This is talk I delivered at the second annual Freedom School conference, held in Calgary earlier this year:
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So, what exactly happened with that ‘Draw Muhammed Day 2015’ event yesterday…
May 21, 2015 — xanthippaI had hoped to hold a Draw Muhammed day event in Canada’s capital, Ottawa – on the grounds of Parliament Hill – yesterday, May 20th, the International Draw Muhammed Day.
I must admit that through this whole process, I have proven myself to be rather naive, since I thought that ‘following the rules’ was the best way to approach this issue…
As per instructions, I applied for the appropriate permit and was told (via phone) that all was in order and only the security issue needed to be addressed before the permit would be granted.
Understandable.
So, I worked with the Protective Policing detail of the RCMP, the people in charge of the security of The Hill, to move the time and specific location of the event in order to make it as easy for them as possible to ensure the safety not only of this event, but also of every other visitor to The Hill.
In order to ensure this could not possibly be interpreted as an attack on one religious minority and their beliefs, I ensured that this event would be critical of all religious persecution of freedom of speech: since the Pope claimed violence would be a justified response to an insult to his mother, I invited people to draw the Pope’s mother; since people are in jail for having used an image of Buddha with headphones, I invited people to draw an image of Buddha with headphones.
And, to demonstrate that the prohibition against depicting the likeness of the Islamic Prophet Muhammed is by no means as universal as some loud voices today would have us believe, I planned to display historical Islamic depictions of Muhammed.
In addition, I invited people to draw any other religious/political figure they want – this was a freedom of speech event at the occasion of the International Draw Muhammed Day, nothing less or more.
After both an email and phone exchange with various members of this team, I had met with them – in a local coffee shop, none the less, and was told that thanks to my eager cooperation, all of their security concerns had been addressed and the permit would be issued within hours.
Naively, I believed what I was told, and started to let people know about the event.
Being just one individual and not a member of any organization or political party, I simply posted the info on my blog and sent emails to my friends, who sent emails to their friends, and so on….a word of mouth thing, as I have no budget for ads and such. RISE Canada even took it upon themselves to put up a Facebook page for the event, as I had not even the skills for that.
I waited for the promised paperwork, and waited, and waited. As of Tuesday afternoon, I was assured it was coming.
Then, at 5:25pm on the 19th of May, I received a phone call informing me that the permit for the event was denied.
Frankly, I was surprised and at a loss for words – I did all I was told and was assured that all ‘security concerns’ were fine – yet, it was precisely ‘security concerns’ that were cited as the reason fro the denial.
No appeal was possible.
No explanation for what these ‘security concerns’ were was going to be provided.
I contacted the RCMP protective detail assigned to me for the event and let them know….and while I realize I don’t understand internal politics, it seemed to me that they were not the ones with ‘security concerns’.
So, I updated the info on my blog, re-sent emails and let everyone know that indeed, in Canada, our constitutionally guaranteed ‘freedom of speech’ only extends to bureaucratically permitted speech…
Anyhow, everybody respected the prohibition against the event – only some reporters and numerous security forces were reported to have shown up….
I have been asked by many people to please re-schedule the event for another time and that is indeed what I will do.
Yet, I am left with the logistics question of how to go about it, since the official permit will, no doubt, be just as likely denied as the first time….and begging for a permit to exercise freedom of speech seems very silly, if not downright oxymoronic…
Anyhow, that is the stage in which things find themselves now.
Thoughts?
Thoughts on the Ruling in Baglow Vs. Freedom of Speech
February 24, 2015 — xanthippaFor the background on this case, please see here.
For the full ruling, see here.
Prior to the closing arguments, I begged John Baglow to, please, stop this lawsuit, even at such a late date. I promised I’d help him fundraise to cover his costs if he, even at this point, called the whole thing off.
Why?
Because I firmly believed that any ruling on this case would necessarily be a loss for freedom of speech and a disaster for all of us who socialize on the interwebitudes!
And I was right!
Yes, Connie and Mark Fournier, as well as Peter O’Donnel, have won because even though Madam Justice Polowin found the comments to be defamatory, she also found them to be fair comment and dismissed the case.
So, yes, the Fourniers and POD have won.
But it is a bittersweet victory for them and a decided loss for freedom of speech in the internet.
Let me explain why…
First, let’s name the elephant in the room: the process is the punishment.
Baglow has dragged the defendants through the court system for years and cost them tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars in court costs and lost time/productivity. Yet, in her wisdom, Madam Justice Polowin did not order Baglow to pay the Fournier’s court costs.
