
Accused of
thought crimes,
A
Modern-Day Galileo
By Matt Hutaff
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
Voltaire.
1.3.2003, Canadian authorities quietly shipped Ernst Zundel to Mannheim, Germany under cloak of night. Once his flight landed, Zundel was placed under arrest and taken into custody to stand trial for hate crime charges that were filed on behalf of the German people in 2003.
Indeed, aside from this flight, Zundel has only briefly seen the outside of a prison cell since his abduction from his home in Tennessee by U.S. agents and subsequent deportation to Canada. His exile to Germany is the culmination of a two-year "Star Chamber"-style legal proceeding in which Zundel was unable to question witnesses, examine available evidence or even know precisely what he was being charged with. The court's ruling, however, was inevitable Ernst Zundel presented a grave risk to national and international security, and he had to go. The quicker the better.
What precisely has Zundel done that's incurred the wrath of three powerful nations? He's questioned the accepted views of the Holocaust. Does he accept that the Nazis exterminated millions? Absolutely. Does he acknowledge Jewish persecution during the second World War? Yes. Does he agree with the official position on casualties and methods? No and he
wants a dialogue with anyone who will listen.
And therein lies the problem. In Germany (and many other nations), questioning the Holocaust is a crime. Ernst Zundel is being persecuted for a belief. Anyone besides me feel that's wrong?
· · · · ·
It does not matter to me if Ernst Zundel is right or wrong. His contrary
investigations into the machinations of Nazi atrocity are interesting,
but ultimately unimportant.
What is important is the freedom to believe or say whatever one wants. There are those that insist world oil reserves are on a permanent and steady decline; still others are convinced aliens walk among us. If they're right, God bless 'em; if they're wrong, the only thing they're
guilty of is being right (please note that I have no opinion on peak oil or UFOs). Neither outcome should be a crime how can someone be legally responsible for an incorrect belief?
That is what puzzles me. Anyone should have the ability to debate the merits of whatever case he or she chooses without fear of government reprisal. In supposed democratic states like Germany and Canada, the very idea of free speech is a fundamental part of daily life no topic should be off-limits to public discourse. It certainly doesn't stop the debater from believing in his cause and it clamps down on thought at the same time. Oftentimes, it makes people question why the topic was so risquι in the first place, creating new converts to a forbidden dialogue.
"Truth needs no laws to support it," says Mike Rivero. "Throughout history, only lies and liars have resorted to the courts to enforce adherence to dogma."
So if Ernst Zundel is wrong and most of the world agrees with that assessment what better way to expose Zundel as a fool than by letting himself hang on his own words? Why seek to prosecute someone for believing something few people want or care to hear?
Until his persecution by the Canadian courts, I had never heard about Ernst Zundel despite his decades-long attack on Holocaust dogma. He's been put on trial twice before for the same "crime," and his list of enemies is long. By continuing to harangue a marginal player in revisionist history, those who seek to condemn him have only shown the spotlight on his research... and the fervor of vested interests trying to impose a singular view of the Holocaust upon the world.
Like Zundel, I believe that the topic of the Holocaust should be openly and freely discussed and debated. I personally feel that how it is remembered today does a great disservice to the millions of other people who perished in World War II. The death toll was staggering why
nitpick over which culture was impacted the most (not much of a debate when you consider the Roma were effectively obliterated)? Anybody that ants to disregard or debate that stance should be free to do so.
Except they're not. Travel to countries with laws prohibiting dissenting opinions on the Holocaust and you can be jailed right alongside Zundel. Most startling is that Zundel is being prosecuted because his website has the potential to reach German citizens. Does it frighten writers that their text, written and stored in an entirely different country online, can be used against them in a foreign court? It should.
It's a sad state of affairs that Germany is now required to try one of its own citizens for daring to think differently the same kind of ridiculous legal theatrics that would be at home in the Third Reich.
There are those who would protect their interests in maintaining the Holocaust image as-is. Are they opportunists? Perhaps. Are they truly interested in examining Nazi atrocity if they quell alternative viewpoints? No. Who maintains the legacy better those who seek to
learn all they can or those who bury viewpoints under layers of dogma?
