library board held a
public forum in April to test opinion as
to whether people like the League should
be able to rent library premises.
Needless to say, Mary Woo-Sims was
there, she being the leather-jacketed
Lesbian who heads the Human Rights
Commission. So was Alan Dutton, the
leftist who gets $100,00 a year in
government grants to plead the multicult
cause and who told the CBC that he would
continue to oppose with force any
“so-called free speech meetings”.
To its credit, the library board did
not entirely collapse in the face of
this attack. But it stated that renters
would have to agree not to contravene
the Criminal Code or the Human Rights
Act of British Columbia while holding
meetings. |
This
was more than passing strange, since one
might conclude from that that the League
had done so.
So I wrote back to point out that if
anyone had contravened the code it was
the rioters. Why didn’t the Library
Board say so? And why was the riot not
condemned? As for not contravening the
Rights Act, could any speaker guarantee
not to tell a Newfie joke?
Mr. Christie also took pen in hand.
He wanted to know why the library had
not announced that the law regarding
peaceful assembly would be enforced.
“Is it your policy,” he asked,
“that if someone screamed and shouted
at a person reading a book you would not
have them evicted from the property? I
doubt it. More than likely you would
call the police and the person would be
arrested for causing a disturbance. Why
would the same principle not apply to
protection of the right of peaceful
assembly...?
He went on to deal with the silly
ruling regarding the Human Rights Act,
pointing out that it is under challenge
in the courts, and that people should
instead be asked to “maintain and
uphold the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms, specifically freedom of
speech, thought, belief, opinion and
freedom of assembly.These are equally
important values, which apparently you
are not prepared to maintain with the
same strict requirements.”
“All in all,” concluded Mr.
Christie, “the policy you have
adopted, in the long run, seems inclined
to gradually squeeze from public
discussion and discourse those who are
vilified by the extreme left-wing in
Canada.”
It is doubtful that the Library Board
will provide any substantive answers to
our questions because our points are
unanswerable. Instinctively, the Board
recognizes where the power lies,
especially in B.C., which is why I will
not try to speak in the library again.
Does that mean that the scum have
won? No. They haven’t managed to
control the Internet, and it is to be
hoped that they don’t yet control the
courts. Also, an election is due next
year in which the NDP will disappear
down the drain of iniquity.
But for the time being the Zeitgeist
prevails. He blows with the wind,
however, and the wind can change.
Meanwhile, it is up to all freedom
lovers to make sure it does. |
