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The Métropolitain The Global Village
The Métropolitain

The Global Village

 

A letter to Delara (DATE DE PARUTION 6 MAI 2009)

By Nazanin Afshin-Jam on June 18, 2009

On May 1st 2009, artist Delara Darabi was executed in the Islamic Republic of Iran after spending almost six years in prison for an alleged offence committed at age 17. She maintained her innocence up until the very end. I am at a loss for words. My heart is empty and my tears are flowing...

La barbe des barbus (DATE DE PARUTION 10 JUILLET 2008)

By Pierre K. Malouf on June 18, 2009

Richard Martineau, le 7 juin, sur le hidjab : « Comme on pouvait le prévoir, l’ineffable Françoise David, ex-féministe qui fait maintenant des courbettes devant les extrémistes religieux (du moins, ceux qui ne sont pas d’obédience catholique, « ouverture » envers les autres communautés oblige), Mme David, donc, applaudit la décision des augustes commissaires à quatre mains [sic]. »

L’avocat du «Diable» (DATE DE PARUTION 27 NOVEMBRE 2008)

By Alain-Michel Ayache on June 18, 2009

Après Maher Arar, c’est au tour de trois autres musulmans… canadiens, Ahmad el-Maati, Muayyed Nureddin et Abdullah Almalki de réclamer des dommages et intérêts au gouvernement du Canada pour des crimes commis contre leurs personnes par des pays dont ils sont originaires, tel la Syrie et l’Égypte.  Ce qui est regrettable, c’est que le contribuable canadien se voit désormais obligé de payer la facture à la place des dictatures du Proche et du Moyen-Orient, tout cela à cause d’un précédent créé par l’affaire Arar!

The Israel ‘Apartheid’ lies (DATE DE PARUTION 19 MARS 2009)

By Beryl Wajsman on June 18, 2009

Recently we witnessed the fifth Israel Apartheid Week manifestations. In cities from Oxford to New York to Montreal we saw the usual collection of Islamist apologists and their fellow-travelers in academic, political and diplomatic circles. These events sought to portray Israel as an apartheid-era South Africa in relation to its Arab citizens...

Global Antisemitism: Assault on Human Rights (DATE DE PARUTION 26 FÉVRIER 2009)

By l'Hon. Irwin Cotler on June 18, 2009

Keynote Address by the Honourable Irwin Cotler at the founding conference of the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism (ICCA) Professor Cotler is the co-founder of ICCA with UK MP John Mann. He is the former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and is the Liberal MP for the Montreal riding of Mount Royal.

Le combat d’Israël pour sa survie, c’est aussi notre combat (DATE DE PARUTION 15 JANVIER 2009)

By Jacques Brassard on June 18, 2009

Pendant quelques instants, envisagez la situation suivante : à partir de Larouche et de St-Bruno, une organisation terroriste lance sur Alma, quotidiennement, des dizaines de roquettes et de missiles et cela, pendant des années. Et ces engins meurtriers sont tirés à l'aveuglette. Ils peuvent tomber n'importe où : sur un centre d'achat, sur une école, sur des résidences, sur une église. N'importe où! Les citoyens d'Alma, vivant dans l'angoisse, sont sans cesse sur le qui-vive, ne disposant que de quelques secondes pour se terrer dans des abris...

Israel n'a pas le choix (DATE DE PARUTION 15 JANVIER 2009)

By Germain Belzile on June 18, 2009

Quelque 7000 obus de mortiers et roquettes tirés sur le territoire d'Israël depuis 2001. Des dizaines de milliers de civils israéliens ciblés par des attaques quotidiennes. Les alertes plus que quotidiennes qui terrorisent les enfants dans leurs écoles et leurs garderies. Quel gouvernement peut tolérer cela ? Depuis sept ans, les brigades d'Al-Aqsa (branche du Fatah), le Djihad islamique et le Hamas se sont armés pour atteindre leur but : détruire l'État d'Israël...

Lettre à Gaza...(DATE DE PARUTION 15 JANVIER 2009)

By Alain-Michel Ayache on June 18, 2009

Pauvre Proche-Orient ! Pauvre Gaza ! Pauvres Palestiniens ! Pauvre peuple en perdition… Comme si le destin continue de s’acharner contre toi pour faire parvenir un message à l’ensemble des pays de la région, et particulièrement à tes « frères » arabes. Qu’à l’instar des leurs, tu ne représentes aux yeux de tes chefs qu’une monnaie d’échange, pire encore, une denrée périssable dont on peut s’en passer… quand tu ne sers pas tout simplement de chair à canon !