In 1633 the revered scientist Galileo was brought before the Roman Catholic Church and charged with heresy for his conviction in a heliocentric solar system. His belief shook the very foundations religion and science; his reward for accepting long-denied truth was the promise of torture unless he recanted... and a lifetime of house arrest.
Right or wrong, Galileo's beliefs deserved greater scrutiny than the threat of an iron maiden. The research of Ernst Zundel and others of the Holocaust shouldn't end in a 17th-century Inquisition. It should be evaluated openly, regardless of the outcome.
History is supposed to ruffle feathers. Chaining up a man illegally, having him deported based on the word of a biased judge and subjecting him to a trial that has no basis in a truly free and open society doesn't help the Holocaust... it only helps others think there's
something to hide.
( From Canon Fodder , a a weekly analysis of politics and society )
Who
is Ernst ZundelAnd Why is He in Jewish Jail? Ernst Zundel has been held
without charge in solitary confinement in Canada
for 2
years without a charge, and now deported to Germany
on the pretext that he
is a threat to national security. In fact, this 65-year-old
German-born writer, publisher and civil rights activist is a
political prisoner and a victim of great injustice.
Mr. Zundel has been in solitary confinement for 2 years and is about to be deported after a largely secret proceeding against him. The Crown and the presiding judge met secretly throughout his case, in the absence of Mr. Zundel and his lawyers. The Crown repeatedly presented evidence and made arguments to the judge in a Star Chamber type proceeding. At the public proceeding, Mr. Zundel was told literally hundreds of times, when he asked for specific evidence of the case against him, that there was nothing in the unclassified materials . He was repeatedly blocked from asking questions of witnesses on the basis of national security". The presiding judge made repeated serious errors, forgot submissions and repeatedly misstated the appropriate legal test about what evidence should be kept secret. The same judge then evaluated the secret evidence. Mr. Zundel complained of reasonable apprehension of bias by that judge. The same judge rejected Mr. Zundels argument and later ordered him deported. The Federal Court of Appeal rejected his appeal regarding bias. It appears that the Crown will not wait to see whether the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the further appeal Mr. Zundel has already filed on the bias issue. The Crown will deport him NOW. The Supreme Court of Canada has been asked, in Mr. Adil Charkaouis case, to consider the constitutionality of the law which allows secret evidence by which Mr. Zundel is deported. The Crown will not wait until the Supreme Court decides whether to hear that appeal. If the law is ultimately ruled to be unconstitutional, Mr. Zundel will likely hear about it from a German jail cell. Probably no one cares because Mr. Ernst Zundel is notorious and reviled. The powerful and the popular do not need to rely on the fairness of our legal system. The marginalized and the reviled do. Our system has failed Mr. Zundel. We should care. But we fear most of us dont give a damn. Mr. Zundel will not initiate any further court proceedings in Canada. His repeated request that Canadian courts recognize his rights to basic fairness and justice have been unanswered. He will not beg for those rights. Mr. Zundel has gone through the entire security certificate process, unfair though it was, to a conclusion. He has no right to appeal or to judicial review. He has gone to every available level of court in Canada. For 42 years, he has vigorously defended his freedom of
expression within the Canadian justice system. All legal
avenues have now been exhausted, as has his faith in the
Canadian justice system and this security certificate
system, which has been characterized by a Canadian
journalist, after witnessing part of Mr. Zundels
proceeding, as a frightening charade of
justice". Ernst Zundel, Canada and Germany |
|
TORONTO -
Zundel was deported from Canada on Tuesday March
01, 2005 and immediately taken into custody by
authorities in his native Germany, where he faces charges of
"denying the Holocaust" and "inciting hatred" via the
Internet, immigration officials said. Ernst Zundel, 65
was turned over to German authorities, said Helen Leslie, a
spokeswoman for Canadian Border Services Agency in
Ottawa. "We are committed to removing people who are
found to be a security threat as soon as practical," she
said. Zundel was arrested by
German police at Frankfurt airport and taken to the
southwestern city of Mannheim, where he was to spend
his first night back in his homeland in police custody,
local police spokesman Elmar Ludwig told The Associated
Press. His arraignment was set for Wednesday. |
|
"Zundel's
day of reckoning has finally come," said the Jew Frank
Dimant, executive vice president of the Jewish maffia
organization B'nai Brith Canada.
