Copyright (c) 1997 - Ingrid
A. Rimland
December 7, 1997
Good Morning from the Zundelsite:
This is Part II of a five-part excerpt condensation of
two days' worth of CHRC hearings May 26-27, 1997 in Toronto, Canada:
I learned a few months back that three Holocaust Promotion Lobby groups
had asked for "intervenor status" in the upcoming CHRC-Zundel
hearings, and that Ernst thought they would be granted intervenor status,
contrary to every rule of fairness.
At that time, I did not understand the purpose of intervenors in courts
or court-like proceedings - as I suspect most people don't - and only now
am I beginning to see just what these "intervenors'" function
is: in essence, a jurisdictional loading of one side's point of view at
the expense of the other.
Below you hear defense attorney Christie speak, defining the theoretical
function and purpose of intervenors, and raising some interesting questions
for students who will study these proceedings in the years to come for the
Kangaroo Courts that they are:
"The purpose of intervenors is to provide, I believe,
a unique perspective from the point of view of somewhat different groups.
If they were all the same, it would simply be repetition."
(...)
"I'm submitting that their unique expertise, if there is any, is not
related to the legal issues either of constitutionality or jurisdiction."
(...)
"When you allow people with intense personal animosity to be a participant
in these issues, that animosity does in fact make the proceedings more long
and arduous, and often causing interruptions, and sometimes even lack of
courtesy, which is of real detriment to the sober and serious deliberation
on matters of public importance."
(...)
"Although there is often animosity in perhaps hearings you deal with,
it's very seldom you invite others with more animosity to join in. They
seldom have much to contribute besides that animosity. And we'll have enough
heat, and we'll need light rather than heat in these proceedings if there's
to be a serious resolution of these rather complex and, I think, important
issues."
Then, speaking of B'nai Brith Canada as one of the intervenors, Christie
goes on to say:
"It's quite clear that time after time, throughout the
history of the last - from 1981 to the present, over 15 years, B'nai Brith
have been aware that their efforts to prosecute and criminalize Mr. Zundel
have failed.
And each and every time that a decision is made that Mr. Zundel either is
not guilty or is not to be prosecuted, they simply demand further prosecution
somewhere else.
And that's the pattern, it's entirely clear. There's no dispute about it,
no answer, no cross-examination, no question about it. That's what they
do.
Why, in those circumstances, should that be a basis for saying they have
an interest?
Immediately after the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the law by which
Mr. Zundel had been prosecuted since 1984, eight years earlier, the B'nai
Brith issued a paid advertisement in the Canadian Jewish News, which demonstrates,
more than anything, their attitude to two things, the law which as far as
they're concerned, is an instrument to get their political will, and when
the courts go against them they simply try again.
And Mr. Zundel, who they clearly hate, probably to the extent of an obsession
- what did they say? Well, 'Help stop Zundel. Ernst Zundel is a hatemonger.'
Stop right there.
Ernst Zundel has never been charged with promoting hatred, and certainly
has never been convicted of any criminal offence, not even publishing false
news, but it doesn't matter.
If a man has been acquitted, exonerated, you keep calling him a thief anyway.
You just say, "He's a thief, he's a thief, he's a thief." Of
course it's defamatory, but they do it all the time.
He's a hatemonger, right? By now, it's been repeated so many times that
everybody believes it, though he's never been charged with that at all,
much less convicted."
(...)
"They go on to say two juries found that Zundel was a fraud and the
holocaut denial is a deceit. Two juries, the Supreme Court of Canada said,
should never have been asked the question."
Christie, to illustrate his point of intense animosity, then goes on to
read from the advertisement:
"'Holocaust denial is but the latest in a series of
deliberate lies which display Jews as master conspirators who pretend to
be victims. These lies incite anti-semitism. They are a warrant for genocide.'
These words, in my submission, are an expression of the incitement of hatred,
all right, of Ernst Zundel and anyone who disagrees with them. It is not
the sign of someone who respects the law, accepts the Court judgments, or
even is temperate in their language."
Next, Christie takes on Sabina Citron of the Holocaust Remembrance Association,
the organization also qualified as intervenor:
"She has told you, or placed before you, information
that Mr. Zundel was convicted in Stuttgart, and if you watch the videotape
of an interview that took place years ago, she was told by none other than
the - on-air, on the videotape, by the Canadian Consul General of Germany
that, yes, Mr. Zundel was acquitted of all those charges. . .
So it's as if the truth doesn't make any difference, she was told by the
highest authority that I could suggest exists. She could have made enquiries
if she wished. She was told by Mr. Zundel he was not found guilty, and
she simply carries on with the same accusation on behalf of this organization.
And in my submission, it demonstrates a malice so oblivious of facts, so
intense and so obsessive in nature, that it doesn't matter what the truth
is, she pursues a personal goal at the expense of both reason and impartiality.
Such a person really, and such an organization, brings to bear nothing but
that animosity all over again she demonstrated in the materials she brought
before you."
(...)
"Why should they come before this Tribunal and be entitled to participate
in fighting against the man they hate so much again?
This should not be a forum for venting personal animosity, but it should
be a forum for serious consideration of the well-being (of) all citizens,
both German and Jew, both Gentile and Jew, by this Tribunal whose main interest
is to uphold the rights of all cultural groups, without animonsity for any
individual.
Even if it were true that Mr. Zundel had erred and strayed from the path
of correct behaviour in terms of speech, the ultimate objective, as the
statue itself said, is not punishment, we're not here to vent hate against
Mr. Zundel even if he was wrong. The ultimate objective of this Tribunal,
I understand, as all the authorities have said, would be to rectify his
behaviour and to get him to conform with the correct view of the method
of expressing his opinion.
But why allow the participation of persons who hate so much that they pursued
this man for 15 years, and joined with people who would use whatever means
is necessary, including violence, to kill him?
Should this Tribunal enhance its reputation by allowing participation from
such people, or would it lead to the discrediting of the proceedings and
the Tribunal itself?
Thank you for hearing me."
To no one's great surprise, all three would-be "intervenors" have
been granted official intervenor status. They are: The Canadian branch
of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, B'nai Brith Canada, and the Holocaust Remembrance
Association, founded by Sabina Citron, one of the Complainants in these
hearings. ( Late word: A fourth, the Canadian Jewish Congress, was given
Intervenor status last week. )
There are no intervenors on Ernst Zundel's side.
Not that he didn't try - but none of the "free speech" advocates,
so far, could be recruited. They all want free speech, but ". . .
some speech is freer than other", to borrow from George Orwell. We
learned that some of them are helping underwrite the Nizkor site, which
is NOT under siege, even though it carries much of the Zundelsite material.
That is "equality", Canadian style?
Tomorrow, you will learn about the nature of the so-called "intervenors"
and who turns out to be their fellow travellers.
Ingrid
Thought for the Day:
"An 'anti-semite' may or may not hate Jews. But he is certainly hated
by Jews. . . Such are the rules. I violate them, in a way, even by spelling
them out."
(Sobran's, September 1995, p. 4)
Comments? E-Mail: irimland@cts.com
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