Oh What a Tangled Web we Weave From North Carolina to Carleton University

A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada

A relatively new campus activist group has been making headlines recently in the United States. Called Youth for Western Civilization, they are financed by the Leadership Institute of Morton Blackwell, through their Campus Leadership Program.

And while also aiding Republican campus organizations, Blackwell likes the idea that "You can get away with stuff that you would take a lot of flak for doing in the College Republicans ..." (1)

An example of this was when "University of Miami senior Sarah Canale, whose 'CLP-organized Advocates for Conservative Thought' threw an affirmative action bake sale last year in which the price of a cupcake varied according to the race of its buyer. That it was controversial, she believes, was a victory in itself." (1)

Youth for Western Civilization ran a "controversial" event 'Everybody Draw Muhammad Day’, something Young Republicans would never have gotten away with. Subsequently a Facebook group was started "Against "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" - May 20," which has more than 42,000 members. I'm proud to say that I'm one of them.

And of course in the battle of Facebook pages, another group was started; Against "Against "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day - May 20""

They have 48 members and I'm proud to say that I'm NOT one of them. You can link to their site from the Facebook Group: Freedom of Speech. Now I'm sure this is a noble thing, except that lately groups promoting 'Freedom of Speech' are often endorsing the freedom to denounce Islam, gays and women's rights.

I'm not suggesting that this is the intent with 'Freedom of Speech.' I'm sure it isn't. However, reading some of the comments, it's pretty clear that some people are motivated by that.

And spending only a few minutes on the website of Youth for Western Civilization, it's pretty clear that they are motivated by that. They want to be able to promote ... well Western civilization, which is fine, but it can't be done at the expense of others. The U.S. like Canada, is a nation of immigrants, and not just white immigrants.

Carleton University and the Campus Conservatives

The Manning Centre for Building Democracy, the Canadian counterpart of the Leadership Institute, that was started up with a ten million dollar anonymous corporate donation, also has a Campus Leadership Training Program, that churns out young rabble rousers.

One of them is Nick Bergamini who was recently elected as a Conservative Campus representative on the student council at Carlton University. Nick is no stranger to dirty tricks. In fact he had to be reprimanded during his campaign for pulling out an "old" trick. Creating misleading domain names.

The Chief Electoral Officer has been alerted to the domain name “Cusaonline.ca” which links to a CBC Article dated November 25, 2009 entitled “Students drop Shinerama fundraiser for illness targeting Caucasians” in which you are named and quoted.

This article has obviously been posted in an effort to reach students that mistakenly type in cusaonline.ca instead of going to the cusaonline.com website. The article is supportive of your campaign and as such the Chief Electoral Officer deems it as a form of campaigning. (2)

Conservative MP Mark Warawa's son was busted for this when he created a 'Young Liberal' site with anti-Liberal messages. The senior Warawa stated that he loved his son but wasn't responsible for his actions. A lot of things are done in the name of politics.

However, it's another "controversial" story that I'm interested in.

A Carleton University student who says he was a victim of hate crime is using his experience to try to open people's eyes to racism. Nick Bergamini, 22, says he believes he and his roommate Mark Klibanov were targeted for their political and religious beliefs when they were confronted by a group of men outside a Gatineau bar early Monday morning.

"We were just walking, minding our business and they said ‘Zionists' and they went after us because of our political beliefs and his religion," Bergamini told CTV Ottawa on Tuesday. During the confrontation, Bergamini was punched in the back of the head. As the pair walked along Promenade du Portage towards Ottawa, they were harassed by the same group again. This time the men were allegedly armed with a machete. A Carleton University student who says he was a victim of hate crime is using his experience to try to open people's eyes to racism.

"The guy opened up the window and said, ‘I'm the one who hit you, you effing Jew,'" Bergamini recalled. "They got out and kind of charged at my roommate, backed off and I heard ‘open the trunk,' so I looked right at the trunk to see what was coming out and I saw a big machete." The pair ran and managed to escape unharmed. Although Bergamini is known on campus for his pro-Israel beliefs, he is not Jewish. He now wants to use his experience to spread awareness about anti-Semitism.