Israel is disproportionate.Disproportionately restrained. (DATE DE PARUTION 15 JANVIER 2009)

By David Solway on June 18, 2009

The recent outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Hamas should give us an opportunity to reflect, once again, not only on the current belligerents, but on the role of the obligatory third party to the conflict. I refer to the ground troops of the armies of the liberal-left, aka the Western media, who inevitably tilt the balance of the war they are “covering” in favor of their confederates or, what amounts to the same thing, against the side they reprove. Thus, from the media’s squint-eyed parallax, Hamas is more sinned against than sinning and Israel is either wholly, largely or, at best, equally responsible for the “renewal” of violence in the region...

Kristallnacht: Seventy years later (DATE DE PARUTION 13 NOVEMBRE 2008)

By The Hon. David Kilgour on June 18, 2009

It is a challenge to address the stark issues posed by the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht. One difficulty is that too many in my own spiritual community (Christian) stood by during the worst catastrophe in all of recorded history.There were exceptions-some famous, some virtually unknown—but most Christians in Europe and elsewhere, including Canada, did not do enough to love and care for our Jewish neighbours as ourselves. Another is drawing two effective lessons from the Holocaust of practical use today in Canada and elsewhere...

L’humanitaire versus le terrorisme (DATE DE PARUTION 7 AOÛT 2008)

By Alain-Michel Ayache on June 18, 2009

Deux ans après, presque jour pour jour, le Hezbollah remet les corps des deux soldats israéliens qu’il avait kidnappés lors de son attaque par delà la ligne bleue, en territoire israélien. Une attaque qui avait été à l’origine de la « seconde guerre du Liban » de juillet 2006. Aujourd’hui, les tractations entre le Hezbollah et Israël à travers la médiation allemande, a permis aux Israéliens de rapatrier enfin ces deux corps, en échange d’un grand gain pour le Hezbollah.

Jamais plus! La génocide: soixante ans, trois leçons (DATE DE PARUTION 10 JUILLET 2008)

By l'Hon. Irwin Cotler on June 18, 2009

Cette année c’est la soixantième anniversaire de l’adoption de deux instruments cruciaux dans notre histoire, soit la Convention pour la prévention et la répression du crime de génocide (la « Convention sur le génocide »)—connue comme la Convention « plus jamais »—et la Déclaration universelle des droits de la personne—reconnue comme étant la « magna carta » de l’humanité...

Les réalités propres à Israël (DATE DE PARUTION 10 JUILLET 2008)

By Jean Ouellette on June 18, 2009

À vingt-quatre heures d’intervalle, au son lugubre des mêmes sirènes qui annoncent la chute probable d’un missile ennemi, les Israéliens, à onze heures du matin, et dans tout le pays, se mettent au garde-à-vous et observent deux minutes de silence. La première alarme marque  le souvenir des soldats tombés au combat. La seconde alarme sonne la fin du deuil et le début des réjouissances qui accompagneront, cette année, le soixantième anniversaire d’Israël. Sans transition, comme pour souligner comment la mort et la vie se succèdent d’une génération à l’autre. Une semaine plus tôt, la même sirène avait annoncé le rappelle de la Shoah. L’âme de toute une nation s’exprime dans ce rituel qui interrompt, l’espace d’un moment, le bourdonnement de la vie au quotidien...

Québec and Israel (DATE DE PARUTION 15 MAI 2008)

By Beryl Wajsman on June 18, 2009

Yesterday, the 14th of May, was the 60th anniversary of the independence of the State of Israel. Last week, some 15,000 Montrealers marched downtown to celebrate that event on its date on the Jewish calendar. They were not all Jews. They were from many different religious, creeds and races. What brought them together was a fidelity to the struggle of a small, lone democracy surrounded by a sea of tyranny to remain free. The frontline nation in the family of free nations facing an existential threat from Islamist fundamentalism as dangerous as any other ism western civilization has faced in the past one hundred years. This event should have a special resonation for all Quebecers. Because the best of our institutional memory makes us understand the price of liberty better than many...

