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J.J. McCullough, OP

Columnist

The Groups Behind the Posters

s longtime readers of this paper
will know, I’ve often been
accused of being paranoid, hate-

ful, ignorant, or just generally a right-wing
kook whenever I accuse “the left” of
being little more than a gang of hysterical,
socialist, America-haters. “J.J.”’ they say,
“you're making gross generalizations. Not
everyone who hates George W. Bush or
the United States is some sort of flag-
waving pinko Bolshevik.” This much is
obviously true. There are plenty of per-
fectly sane people who oppose Bush on
reasonable partisan grounds, and lots of
intelligent liberals who express valid con-
cerns about US foreign policy around the
world.

Unfortunately, the sad reality is that
the moderate voices and sane arguments
of these reasonable liberals are increasing-
ly being drowned out by a much larger,
and better-organized, far-left establish-
ment. An establishment with views that
are fringe, radical, and in many cases, pro-
foundly disgusting in their political
extremism. Yet despite its radical agenda,
this powerful establishment is in many
ways the face of the modern left. It
organizes the street protests, prints the
posters, and hosts the public conferences.
It relies on ignorant public support to give
the illusion of legitimacy to views that
would otherwise remain permanently on
the political fringe.

But you don’t need to take my word
for it. Part of the magic of the internet is
that with a few quick searches you can
find all sorts of interesting dirt on organ-
izations that are hiding far more than their
posters allege. For example, I’m sure
you’ve all seen those black-and-white
posters in and around campus with
“BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW”
in big letters. They’re advertising for yet
another “day of action” to be held at the
Vancouver Art Gallery on January 20, to
“protest” Bush’s inauguration. Nothing
too extreme, right? Well, aside from
protesting a democratically elected presi-

 

 

dent. But lots of people hate Bush.

The posters advertise a URL,
mawovancouver.org although I doubt if
many students bother visiting the site. I
wish they would, as anyone who gives the
page a quick browse will find it impossible
to deny that Vancouver’s street protests
are overwhelmingly being organized by a
strange fringe collection of socialists,
anarchists, and other assorted extremist
factions of the far, far left.

The site of the organization hosting
the rally is called “Mobilization Against
War and Occupation” (MAWO) and
houses a collection of articles, flyers, and
posters with slogans and rhetoric that
borders on self-parody with its extremity.
“Canada Out of Afghanistan” screams
one petition, declaring the presence of
peacekeepers in the war-torn nation to be
an act of “Canadian Imperialism.” A
newsletter discusses the current situation
in Iraq, describing the cycle of beheadings
and murders as acts of a “People’s
Resistance” acting legitimately against
“colonial occupiers.” “Long live the
Palestinian Intifada” another part of the
site proclaims, justifying suicide bombings
as legitimate retaliations against “Zionist
aggression and occupation.” The MAWO
people are associated with just about
every extremist cause you can think of.
They even find time to advocate Quebec
separation.

Not surprisingly, MAWO’s past record
of organized events is no less radical,
though they often try to market them as
all-inclusive events. Some of their past
“victories” listed on the site include host-
ing public forums in support of “war
resisters” (ie, American soldiers who ille-
gally abandon the military they voluntarily
joined), street marches showing “solidari-
ty” with the Communist dictatorship of
Fidel Castro, as well as about a dozen ral-
lies condemning every aspect of the 2003
Iraq war.

The January 20 rally currently being
advertised looks to be more of the same.
The site lists three speakers scheduled for
the event, Hazem Jamjoum, Mostafa
Henawi, and Liisa Schofield. A quick
Google search informs us that the first
two men ate deeply involved with various
viciously anti-Israeli, radical Palestinian
organizations (you know, the kind that
refuse to even refer to the country by
name and instead call it the “Zionist enti-
ty’), while the third is a columnist at an
openly Marxist magazine (Ihe New
Socialist). isn’t it fun to know that this is
the sort of thing that our very own
Student Union (whose name is proudly
displayed on MAWO’s “endorsing mem-
bers” page) feels the need to advertise
for? Trudging out to Vancouver on a cold
day to show solidarity with suicide
bombers and dictators! Sign me up!

 

A lot of Canadian students hold left-
of-centre views, and I am willing to accept
that. However, even a bitter conservative
like me knows that the majority of us,
regardless of partisan stripes, do not sup-
port Palestinian Iraqi
beheadings, and do not consider Israel to
be an illegal imperialist power whose
“Zionist” presence must be permanently
extinguished from the Middle East. The
majority of Canadians do not consider
their own peacekeeping forces in
Afghanistan and Haiti—who risk their
lives to provide civilians with food, water,
and safety.

“colonialists,’ or “racists” deserving of

terrorism of

 

to be “imperialist occupiers,”

scorn.

It may be unfair and it may be unrep-
resentative to the majority of moderate
liberals, but the unfortunate reality is that
extremist groups like MAWO and their
socialist allies are fast becoming the pub-
lic face of the modern left. To say that
crypto-Communists and anti-Semitic ter-
rorist apologists are controlling the
majority of anti-war, anti-Bush protests
and rallies is not simply the paranoid con-
spiracy theories of a right-wing nutbar, it’s
the reality. If you’re a liberal, check out
the URLs on posters for yourself, and see
if these are the kinds of groups you want
representing you. Don’t say I didn’t warn
you.

 

 

Editorial Cartoon

Lift the mad cow ban
on Canadian beef?

dik ae ge Le ae (oa
my pen here...

 

 

 

January = 18/2005