"I hope people realize this is the attitude a lot of people have, with things like Israeli apartheid week. They think it's okay to go to the bar, take it to the next level," Bergamini said. "People have to know about this because if it happened to us, it can happen to other students – Zionists, Jews. It's our duty to let everyone know," added Klibanov. Gatineau police are now investigating the incident. Hate crimes in Canada are rare. However, police across the country are paying closer attention to reports of crimes motivated by hate. (3)

Bergamini is known on campus for his pro-Israel beliefs. And of course 'pro-Israel' beliefs is usually code for 'anti-Islam' if you follow this through the religious context. I posted a great article from Israel a while back, and they believe that the Christian Zionists are engaged in the anti-Semitism (the ultimate plan for the Jews during Armageddon), but justify it on the grounds that they don't believe what they believe, and for now it's great for tourism and unlimited military weapons as gifts.

And no I'm not anti-Semitic. Those were the thoughts of a Rabbi living in Israel and others.

I am not saying that Bergamini's story is not true. Far from it. However, as the school has tried to point out, maybe it's time to look at all messages of hate. I would like to know what they meant by "well known" supporter of Israel. The media for the most part mentioned that but did not elaborate. It was obviously an attempt at balanced reporting.

Because there is a real slippery slope here. If we make this about Christians against Muslims or Israel against Palestine (and many of the blogger headlines did say anti-Israel or pro-Palestine attack and several even refer to machetes in the plural), then this becomes something else.

This needs to be used as an opportunity to promote tolerance from both sides.

The Leadership Institute teaches the same principle. Controlled controversy -- making your point in a manner so bombastic that your opponents blow their cool -- is a Blackwell specialty. (1)

The attack was wrong but I'd like to know what exactly was meant by "pro-Israel" religious views and how they were presented on campus, before I'm ready to make this about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Bergamini claims to have known at least one of them. Were charges ever laid or have all Muslims now been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion?

We have to be very careful.

The video is below and what is interesting is that they referenced Ann Coulter and Berganini claims to have been there and says that the protesters took control of the whole thing. However, police reports have since confirmed that Coulter cancelled the event before the protesters got there.

They were also able to take a shot at CBC, who were right to have wanted to listen to other students, so that they know what may have fueled the incident. Because only then can we truly prevent these kinds of "hate crimes" from occurring.

I'm going to try to follow up with this story to see if the man known to Berganini has been identified and if anyone has been charged.



Sources:

1. My Right-Wing Degree, By Jeff Horwitz, May 24, 2005

2. Original document: Nick Bergamini Electoral Violation By: The Charlatan Post, February 5, 2010

Anne Coulter, Tom Tancredo and Controlled Controversy

A CULTURE OF DEFIANCE: History of the Reform-Conservative Party of Canada

In April of 2009 U.S. Republican Tom Tancredo was supposed to speak at the University of North Carolina.

According to the Raleigh News and Observer

Before the event, campus security removed two women who delayed Tancredo's speech by stretching a 12-foot banner across the front of the classroom. It read, “No dialogue with hate.”

Police escorted the women into the hallway, amid more than 30 protesters who clashed with the officers trying to keep them out of the overcrowded classroom. After police released pepper spray and threatened the crowd with a Taser, the protesters gathered outside Bingham Hall.

Police spokesman Randy Young said the pepper spray was “broadcast” to clear the hallway. He said officers' use of force was under investigation by the department. But campus visitors and some faculty members in the capacity crowd of 150 urged the students to let Tancredo speak.

The protesters relented, and Tancredo began to speak, describing failed state and federal legislation aimed at providing in-state tuition benefits for undocumented immigrants. Two women stretched out another banner, first along one of the aisles and then right in front of Tancredo. Tancredo grabbed the middle of the banner and tried to pull it away from one of the girls. “You don't want to hear what I have to say because you don't agree with me,” he said.

