Very well written as always. Thank you for pointing out the social dangers of these divisive actions. That said, I believe you are confusing apples with oranges or, strenuously trying to avoid where there is a commonality between the two. I do not believe BDS is the core of what we are facing. What we are dealing with in terms of core, background organization, funding and ideology is militant Islamism. This is endorsed and encouraged by other players in a continuing broad spectrum effort to undermine Western values and society. It is a test to see just how vulnerable we are in Canada - and we are, very - and to see just how far we can be pushed using Gaza and Palestinians as the front for their probing. The BDS movement is simply an early manifestation of the same aggressive assault on western society.
If we are going to be able to counter this we must be able to recognize what we are dealing with and to forcefully call it out. It is a multi nation ideological assault on the West, in our current situation in the guise of aggressive Islamism.
We have to be careful to call out divisive conduct without unfairly stereotyping an entire faith or our fellow citizens. I know you are not suggesting this, but it is a critical balance that we have to try and strike. This is why calling out and limiting the reach of groups that promote intolerance or even violence is one important step. I wrote this because I have watched BDS grow despite the official condemnations from the PM and from Parliament itself. Thanks.
Thanks for the response. I think I understand what you are trying to do but suggest, until we start clearly seeing and calling out one of the real challenges we face we will continue to stumble about in the semi dark, something we have allowed ourselves to do for too long. Islam is one of the world’s major religions, which many of our fellow Canadians practise and we are not calling it out by recognizing Islamism, a distinctly different creature, one of extremism and societal disruption and dominance. The ideological movement behind and funding the few organizer groups in Canada, Samidoun for one, behind these recent hateful and socially destabilizing , Gaza labelled, disruptions here, and throughout the West, is the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist entity that most Muslim countries want nothing to do with. Nor should we tolerate or mask their actions and existence. Doing so leaves us extremely vulnerable and open to further attack - another manifestation of the ‘broken windows’ reality.
You have clearly put a great deal of thought into the development of the BDS movement you address and I would expect the Brotherhood is not far back in the shadows behind that movement. Islamist ideology has no place in democratic, Western societies. Practitioners of modern Islam do.
I fear our complacent society, with its much touted by our political leadership values of tolerance, multiculturalism, diversity, too open immigration etc., is blindly walking into the situations we now see in many European countries. The Islamists clearly recognize our weakness and will exploit it. The Chinese and Russians will happily cheers them on in their efforts to destabilize our culture and society.
Again, thanks for your columns, we look forward to them.
We talk democracy but work towards something else. Canadian governments have not demonstrated themselves worthy caretakers of the principles of freedom of thought. It believes it needs to lead all Canadians thinking and invests a lot of money to do that. It’s a fundamental distrust of a citizens ability to reason through an issue.
You’re tackling a very difficult idea in the balance of democracy. How one objectively defines damage to the economy or intimidation is dangerously complex. Its potential for misapplication is high and the history of government policy in this regard is poor.
When you live in a community like Canada, you need to speak with volume to get past the sleepy apathy of citizens. I suspect this was in the mind of some of the trucker protesters. I didn’t support their position but I supported their democratic action.
Our democracy needs this Difficult discussion so that it can evolve. Our government should be representing the values of Canadians not its leader.
Excellent essay. All Canadians need to read and understand this issue. “First they came for…..”
Very well written as always. Thank you for pointing out the social dangers of these divisive actions. That said, I believe you are confusing apples with oranges or, strenuously trying to avoid where there is a commonality between the two. I do not believe BDS is the core of what we are facing. What we are dealing with in terms of core, background organization, funding and ideology is militant Islamism. This is endorsed and encouraged by other players in a continuing broad spectrum effort to undermine Western values and society. It is a test to see just how vulnerable we are in Canada - and we are, very - and to see just how far we can be pushed using Gaza and Palestinians as the front for their probing. The BDS movement is simply an early manifestation of the same aggressive assault on western society.
If we are going to be able to counter this we must be able to recognize what we are dealing with and to forcefully call it out. It is a multi nation ideological assault on the West, in our current situation in the guise of aggressive Islamism.
We have to be careful to call out divisive conduct without unfairly stereotyping an entire faith or our fellow citizens. I know you are not suggesting this, but it is a critical balance that we have to try and strike. This is why calling out and limiting the reach of groups that promote intolerance or even violence is one important step. I wrote this because I have watched BDS grow despite the official condemnations from the PM and from Parliament itself. Thanks.
Thanks for the response. I think I understand what you are trying to do but suggest, until we start clearly seeing and calling out one of the real challenges we face we will continue to stumble about in the semi dark, something we have allowed ourselves to do for too long. Islam is one of the world’s major religions, which many of our fellow Canadians practise and we are not calling it out by recognizing Islamism, a distinctly different creature, one of extremism and societal disruption and dominance. The ideological movement behind and funding the few organizer groups in Canada, Samidoun for one, behind these recent hateful and socially destabilizing , Gaza labelled, disruptions here, and throughout the West, is the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist entity that most Muslim countries want nothing to do with. Nor should we tolerate or mask their actions and existence. Doing so leaves us extremely vulnerable and open to further attack - another manifestation of the ‘broken windows’ reality.
You have clearly put a great deal of thought into the development of the BDS movement you address and I would expect the Brotherhood is not far back in the shadows behind that movement. Islamist ideology has no place in democratic, Western societies. Practitioners of modern Islam do.
I fear our complacent society, with its much touted by our political leadership values of tolerance, multiculturalism, diversity, too open immigration etc., is blindly walking into the situations we now see in many European countries. The Islamists clearly recognize our weakness and will exploit it. The Chinese and Russians will happily cheers them on in their efforts to destabilize our culture and society.
Again, thanks for your columns, we look forward to them.
We talk democracy but work towards something else. Canadian governments have not demonstrated themselves worthy caretakers of the principles of freedom of thought. It believes it needs to lead all Canadians thinking and invests a lot of money to do that. It’s a fundamental distrust of a citizens ability to reason through an issue.
You’re tackling a very difficult idea in the balance of democracy. How one objectively defines damage to the economy or intimidation is dangerously complex. Its potential for misapplication is high and the history of government policy in this regard is poor.
When you live in a community like Canada, you need to speak with volume to get past the sleepy apathy of citizens. I suspect this was in the mind of some of the trucker protesters. I didn’t support their position but I supported their democratic action.
Our democracy needs this Difficult discussion so that it can evolve. Our government should be representing the values of Canadians not its leader.
Thanks for this piece, Erin. That was an excellent debate in Parliament. Respectful engagement. Love to see more of that.