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----- Original Message -----
From:
Paul Fromm
Sent: Wednesday, October 13,
2004 3:37 PM
Subject: COTLER DECLARES WAR ON
THE INTERNET
CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION
Dear Free Speech Supporter:
Canada's Justice Minister and former Canadian Jewish Congress head, Irwin Cotler has declared war on freedom of speech on the Internet. The NATIONAL POST article below makes it clear that he intends to introduce even more repressive legislation aimed at curbing "hate" on the Internet.
Of course, Cotler's former head role in the CJC ought to disqualify him as Judstice Minister. He is so obvoiously a partisan. The CJC has led the pack in German-bashing by seeking the deportation of feeble old Germans (and Slavs) for long-forgotten and minor roles on the losing side in WW II. From our point of view equally bad is the CJC's fanatical opposition to free thought and free expression. From the 1930s, they persistently lobbied for "hate" legislation, a goal they finally achieved with Pierre Trudeau's notorious "hate" law of 1971. They have been vociferous cheerleaders for repressive anti-free speech provisions of varoious provincial and federal human rights acts. They and other Jewish lobby groups like the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre and the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith have lobbied mightily for the throttling of free speech on the Internet.
Don't let the prattle about "hate" fool you. "Hate" is anything or any criticism a privileged minority doesn't like. Criticize the homosexual behaviour as immoral, disgusting or contrary to the law of God, as you read it in your scriptures, and you'll be accused of "hate". Criticize Canada's suicidal immigration policy which will, over 50 years, lead to the ethnic cleansing and replacement of the European founder/settler people of this once great Dominion and you'll be labelled as a "hatemonger."
It's whom you criticize that matters. If you're a Liberal MP, like the snarling Carolyn Parrish, you can say, "Americans, I hate those bastards!" and you won't be charged with or even accused of "hate". And, of course, you can bash Christians, Germans, Slavs and Whites in general and the powers that be won't point a finger at you and accuse you of "hate".
Shutting dissent out of the most open and accessible medium in the world -- the Internet -- has been a decade-long goal of the forces of repression and censorship in this country and Irwin Cotler is their boy.
Cotler's comments about cyberterrorism are nonsense. It was poorly screened immigrants in Canada -- the Sikh bombers of Air India in 1986 -- and the U.S. -- the 19 Arabs who attacked the World Trade Centre -- not the Internet who perpetrated terrorism.
Amazingly, for a man plotting to make war on Internet users, Cotler is a computer illiterate. Tracey Tyler, writing her article "Life and Crimes of Irwin Cotler: Former Firebrand Now Justice Minister," (TORONTO STAR, April 14, 2004) reveals: "Cotler admits he has no clue how e-mails or computers work."
Okay, so what are you prepared to do about it? The particulars of the legislation have not yet been tabled. Now, today, is the time to let your MP know that this is a make-or-break issue for you. If your MP is a Liberal phone his office today and follow up with a letter. Make it plain: If Cotler seeks to throttle the Internet, you will not be voting Liberal, even if the other choices are a mad dog, the village idiot and the town drunk.
If your MP is a member of the Opposition, let him know you expect him to speak up and oppose this legislation. Hands off the Internet! If he doesn't, let him know that this is a make-or-break issue and you'll be voting against him in the next election.
If you care about freedom, YOUR freedom to post and read the views of others on the Internet, you must speak up TODAY, while further restrictions against free thought are still in their infancy.
Paul Fromm
Director
CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION
October 12, 2004
OTTAWA - The federal government is preparing to introduce a sweeping round of legislation that would combat the "explosion" of hate sites on the Internet and outlaw human trafficking, Canada's Justice Minister says. Irwin Cotler also wants to encourage more police departments across Canada to set up their own special hate crimes squads and for those squads to work together more closely and better co-ordinate their efforts. "We have to send out the message unequivocally, as a government and as part of our shared citizenship and shared values, that our Canada is one in which there will be no sanctuary for hate and no refuge for bigotry," he said in an interview. "We will use all the panoply of remedies to bring that about. Legal remedies, intercultural dialogue, promotion of multiculturalism, anti-discrimination law and policy. A national action plan against racism." This year has seen an increase in "both the incidence and intensity of hate crimes," said Mr. Cotler, including the firebombing of the Talmud Torah Jewish day school library in Montreal and the torching of a mosque near Toronto. While he says Canada has "the most comprehensive legal regime to combat hate of any comparable democracy," he says Canada can do more -- particularly when it comes to the Internet. "Where in 1995 you had one hate site, today in 2004, 10 years later, we have 5,000 hate sites. You have had an explosion of hate on the Internet." Traditionally, Canadian legislators have been reluctant to tackle Internet content because the Web's international nature makes it difficult for any country to enforce its laws. Canada must work with other nations, Mr. Cotler says. In addition to adopting domestic legislation to fight "cyber hate," Mr. Cotler said Canada has to ratify the Council of Europe convention on cyber crime as well as its optional protocol with respect to combatting hate. Countries who adhere to the convention enter a framework agreement concerning information sharing and law enforcement, creating what Mr. Cotler describes as "a culture of human rights to combat a culture of hate." The Organization of American States has made combatting hate a priority, as have justice ministers from G8 countries, he said. At a meeting of G8 justice ministers in Washington last May they decided to attack cyber crime, "which is really cyber hate and cyber terrorism and cyber pornography," Mr. Cotler said. Combatting hate on the Internet is just one of the steps Canada has to take, Mr. Cotler said. "We need to ensure that we've got anti-hate units for investigative and enforcement purposes in federal policing and security forces across this country." As for human trafficking, Mr. Cotler called it "the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world" that is a $10-billion criminal industry globally. The problem is now so extensive that an estimated one million people are being trafficked around the world as part of the new phenomenon of ''trans-national crime.'' ''Trafficking in persons, [is what] I have also called the new global slave trade, because what we are talking about here is literally the bartering and bonding of women and children and it has collateral violations in terms of sexual assault.'' The key to combatting the trade is to break the linkages between source countries, transit countries and countries of destination, Mr. Cotler said. (Montreal Gazette)
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