The
group had been at the forefront of efforts to have Zundel
deported. A
spokeswoman for the Justice Ministry said Monday that
Mannheim prosecutors were able to open a case against Zundel
because
his Holocaust-denying Web site is available in Germany. Zundel
is a peaceful man with no criminal record against him in
Canada.
Lindsay has challenged the constitutionality of the security
certificate review process, saying it violated his client's
right to free speech and association.
"He
was feeling disillusioned with a legal system that had
subjected him to a largely secret trial,"
Lindsay said. Ernst Zundel - Profile - CBC News Online Born in Germany to a lumberjack and a devout Christian, Ernst Zundel came to Canada at the age of 19. His public profile as a Revisionist grew in 1980, with the publication of a pamphlet "Did Six Million Really Die?". Based in Toronto, Zundel's company, Samisdat Publishers, producing materials supporting his views. - 1939:
Born in Calmbach, Germany.
ZUNDEL Deported from Canada TORONTOImprisoned revisionist dissident Ernst Zündel will be deported immediately as a "danger to Canadian security," a Federal Court of Canada judge has ruled. The Canadian Justice Pierre Blais smoothed the way to expel Zündel on the grounds that he is a threat to national security. No appeal is possible under the controversial national security certificate procedure. The Jewish Zionist judge Ian Buckley called Zündel "a Hitler sympathizer and a danger to society". In a 64-page decision, he condemned the revisionist dissident for his "extremist Revisionist views." According to this Jewish judge from the Canadian Government's court submission, "Zündel is a national security threat. (!!) Even though the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service document admits that the lifelong pacifist has "virtually no history of direct personal engagement in acts of serious violence," they contend that his alleged connections with other individuals and groups constitute a threat to Canadian security." One of the organisations named is the British National Party, which has just once again demonstrated its commitment to the democratic process by widespread participation in local government elections. Another gripe of Zündel's accusers is that his website has a link to Ahmed Rami's Radio Islam site, which they claim "calls for total war against Zionism." Ian Buckley wrote: "I have also reviewed conclusive evidence that Mr. Zündel maintained close ties with Sweden-based revisionist Ahmed Rami and his Radio-Islam Internet page, website to which the Zundelsite kept a hyperlink. In 1990, Mr. Rami was sentenced to six months of imprisonment in Sweden for anti-Semitism. Regardless of Mr. Rami's criminal record, as well as his notoriety as one of the most virulent Islamic voices against Israel and being labelled as the most dangerous anti-Jewish in Sweden...". A reasonable person might say that Rami is entitled to his opinion about an ideology that has waged 55 years of total war against his own people, and this has nothing much to do with Zündel in any case. But, as is so often the case these days, even when the supposedly neutral legal system is concerned, it all comes down to money and power. The Canadian press - largely owned by one Isidore Asper - has been even worse, brandishing scare-words in nearly every article about the Zündel case - white supremacist, anti-semite, even terrorist. I once watched a Channel Four documentary which featured famed Holocaust survivor Kitty Hart debating with three or four American revisionists/nationalists. My first reaction to the Americans - to use their own idiom - was: "These guys are nuts!" It was not until later that I came to realise that the situation was by no means as clear-cut as I had been led to believe by official versions of events. Now - and here I address myself to those who still believe the orthodox version of WWII history - if indeed "this guy is nuts," then why the frenzied attempts to shut down his website? Why all the measures of dubious legality - and plain illegality - to railroad Zündel to Germany to face a possible 10-year jail sentence just for his opinions? One could, if one were so inclined, construct a history of the war in North Africa in which the Allies were murderous maniacs, and the Germans and Italians decent, chivalrous fighters. For the only example of what could be called a war-crime in North Africa at that time came from the Allied side - an attack by the New Zealand Division on a field hospital in Matruh. Additionally, the USAAF, then as now, seemed to have an unfortunate habit of blowing up Arabs in mosques. But we all know and understand that history is written by the victors! That history, based on half-truths, distortions and exaggerations, has been used for years to justify both the shameful oppression of the Palestinians and the enervation and decline of the West. No wonder they fear
Zündel so much. His wife Ingrid recently commented that
Ernst is fighting against the forces of darkness. On first
reading I thought this might be hyperbole, but now I tend to
agree. "Mr. Zündel's
activities are not only a threat to Canada's national
security, but Jews hailed the judge's decision and expressed the hope that deportation would be quick. "We are consulting with the German Embassy in order to ascertain how soon they will accept Zundel back to his native country," said the Jew Frank Dimant, executive-director of the Jewish B'nai B'rith Canada. Zündel supporter Paul Fromm, director of the Canadian Association for Free _Expression, expressed a different opinion. He said he was "bitterly disappointed" by the ruling, adding there was no evidence linking Zündel to violence. "We're not dealing with a man who's a terrorist. He has the wrong political views," Fromm said from Winnipeg. "That's a shocking departure from what most Canadians think of when they think of a terrorist." Zündel, a longtime resident of Toronto, moved to the United States in 2001 and was trying to gain U.S. citizenship. He was arrested at his home in Tennessee on a minor visa technicality and deported to Canada in February 2003. Despite his stay of four decades in Canada, during which he has had frequent legal and human rights battles, Zündel was never able to convert his landed immigrant status into citizenship. The Canadian dissident has long argued that the so-called "Holocaust" was a blood libel against the German people and non-Jews generally, and that Jews have used the alleged atrocities as a way to extort money from their victims and to supporte Israel. Solitary
Confinement and Secret Proceedings Zündel's detention under controversial provisions that allow for indefinite detention has prompted several rallies in his support, including some in recent weeks. "Mr. Zündel expected this result," his Zionist attorney, Peter Lindsay, said after visiting his client in jail Thursday. "He didn't think he was going to get a fair shake." Lindsay said that while representing the marginalized and unpopular is a lawyer's highest calling, it was a horribly disillusioning ordeal. "I will never, ever do another security certificate case," he said. "A lawyer can play no meaningful role in the face of secret evidence. The lawyer's only role is as a fig leaf, to make the process look acceptable." "He won't be asking for a stay, " Lindsay told The Canadian Press on Friday. "This is an unfair process. Everyone has turned their backs on him." According to Lindsay, the courts have had numerous opportunities to remedy the "unfairness that he has been subjected to and they haven't." Moreover, Lindsay said, Immigration officials aren't willing to let the top court decide whether his client's allegations of judicial bias are well-founded. An Immigration Canada spokesperson said the department planned to deport Zündel to his native Germany as soon as possible. The Jewish B'nai Brith Canada, meanwhile, has demanded that he be deported immediately. "He could be gone tomorrow," said Bernie Farber, executive director of the Canadian Jewish Congress. "All I know is, it's going to be quick. Canadians can breathe easier now."
