“We must counter Israel’s McCarthyism”: Meet the Palestinian intellectual Israel fears most

The time has long passed when one could dismiss the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement–calling for Palestinian rights as enshrined in international law and human rights discourse—as something “merely symbolic.”   The attacks on BDS evidenced in legislation pending in several states in America, in the criminalization of BDS in Canada and France and other countries, and Israel’s promotion of “civil targeted eliminations” of dissidents and human rights workers, only show how much fear the claim for Palestinian rights has struck amongst those who wish to deny those claims.

Worried about C-51? You’re probably a terrorist.

Are you now, or have you ever been, a terrorist?

That, in one form or another, is the question being asked over and over by Conservative MPs of expert witnesses called before the Commons standing committee reviewing Bill C-51, the so-called anti-terrorism law.

I spoke before the committee last week. I pointed to the danger in the bill’s much-expanded definition of national security and in its false conflation of peaceful protest with terrorism. I was expecting to be called on to defend our arguments, to cite evidence on how the bill’s sweeping new powers could be used against peaceful advocates for action on climate change.

Tories unrepentant for 'McCarthyesque' attacks on security-bill critics

Conservative MPs ignored opposition demands Friday to apologize to some of Canada’s leading environmentalists, civil liberty advocates and Muslims for remarks that appeared to insinuate critics were national security threats because they spoke out against the government’s security legislation.

Tory members on the Commons public safety committee launched strident questioning of three groups testifying this week against Bill C-51, which would radically change Canada’s national security laws to combat terrorism and other security threats.

Bill C-51 hearings: Diane Ablonczy's questions to Muslim group 'McCarthyesque'

The head of a group representing Canadian Muslims accused a veteran Conservative MP of making slanderous comments during expert testimony on the government's proposed anti-terror legislation Thursday night.

During a question-and-answer session following National Council of Canadian Muslims executive director Ihsaan Gardee's presentation to the House public safety committee on Bill C-51, Diane Ablonczy used her allotted time to "put on the record" what she described as "a continuing series of allegations" that the NCCM has ties to groups that have expressed support for "Islamic terrorist groups," including Hamas.

How Quickly Politics of Fear Could Transform Canada

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, unless thwarted by a surge of surprising voter intelligence, has found the winning formula. Leading his coven of three-piece-suit and pearl necklace know-nothings, he will rally the electorate in a rout of the mortally dangerous non-Christian hordes within and without our borders, saving God from Allah and leaving Trudeau and Mulcair gasping for air, something they excel at.

As Harper whips up fear of a Muslim enemy he will make it simple to allow hate to spread without appearing to do so. In fact Harper need only mumble "not all people... many are fine, innocent... blah, blah, blah" and play the civil libertarian role.

Darrell Issa Tries Tactic In IRS Probe Last Used In McCarthyism

WASHINGTON -- A new report by the Congressional Research Service finds that Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-Calif.) probe of the Internal Revenue Service is veering into territory last trod by Congress in the McCarthy era.

Issa, chairman of the House Committee On Oversight and Government Reform, has been investigating the IRS's botched scrutiny of tax-exempt groups -- most of them conservative, as well as a handful of progressive groups. He has suggested the White House may have been involved in targeting groups for IRS inquiry.

Dumb as dirt: Bethune, Mao, Anders and the new McCarthyism

Last week the Canadian government opened a new $2.5 million visitor's centre at Bethune Memorial House in Gravenhurst, Ontario where physician Dr. Norman Bethune was born. A Parks Canada National Historic Site, it commemorates the life and achievements of this outstanding Canadian surgeon who pioneered techniques in thoracic surgery and provided care to wounded combatants in World War I, the Spanish Civil War, and during the second Sino-Japanese War, where he perished in the course of his service. However, that's not the view of Conservative Member of Parliament for Calgary West, Rob Anders, who criticized the move in print, radio, and television interviews:

"The idea that taxpayer money is being used to glorify somebody who was a propagandist for Mao - there's a lot of taxpayers out there who would say that was an inappropriate use of resources." -- Victoria Times Colonist

Russia Passes Law That Will Create a Blacklist for Websites

A day after massive online protests, including a temporary shut-down of the Russian-language Wikipedia, the State Duma has today gone ahead and passed the Information Act by a wide margin, with 441 of 450 members of the legislative body voting in support of it, according to the Washington Post. Though the law was amended at the last minute to be more explicit as to the reasons sites could be banned -- and reasons such as child pornography, the promotion of substance abuse and suicide -- critics say that expansive interpretation by the courts could leave many legitimate websites in peril.

