Angry in the Great White North

From Barbara Kay:

In his Montreal Gazette column yesterday, Don MacPherson projected a worrying Quebec trend with startling candour: "It's finally becoming respectable again to express support for terrorists."

So it has. On Sunday, 15,000 Quebecers, mostly Lebanese-Canadians, marched for "justice and peace" in Lebanon. That sounds benign, but in fact the march was a virulently anti-Israel rally, and scattered amongst the crowd were a number of Hezbollah flags and placards. Leading the parade were Bloc Quebecois chief Gilles Duceppe, Liberal MP Denis Coderre, PQ chief Andre Boisclair, and Amir Khadir, spokesman for the new far-left provincial party, Solidarite Quebec.

All four politicians had signed a statement by the organizers the day before the march, in which Israel is lambasted for its depredations in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank -- but the word "terrorism" is never mentioned, nor Hezbollah assigned any blame for the war.

As a sop to the Quebec-Israel Committee, which had taken out full-page ads calling on the march's leaders to condemn terrorism, however, they called for the disarming of Hezbollah as part of a negotiated ceasefire.

For this, they were roundly booed by the crowd.

Andre Pratt thinks Barbara Kay is prejudiced. Not wrong, mind you. Just prejudiced:

According to Barbara Kay's Aug. 9 article, "The Rise of Quebecistan," Quebec is a haven for Hezbollah supporters and for anti-Semitic and anti-American ideologues. An independent Quebec, she predicts, would rapidly become a new "Londonistan."

As a Quebec federalist -- and a journalist who has repeatedly supported Israel's right to defend itself, and denounced Quebec politicians' criticism of Stephen Harper's handling of the Lebanese crisis -- I was dumbfounded by Ms. Kay's prejudice.

He then simply denies Kay's assertion on the basis that Quebeckers like to make money, go to movies, and listen to music:

She also denounces Quebecers' "reflexive anti-Americanism" and their "fat streak of anti-Semitism." That Quebec, the "Quebecistan" of her thesis, simply does not exist.

A huge majority of Quebecers are strongly against George W. Bush's policies, that's for sure. Does that make them "anti-American"? If they are, why has Quebec been more supportive of free trade than Ontario? How can one explain the very close relationships Quebec maintains with the north-eastern states and the fact that Quebecers travel in huge numbers to the United States? How about the popularity of American music and movies in Quebec?

How does listening to American music absolve you of anti-Semitism? Let me see if I can follow this: a large portion of the population listens to American music, therefore they like Americans (and not just their music) but hate George W Bush whom Americans elected as their president, so therefore Quebeckers are not anti-Semitic.

Still doesn't make much sense.

Is Barbara Kay prejudiced? Can she not see that because Quebeckers like music, they must be cosmopolitan and sophisticated, and thus not receptive to anti-Semitic and generally racist thinking? I can't see the logic either, so maybe I'm prejudiced too. Or just unsophisticated.

Still, I keep trying. How about more solid data than musical preferences?

The year 2000 saw an extraordinarily sharp rise in antisemitic incidents in Quebec. These were connected mainly with white supremacy activity, Middle East related incidents, and events surrounding the so-called Michaud affair. This affair began in December 2000 when former member of the Quebec legislature (the National Assembly) and Parti Quebecois nationalist hardliner Yves Michaud announced his intention to seek the party’s nomination in the Montreal area riding of Mercier. A few days earlier, when interviewed on CKAC radio he said: “It’s about you [Jews]. You’re the only people in the world to have suffered in the history of humanity. I had just about had it.” The next day, in a brief to the Estates General on Language, he suggested that the residents of a largely Jewish suburb of the City of Montreal were anti-Quebec, referring to them as immigrants, despite the fact that most had been born and raised in Quebec. The National Assembly voted unanimously to condemn Michaud for his remarks.

Antisemitism in the Montreal area increased markedly in the year 2000, particularly following the outbreak of violence in the Middle East. There were 71 reported antisemitic acts in 2000, an 87 percent increase over the 37 incidents recorded in 1999 and a 255 percent increase over the 20 incidents reported in 1998.

