April 14, 2011
Canada's Muslims will vote NDP?
Meer Sahib
More by this author...Faced with the perils of voting Conservatives or Liberals, the inevitable choice for Canada’s Muslims seems to be the NDP. Below, I am providing my analysis and the reasons why I believe this is a wise choice, and also what the perils are, in voting for Conservatives or Liberals.
First, let us look at the CONSEQUENCES OF MUSLIMS NOT BEING ENGAGED IN THE POLITICAL PROCESS:
Up to now, politics has been far less interesting to us than cricket, ball games, hockey, satellite soap-operas, FaceBook and so on.
Such political aloofness has been to our great detriment, affecting our rights, welfare, security and even our existence in our new homelands. Other ethnic communities, particularly the Indians, Chinese, Sikhs et al, have actively engaged in the political process and hence have reaped massive benefits.
Among them are Parliamentarians, Ministers, and Premiers, who became 'caucus insiders' and decision makers. Imagine, had Muslims been in such positions, if Islamophobia could have spread like wildfire or draconian laws targeting Muslims could be enacted.
The Conservatives in Canada have been able to form government twice in a row, because its supporters (the Christian Right) are so well organized, ideologically so motivated, the vast majority of them go out and vote, while many mainstream Canadians (35%) do not.
As a result of Muslims being on the political fringes, Islamophobia rages on, draconian laws targeting Muslims have been enacted and many innocent victims of the 'secret evidence' law are languishing in dungeon like jails. RCMP and CSIS are using paid agents to infiltrate, film-flam and then entrap Muslim youth on terrorism charges. Muslims' human rights are stomped (e.g. Faisal Joseph vs. McLeans), and hate-mongering by the media, evangelicals, politicians, Zionists and others go on unabated, disguised as freedom of speech.
Despite valiant efforts by London lawyer Faisal Joseph and the law students, the bitter experience illustrated that while freedom of speech for Muslims is denied, freedom of speech AGAINST Muslims is 'open season'.
No other community is faced with such a daunting and miserable situation, nor could any of this happen to them, (e.g. Jews). We have no loyal friends in politics to come to our aid, because we have been a community oblivious to the oncoming train.
When the Elections approach, often we (the Community) fail to organize ourselves to field our own qualified, capable and trustworthy Muslim candidates, intellectuals of whom we can be proud, and not the self-seeking and the nepotists or unsavoury characters. We also fail to gather sufficient 'intelligence' (research) regarding other (non-Muslim) candidates and then put our support behind the suitable ones, by fund-raising, and volunteering in their campaigns.
When the day for voting comes, we are busy watching sports or soap-operas, and say to ourselves: 'well everyone else is voting, so if I did not vote, it is not going to matter.'
Ironically, that is what others are also thinking!
So, Muslims are ignored by the politicians. They know we are a group which did not vote and hence not worthy of their time, or attention. They have no incentive to come to our aid when we are in trouble.
If Muslims want to remove this blight, our past attitude has to change. Rain or shine, we must go out and vote. Even if we are sick, we must still go to vote, at least for the future of our children.
A great gift we have in our new homeland is the right to vote. Dare I say it is the only power available to us, but yet we have failed to make use of it time and again. Then, we cry like children when hate, slander and malicious anecdotes are heaped upon us, and are targeted for discrimination, and even physical attacks.
THE PERILS OF VOTING FOR LIBERALS OR CONSERVATIVES:
In the good old days, the party of choice for most immigrants and Muslims was the Liberal Party. Remember Trudeau's compassionate policy of making Canada the 'Kinder, Gentler, and Fairer nation.' Canada was the peaceful Oasis to which we fled from oppression in our part of the world.
When Paul Martin was elected Prime Minister, the Liberal policy took a sharp turn. Canada became a satellite of the USA, and key supporter of Israel. Martin declared: "Israel's values are Canada's values."
He sent the military to Afghanistan to wage against a hapless people who had already suffered the horrors of the Russians. Canada's foreign policy nosedived. At the U.N., Canada and the USA voted in favour of Israel', when the rest of world voted for just and fair principles.
Within this party is a potent group called "Liberal Parliamentarians for Israel" which consists of powerful Ministers (including Irwin Cotler, former Justice Minister), Senators and M.P.'s, who constantly steer Canada to serve the interests of a foreign state, Israel.
Any hope we may have had with the Liberal Party evaporated when Mr. Michael Ignatieff, took its helm. A Jew by birth, he is reported to be a Neocon sympathizer. ("Ignatieff's neo-con leanings disturbing" -Toronto Star).