Ernst
ZündelPrisoner of War By: Horst Mahler Ernst Zündel is to be warmly welcomed home by Germans who still want to be Germans. The Jewish fighting force, ADL, has through its agitation ensured that Ernst Zündel has been a prisoner-of-war for over two years. This place-change, from Canada to Germany, does not change anything for Zündel because in both countries the same enemy rules. But on German soil this imprisonment generates new meaning because the US pretext that Ernst Zündel violated immigration laws has become irrelevant. Also, the enemy in Germany cannot, as did the Canadian government, hide behind the feigned concern of 'national security'. In Germany the enemy must openly declare, and thereby reveal its brutality that Ernst Zündel denies the details known legally as 'public knowledge' (Offenkundigkeit -judicial notice) of the Holocaust, and that he demands incontrovertible evidence to support the allegation that Germans on racial grounds, and by use of the insecticide Zyklon B, systematically exterminated millions of Jews. Only after Ernst Zündel emigrated to Canada did he begin critically to analyze the anti-German atrocity propaganda, and for over a decade in the Canadian court system successfully fought for his right to search for historical truth. He has thereby become a respected world-wide symbol of the unbroken will, the human spirit's continuing search for truth. The energy and firm conviction that radiate from this prisoner will convince more and more Germans who still want to be Germans to participate in the battle against the 'judicial notice' of the Holocaust. He will therefore be an example for these Germans who will assemble and with truth move against the strongholds of our enemy. Truth will set us free. Horst Mahler
A Freedom Fighter - And welcome to the witch/show-trial in 'democratic' Germany where a defence against the allegations will earn Ernst Zündel more punishment. The Mannheim judges are there to discuss and decide one matter only - how long is the prison term to be! There is no issue of innocence because the fact that Ernst is in prison, and has been accused of violating a dogma, is enough to prove his guilt.There will be no testing of evidence because judicial notice - Offenkundigkeit - relieves the judges of facing physical factual information as new evidence. The judges will want to see for themselves if Ernst has shown remorse for offending against the Holocaust dogma? If he show remorse by recanting/apologizing for his sins, and is prepared uncritically to embrace the Holocaust dogma (upon which rest the current German state and the Jewish state of Israel) - gas chambers existed to kill people - Germans killed 6 million Jews - then the prison term may be limited to under one year. Ernst has no criminal record and this would be his first offence! If Ernst does not recant and does not show remorse, then the judges will impose a longer prison sentence. He will be labelled a 'geistiger Brandstifter'- literally, a mental firebug, among other things, who refuses to see the error of his way. Ernst has a Weltanschauung for which he does not apologize, and which no amount of prison time can take from him. His world view is Ernst Zündel. He does not have a problem with his identity - he does not need to scapegoat, as do those who wonder who they are or where they came from. The baying for blood is already audible and the Mannheim judges know they will again make history because the world is watching this case. It will be a barometer indicating how free and democratic the Germans are within their own country. It will also indicate the degree to which German hatred still flourishes in the world. Remember Professor Robert Faurisson's forthright statement: Stop showing me a building, a door, a wall or, sometimes, only hair or shoes. I need a full picture of one of those fantastic chemical slaughterhouses. I need a physical representation of the extraordinary weapon of an unprecedented crime. If you dare to say that what tourists are shown in some camps is, or was, such a gas chamber, come on and say it." Remember Professor Arthur Butz's answer the question: What happened to the Jews? - they were there after the war! Remember Germar Rudolf's The Rudolf Report! Remember Fritjof Meyer has reduced the Auschwitz death figures to around 300,000, and states that the gassings occurred in two (fictitious) farm houses. This means that the 6 million dead number needs to be revised, something world Jewry is not prepared to do. Why not? Because it is part of the Holocaust dogma that six million Jews were lost, never to be found again. Fredrick
Töben 5
March 2005
you're Ernst Zündel ! Saturday, March 5, 2005 Toronto Imagine
that you're 65 years old and you're in jail. In solitary
confinement. You are strip-searched whenever you see your
lawyer. Once before. Once after. For two years. counsel
to Ernst Zundel
Ernst Zundel Deported Secretly & Whisked by Chartered Plane to Germany
Right to the end, the
Canadian state has shown itself to be mean spirited and
paranoid in its handling of political prisoner, pacifist
publisher Ernst Zundel. Co-counsel Chi-Kun Shi wrote
early today: Ernst was taken from Metro West this
morning at 5 am. The person at Border Services, Mr. Gordon
Morris, who was in charge of the deportation and said would
advise us once Ernst had left is not available until
March 3, 2005. It should be noted that Morris had
promised to advise Peter Lindsay and Ms Shi when Mr. Zundel
was airborne. He must have had a two-day symposium at Tim
Hortons Donuts that prevented him from fulfilling even
this minimal courtesy. His behaviour is typical of the poxy
Canadian bureaucracy.