Why anti-semitism persists (DATE DE PARUTION 6 MAI 2009)

By David Solway on June 18, 2009

In his 1995 book [1] Assimilation and Its Discontents, Israeli political historian and prolific author Barry Rubin speaks of a time when “anti-Semitism became too minimal to inspire fear or defiance.” Indeed, for both the Israeli sabra and the diaspora Jew, particularly in America, “anti-Semitism’s rout and the acquisition of equality … raises the question of what to do next.” Only a little more than a decade has passed since Rubin wrote those lines but the “question of what to do next” has taken on a completely different complexion. For once again anti-Semitism has returned with a vengeance...

Hate in the streets (DATE DE PARUTION 15 JANVIER 2009)

By Beryl Wajsman on June 18, 2009

 It was the images as much as the issues that got to you. You couldn’t intellectualize in your own mind what you were seeing. You wanted to ask the demonstrators questions. You wanted to ask why they are not protesting the Hamas murder of some 20,000 opponents in Gaza. You wanted to ask them why they had never protested the murders of thousands, tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of Muslims by fellow Muslims in Chechnya, in Iraq, in Somalia and in Darfur...

Principles needed in Canada-China engagement

By The Hon. David Kilgour on May 28, 2009

While in Shanghai recently, Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon correctly noted that Canada can keep its “principled position” on human dignity while pursuing trade with China. Principles and reality, however, should have kept him from saying that his hosts”had made progress” on human rights. He ought to know that basic rights for the most vulnerable among the Chinese people are worsening today...

The New Lilliputians - prohibit now, discuss never

By David T. Jones on May 28, 2009

Washington, DC - There are basic needs for human beings:  the obvious are food; shelter; sex.  And then it becomes complicated for societies where the basics are “givens,” and needs become more abstract.  Are the freedoms enumerated in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (and the U.S. Constitution) “freedoms”—or limitations on the actions that a citizen might take otherwise?

Freedom of speech—but at what point does it become slander?
Freedom of the press—but what are the parameters of libel, let alone “hate” when making such speech?
Freedom of religion—but to practice polygamy, let alone human sacrifice?

A letter to Delara

By Nazanin Afshin-Jam on May 6, 2009

Delara-Darabi.jpgOn May 1st 2009, artist Delara Darabi was executed in the Islamic Republic of Iran after spending almost six years in prison for an alleged offence committed at age 17. She maintained her innocence up until the very end. I am at a loss for words. My heart is empty and my tears are flowing...




They don’t even pretend anymore

By Beryl Wajsman on May 6, 2009

ahmadinejad.jpgThough we can’t be surprised anymore, we still need to condemn. The World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, commonly called Durban 2, concluded recently in Geneva. Durban I, eight years ago, at least had the veneer of civility however quickly disabused by the contents. This year’s incarnation didn’t even pretend. How could it? Two gangster regimes — Iran and Libya — co-chaired and co-organized it. The result was as anticipated. But the date was filled with pathos...

Canada vindicated at Durban II

By Pierre Poilievre on May 6, 2009

We Canadians are often too polite to say, “I told you so.” But 16 months after we told the world that the Durban “anti-racism” conference was anything but, we have been vindicated. Canada was the first nation to pull out of the Durban II conference and to cut off funds for NGO participation. Countries like Italy, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Israel and the United States of America followed us. Many other nations later walked out of the conference when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad poured verbal acid all over Israel, the United States and Europe...

Obama and the art of double speak

By Mischa Popoff on May 6, 2009

obama-freemason.jpgHow does B.H. Obama get away with it? He directed his campaign against George W. Bush, accusing him of taking the United States into an unjust war in Iraq, but now plans to launch a renewed effort in Afghanistan. I’m confused. Aren’t freedom, innocent people’s lives and democracy all worth protecting in both of those countries?



Why anti-semitism persists

By David Solway on May 6, 2009

In his 1995 book [1] Assimilation and Its Discontents, Israeli political historian and prolific author Barry Rubin speaks of a time when “anti-Semitism became too minimal to inspire fear or defiance.” Indeed, for both the Israeli sabra and the diaspora Jew, particularly in America, “anti-Semitism’s rout and the acquisition of equality … raises the question of what to do next.” Only a little more than a decade has passed since Rubin wrote those lines but the “question of what to do next” has taken on a completely different complexion. For once again anti-Semitism has returned with a vengeance...

Canada and Afghanistan

By Jessica Murphy on April 9, 2009

Afghanistan is a mess - increasingly violent, facing major hurdles in development and a severe food shortage - but according to a panel of experts lined up by the Canadian International Council, NATO needs to see its engagement through...

