*** more Canadian government shenanigans in Zundel case ***

[zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org]

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German Free Speech Supporters Protest for Zundel  & A Globe 
Photographer's Story


Dear Free Speech Supporter:


Two fascinating items:


First, I heard a fascinating story from a Globe and Mail photographer 
about the famous photo of a handcuffed Zundel in a government van 
soon after he'd been deported to Canada. Sceondly, it's great to see 
German supporters of free speech rallying for Ernst Zundel. As we 
learn more about the specifics of his case, we can develop a strategy 
here in North America to continue the battle.


We will not let Canada's politicized legal system forget their 
shameful treatment of this gentle publisher.


The Canadian legal system -- legal, doesn't mean justice -- exposed 
itself this week at utterly corrupt and political.


Two years in solitary confinement, without a charge, is simply a 
wholesale violation of human rights. Mr. Zundel was punished for 
propagating the wrong views. The power of the Jewish supremacist 
lobby showed itself with naked clarity.


Pierre "The Assassin" Blais murdered Ernst Zundel's rights to a fair 
hearing and reasonable bail and made a mockery of Canada's national 
security. The CSIS Act -- and he ought to know, he was the boss of 
CSIS -- sets out clearly what a threat to national security is. It 
involves espionage, sabotage, sedition or acts of serious violence 
(arson, assassination, bombing) to further one's views. The Act makes 
it clear that non-violent dissent is NOT a threat to national 
security. Blais made unfashionable opinions and associating with 
unpopular people the new definition of a threat to national security. 
Blais stretched the definition of national security to what you'd 
expect in a totalitarian state. Any opposition to the government and 
their powerful backers is a threat to national security. That didn't 
used to be the way in Anglo-Saxon democracies ruled by Common Law.


I thank Mark Weber Director of the Institute for Historical Review 
for this timely report.



GERMANS RALLY IN MANNHEIM FOR ZUNDEL'S FREEDOM

'To protest the detention of Ernst Zundel in Germany, some 40-50 
activists of the "Rhein-Neckar National Resistance Action Center" 
rallied on Wednesday, March 2, in the pedestrian shopping zone in 
central Mannheim. They distributed leaflets demanding freedom for 
Zundel and all other political prisoners, and the abolition of the 
laws that ban "Holocaust denial" and restrict free speech. The 
"National Resistance Action Center" ( 
<http://www.ab-rhein-neckar.de/>www.ab-rhein-neckar.de ) pledges 
further actions for Zundel's freedom. "


The Globe and Mail is doing a major article for its weekend insight 
section about where the deportation of Ernst Zundel leaves Canada's 
free speech movement. The reporter is Christopher Sulgan and he's 
interviewed a number of us activists. I had to correct him about such 
misnomers as "White Supremacist Movement" and "neo-Nazis." I 
explained to him that these are smears and that "the White 
Supremacist Movement" is a figment of CSIS's imagination. Responding 
to their political masters, they're obsessed with "White Supremacist" 
conspiracies but wouldn't know Osama bin Laden is he rode down Rideau 
Street on his camel. I added that no one I know calls himself a 
"White Supremacist". It's similar to Mao's China. No one would call 
himself "a running dog of U.S. imperialism", "a splittist" or a 
"comprador." There were terms of abuse used in intra-party fighting. 
Most of us self-identify as populists, free speech supporters or 
immigration reformers. This will likely be a major article. Whether 
is will be another smear remains to be seen.


To illustrate the article, the Globe sent out ace photographer Louie 
Palu, an engaging  professional with a permanent five o-clock shadow. 
He had nearly been killed on recent assignments to Afghanistan and 
the Northwest Frontier province of Pakistan.  Mr. Palu  snapped the 
famous photo of Ernst Zundel in a government van soon after he'd been 
deported to Canada in February, 2003.


It's clear from Palu's story that the Canadian  Government had 
intended to railroad Mr. Zundel and were very uneasy about press 
photographers. Mr. Palu had been sent by the Globe to Fort Erie, 
Ontario as soon as it had been learned that Mr. Zundel was to be 
deported there the second time. The first time, the Canadian 
authorities had turned Mr. Zundel back. The only photographers were 
Mr. Palu from the Globe and a television crew from CTV, a company 
owned by the Globe's owner Bell Media. Apparently, the assignment was 
too difficult or uninteresting for other media. The photographers 
camped outside the tiny immigration building in Fort Erie. The 
authorities were ratty  and rough. They threw the photographers and 
reporters out of the building, an off government property. [So much 
for freedom of the press and the public's right to know!] It was a 
cold February day and the media waited almost nine hours in the cold 
outside the building. They knew Mr. Zundel was there, as an eagle 
eyed reporter could see him on a television monitor sitting in some 
sort of room.


The Globe reporter and photographer watched the back entrance and the 
CTV crew watched the front. After dark, the CTV saw Mr. Zundel being 
spirited into an unmarked white van. The Globe reporter driving and 
Mr. Paul in the passenger seat, camera cocked, gave chase. The 
distance down the Queen Elizabeth Highway from Fort Erie to the 
Niagara Region Detention Centre in Thorold takes about half an hour 
to cover at the speed limit. The white van tore off down rutted 
country roads, circling back and forth trying to lose the reporters. 
Why? What did they have to hide? At times, the government agents hit 
speeds of 140 km. Hey, doesn't speed kill? The Ontario Provincial 
Police in Niagara Region, although drugs are rampant in the area, are 
fanatical about setting up speed trap gauntlets and raking in the 
revenue. Sadly, they weren't out on one of their revenue raising 
raids that evening. After a nearly two hour chase, the van pulled up 
to the gates of the Niagara Region Detention Centre. It had to stop 
for the gates to be opened. Mr. Palu leaped from his car and could 
see Ernst Zundel waving  behind somewhat tinted windows. Manually 
putting his flash on full, he got to snap that famous picture of 
political prisoner Ernst Zundel, handcuffed and smiling in the van.



Paul Fromm

Director

CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR FREE EXPRESSION