Family members and lawyers are normally advised of the
flight and time of a deportation. Once again, the
So, like a typical totalitarian state, the political
prisoner was rousted from his bed before dawn and whisked to
the airport where, apparently, he was flown in a chartered
plane to
A number of civil libertarians are now expressing uneasiness
about the secret trials and the summary deportation of a
non-violent man, labeled as a terrorist. This concern should
be treated with the utmost scorn. These shameless phonies
have had nearly two years to get on board and join the fight
against secret trials. Alan Borovoy, the big noise with the
Canadian Civil Liberties Association, was called many times
by one of the Zundel lawyers. While in the office, he
refused to take her calls. Ernst Zundel has become a mirror to look at ourselves and its not pretty. These secret trials are the real enemy to civil liberties. Paul Fromm
- John Milton
Voltaire
65 Year old Ernst Zundel Jailed for 2 years without a charge, now deported to Germany for "hate crimes" By Kim Petersen Mar 5, 2005 Editor's Note: We have repsorted on the imprisonment of Ernst Zundel in the past on Axis of Logic. Well now, the zionists have finally got their way with the life of this 65 year old artist who never committed a crime. His wife, Ingrid has worked very, very hard over the last few years, fighting for her husband's freedom. But the zionists have had their way. They were able to successfully twist enough arms in the U.S. to have him imprisoned in the U.S., then deported to Canada where he remained in prison for 2 years, without a charge. Now the zionist pressure has been applied successfully on the Canadian judicial system to have Mr. Zundel deported to Germany. In Germany, he will be tried for "Holocaust Denial" - a crime enacted in Germany under pressure from the zionists. We agree with Kim Petersen's article (below) - that Ernst Zundel's case is an issue of free speech, pure and simple. If you have an opinion about the treatment Ernst Zundel has received from the U.S. and Canadian Governments, we would like to hear it!? By Kim Petersen There is a concerted right-wing effort to clamp down on liberal academics in the US. The attacks on M. Shahid Alam and Ward Churchill serve distinct notice that free-speech rights may be constitutionally protected on paper, but those rights are fragile. The assault on free speech is not confined to the US. Canadian security bills enacted following 9-11 have severely curtailed freedoms enjoyed by Canadians. Several Muslim Canadians have been rounded up along with one infamous historical revisionist. Sixty-five-year-old graphic artist Ernst Zundel, clad in an orange jumpsuit, sits on a pile of documents (because he is not allowed a chair) and sends off his last missives written with pencil stubs from his prison cell. He has just passed his second year of incarceration without charge. This prisoner is deemed to be a national security risk to Canada although he has no criminal record and is avowedly a Christian pacifist. Zundel and his supporters have characterized his situation as a "political kidnapping disguised as a deportation, based entirely on drummed up charges." The situation was allegedly stacked against Zundel. Once two cabinet ministers signed the draconian national security certificate, Zundel was denied the right to cross-examine his accusers or to know all the evidence against him. The Crown needed only to convince Federal Court Justice Pierre Blais (a former Canadian Security Intelligence Service head) that it was not unreasonable for two cabinet ministers to think Zundel might be a terrorist. Now, Zundel has abandoned his fight to stay in Canada and is slated for early deportation to Germany, where he will be immediately arrested and tried for his controversial views on the World War II Holocaust. Zundel's lawyer Peter Lindsay said authorities had informed him there would be no wait for a Supreme Court of Canada review of his allegation of judicial bias or rule on the constitutionality of Canada's anti-terrorism laws. Lindsay condemned the legal process as "unfair." Said Lindsay, "We should care. But ... most of us don't give a damn." Blais ordered the expulsion of Zundel, having determined him to be a hate-monger and threat. "Zundel's activities are not only a threat to Canada's national security but also a threat to the international community of nations," opined Blais. Zundel's notoriety stems from his challenging the conventional history of the World War II Holocaust. He does not deny European Jews were persecuted: "The Jewish community has been victimized, no doubt in my mind - by National Socialist Germany; they were robbed of their human rights. - I say Germans should pay restitution, material restitution moral