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THE TROUBLE WITH CANADA

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MarZutra:
Walid Shoebat, Shiraz Dossa
Canada's Shame
By Rondi Adamson, Brussels Journal

Thursday, December 14, 2006

While last week, Walid Shoebat, a former Jihadist, and now a passionate crusader against Jihad, was denied entry into Canada, a Canadian academic spoke at the despicable Tehran Holocaust denial conference.

Shiraz Dossa, who is identified with the University of Toronto on the conference's schedule, spoke Monday on "Liberalism, Holocaust and war against Muslims." (Dossa's web page, however, links him with the Political Science Department of St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.) Dossa is a critic of classical liberals, holding them "massively responsible for inventing the impoverished Third World." This last line comes from his essay on "Liberalism, Imperialism, Natives, Muslims and others." [pdf]

Dossa is free to hold his views. I would not have it any other way. But what is deeply troubling is not only that a Canadian has attended this monstrosity -- this not even thinly veiled festival of racism and pitiful excuse for "scholarship" -- but that there has been virtually no press in Canada about that fact. Deniers, revisers or trivializers, all those who attend the abomination in Tehran shame themselves and their countries. Yet, at the time of this writing, only a handful of conservative Canadian blogs have mentioned Dossa. Where is the media attention? Where is the outrage?

Apparently, though, Immigration Canada managed to muster up outrage about Shoebat. Shoebat is a former terrorist and supporter of Jihad who now tries to educate the West about the dangers of terrorism and the very real threats we all face. (Interestingly, he has spoken out against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Holocaust denial obsession.) He was invited to speak by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Ottawa and Montreal, and though he has previously been permitted entry into Canada, for some reason -- not yet explained -- he was turned away.

As a libertarian, I would not prevent someone from saying what they believe -- as long as they do not expect me, or other taxpayers, to fund them. But the contrast is difficult to miss. Dossa's trip to Tehran is paid for by Iranian taxpayers. Dossa, and other Western invitees, receive dinners and nights in luxurious hotels (and I suspect, speaking fees). Courageous Iranian students -- taxpayers all -- stand up to Mad Mahmoud, risking their safety. Meanwhile, Canadian authorities prevent Shoebat from attending and speaking at privately funded events in a free country. And barely any fuss is made.

Canadians, who pride themselves on being tolerant and multicultural, should ask themselves whether diversity means we tolerate the intolerant. Must it mean dhimmitude?

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