Not having any training in legal matters, I find this mindblowing.
If the words were deemed to be ‘fair comment’, as Madam Justice Polowin had ruled, why should the Fourniers and POD have had to pay tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees, travel and accommodations in order to defend themselves against what she has ruled is a baseless accusation?
And why should they have to pay half the costs of a court expert in internet communication: an ‘expert’ who is so very up on internet communication and customs that he testified that he’s never ever heard of Godwin’s Law?!?!?
Really?
An internet communication expert who’s never heard of Godwin’s Law?
Expert?
Come on, this is a joke!!!
Even my mother-in-law, who needs help logging on to Facebook, has enough internet savvy to know Godwin’s Law, aka reducto ad Hitlerum…
But, that is besides the point: the bitter lump of coal (actually, coal is not that bitter, but you know what I mean…) here is that while the defendants may have been found innocent, but they still get punished by not having their costs covered and having to pay for an ‘expert’ which would not have been necessary had the judge had even high-school level knowledge of the online world around her.
Second, I most vociferously disagree with some of her rulings on a the various issues raised in the case, because they will, in a very real sense, cause a serious chill in online communications. It will probably take me multiple readings to fully analyse the significant damage this ruling poses to freedom of speech, but, one of her rulings practically jumps out at me.
This is the ruling that providers of an online discussion space are considered to be the publishers of what other people post to these fora, whether this is moderated or not.
This spells a disaster for every blogger that permits comments and makes the running of un-pre-moderated discussion fora a very serious liability danger: most will probably be limited to permitting only politically correct speech and no discussion of controversial topics whatsoever.
In reality, Madame Justice Polowin ruling means that, for example, WordPress or Blogger, by providing a platform for publication with the aim for people to come there and exchange ideas, that this makes WordPress or Twitter etc. the publishers of that communication and just as liable for the words published on their platform by third parties as if they themselves had written it.
Just think about the impact this ruling will have…
Sorry, I’ve got to leave this here for now….you see, dear reader, I suddenly have this terrible pounding headache….
John Baglow vs. Freedom of Speech
February 23, 2015 — xanthippaConnie and Mark Fournier have won!!!
Most awesome news!!!
I’m off to read the ruling here – will comment more (and finally post the missing write-ups) soon!
UPDATE: Here is what Jay Currie has to say about this ruling.
MORE UPDATE: Here are my initial thoughts after having read the full ruling. They’re not happy thoughts…
Open Letter to Stephen Harper: It Is Time to Classify Terrorist Organizations as Such
February 16, 2015 — xanthippaDear Stephen Harper,
Today, many of us Canadians celebrate ‘Family Day’. As I look around my living room, seeing my husband and growing sons, I cannot but worry about the future of our society.
Last October 7th, my younger son was, as a co-op student, working just a few short blocks from the War Memorial. When the terrorist attack occurred, I could not but rush to his side and managed to get in to his building moments before the lockdown was imposed.
I mention this to illustrate that for me, the prospect of my family being endangered by a Jihadi attack is not a theoretical one…
Of all the Western leaders, You, Mr. Harper, are handling the Jihadi threat the best, providing our law enforcement people the laws they need to use as tools in order to protect Canadian citizens, while providing judicial oversight in order to protect our civil liberties, in a true libertarian fashion. And that is most excellent!
However, in order to apply those laws effectively, our law enforcement people need another very important tool: it is time to accurately label terrorist organizations as such.
The Muslim Brotherhood is already labelled as a terrorist organization in many countries and Canada would be wise to join them. But, The Muslim Brotherhood has many front organizations, identified as such in documents including Explanatory Memorandum , published by the Muslim Brotherhood.
Among these Muslim Brotherhood affiliates are many organizations that have infiltrated Canadian institutions. Perhaps one of the most intensely destructive of these is the Muslim Student Association (MSA), which has chapters in most institutions of higher learning in Canada. For example, Awso Pesdary, recently arrested on terrorist charges in Ottawa, was active in the MSA at Algonquin College.
Pesdary may indeed be an outlier, but the truly subversive actions of the MSA are their everyday monitoring of students who happen to be Muslim or appear to have Muslim names and coercing them into attending religious services, which often contain very radical preachings. This social pressure on moderate students who just happen to be Muslim does not stop at just prayers: the MSA is actively discouraging Muslim students from forming meaningful social bonds with students outside the MSA. It is easy to see how this would negatively impact those Muslim students who wish to integrate into the great Canadian society, as the intimidation by the MSA bullies can be quite intense. In the end, all of our society looses when bright young Muslims are prevented from integrating and enriching our society.
