Please read the following excerpt very carefully: (Source: Cyber Law Journal at: http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/98/12/cyber/cyberlaw/18law.html#1)
"Advocates of free expression on the Internet say they are concerned about developments in Western countries, too.
"In Canada, according to Richard S. Rosenberg, vice president of the Electronic Frontier Canada, the government is considering extending national restrictions on hate speech to the Internet. And the European Union is examining proposals that would require Internet service providers to block 'harmful speech,' like sites promoting racism, or hold them accountable by law when they make such information available, said Barry S. Steinhardt, one of the founders of the Global Internet Liberty Campaign, an international organization pressing for free speech rights in cyberspace.
"Free speech advocates oppose such proposals. For one thing, they believe objectionable ideas are best stymied by an intelligent response, not repression.
"'The way you deal with speech like this is to answer it,' said Rosenberg, a professor of computer science at the University of British Columbia, referring to sites that question the existence of the Holocaust. Such sites are one of the chief targets of would-be Internet content regulators.
"'You force the people who hold these views to defend them,' he said."
When Ernst Zundel was shown these statements, he had strong words to say:
"Rosenberg and Steinhardt are paying only lip service to the principle of Freedom of Speech. They should take their own counsel - or else they should not be surprised if we bring them up in the public as intellectual wimps and frauds.
"They are not doing anything of substance that I have ever seen - like petitions, or doing a series of public press conferences, public announcements and speeches etc. That is the sole reason for their existence. They are flying under false colors.
"If they really meant what they mouthed, they would step into the witness box in Toronto in the Zundelsite Tribunal hearings and do exactly what they say they do - defend our rights to speak.
"But they don't have the balls to stand up to the hyenas of the censorship intervenors inside or outside courtrooms. And you can quote me on this..."
As I have pointed out so many times, the traditional "cyber fighter" organizations such as EFC and EFF have feared the "Zundel taint" the way the devil fears the crucifix and have lost valuable time cowardly ignoring the Zundelsite struggle, thinking that it was okay to sacrifice a bit of principle of Freedom of Speech here and there, as long as the victim was a "Nazi".
(For the Politically Correct, a "Nazi" who defends his right to revise his people's history according to science and historical documents is not a human being but a "demon"; you can do anything you like to a "demon". . .}
It seems now at last beginning to dawn at least on some of them that they ***cannot*** have any meaningful freedom of speech if it is taken away from what they like to call "Holocaust Deniers" - just as we have predicted all along. It's all or nothing, folks! Freedom of Speech ***will*** be lost globally on the Internet unless people get together, put their blind spots and prejudices aside and fight the ***real*** censors!
Paul Fromm, a long-time free speech activist, fired for his politically incorrect views from his teaching post, is someone who is different. He stands as intervenor on the side of the principles of free speech in the Zundelsite hearings in Toronto.
Fromm is also, once again, spearheading the drive in Canada against new, repressive laws against Holocaust Revisionists. Fromm is the head of CAFE - the Canadian Association of Free Expression. As such, he is circulating the electronic petition below, to which I urge you to add your name and comments - from anywhere on the globe!
Please, ZGram readers! Get involved! Sign the following petition, which can be found at:
http://www.canadafirst.net/cafe/proposed_hate_law/index.html
This petition and your comments will be presented in ***person*** to Justice Minister Anne McLellan, Liberal M.P.s, and numerous key opposition M.P.s.!
Background:
After secret meetings in 1998 Canada's 10 provincial Attorney Generals and the federal Solicitor General have recommended drafting new laws that would criminalize computer owners, religious groups, conservatives, historians, and anyone who expresses a political opinion. The recommendations are a surrender to minority special-interest groups that have been lobbying for years to restrict free-speech.
These proposals would again expand Canada's notorious "hate law" (Section 319 of the Criminal Code).
New laws would:
* Give police powers to enter your house, search your computer hard-drive, and then seize the computer if in their opinion it contained "hateful material"!
* Add "sexual orientation" to the long list of "special categories" protected under the "hate law". This would criminalize, for example, any opposition by conservative Christians, Moslems and Jews to the homosexual lifestyle. This ominous expansion of protected groups also seems designed to shield child molesters and pedophiles from 'hatred or contempt'.
* Make possession of alleged "hate" material for distribution a criminal offence. This is aimed at throttling groups opposed to imposed bilingualism, wide open immigration, NAFTA, the New World Order, and the homosexual agenda. The fear of possessing newsletters that could lead to criminal charges would persuade individuals and groups not to organize. This is the same type of intimidation used in pre-1988 Russia to stifle any political dissent.
* Overturn laws which our ancestors fought and died to protect by making truth no defence for court-defendants who question historical genocide. As in (Soviet) Russia, this would result in state-sanctioned history. For example if one's research showed that the government approved figure of 1.5 million Irish victims of the 1848 famine was actually closer to 1.3 million, they could be arrested and tried without being allowed to show their evidence in court. Today in repressive regimes like North Korea scholarship and learning stultify as the threat of prison prevents anyone from questioning state-sanctioned history.
(Zundel comment: Add Canada, West Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Holland, etc.!)
"God grants liberty only to those
who love it, and are always ready
to guard and defend it."
- Daniel Webster
Concerned? Sign below!
The names and comments will be presented to Attorney-General Anne McLellan and to Justice critics of the Progressive Conservative party, Reform party, NDP and the Bloc Quebecois.
LET THE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF THIS GROSS INFRINGEMENT OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH!
=====
PETITION QUESTION
I am appalled by recommendations of your department and the 10 provincial Attorney Generals which would criminalize many forms of political dissent and widely-held religious views such as opposition to homosexuality.
These proposals would remove truth as a defence when questioning historical genocides, and allow police to seize computer hard-drives on suspicion they contain "hateful material".
We urge you to toss these totalitarian proposals into the waste basket as they are an affront to all Canadians committed to free speech. They are a disgrace to our nation.
************** PLEASE SEND THIS TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS ALSO, AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO SIGN THE PETITION! **************
And don't forget to check with Electronic Frontier Foundation and Electronic Frontier Canada if they are at least posting this or a similar petition on their websites, or if they are busy holding their proverbial noses...!
Ingrid
Thought for the Day:
"And even if the Mossad smells it, I will not stop, because as a real German I fear God and nothing else on this world."
(Letter to the Zundelsite)
Back to Table of Contents of the Jan. 1999 ZGrams