As we honour today the men and women who have fought and died in uniform, it is important that our remembrance of them not be taken as an endorsement of war or a celebration of all things military. For many people, soldiers in uniform do not inspire feelings of pride but memories of horror, destruction, and death. Some of us are survivors of war or refugees. Others of us who were born here are Canadians because our parents or grandparents or great-grandparents fled the violence of wars in faraway lands.
Jason Kunin
Israeli apartheid by any other name still stinks
As the annual Israeli Apartheid Week got underway this week in universities across Ontario and around the world, the denunciations are mounting. In the Ontario Legislature last week, MPPs from all parties supported a motion brought forward by Willowdale MPP Peter Shurman condemning the event and its use of the word "apartheid," which he called "hateful" and "odious." A similar motion is expected to be moved in parliament by the federal Conservatives this week.
New book investigates influence of Israel lobby on free speech at Canadian universities
No Debate: The Israel Lobby and Free Speech at Canadian Universities
(James Lorimer & Co,
2011;
$22.95)
Academic conferences don't usually muster public attention, but in 2009 the organizers of the blandly titled Israel/Palestine: Mapping Models of Statehood and Paths to Peace found themselves at the center of a media shit storm fuelled by the hysterical rhetoric of pro-Israel community groups and their supporters in the media. This reaction culminated in an unprecedented move by Conservative Minister of State Gary Goodyear to threaten the funding of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) -- an arms-length agency created by an act of parliament -- if it did not commit itself to a review of the funding it had already awarded by an independent peer-review process.
Criticizing Israel is not an act of bigotry
A grassroots revolt is underway in Jewish communities throughout the world, a revolt that has panicked the élite organizations that have long functioned as official mouthpieces for the community. The latest sign of this panic is the recent publication by the American Jewish Committee of an essay by Alvin H.