Fw: [antiwar-van] Zionists target supporters of StopWar.ca

[Charles Boylan]

April 1, 2003

Dear Friends,
    Earlier today I received a notice (found at the bottom of my reply)
containing an editorial in the Western Jewish Bulletin. I wrote my reply
because there is a terrible pressure on people of Jewish religious or Jewish
cultural background to submit to Zionist blackmail. The progressive Jewish
working class and intellectual communities in earlier times played an
important role in opposing Zionism, all forms of racism and colonialism, and
made many sacrifices fighting fascism and defending socialism, communism and
internationalism. My own mother, Anne Boylan (nee Cohen), emerged as a young
communist activist in the early 1930s, and through good times and bad,
remained loyal to her last breath to the high ideals of enlightenment and
progress associated with the internationalist, communist movement. Married
to a worker of Irish-catholic background, they were both atheists and
revolutionaries, dedicating their entire adult lives to fighting fascism,
racism, for an end to exploitation and oppression of any kind, and for the
independence of all countries large or small.
    In these terrible times, when powerful states once again flout
international law, wage war, incite racism and criminalize dissent in pusuit
of world domination, the heroic deeds of the past anti-fascist generation is
a great spiritual force to encourage and strengthen us in our present
struggles.  I have no illusion I can influence hardened Zionist ideologues,
people steeped in the same chauvinism that pervades George Bush. But I don't
think their anti-people stands should go unanswered either. Hence the
following reply to the Western Jewish Bulletin editorial:

?April 1, 2003

Editor, Western Jewish Bulletin

Dear Sir/Madam:

    Thanks to a memo sent out by StopWar.ca, I read your editorial
condemning Vancouver and Burnaby City Councils' stands against the US
invasion of Iraq Your editorial  is wrong-headed, and I suspect very
hypocritical.
     In the United States hundreds of city councils took a public stand
against Bush's illegal and unjust invasion of Iraq, a sovereign state and
member of the United Nations. One of those cities is New York, home to one
of the largest Jewish populations in the world.
    Furthermore, did you condemn Premier Ralph Klein for writing a letter in
support of this illegal invasion?  After all he directly violated our
constitution, the Canada Act (1867), which designates internatonal relations
to the federal government. There is no constitutional reference to the
responsibilities of cities, other than assigning that task to the provinces.
     Or how about US ambassador Paul Cellucci's unwarranted interference in
the internal affairs of Canada?  Did you write an editorial condemning his
ultra vires activity?  Did you point out that if any other ambassador openly
appealed to the Canadian public to oppose the foreign policy of Canada, they
would have been kicked out of the country. Can you imagine the French or
Russian ambassador getting away with this kind of undiplomatic behaviour? Or
do you view Mr. Cellucci as a godfather to the "family" or pro-consul of the
empire rather than mere ambassador?
     Did you write any editorials asserting the sovereign right of the
Canadian state to stay out of a war that clearly violates the fundamental
international law embodied in the United Nations Charter?  If you did,
please send them to me.
     The link between Zionism and Bush’s “pre-emptive war” doctrine is
clear. Zionism is an aggressive Euro-centric colonial doctrine and practise,
and its present day unholy united front with the most bellicose Christian
fundamentalist sects in the U.S. with their close ties to the present U.S.
administration, represents a serious threat to international rule of law and
world peace.
     This is a great tragedy when one considers the positive, humanizing
role Jewish, Yiddish-speaking working class and intellectual communities
played in late 19th and early 20th century Euro-American history, and their
contribution to enlightenment, internationalism and the socialist and
communist movements.
     As the son of a woman of integrity from that tradition, I can only
express to you my strongest opposition to the content of your editorial. I
encourage all people of Jewish belief and tradition to join with all
peace-loving Canadians to: a) take a just stand in favour of the immediate
withdrawal of US-British invasion forces from Iraq, and b) take a just stand
in favour of the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from the West Bank,
Gaza and Golan Heights, ie all lands annexed by Israel in the 1967 war, the
demand of numerous Security Council and General Assembly resolutions in the
United Nations.

Yours truly,

Charles Boylan
Spokesperson, People's Front (B.C.)

[please forward if you wish--cb]

From: "hanna kawas" <hkawas at email.msn.com>
To: "Jeff keighley" <keighley at caw.ca>
Cc: "Antiwar-Van at Resist.Ca" <antiwar-van at resist.ca>; <lkawasme at cs.uvic.ca>
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2003 12:25 AM
Subject: [antiwar-van] Zionists target supporters of StopWar.ca


>
> The local Zionists are waging a campaign against the peace movement for
> opposing the war on Iraq and supporting Palestinian rights.
> Following is an editorial from the main Zionist paper attacking Vancouver
> and Burnaby city councils for opposing war and supporting StopWar.ca,
under
> the pretext that it is not within their mandate to do so.
> When the Vancouver city council in the past, passed resolutions in support
> of Israel, we did not hear them talk about "a mandate for these foreign
> policy interventions".
> What hypocrites.
> Hanna
>
>
> http://www.jewishbulletin.ca/archives/Mar03/archives03Mar21-08.html
>
> Jewish Western Bulletin
> March 21, 2003
>
> The city's foreign policy
> Editorial
>
> The world spirals in a tumult of impending explosion as the globe's sole
> remaining military superpower takes aim at a dictatorial tyrant in a
battle
> that has come to represent the force of one civilization against another.
> America and Iraq hurtle into desperate conflagration, bringing the fate of
> their respective citizenries – and all the rest of us – with them into the
> unknown.
>
> Thankfully, calmer heads prevail. In a richly wood-panelled, windowless
room
> in an art deco building on a hill at 12th and Cambie, in the far-off city
of
> Vancouver, comes the message of hope for which the world has been waiting.
> Vancouver city council has passed a resolution calling for no war with
Iraq.
>
> A collective sigh of relief is heard around the world or at least, around
> the council table. Since the Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE) came
> to power in a landslide election last fall, this city has seen
international
> affairs return to the city council agenda.
>
> Of course, our own city council is not alone in taking this stand. The
City
> of Burnaby has joined Vancouver in endorsing the Web site StopWar.ca,
> dedicated to keeping George W. out of Saddam's backyard.
>
> But why is it a municipal council's business? How many people voted for
> their council representative based on his or her opinions about
pre-emptive
> first strikes, nuclear disarmament or Iraqi track records? Isn't that why
we
> vote in federal elections? Don't we take foreign affairs into account when
> we vote for our member of Parliament?
>
> City councillors cannot possibly claim that they have a mandate for these
> foreign policy interventions; hardly a word was uttered about foreign
> affairs during what was a particularly verbose election campaign last
year.
>
> We all wish for peace. However, while generalized wishes for peace and
> harmony are charming, they are very often naive in the context of a
complex
> world environment.
>
> Meanwhile, Vancouver has its own battles to fight. Vancouverites want our
> councillors to battle homelessness, find solutions to drug problems, offer
> recreation for children, seek justice for the lost women of the Downtown
> Eastside and provide clean water, safe streets and garbage pick-up. These
> are the battles city council was elected to fight.
>
> If a city councillor wants to speak up on his or her own behalf, fine.
Their
> constituents can support them or admonish them and boot them out of office
> next time. But the entire city council speaking on behalf of all
> Vancouverites in regards to the anti-war campaign? Shame.
>
>
>
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