restitution to Jewish institutions." The German-born Zundel was at one point enjoying a comfortable, well-to-do life in Canada based on his success as a graphic artist. But he gave that up when he took it upon himself to correct what he saw as inaccuracies in World War II history. Said Zundel, "I owe it to myself, as a person, to humanity, to tell this truth as I found it, and as I know it-to submit it to people. I don't ask people to love me. I don't ask people to even agree with me. I don't ask people anything but to let me state my case and then for them to reflect on it." Zundel objects to the holocaust being portrayed as an exclusively Jewish holocaust. "That Second World War was a Holocaust for everyone in it. - If we are to draw lessons from the Second World War, we must find out what led to this monstrous event - We must find out as people, as a planet, as human beings what really happened. Because otherwise we might well overlook when real holocausts are planned in the future." "Holocausts come under the guise of laws, robbing people of their civil rights, their human rights, imprisoning them for ideas; that's how holocausts start," says Zundel. Since promulgating his views on the World War II Holocaust, Zundel has been threatened, a recipient of a mail bomb, physically attacked, and suffered an arson attack that destroyed his home. To compound his misfortune, he has been financially bogged down defending himself and his controversial views in Canada's so-called justice system. Canada does limit free speech rights when hatred is promoted against an identifiable group. Contrary to what is commonly thought, Zundel was never prosecuted under the "group hatred" act. He was charged under an old section of the Criminal Code pertaining to disinformation. This is incredulous, as Zundel obviously believes in the verisimilitude of what he is saying. At his 1988 trial, Zundel was tried and cleared in the Supreme Court for disseminating "false news" in the form of a reprinted 28-page revisionist booklet Did Six Million Really Die? by Richard Verrall (but penned under the name Richard Harwood). The False News Law was struck down. Zundel stated that all his alleged crimes are Internet-related, dealing with the "Auschwitz Holocaust problem" and his defense of the German people. Vituperation is directed at the Zundelsite, which is adorned with Nazi-style flags featuring a "Z" fashioned after the swastika. The site carries the transcripts of his previous court appearances. Zundel considers this his legacy to revisionists. The truth of his claims, however, was considered irrelevant. The Canadian Human Rights Commission, which is responsible for investigating "hate crimes," astonishingly concluded: "The truth in some absolute sense really plays no role. Rather, it is the social context in which the message is delivered and heard which will determine the effect that the communication will have on the listener. It is not the truth or falsity per se that will evoke the emotion but rather how it is understood by the recipient." Security Crack On 18 February, a crack did emerge in the rigidity of Canada's national security laws. Adil Charkaoui, a Moroccan-born alleged terrorist agent, was finally released from a ministerial security certificate detention after 21 months in jail. Federal Court Judge Simon Noel ruled Charkaoui to be released on $50,000 bail-raised by several prominent Canadians-subject to a number of strict conditions such as obeying a curfew and wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet. Charkaoui is, however, only one of several Muslim men being held under national security laws. It was not enough to affect Zundel. Free Speech Trumps Ideology A Marxist-Leninist friend was surprised that I would write about the ordeal of Zundel. He advised, "Forget about him. He's a fascist and a Nazi." But he relented to the degree that, harkening to the wisdom of Martin Niemoeller, if Canadians remain silent about the human rights of Zundel then who will be there to speak out for their rights if and when their turn comes. Zundel is not a sympathetic figure. He is an unabashed admirer of the Austrian-born and raised Hitler, who he lauds as "Germany's greatest son." It is unsure how this squares with his pacifist declaration. In the vein of Hitler, Zundel is also vehemently anti-Marxist. Marxism, according to Zundel, is a "psychopathic ideology." In addition, he adheres to a doctrine of white racial purity. Nonetheless, his incarceration and upcoming deportation are morally wrong. It is relatively easy for progressives to stand up in defense of progressives when their free-speech rights are imperiled. The real test for progressives, however, is to defend free-speech rights of those whose views are anathema to progressivism. Kim
Petersen |