header image
Latest Postings
Home arrow Canada arrow CPCCA Watch
The CPCCA: a threat to free speech in Canada
The CPCCA: a threat to free speech in Canada PDF Print E-mail
Apr 07, 2010 at 05:32 PM
Seriously Free Speech Committee

Are you aware that a serious threat to free speech is unfolding in Ottawa despite the free speech guarantees in Article 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms? This could set a dangerous precedent for other important issues.

Did you know a self-selected committee of Canadian parliamentarians has been quietly holding meetings that could lead to the criminalization of certain political expression in this country? This committee calls itself the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA).

The CPCCA website (www.cpcca.ca), without providing evidence, states that “The extent and severity of antisemitism is widely regarded as at its worst level since the end of the Second World War.” However, it is clear that this committee’s primary interest is not antisemitism as it is traditionally understood, i.e., discrimination against or denial of the right of Jews to live as equal members of society. Instead, the Coalition’s focus is on something it calls “the new antisemitism,” which is defined as improper or excessive criticism of the State of Israel.
Read more...
The Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism: What it means for Canadians PDF Print E-mail
Jan 30, 2010 at 12:00 AM

Joanne Naiman

Talk given on January 30, 2010, at “One Year Later…Gaza Remembered”, Vancouver Public Library

We are here tonight primarily to hear about the effects of an illegal occupation and war on the people of Gaza, and to express our solidarity with the Palestinian people. In the anti-apartheid movement, a popular slogan was the old Wobbly saying “An injury to one is an injury to all.” What I hope to show you tonight is that, indeed, the “injuries” affecting people half way around the world are about to have serious consequences for us all. 

Specifically, I’m going to talk about the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism[1] (CPCCA), which has been meeting in Ottawa since last fall, and is now meeting through February. “What Coalition?” you may be asking yourselves. Exactly—this entity has been almost totally out of the public eye since its inception. While many Canadians have expressed dismay about the recent prorogation of Parliament, few are aware of a committee whose main aim is, to quote one critic, “an attempt to curtail freedom of speech and academic freedom across Canada, and to possibly criminalize certain kinds of human rights discourse.”[2]

Read more...
A Witch Hunt Worthy of the Name PDF Print E-mail
Dec 07, 2009 at 03:12 AM

THE CAMPAIGN TO SUPPRESS FREE SPEECH (PART TWO)
Mordecai Briemberg

You know the expression – “a rose by any other name is still a rose”. And a witch-hunt by any other name still is a witch-hunt. The C-P-C-C-A is that other name, but a name does not change the reality. And the C-P-C-C-A is a witch-hunt.

As an acronym C-P-C-C-A is a mouthful, and an even bigger mouthful when written in full: Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-semitism.

Is CPCCA a parliamentary committee? Not at all, though they have chosen a name that might make people believe they are. But there was no decision in parliament to form this committee, not even discussion of such a possibility.

CPCCA is a committee of members of parliament who simply have self-selected to act as a lobby group, holding hearings on the premises of parliament, however, bringing people in agreement with their purposes to Ottawa from across Canada, Europe and Israel. Members of this “coalition” come from all four parties inthe House of Commons: Conservative, Liberal, NDP, and Bloc. Can you recall such an all-party “coalition” ever being formed before?
Read more...
CPCCA: Alert! Radio from Canadian Dimension PDF Print E-mail
Dec 03, 2009 at 12:00 AM

Show Notes:

Alert! Radio #137 - Marc Lee in Seattle Ten years Ago--and Copenhagen. Peter Kulchyski at the Vancouver Gathering of Defenders of the Land. Mordecai Briemberg on the campaign linking  anti-semitism with criticism of Israel.
Finding out about the Canadian Parliamentary Commission to Combat Anti-Semitism PDF Print E-mail
Nov 25, 2009 at 12:00 AM

Show Notes:

The majority of Canadians aren't aware of the existence of this group of parliamentarians which formed this year. Alan Sears fills in some of the gaps for us. Sears is a sociology professor at Ryerson University and a member of Faculty for Palestine.

To find out more about Redeye, check out our website.
More...
Back
In the enlightened world it's called robbery

Benny Ziffer, Ha'aretz
May 11, 2007

The discovery of Herod's tomb, or to be more precise a few fragments of dressed stone that one archaeology professor has concluded are the remains of Herod's sarcophagus, have preoccupied television news and magazine programs since Tuesday. Amid the general zeal of the Londons and the Kirschenbaums and their talking-heads colleagues for demonstrating their mastery of the history of the Second Temple period, and to revive debates from their youth movement days over whether Herod was good or bad for the Jews, one important detail was forgotten, or almost forgotten: that the excavation of this tomb of Herod was carried out in occupied territory, where Israel has no moral right to dig and certainly not to remove archaeological artifacts. In the enlightened world, what Israel is doing is called robbery.

Read full article...