I have been really, really busy restructuring the Zundelsite, and in just a few days you will be invited to an Open House. I think it looks magnificent, but it's not yet quite ready.
It's been a major undertaking because my brain does not seem to be wired for technical stuff, but it is almost done - with the help of some of the most gifted techno geeks on earth and some loyal financial supporters. What a relief it will be once I can say: "Finis!"
Congratulations for the Zundel victory keep streaming in, and ***not a single letter from any enemy!*** That tells you something about how people view the Zundel struggle - and how Canadians, too, rejoice in Ernst's ever-so-well deserved triumph. He is growing into a real folk hero - this after decades of systematic and vicious media abuse!
The question now remains: What will the Holocaust Enforcers do next? Surely, by now, the brighter ones among them must have gotten the message that beating up on Zundel is not the way to go.
The Zundel Trials of 1985 and 1988 were important, but I think in terms of awareness of the true nature of his struggle, this time around has been far more significant. It has finally seeped into the Canadian psyche that their true enemy is not Ernst Zundel but is, in fact, ***the Enemy of Zundel.*** It's not Ernst Zundel who is usurping freedom of speech and asking Canadians to pay for it! Sharp editorials all over Canada have said as much.
Will the Zundel opposition now put their energies to work on the "Truth is no defence" strategy via Canadian legislation - even though, for now, it has been knocked out of the ring in the ideologically odious and abusive Human Rights Tribunals?
We shall see. We will not be surprised.
Courtesy of the CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION <http://cafe.canadafirst.net> I received the following below. It was written by one Kenneth H.W. Hilborn, Professor Emeritus, Department of History at the University of Western Ontario.
Watch how carefully this (we assume) tenured and quite courageous academician avoids saying either "Jews" or "Holocaust"!
The title is: History Prof. Warns Proposed "Hate" Law Legislation Could Chill Academic Research
TO: The Editor, Western News
FROM: DATE: 13 April 1999
SUBJECT: Letter to the Editor
Dear Sir:
In the most recent issue of the SAFS Newsletter, the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship draws attention to the reported plans of the federal government for a dangerous revision of the Criminal Code with respect to alleged "hate" propaganda. SAFS expresses concern that if the changes apparently being contemplated were adopted, they "would pose a serious threat to freedom of enquiry and discussion in academic institutions."
Perhaps the most outrageous of the changes in question is one that would rule out truth as a defence when a person was accused of promoting "hate" through denial of any "historically recognized act of genocide." (The definition of "genocide" adopted in 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations is open to extremely broad interpretation.)
Disagreement among historians regarding the reliability and interpretation of evidence is a normal part of the process of historical research. The right to offer new interpretations of old evidence, as well as to seek out and publish new evidence that challenges prevailing views, is indispensable to the profession. What is "historically recognized" can mean only what the prevailing view is at the time in question. It may be difficult enough for scholars to stand against that view without having to face the risk that some group favored by it may try to have them investigated and prosecuted on criminal charges.
Being human, historians are by no means immune from national, ethnic or religious bias, nor are they immune from politically-motivated fads and fashions. Whether Soviet policies in Ukraine during the 1930s, or in Afghanistan during the 1980s, should be characterized as "genocide" is a question that different historians may answer differently, depending on their own ideological inclinations and on the political currents of the time. Canadians of Turkish and Armenian origin may well hold different views regarding what Turks did to Armenians during the First World War. Those of Serb origin may well dissent from the prevailing view in the Western world regarding events in Kosovo.
There should be nothing in the Criminal Code to permit the launching of criminal prosecutions against one side or the other in such controversies, even if one side has prevailed sufficiently at a given time to claim that its version of the facts is "historically recognized" and that those who disagree are thereby promoting "hatred" of some victimized group. Legislatures and courtrooms are not the place to settle historical disputes.
History is not the only discipline in which freedom of research and discussion may be endangered by the government's plans. In psychology, for instance, the changes in law threaten to create legal jeopardy for both teachers and researchers in such fields as sexual orientation, sex differences and race differences.
Even if no prosecution is actually undertaken, the mere possibility of it may have a chilling effect on research and debate in controversial areas.
The SAFS Newsletter supplies an address to which academics concerned about this matter should write (as the SAFS Board of Directors has already done): Hon. Anne McLellan, Minister of Justice, East Memorial Building, 284 Wellington Street (4th Floor), Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H8.
Yours sincerely,
Kenneth H.W. Hilborn
Professor Emeritus of History
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THIS NEW ATTACK ON FREE SPEECH! http://canadafirst.net/cafe/proposed_hate_law/index.html Also feel free to read the hundreds of comments against the proposed changes to the "hate" law in Canada: http://www.canadafirst.net/cafe/proposed_hate_law/petition.html http://canadafirst.net/cafe/updates/hilborn_hate_legislation.html
Thought for the Day:
"Congratulations to Ernst on his victory for free speech. I have just checked the website of the Toronto Globe & Mail and guess what - there is no reference to it at all. So much for keeping people informed."
(Letter to the Zundelsite)