This is an article about the attack by a provincial government in Canada on a media outlet. Please note this is not an endorsement of Ezra Levant or his media outlet.
The New Democratic Party in Alberta is attacking The Rebel. The NDP is a left wing party. The Rebel speaks from the right. Those who dislike their views call them alt-right. For the life of me I have no idea what that is supposed to mean other than a dog-whistle to suggest this is a far right, white supremacist, xenophobic, Islamophobic outlet.
A little history.
It was Ezra Levant who years ago gave us the concept of Ethical Oil. That Canadians should produce our own oil, support our own citizens in Alberta rather than purchase oil from countries like Saudi Arabia
Ezra Levant was also attacked for sharing the Danish cartoons of Mohammed. The cartoons that led to a terror attack on Charlie Hebdo. I hope you have not forgotten.
Mohamed Elmasry, leader of the Canadian Islamic Congress, told the Globe and Mail at that time that his organization would seek to have charges laid against the magazine under Canada’s laws against distributing hate literature. Hate literature? Cartoons are to be labeled hate? They are hateful in Islam. But we are not a theocracy. We are a democracy. Or we were until we allowed the term Islamopbia to silence us.
Levant was taken to the Human Rights Tribunal by Calgary Muslim leader, Syed Soharwardy, president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada, who accused Levant of illegal “discrimination” for republishing the Danish cartoons of Mohammed in 2006. After 2 years and $100,000.00 the charges against him were dropped. His magazine, Western Standard went out of business.
Looking back, are you not ashamed for not standing with Ezra?
The left believed, then and now, that we must not ruffle the feathers of Islam. As written by SUSAN G. COLE in Now magazine:
“He (Levant) could have shared those cartoons in a less inflammatory way. So what if they caricature Muhammad in no worse ways than Jesus is sent up in art and commentary? Write about them. The only reason to publish the actual cartoons is to provoke fury. Levant taunted Muslims, in the process trashing good relations in multicultural Canada. He couldn’t imagine mitigating hurt feelings by banding together with moderate Muslim groups.”
Journalists should temper their words for FEAR of hurting feelings?
This was an attempt to silence us. An attempt to shame us for questioning Islam. Has anyone ever shamed you for questioning Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, communism, socialism, Nazism, fascism, or any other “ism”? Have you ever been shamed for commenting on any other ideology or idea or scientific theory? Have you? I’ll answer that rhetorical question for you. NO.
And now, in Canada, we have a government trying to shut down the Rebel because the Rebel questioned the government, just as The Rebel questioned Islam.
I will let Ezra Levant explain. Remember, this is not an endorsement of him or his organization. This is about Free Speech in Canada. Even if you can’t stand his views,you must stand for his right to express them in Canada, in the West, for this is our greatest contribution to culture-FREEDOM from authoritarian government. That is liberal democracy in a nut shell.
From the Ethics of the Fathers: “Rabbi Tarfon used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it.”