"Who are the neocons? Here is Ha’aretz News Service (Israel) of April 5, 2003: "The war in Iraq was conceived by 25 neocons, most of them Jewish, who are pushing President Bush to change the course of history." They are also known as 'Israel-firsters'. The Neocons play major roles in orchestrating wars against Arab / Muslim nations.
In his book "Political Ethics in an Age of Terror." Ignatieff tells us how to do terrible things for a 'righteous' cause and come away feeling good about it. In this case the terrible things are pre-emptive war (that is, aggression), targeted assassinations, ''coercive interrogations'' (torture lite) and indefinite imprisonment of suspects without trial or counsel.....' (New York Times)
"Ignatieff is no stranger to debates on the righteous use of force. He supported the American invasion of Iraq... He is an articulate advocate of what sceptics call liberal (or for that matter neoconservative) imperialism -- the use of military power to shape the world according to American interests and values." (New York Times)
Ignatieff has also argued that the human rights era is ending.
Describing Israel's terrorist bombing of a refugee camp in Qana, he said: “I’m not losing sleep about that."
His other chilling remarks, while defending Israel when it was launching bomb attacks on hapless men women and children in the Gaza, and his strong and angry condemnation of Palestinian Students' "Israel Anti-Apartheid Week", foretell the kind of Foreign Policies the party under his leadership will formulate.
When we contrast Trudeau, who brought the Canadian Charter of Rights and his policy of the Kinder Gentler Nation to the policies of Ignatieff, there is clear reason why all right thinking Canadians should be worried sick. Will the Liberal Party of Canada become the Likud Party of Canada? Time will tell.
Talking about the two parties, a person respected for his acumen and wisdom said: "Today, the difference between the Liberals and Conservatives is this: one is a brown dog and the other, a black dog." Both are dangerous to Arabs and Muslims.
Dangerous, because it is quite likely that both parties may wage wars in the Middle East, alongside Israel and the USA. Therefore, voting for them with our ballots will be akin to giving them bullets to use against our loved ones.
In the previous elections, even though we knew that the only party Muslims ought to vote was the NDP, we were told that any vote we cast for the NDP would become a vote for the Conservatives, and hence we were told: "Hold your noses and vote Liberal". But now that we know both parties are the two sides of the same coin, we should be fools to do that.
We know, by all probabilities the NDP will not win the majority. There is also a strong possibility the other two parties may also not win a majority. If Muslims voted for NDP in large numbers, and the NDP gained more seats, then it will be in a position to be a power-broker, in forming a coalition government. When the NDP shares power, waging wars will not be a walk in the park, nor will the Foreign Policy be so lopsided. We can expect a balanced, unbiased and compassionate foreign policy.
Now, let me share some history about the Conservative party and their threat to peace.
Anyone who has been a keen observer of the Conservative Party politics in Canada, will know this is a party which has in its ranks those consumed by religious fanaticism, and racial hatred. Muslims have become its main objects of hate.
The Conservative Party of Canada was formed in 2003, by a merger between Reform Party of Canada, (which changed its name to ’Canadian Alliance' in 2000), and the Progressive Conservative party. The adage that "the leopard cannot change its spots", was proven true by the Reform Party, even after the metamorphosis.
The Reform Party was well known to be intolerant to non-white immigration which would alter the makeup of Canada. It harboured racist members whose repeated instances of xenophobic and racist statements spread this concern. It was also strongly opposed to multiculturalism.
Some years ago, I posed a question on racism directly to Mr. Preston Manning (the founder of the party) at a meeting held at the London Chamber of Commerce; of course he denied that was the party's policy.
However, the Conservative Party as we know today have within their membership ranks, prominent racists, bigots, Islamophobies, fundamentalist religious fanatics, pro-Israel militants, western separatists, and anti-Québec agitators.
This party is very pro-war. They advocate higher military spending. They supported the ballistic missile defense system of George Bush, and called for closer ties with the U.S. This party is the mirror image of U.S. Republican party (of Bush). The Afghan war costs Canada billions of dollars. The Afghans had done nothing wrong to Canada.
"I will protect Israel at any cost". This declaration came from Mr. Harper. This is a grave insult to a nation's sovereignty when its Prime Minister shows such patriotism to a foreign state which is a pariah in the eyes of the world. Another junior minister said "Canada would send our troops to protect Israel, in case of war." But why?
It is very important for Muslims to know the secrets of why this party is so pro-war, pro-Israel, anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, and dangerous to our security. Here is why:
Stephen Harper's power-base is evangelical Christians (aka Religious Right, Right-wingers, born-agains, Judeo-Christians, fundamentalists, theo-cons, dispensationists, end-timers, Zionist Christians etc.).