The sound of breaking glass from behind a window shade interrupted the tug-of-war. Tancredo was escorted from the room by campus police. (1)

Tancredo was a controversial Republican candidate for the presidency. He is strongly anti-immigration and once suggested bombing mosques in the Middle East as a deterrent for another attack on the U.S.

He is also the honorary chairman of Youth for Western Civilization, a group financed through the Leadership Institute of Morton Blackwell. According to YWC there were about 300 protesters at UNC that night, and even the professors were encouraging the students. They also claimed that they threw rocks through windows smashing them. But according to the news report one window to the classroom where Tancreno was speaking, was broken when an over zealous protester pounded on the glass.

He later apologized and was dealt with.

However, given the expected volatile nature of his visit, why did they have him speak in such a small classroom? Why not one of the halls? The university did not try to prevent him from appearing.

It's called controlled controversy and it's one of the techniques taught in the Campus Leadership Training program at the Leadership Institute.

Unlike chapter-based political organizations, CLP clubs are unaffiliated with either the Leadership Institute or each other. According to Blackwell, this trait offers a serious advantage: "No purges." The clubs' independence also comes with the benefit of plausible deniability. "You can get away with stuff that you would take a lot of flak for doing in the College Republicans," says CLP director Dan Flynn. (2)

The Youth for Western Civilization, which has been cited as a hate group, for their pro-white messages, hosted Trancedo because they knew he would rile the student groups. They advertised heavily and deliberately made sure that the venue would not house everyone wanting to attend. Most of the people in the audience were "silent protesters".

When he spoke, they turned their chairs around, so he would be speaking to their backs. Tancredo himself, was the first to make a move when he grabbed the banner the girls were holding up. This angered those outside the classroom and the police had to quiet them with the 'threat' of a tasar which they shot into the air creating an arch.

I saw the video and it was a heated exchange, but not a violent exchange. I believe the only people hurt were the man who accidentally put his fist through the glass and Tancredo when an officer stepped on his toe.

And despite the fact they claimed that the university professors were involved, they were actually trying to quiet the students down and told them to "let him speak."

But it worked beautifully. Because despite the fact that Tancredo's message was against multiculturalism, the news the next day was about the "extreme left wing groups," their violent protests and their attempt to silence free speech. The university publicly apologized and the YWC snickered and high-fived, as they had carefully engineered themselves into becoming the 'victims'.

Anne Coulter and a Little Controlled Controversy

Ann Coulter is the controversial American comedian, in the Howard Stern vein. Her shtick is gay and Muslim baiting.

Popular during the Bush administration , it would appear that she was past her prime. That stuff is only funny to those who find it funny, for a while, and then it just gets tired and old.

But then a group calling themselves the International Free Press Society in conjunction with the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute, sponsored her visit to three Canadian Universities: Western, Ottawa and Calgary.

Before the Ottawa event, a $250.00 a plate dinner was held for Conservative supporters, sponsored by the Ottawa Campus Conservatives and arranged by Ashley Scorpio, who is listed in the government's electronic directory, as a "... staffer working in the office of Conservative MP Gerald Keddy. She has also worked for Ontario Conservative MP Patrick Brown and was once an administrative assistant in the Harper PMO". (3)

Because of her books and columns, bashing anyone not a neoconservative, the Provost of the University of Ottawa sent Coulter a letter with a gentle reminder that Canada had tougher hate speech laws than the United States, so she should be mindful of that.

Just what her team had hoped for. Ezra Levant went nuts and turned the whole thing into a three-ring circus. According to him there were 2000 violent protesters all after her head. So threatening were they, that poor Ms. Coulter had to cancel the event because the Ottawa police warned her that they could not offer her protection.

Apparently her new shtick is making stuff up, and her side shtick Ezra Levant, played the bumbling clown.

