Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Ezra Levant In More Hate Speech Trouble

Gina Csanyi-Robah of the Roma Community Center writes:

As a result of Levant's hate speech targeting our community, the RCC has been in contact with the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and is currently writing formal complaints to the Canadian Broadcasting Standards Council, the Canadian Media Association, the Canadian Ethnic media Association, and the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

There are examples through the link.  One of the nastier bits is:

Being a Gypsy isn't like being Black, or being Gay, or being a woman or even Romanian, where many Gypsies come from. Just like being from Sicily doesn't make you part of the Mafia. Being a Gypsy is a positive choice, like being a Blood or a Crip, like joining the Cosa Nostra. For centuries, these roving highway gangs have mocked the law and robbed their way across Europe. Now, because of our broken refugee system, they're here in Canada in the thousands. And they've brought the Gypsy Crime Wave with them. Yeah, no thanks, I'm not interested in calling them 'Roma' or 'Travelers' or having a Human Rights Commission investigate where we as a society have done them wrong, maybe dispatching social workers (laughs) the social workers will just have their wallets stolen. I want to dispatch cops and send the bad Gypsies to Hungary on the next plane. Just warn the flight attendants (chuckles) not to wear any jewelry on the flight!"

The OHRC doesn't adjudicate hate speech, only racist signs and symbols and the like, so I doubt that approach will go anywhere.  But Ezra's is a sickening enough diatribe that it wouldn't surprise me if he didn't run afoul of CBSC regulations...again.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

That's stunning, even for Ezra. Isn't this a matter for the RCMP?

bigcitylib said...

That possibility is not entirely out of the question, I am informed.

Harry Abrams said...

Not even close to a 3.19
If he indeed said that crap, in my book it's negative stereo typing, calling all Romas crooks; but anything shy of direct incitement to genocide or harm is just not enough for the cops to look at anymore. But seems pretty unethical for broadcast standards so try that route.

Kurt Phillips said...

Interesting. Some similar arguments resulted in the Porajmos during the Second World War. Upwards of 1,500,000 men, women, and chldren were murdered by the Nazis and their allies, or roughly 60% of European Roma.

Regardless of whether this is is something for the law to be involved in or not, Levant should be ashamed of himself, though that assumes he has the ability to feel shame.

brennerman said...

Harry, I am surprised at you. S319 does not only deal with physical harm . Its main issue is "hate propaganda".
Read it Harry, it says that anyone who "knowingly and wilfully promotes hatred against an identifiable group is guilty of an indictable offense".

If Levant's screed does not promote hatred I don't know what does.

Unknown said...

Ahenakew wasn't making a direct incitement to genocide.
Somehow I don't think that if you substituted "Jew" for "Gypsy" in Levant's screed that you'd dismiss it as simply "negative stereotyping".

Dr.Dawg said...

What Lenny said.

Harry Abrams said...

@Lenny. Ahenakew's comments though ugly, were found to be NOT INTENDED to be shared with the public, even though uttered in conversation with a journalist. I suppose that gives it an important distinction from intentionally distributed hate propaganda.
I suppose one could say that the Levant rant might have incited contempt. Bit different than calling for harm, segregation or discriminatory treatment. But with the evisceration of the Federal Human Rights Section 13, there's not much legislation left to work with. Perhaps under Provincial jurisdiction there still might be, but I'd be surprised if anything would move based on what we have seen.

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