Harper is regarded as the lightning rod of the Christian right. “We’ve got a born-again prime minister,” trumpeted David Mainse, of 100 Huntley Street. They see him as an image-savvy evangelical who has been careful to keep his signals to them under the media radar, but they have no doubt his convictions run deep — so deep that only after he wins a majority will he dare translate the true colours of his faith into policies that could remake the fabric of the nation. If they’re right, it remains unclear whether those convictions would turn government into a kinder, gentler guarantor of social justice for all or transform the country into a stern, narrow-minded theocracy. And what would his evangelical worldview mean for international relations? (-Walrus Magazine).
DANGEROUS BELIEF: They believe that the Second Coming of Jesus can only happen, when Israel occupies the enormous landmass existing today between the Nile River in Egypt and the Euphrates River in Iraq and Syria, and, before the End Times can take place; the third Temple of the Jews must be built after destroying the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
We know that the only way this can happen is through endless wars by Israel against Arab nations, and bloodshed after bloodshed. The Zionist Christians want exactly that (Greater Israel), and support Israel with money, weapons and political expediency. They are vehemently opposed to peace with Palestinians or to Israel giving back land it has taken from them.
The wars against Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, had the same underlying reasons to neo-cons and Judeo Christians, All countries considered threats to Israel will be decimated. Today the war drums are beating vociferously against Iran for the same reason.
Even more dangerous is their belief that the end of the world is imminent (i.e. within our life time) and hence they should do everything in their power to speed up the process of establishing Greater Israel. (Read Jerusalem Countdown by John Hagee).
To justify wars, the Zionist zealots raise the spectre of "Islamic terror" as a force that threatens the world, and have successfully made Muslims the new bogey-man, the common enemy to Western nations, their values, civilization, their ways of life and freedoms. The demonizing process also involves staging of numerous false-flag terror attacks, and blaming on Muslims.
Unfortunately for the people of the Middle East and the rest of the Muslim world, the Zionist Christian hordes in the US, Canada and Europe are swelling in numbers and also they have the money, power, and the media to promote their agenda. All of this point to dangerous times to come.
For all the hate they harbour against Arabs and Muslims, we have done nothing to earn it, nor, can we do anything to lessen it, because their hate is Bible based. Even Jesus (peace be upon him), wouldn't be able to do anything, as it is not his Bible they follow. The Christian Zionist Movement is based on the Scofield Bible. The Scofield Bible was financed by the House of Rothchild with the sole purpose of promoting the Zionist Agenda.
This information is not widely known, and you owe it to yourself to know more about it. Please read;
The Zionist-Created Scofield 'Bible' - The Source of the Problem in the Mideast - Part 2. Why Judeo-Christians Support War by C. E. Carlson
(The Rense.com is widely respected and credible.
Mr. Carlson is a respected Christian Theologian).
http://www.rense.com/general60/zcre.htm
I haven't covered any of Mr. Harper's and his party's disrespect to the parliament, war-crimes committed in Afghanistan the investigation of which Harper blocked by shutting down (“proroguing”) the parliament, falsifying of documents and other serious crimes / acts which ought to make them persona-non-grata in Canadian politics.
Muslims also need to be aware of a Conservative group (The Canadian Coalition for Democracies). While there are far too many such hate groups, this one has some powerful Canadian politicians in its membership.
In closing, please consider what would be in the best interest of Canada, the Muslim community and our children who will have to live here, and use your votes with extreme care.
Below is some information on CCD which you ought to know.
Meer Sahib.
The Canadian Coalition for Democracies (CCD) was a Canadian political action organization that advocated greater support for Israel, India, and minorities in the Muslim world such as Christians, Copts, Bahá'ís, Assyrians, and Ismailis.
The CCD placed particular emphasis on calling for the Canadian government to adopt a pro-Israel stance, and rejected providing Palestinians with any development or humanitarian assistance and was very critical of the Muslim world and, in particular, of groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
It expresses its views through op-ed contributions to Canadian newspapers; through press releases; and in its public message forum. While it had praised select individual senior Liberals such as former Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler for their pro-Israel positions, the CCD more generally attacked the Liberal Party of Canada for allegedly failing to extend support to Israel. In an op-ed published in the National Post in March 2004, CCD Director Alastair Gordon drew a direct analogy between the foreign policy of the then-Liberal government of Canada toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the practices of the Nazi German era, stating that the Canadian government "believed [that the West Bank] should be Judenrein (Jew-free)... Canada validated the racist grievance of the Jew-killers." This charge was repeated in a citation awarding Conservative politician Stockwell Day the CCD's parliamentarian of the year award..........for more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Coalition_for_Democracies