First, contrary to what Coulter seems to suggest in a brief phone interview with Macleans.ca scribe Colby Cosh, it was not the police who "shut it down." I spoke with Ottawa Police Services media relations officer Alain Boucher this morning, and he told me, in no uncertain terms, that it was her security team that made the decision to call off the event. "We gave her options" -- including, he said, to "find a bigger venue" -- but "they opted to cancel ... It's not up to the Ottawa police to make that decision." (4)

It was clearly nothing more than a publicity stunt and a bit of controlled controversy, because the debate became about "freedom of speech, " and not hate-mongering, which was far more damaging, because we are now asked to decide whether or not we think it's OK to bash Muslims.

Because if it had been about free speech, there would have been no trouble with George Galloway visiting. And since we now know that Jason Kenney was directly behind it, the Conservatives and their supporters don't get to play that card.

But what I would like to know is who these people are who arranged her visit, and what they have to do with the Conservative Party of Canada.

The International Free Press Society

Despite the fact that it was determined that Coulter cancelled the event herself, and the biggest threat was that someone jokingly commented that they would like to pie her, the website of the International Free Press Society had this to say:

It is interesting to see the aftermath of Canada’s Ottawa University after an unruly crowd of leftist and Islamic protesters through threats vandalism and intimidation, shut down a planned speech by Ann Coulter.

You can visit their site here if you want to learn more about Ezra Levant. And here. They are definitely fans.

But who are they? Three words: Islamic hate group.

Their founder, the Danish Lars Hedegaard has stated that: "The modern Islamism, which nearly all Danish imams advocates call themselves a religion, but is first and foremost a political ideology in line with communism and Nazism."

You can buy copies of the Danish cartoons from them for $ 250.00 a pop, and presently they are raising funds for the Dutch MP Geert Wilders.

The fiercely anti-Islam Dutch MP Geert Wilders has been traveling through the U.S. this week on a highly-publicised trip to meet with politicians, promote his controversial film ‘Fitna’, and raise money for his legal defence back home.

Although Wilders’s stated goal has been to campaign for free speech, his trip has been sponsored and promoted by an unlikely coalition of groups united primarily by their hostility towards Islam. His backers include neoconservative and right-wing Jewish groups on the one hand and figures with ties to the European far right on the other.

On Friday, he capped his busy week with an appearance at the National Press Club. At the event, he reiterated his calls for a halt to immigration from Muslim countries and pronounced, to raucous applause from the audience, that "our Western culture based on Christianity, Judaism, and humanism is in every aspect better than Islamic culture".

Wilders is also known for campaigning to ban the Koran, Islamic attire, and Islamic schools from the Netherlands, and for proclaiming that "moderate Islam does not exist."

... An event he held at a Boston-area synagogue was sponsored by the Republican Jewish Coalition, an influential group whose board members include casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, and neoconservative writer David Frum, who attended Wilders’s Friday event in Washington. (5)

Well there you go. David Frum and Ari Fleischer. Both Bush administration alumni and Harper insiders. Frum is a good friend of Jason Kenney, Stockwell Day and Ezra Levant, and his sister Linda, was one of Harper's patronage senate appointments. And we all know Ari Fleischer, who has been given untendered contracts by our government, to help fend off accusations of alleged war crimes.

And the Clare Booth Luce Institute is just kind of a silly Conservative women's group who publish a calendar every year of "Hot Conservative Women".

Boy is the Conservative brand ever in the gutter. Hatred and exploiting women. And they claim to do it all for Jesus. No wonder so many people are turning to atheism.

Continued: Stirring it up at the University of Manitoba

Sources:

1. Protest Stops Tancredo Speech, By Jesse James DeConto, Staff Writer, Raleigh News and Observer, April 15, 2009

2. My Right-wing Degree, By Horwitz, May 24, 2005

3. Ann Coulter and Canada's Conservatives, By: David Akin, Canada.com, March 23, 2010

4. Sorry Ann Coulter, Canada's Just Not That Into You, By Michael Rowe, Huffington Post, March 25, 2010

5. Dutch Foe of Islam Ignores US Allies' Far Right Ties, By Daniel Luban and Eli Clifton, IPS, February 28, 2009