Montreal Jews were victims of vandalism, threats, and a number of assaults resulting in bodily harm. For example, on 10 October two individuals attacked an identifiably Jewish man at a metro station in Montreal, knocking him unconscious. Bystanders intervened when the attackers tried to throw him onto the subway rails. Further, a rabbi was harassed and insulted on a Montreal bus by 10-15 youths. When two women came to the rabbi’s aid, one was slapped and spit upon. During the weekend of Succoth, seven Jewish-owned summer homes were vandalized in Ste. Agathe, Quebec. The mezuzahs were removed and the interior of one of the houses was virtually destroyed. Graffiti on the walls included curses and the words “Die in hell.” The offenders have been identified and were to appear in a criminal youth court.

And if you want something more current than that report from 2000, here is a report from 2006 focusing on racism as well as anti-Semitism:

The SSJB [Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society] has been around since 1834, and is best known for organizing the yearly Saint-Jean-Baptiste parade in Montreal. With a membership of 3,000, it's been an influential force in Quebec, and was instrumental in the founding of several key institutions, including ecole des hautes etudes commerciales de Montreal. In years past, La Societe was also known for its rapprochements with other ethnic communities. But now many in its ranks are worried it has opened itself up to a radical fringe.

[Andre Forget, the treasurer of SSJB's downtown chapter,] is a regular at SSJB functions, and known for his devotion to the separatist cause. But on the Internet, he's known as "Moise Theriault," and has written tirades denouncing Jews, Muslims, the Koran and blacks, which he posted on the fan site of Montreal's Loco Locass -- a sovereigntist rap group that, oddly enough, is well-known for its anti-racist lyrics. "Iran wants to cross out Israel from the map and I find that super," he wrote on Oct. 26, 2005. On June 3 of that year, he wrote, "Racism is like black people, it shouldn't exist." According to Yvan Bombardier, president of the downtown chapter, Forget had to be called to order during a meeting after referring to Haitian-born Governor General Michaëlle Jean as Quebec's "nigger king."

Forget does not characterize it as a joke. He admits to having made the comment at the SSJB meeting and online under the alias "Moise Theriault." "That's a fact," he told Maclean's. "It's a term that's been used since the '60s to describe decolonization, and it's happened here in Quebec. We [usually] have nigger kings with white skin. This time we have the real thing." And it wasn't the first time "Moise Theriault" opined on black people. "Whites control the planet," he wrote on May 2, 2004. "They are far from stupid for having accomplished that. Why is it that those who denounce the 'monkey junkies' are always said to be racists?"

Monkey junkies?

Pratte makes a point that anti-Americanism (carefully evading the anti-Semitism issue) appears in English Canada:

Besides, is there no anti-Americanism in the rest of Canada? Has Ms. Kay listened to the speeches of some Liberal and NDP politicians? As far as I recall, it was not a Quebec MP who famously called Americans "bastards."

That's right. It was Carolyn Parrish. And for her comments she was roundly denounced. The issue was top of the news in English Canada for days. Ultimately she was tossed from the Liberal caucus (for that and for being an all-round pain in the butt). So yes, there have been outspoken individuals who have made their prejudices widely known. But the reaction in English Canada has been swift and the issue dealt with seriously.

Pratt then tries to shame the rest of Canada by pointing to the past:

Was anti-Semitism rampant in Quebec intellectual circles in the 1930s and 1940s? Yes. Are there still remnants of that disgusting sentiment today? Yes. But is this history of anti-Semitism unique to Quebec? Obviously not.

In the English Canada of the 1940s, recalled historian Irving Abella, "banks, insurance companies, industrial and commercial interests of importance did not hire Jews. Stores did not want Jews as salespersons. Hospitals did not admit Jewish doctors. There were no Jewish judges and Jewish lawyers were barred from most firms."

Shameful. But how far has Canada come since then? Quite far, but then that really depends on where in Canada you live:

These data, together with the findings of an attitudinal survey commissioned by the League in 2001, indicate a disturbingly higher level of prejudice in Quebec.

The survey found that 26 percent of Canadians in Quebec perceived Jews as having too much power, compared to 10 percent outside Quebec. In democratic societies, educational systems normally play an important role in attenuating inter-group antagonism. That was the pattern among francophones and Quebecers in 1986, with anti-Jewish animus abating as education level increased. However, today the pattern seems to have been reversed. Among Quebecers with high school education or less, 20 percent believed that Jews had too much power. This figure rose to 29 percent in 2001 among those with college education and 30 percent among those who had university degrees.

Remember, this represents the number of people who, when asked if they agreed with the politically charged statement "The Jews have too much power", were willing to admit they did. How many hand second thoughts and lied? Another 5%? 10%? 20% or more?

College education and university degrees are supposed to counter the intellectually barren philosphies behind racism and anti-Semitism, right?

