|
Sept 21, 2003
ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny
You will recall that I was allowed to run a full-page ad in
the former Soviet Union, now a democracy. The paper that carried my ad was
Zavtra. The financial arrangements were fair, the business transactions was
courteous - AND NOT ONE WORD WAS CENSORED!
By contrast, the Washington Times ran the same ad, but with
modifications requested by them and reluctantly agreed to by me.
Essentially, all references to the Holocaust Enforcer Lobby were deleted. In
the world that we live in, half a free-speech pie is better than no slice of
pie at all.
We are now working on ads slated to appear in Germany and
Japan. Why ads in other countries? Because important diplomats and heads of
state notice - and talk about dictatorial censorship in the US and Canada to
people we cannot otherwise reach!
Here now is Canada. An interesting censorship issue
development around an entirely fair and fact-based ad - don't you agree?
Shame! Shame on Canada!
[START]
Subject: HILL TIMES REFUSES AD ON ZUNDEL CASE
Canadian Association for Free Expression Box 332, Rexdale,
Ontario, M9W 5L3 Ph: 905-897-7221; FAX: 905-277-3914
Paul Fromm, B.Ed, M.A. Director
Hill Times Refuses Ad on Zundel Case: No
Free Speech or Democracy in Ottawa Elite Organ
Dear Free Speech Supporter:
Canada's press is complacent, conformist, and all too often
no friend of free speech. The range of debate on the issues of the day has
narrowed and narrowed over the past 20 years.
To the best of my knowledge only a handful of Canadian
columnists took any note of the fact that Bill C-36, the govrnment's
anti-terrorist act would give control over the Internet to the Canadian
Human Rights Commission where truth is no defence. With few contrary
comments, the press has all but ignored the attacks on the Internet by
totalitarian bodies like the Canadian Human Rights Commission.
With few examples coverage of the Zundel case has been
stridently abusive, wildly incomplete or non-existant. Even the NATIONAL
POST which has covered the hearings has scrupulously avoided reportage of
his horrific prison conditions -- the very thing which might, dare we day
it, create sympathy for a man who has been made a villain in the sort of
coverage which increadingly reads like a soap opera, with all characters
either villains or "good guys". Objective reporting -- the facts,
just the facts, ma'm, as Sgt. Joe Friday used to say -- is rare.
The press has given little coverage to the fact that persons
served with a CSIS national security certificate are subject to secret
hearings, with secret evidence and witnesses, and no chance to know what
this evidence is or to cross-examine these witnesses. Even less reported has
been the inhumane conditions in which Ernst Zundel has been incarcerated in
solitary confinement for over seven months -- no pen, no hardcover books, no
post-it notes, no highlighters, no paperclips, no chair, no herbal
medications that are vital to his health regime, and, until very recently,
no pillow.
Back in June, CAFE began to raise money to buy some
advertising to highlight these serious press omissions and to stir public
debate on the Zundel case. We settled on The Hill Times in Ottawa. This
weekly reaches the MPs and senators, their staffers, Ottawa press and policy
makers. I made some inquiries and talked to Advertising Account Executive
Craig Caldbick. He was pleasant and, over the next few months, sent a stream
of e-mails, FAXes and phone calls my way eagerly seeking our business.
With Parliament returning, September 15, I decided to commit
to a half-page ad in the September 15 and 22 issues of The Hill Times. These
ads and, with luck a growing debate, would occur just prior to Mr. Zundel's
next court appearance on September 23 and 24. The text of this ad appears at
the end of this CAFEGRAM.
On September 8, I received a phone call from Mr. Caldbick.
In politically correct, repressive Canada you can't even pay to get your
point of view into the press. Caldbick conveyed to me the decision of
publisher Jim Creskey. Apparently, the ad had created much discussion and
consternation at The Hill Times. "Unfortunately, the publishers and
General Manager have declined your ad as it's our policy to decline this
type of message or associate with your type of organization," Caldbick
told me. That's interesting: A Canadian newspaper unwilling to associate
with advocates of free speech.These guys ought to consider membership in
like minded organizations of conformist hacks like the Association of North
Koreans Journalists.
They'd looked at our website. "Your organization is too
centred on one issue."
Indeed, that's true. We are a one issue group, freedom of
speech, just as other groups, like, say the World Wildlife Federation is all
about wildlife welfare.