Of course, MSA is not the only organization with strong ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. CAIR, as well as its fully owned Canadian subidiary, CAIR-Can (currently known as National Council of Canadian Muslims, NCCM), must also be on the list of terrorist organizations, as should be MAC (Muslim Association of Canada), MPAC (Muslim Public Affairs Council), II (Islamic Free Market Institute) and at many more, including (but not limited to) the following:
- • Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)
- • Muslim Student Association (MSA)
- • The Muslim Communities Association (MCA)
- • The Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS)
- • The Association of Muslim Scientists and Engineers (AMSE)
- • Islamic Medical Association (IMA)
- • Islamic Teaching Center (ITC)
- • North American Islamic Trust (NAIT)
- • Foundation for International Development (FID)
- • Islamic Housing Cooperative (IHC)
- • Islamic Centers Division (ICD)
- • American Trust Publications (ATP)
- • Audio-Visual Center (AVC)
- • Islamic Book Service (IBS)
- • Muslim Businessmen Association (MBA)
- • Muslim Youth of North America (MYNA)
- • ISNA Fiqh Committee (IFC)
- • ISNA Political Awareness Committee (IPAC)
- • Islamic Education Department (IED)
- • Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA)
- • Malasian (sic) Islamic Study Group (MISG)
- • Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP)
- • United Association for Studies and Research (UASR)
- • Occupied Land Fund (OLF)
- • Mercy International Association (MIA)
- • Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)
- • Baitul Mal Inc (BMI)
- • International Institute for Islamic Thought (IIIT)
- • Islamic Information Center (IIC)
Identifying them for what they are – outposts of Islamism within our great country – is essential if we want to protect all Canadians, Muslims and non-Muslims, from the coercive and corrosive influence of these front organizations for Islamic terrorism and if we want to give our law enforcement people the tools necessary to protect us and our families from future domestic terrorist attacks.
Please, Mr. Prime Minister, give our law enforcement people the tools they need to protect us by declaring Muslim Brotherhood and all its affiliates for what they are: terrorist organizations.
Sincerely,
Alexandra Belaire,
blogging as Xanthippa
Valentine’s Day 2015 Massacre – Je Suis Lars Vilks!
February 14, 2015 — xanthippaAt least one person is dead at a Freedom of Speech event:
OK – at this point, we don’t know the identity of the murderers, but, does anyone seriously think this is anything other than jihad?
UPDATE:
The Jihad of Words
January 12, 2015 — xanthippaIn the words of the one and only Inigo Montoya:
Or, if you are more into classical music:
“Because, you know, sometimes words have two meanings…”
It is impossible to hold a meaningful conversation with somebody when you both think you know what the words you are using mean, but in reality, you each subscribe to a completely different meaning of that word.
For example, the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood government that had come to power in Egypt following the ‘Arab Spring’ was lead by Morsi’s party, which was called the ‘Freedom and Justice Party’.
Muslim Brotherhood = Freedom and Justice?
Why, yes – if you mean what the Islamists understand these words to mean.
‘Freedom’, according to Koranic sources, is defined as ‘freedom from the laws of men’. In other words, being ruled by the word god, Allah, alone.
In other words, they understand the word ‘freedom’ to mean the implementation of the Sharia and Sharia alone.
And ‘justice’?
‘Justice’ according to laws of God and God alone: again, Sharia.
In these people’s mind, the way we use the words ‘freedom’ and ‘justice’ is a perversion of their true meaning (Sharia and only Sharia) and we are ‘spreading mischief’ by perverting these words.
And under Sharia, the penalty for ‘spreading mischief’ is death.
A simple way to tell a moderate Muslim from an Islamist is to ask their view on whether Sharia should be implemented in the West.
If they say no, they are here because they are attempting to flee the horrors of life under Sharia and we must do our utmost to protect them, because they will be the first victims of the Islamists. Many are afraid to speak out, for very real fear that relatives stuck in Islamic countries would be harmed for their words: Islam is a clan-based culture where you are often held responsible for your relatives actions.
If they say yes, then they are an Islamist who is advocating, in no uncertain terms, the elevation of SHaria above our own laws. This is treason and our societies must treat it as such. All advocates of Sharia in the West must be arrested and charged with treason, because that is what trying to replace our laws with Sharia is.
Following is an excellent video. It is a bit longer than what I usually post, but it is most excellent:
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 