Mulcair and energy McCarthyism

The high-and-mighty vitriol which greeted Tom Mulcair's comments last week about the downside of oil-powered currency appreciation is lamentable (repeating the over-the-top reaction to Dalton McGuinty's similar comments a few weeks ago). Mulcair made two modest and empirically substantiated statements: the loonie is sky-high as a result of the oil boom in Alberta's bitumen sands (I doubt you'd find a single currency trader on Bay Street who would disagree with that), and that overvaluation is causing negative side-effects on other industries and regions in Canada.

Following up on Erin Weir's most excellent interventions, here is my column in yesterday's Ottawa Citizen on this issue. And here is a graph that went with the column in the print edition. It shows that in the last decade, Canadian petroleum exports grew by close to 2 percentage points of GDP -- fairly impressive. But Canada's exports of everything else (manufacturing, services and tourism) declined by several times as much -- and the two offsetting trends are not unrelated. No wonder Canada is mired in a large, chronic international payments deficit, even as we scrape the stuff out of the ground faster than ever.

These diatribes against anyone who even acknowledges potential downsides or side effects of the bitumen boom seem to herald a new, dangerous tendency in Canada's political culture. Opposing a bitumen-exporting pipeline in Canada these days makes you a foreign-financed subversive. And it seems that questioning the economic effects of the bitumen export strategy makes you equally seditious. I call this "energy McCarthyism," and it should be rejected forcefully not just by those concerned with Canada's de-industrialization and staples dependency, but by those worried about the quality of our democracy.

Original Article
Source: rabble.ca
Author: Jim Stanford 

Peter Kent is a big fat liar! Response to “money laundering” allegations

This week Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent has made repeated allegations that environmental groups are “laundering money”. This is a serious charge because according to the federal government’s own website: Money laundering is the process used to disguise the source of money or assets derived from criminal activity.

This is beyond anything in my experience and is absolutely irresponsible. A cabinet minister is going around spouting serious allegations without proof and the media is repeating them without doing anything to investigate the validity of his statements.

This is McCarthyism. Period. Back in the late 40s and early 50s Senator Joe McCarthy made a career out of unfounded accusations of communism against innocent people who he didn’t like (back then the media also scrambled to report the unfounded accusations). Careers and lives were destroyed – remember, people were being told Communist bombs could fall on them any day!

Tory, Liberal attempts to root out former BQ members among NDP ranks similar to Cold War tracking of politicians like Tommy Douglas

PARLIAMENT HILL—A Federal Court judgment Wednesday that was critical of RCMP spying on the NDP’s founding leader Tommy Douglas sparked New Democrats to compare Cold War tracking of politicians and suspected communist sympathizers decades ago to Conservative and Liberal attempts to root out former Bloc Québécois members and supporters in their ranks over the past two weeks.

The ruling from Federal Court Justice Simon Noel ordered Library and Archives Canada to review its refusal to disclose hundreds of pages of RCMP intelligence archival material on Mr. Douglas, the CCF premier of Saskatchewan from 1944 to 1961, when he became the NDP’s first leader after it was formed that year.

Conservative Transport Minister Denis Lebel confirms former ties to the Bloc

After a week of attacking the NDP for choosing a former member of the Bloc Quebecois as its interim leader, it has emerged that the federal Conservatives also have a high-level member with former ties to the separatist party.

Tory transport minister Denis Lebel was a member of the Bloc during his time working for various civic-minded organizations in his home town of Roberval, a small town on Lac Saint-Jean, about 260 kilometres north of Quebec City.

His office confirmed his past association with the party Monday evening, but released few other details. It did not respond to a query as to why Mr. Lebel joined the Bloc, and if he had been a separatist.