{"id":1031138,"date":"2023-03-20T15:00:32","date_gmt":"2023-03-20T15:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dissidentvoice.org\/?p=138962"},"modified":"2023-03-20T15:00:32","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T15:00:32","slug":"pro-israel-and-ukraine-groups-use-identity-politics-to-attack-free-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/03\/20\/pro-israel-and-ukraine-groups-use-identity-politics-to-attack-free-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-Israel and Ukraine Groups Use Identity Politics to Attack Free Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"

Questioning Canada\u2019s contribution to NATO\u2019s proxy war is \u201chate\u201d that must be shut down according to some Ukrainian groups mimicking Zionist organizations by promoting an identity politics laced cancel culture.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A Ukrainian student group sought to cancel my talk at Kings College in London, Ontario, on Thursday. In \u201cWestern Ukrainian<\/a> Students\u2019 Association Statement on The King’s University College Yves Engler Event\u201d, they called me an \u201capologist to a bloodthirsty regime \u2026 who spreads disinformation and uses Russian propaganda talking points.\u201d They also argued that I \u201cendanger victims of colonialism everywhere\u201d and my speaking \u201cmay also incite violence on campus.\u201d The statement boldly concluded, \u201cwe cannot allow a proponent of hateful disinformation and Russian propaganda on our campuses in any capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

I have referred to the Russian invasion as \u201cillegal\u201d and \u201cbrutal\u201d in dozens of articles and interviews. But I\u2019ve also challenged Canada\u2019s role in provoking and escalating the conflict. In a sign of their fanaticism, the event at Western wasn\u2019t even about Ukraine but rather Canada\u2019s contribution to Palestinian dispossession.<\/p>\n

A few days before the Western Ukrainian Students’ Association released their statement a master\u2019s student at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs published a similar attack on a January event I did with Tamara Lorincz and Miguel Figueroa. The Chair of the Carleton University Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and Model NATO, Matthew Selinger, labelled me a \u201cmaster of historical<\/a> revisionism that runs in line with Russian propaganda.\u201d The former Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) intern concluded with a call to defund Carleton\u2019s Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) for simply having booked the room used for the Ottawa Peace Council event titled \u201cThe War in Ukraine: What is the Path to Peace?\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Charlatan<\/em> student paper Selinger wrote that OPIRG needed to be held \u201caccountable<\/a> for exploiting its campus status for malignant purposes. Should OPIRG refuse to condemn the speakers\u2019 messages and halt sponsorship of future events that trot out Kremlin disinformation as a rational perspective, then defunding must be pursued. This panel should\u2019ve never taken place on campus. Carleton\u2019s deafening silence on the hateful and vilifying rhetoric towards Ukrainian students can be corrected, among other recommendations, by drafting an official policy on combating disinformation in non-departmental events.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immediately after the event the Charlatan<\/em> published \u201cCarleton<\/a> student groups address anti-Ukrainian hate on campus\u201d about the Carleton Ukrainian Students\u2019 Club bid to have our event canceled.<\/p>\n

An even more intense campaign<\/a> of vilifying antiwar voices as \u201chate\u201d has taken place in recent months at the University of Victoria.<\/p>\n

On March 14 the parent organization of the campus groups demanded the federal government take action against \u201canti-Ukrainian hate\u201d. In \u201cUCC calls<\/a> on Government of Canada to address rising tide of anti-Ukrainian hate\u201d, the right-wing lobby group demanded Ottawa \u201cissue a public statement unequivocally condemning the rising pattern of hate-motivated attacks against the Ukrainian Canadian community and supporters of Ukraine; Develop and deliver programs to educate the public and counter disinformation that incites hatred against Ukrainians.\u201d (Notwithstanding the claims, there\u2019s likely never been greater sympathy for Ukrainian Canadians, a community that\u2019s faced its share of discrimination, including large-scale internment during and after World War I.)<\/p>\n

Where have you heard this type of rhetoric before? The UCC and its campus affiliates are taking a page from the Zionist playbook. (In fact, a day after the Western Ukrainian Students’ Association denounced me, three anti-Palestinian Jewish groups released a statement that demanded \u201cKing’s University<\/a> College should not provide a podium for Engler to use to spread his hateful views.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Well-resourced, US empire aligned, Israel lobby groups constantly smear activists and demand events be shut down or individuals be cancelled. The recent attacks<\/a> against Hamilton Centre NDP candidate (now Ontario MPP) Sarah Jama are an egregious example. They smeared the 29-year-old wheelchair bound Black female activist as anti-Jewish for having stood against apartheid. From smearing individuals to promoting an anti-Palestinian definition of antisemitism, the Israel lobby promotes an identity politics infused cancel culture.<\/p>\n

Ironically, right-wingers who normally bash cancel culture and identity politics stay mum about the Zionist or NATO proxy warriors\u2019 tactics.<\/p>\n

Groups aligned with powerful forces who seek to suppress discussion of important international issues on the grounds of their \u201churt feelings\u201d deserve criticism and contempt. Just don\u2019t expect it to come from the usual sources in the mainstream media. They\u2019re too busy promoting war and defending an apartheid state.<\/p>The post Pro-Israel and Ukraine Groups Use Identity Politics to Attack Free Speech<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.\n

This post was originally published on Dissident Voice<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Questioning Canada\u2019s contribution to NATO\u2019s proxy war is \u201chate\u201d that must be shut down according to some Ukrainian groups mimicking Zionist organizations by promoting an identity politics laced cancel culture. A Ukrainian student group sought to cancel my talk at Kings College in London, Ontario, on Thursday. In \u201cWestern Ukrainian Students\u2019 Association Statement on The [\u2026]<\/p>\n

The post Pro-Israel and Ukraine Groups Use Identity Politics to Attack Free Speech<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92,827,771,82,473,3229,295],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031138"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1031138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1031139,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1031138\/revisions\/1031139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1031138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1031138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1031138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}