Ms. Kay strongly disagrees with the focus of the demonstration on Israel's supposed wrongs; so do I. But from that well-founded criticism, she goes on to portray Quebec society, particularly its intellectual and political leadership, as sympathetic to Islamist terrorists in general.

Let's dig a bit deeper into the question of how the intellectual leadership in Quebec feels about Jews, Israel, and terrorism, besides the numbers I quote above:

Concordia University houses an activist Arab core, part of a much larger Arab student population there. A radical-led student union (CSU), consisting mainly of Arabs/Muslims and left-wingers/anti-globalization supporters who played ethnic politics, won an election in March 2001, with several pro-Palestinian activists taking on key roles in the new student governing body and pushing a one-sided, divisive, blame-Israel agenda. In fall 2001 the CSU published an article entitled “Uprising” (i.e., intifada), which accuses Israel of being involved in “state terror that has killed civilian men, women, and children whose only ‘crime’ is their nationality.” Another article by Laith Marouf, a vice-president of CSU, insinuated that “the ‘Jewish’ rector knows how much money the university owes to Zionists.” Marouf also alleged that “Zionists” monopolize the North American media.”

Marouf was subsequently barred from the campus for acts that included allegedly painting graffiti on university property, such as “Stop Jewish Supremacy” and “Stop Jewish Apartheid.” Marouf was active in the SPHR (Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights), a Muslim/Arab organization with strong Canadian grassroots support, which functioned not only at Concordia, but at all other Montreal universities and a few in Ontario. This group passed out literature previously carried by the Holocaust-denying Institute for Historical Review, charging Israel with developing an “ethnic bomb” that would target only Muslims.

One of the most common post-September 11 myths claimed that 4,000 Jews did not come to work at the World Trade Center because they had been warned of what would happen. A visiting professor at Montreal’s McGill University from Saudi Arabia used campus e-mail facilities to disseminate this piece of propaganda, which seems to have originated in the PLO office in Turkey. It was also heard on radio talk shows across Canada, along with the allegation that 11 September was “all the Jewish people’s fault.”

McGill University was the scene of another antisemitic episode when the student body invited an Israeli, Israel Shamir, to speak at a lecture entitled “Israel: The Racist State.” During the question and answer period, he accused an orthodox rabbi present of being “a monkey,” and mocked the religious garments he was wearing.

And this more personal incident at the Universite du Quebec à Montreal:

[Stephen Shecter, a sociology professor at the Universite du Quebec à Montreal (UQAM),] made his own report at UQAM recently. In January, when students at the university’s sociology department went on strike on issues unrelated to the Middle East, one student brandished a sign at his office that read, “Israel is a murderer and Shecter an accomplice.”

Shecter was so outraged he went to higher-ups at UQAM to protest, but was rebuffed. He then wrote an op-ed piece in the independent French language newspaper Le Devoir.

That’s when “the s--t hit the fan,” he said. He was inundated with hateful responses to his article, most of which were attacks on Israel that failed to directly address his arguments.

“Four baths were not enough, because this type of stuff sticks to your soul,” Shecter told the students.

The affair stopped only after he wrote a final piece declaring it “open season on Jews.”

Shecter said since the incident, he has stopped talking to colleagues he has known for decades.

“Ninety-five percent of my colleagues are anti-Semitic,” he said. “They hate Israel, but they don’t even see it. They don’t have a clue. Anti-Semitism parades as anti-Zionism.”

Why doesn't Pratte recognize this? One reason is that the media elite in Quebec is a product of this very same educational system. The journalists and editors in Quebec might not even be able to recognize anti-Semitism in particular and racism in general, having been raised and educated in an environment where insults and threats aimed at Jews and visible minorities are simply part of the background (literally and figuratively). Hardly remarkable, and certainly not noteworthy.

Though I can't back this up yet, I had a long conversation with one of my reporter friends, and I was told that violent assaults by skinheads targeting visible minorities is on the rise, especially outside of Montreal. Quebec City is especially bad. I was told that this news is simply not being reported in Quebec.

It certainly fits the pattern.

So Mr Pratte, I have no trouble whatsoever finding example after example, and statistic after statistic, to support what Barbara Kay is saying. She saw it with her own eyes -- the leading figures of Quebec separatist politics throwing their lot in with the terrorists and their friends. Why? Could it be that the Jewish population in Quebec is overwhelmingly federalist?

For many Quebeckers, that just counts as one more reason to hate them.