Afghanistan: Women’s rights are human rights

By Beryl Wajsman on April 9, 2009

woman-in-burkabw.jpg

It was a mistake from the beginning to allow the recognition of state faith into Afghanistan’s constitution. It was an even greater error to allow the organization of faith-based political parties. Now the west’s encounter with Afghanistan will be put to an important test. And Canada has a profound role to play.

 Fundamentalist Shia clerics in Afghanistan pushed for the primacy of Sharia law, and exclusivity of it in family law matters. Not satisfied with this, they recently demanded, and obtained passage of what has come to be pejoratively called Afghanistan’s “Rape Law”.


Star Wars Episode VII: Missile Defense

By Akil Alleyne on April 9, 2009

So President Barack Obama has delivered yet another stirring speech to a vast crowd of European well-wishers, this time in Prague, Czech Republic, on April 5th. This time, however, he threw his fans something of a curveball. President Obama made clear that he would not scrap the ongoing development of a nuclear missile defense shield. “As long as the threat from Iran persists,” he declared, “we will go forward with a missile-defense system that is cost-effective and proven.”..

The Israel ‘Apartheid’ lies

By Beryl Wajsman on March 19, 2009

Recently we witnessed the fifth Israel Apartheid Week manifestations. In cities from Oxford to New York to Montreal we saw the usual collection of Islamist apologists and their fellow-travelers in academic, political and diplomatic circles. These events sought to portray Israel as an apartheid-era South Africa in relation to its Arab citizens...

Separatists have a point

By David T. Jones on March 19, 2009

The contretemps over the now aborted recreation of the battle on the Plains of Abraham demonstrates this reality...

World Parliamentary Alliance against Anti-Semitism meets in London

By Beryl Wajsman on February 26, 2009

DSC_3027.jpgOver 100 parliamentarians from 35 different countries gathered in in London from February 15-17th for the founding conference of the International Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (ICCA) hosted by the UK Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

The London Declaration on Combating Antisemitism

By ICCA on February 26, 2009

"I am pleased that the British Foreign Office hosted the founding Summit of the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism. The event brought together 125 MPs from 40 different counties and led to this important/powerful? Declaration that I’m honoured to sign today. So many of the principles it enshrines are already things we are doing here in Britain and while I’m proud of the bold action Britain has taken to combat anti-Semitism such as improved reporting, prosecutions for antisemitic internet hate and the funding of Holocaust Education in schools, there is no room for complacency. Within a month the DCLG are organising for an away day event at Beth Shalom, the Holocaust Centre, to look in detail at how the Government can implement the London Declaration. I encourage other Heads of Government to become signatories to this historic agreement - together our renewed efforts can rid the world of this ancient virus."

The Hon. Jason Kenney’s address at Lancaster House

By Hon. Jason Kenney on February 26, 2009

Mesdames et Messieurs, merci bien pour votre collaboration et j’aimerais commencer en félicitant John et ses collègues pour avoir organisé cet colloque historique et très important...

The curious Canadian care for Khadr

By David T. Jones on February 26, 2009

It must be tedious and frustrating to be a "concerned Canadian."  So many errors to be corrected; so many problems to be resolved; so many wrong directions to be set straight...

Global Antisemitism: Assault on Human Rights

By l'Hon. Irwin Cotler on February 26, 2009

Keynote Address by the Honourable Irwin Cotler at the founding conference of the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism (ICCA)
Professor Cotler is the co-founder of ICCA with UK MP John Mann. 
He is the former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada and is the Liberal MP for the Montreal riding of Mount Royal...

Is it a paradigm shift ?

By David Simard on February 5, 2009

simard_global-village.jpgThe Democrats have retaken the White House after eight long years of soul-searching. I look upon this historic occasion with all the hopes and dreams of my generation. However, to believe that one man can change the world is perhaps dangerous. There are no saviours, but certain politicians can push history in the right direction...



Obama’s Megatrillions for Change

By Robert Presser on February 5, 2009

Many around the world celebrated  as they watched the inauguration festivities in Washington DC.  Barack Obama warned Americans that the challenges they face as a nation are numerous and grave, requiring individual sacrifice and difficult choices to plot a path back to prosperity.  While he spent a few minutes speaking to the world, he avoided asking them for their contribution to America’s renewal; the purchase of $5 trillion of new US debt to cover a half decade of enormous budget deficits.,,