After much verbal circling, Caldbick indicated that our site
had a lot of material on Zundel. Well, I explained to him, we've been in
existence for over 20 years and taken up a wide variety of free speech
causes. Yes, there's a lot on Ernst Zundel right now, as he's one of the
main thought crimes victims of the moment. But, so what? Doesn't Ernst
Zundel deserve a defence? Or is the press prepared to convict him in advance
and eagerly await the sentence?
"The feeling here is they didn't want to tackle this
message at this time," Caldbick explained to me apologetically. The
Hill Times wasn't being asked to "tackle" this issue or even to
commit to an opinion, merely, for money, to air our opinion.
I next took the matter up with publisher Jim Creskey on
September 9. He had problems with the fact that our website "is a one
issue one, just about Ernst Zundel."
I asked whether there was some way we could do business. I
invited him to check the site more carefully and see the variety of free
speech issues we've adopted.
I awaited his answer. After several days, with September 15
fast approaching, I called again. Four messages went unasnwered. Finally, on
September 16, Creskey got back to me. The answer still was "no".
On September 18, in Ottawa for my press conference at the
Parliamentary Press Gallery, I decided to visit The Hill Times in person. I
spoke to Don Turner, Director of Advertising who seemed distinctly
uncomfortable. I asked whether they would consider an ad in the future.
Turner hemmed and hawed. Well, "no" can mean forever, he mused.
Perhaps, they'd look at another submission.
I learned from Turner that, in 13 years of publishing, ours
was the first ad they'd rejected. "Our policy is not as clear as it
might be," he offered.
Oh, yes it is, Don: "No freedom of speech here!"
Perhaps, we should consider submitting our ad to Gramna, the
organ of the Cuban Communist Party. At least their rejection would be
predictable and honest, based on their stated totalitarian ideology.
It may or may not mean anything, but among The Hill Times'
contributors is Liberal Party attack pitbull Warren Kinsella. He he known as
a savage opponent of freedom of speech and a decade ago penned the
error-riddled screed Web of Hate: Inside Canada's Far Right Network.
Paul Fromm Director
CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION
______________
Canadian Association for Free Expression Box 332, Rexdale,
Ontario, M9W 5L3 Ph: 905-897-7221; FAX: 905-277-3914
Paul Fromm, B.Ed, M.A. Director
September 2, 2003
Mr. Craig Caldbick,
The Hill Times,
69 Sparks Street,
Ottawa, ON.,
K1P 5A5
Dear Mr. Caldbick:
The following is the text for the half page ad we've like to
run September 15.
Sincerely yours,
Paul Fromm Director
p.s. Please send me a mock-up of this.
_______________________
[photo of Ernst Zundel] How Safe Are Human Rights in
Canada?
NOT VERY!
German-born publisher, Ernst Zundel, a landed immigrant
since 1958, has sat in solitary confinement in the Metro West Detention
Centre for 7 months. CSIS says he's a threat to national security In
42-years in Canada, he was never charged with or convicted of any act of
violence. He has * no pen * no pillow * no post-it notes * no hardcover
books * no chair.Yet, he must try to prepare a half dozen legal cases. He is
allowed only children's pencils for writing material. In Court, July 30, Mr.
Justice Pierre Blais called these conditions "mediaeval>" Ernst
Zundel Prisoner of Conscience Secret Trials in Canada? You'd better believe
it! How would you defend yourself, if you didn't know what the evidence was
against you? You couldn't.
And neither can Ernst Zundel and about 20 other unfortunates
ordered deported under a CSIS "national security" certificate.
In a complete departure from Anglo-Saxon justice where the
defendant can face his accuser and know the evidence against him, Mr. Zundel
has been the victim of secret hearings before each of his detention and bail
review hearings. He doesn't know the evidence or the identity of the
witnesses and, thus, is handicapped in offering a defence.
_____________________________________
To learn more about the Zundel case, see our website http://www.canadianfreespeech.com
or write: The Canadian Association for Free Expression, Box 332, Rexdale,
ON., M9W 5L3. 905-897-7221: FAX: 905-277-3914. Donations to the Zundel
Defence Fund are gratefully accepted and all are acknowledged with a thank
you piece of art done in prison by Ernst Zundel.
[THIS AD WAS REJECTED BY HILL TIMES PUBLISHER JIM
CRESKEY SEPTEMBER 8, 2003]
|
Write to Canada's Immigration Minister and complain
over the unfair treatment Ernst Zündel has received.
Immigration Minister Denis Coderre
House of Commons
Parliament Buildings
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Telephone: (613) 995-6108
Fax: (613) 995-9755
Email: Coderre.D@parl.gc.ca |
|
