At the forefront of protecting Canadian civil liberties since 1981

 

Battles for Freedom

October 22, 1996 Mr. Alan Tonks,Chairman Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto, 55 John Street, 7th Floor Metro Hall, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 3C6 Dear Chairman Tonks: I am writing again to urge you to reconsider this past summer's $8,000 grant to Anti-Racist Action (ARA). Further, I am asking that you specifically condemn the ARA's most recent postering campaign. Firstly, along with this letter is being delivered a copy of a video recorded this February by Kitchener businessman Michael Rothe. Two agents of the Canadian Security Intelligernce Service (CSIS) visited him to inquire about his role in organizing a meeting in 1992 for historian David Irving and about his connections with the Heritage Front. The two CSIS agents showed him ID and identified themselves as Peter and Angela. They specifically named the ARA as the group responsible for last year's arson attack and firebombing of Ernst Zundel's house. The revelations on this tape are staggering. ANGELA: "Have you heard of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service?" PETER: "You can bet it's real!.... I'll explain what we are. First, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service . "We're the political police. Angela and I are from the counter-terrorism branch . ... In Toronto, Wolfgang [Droege of the Heritage Front] has been much troubled by a group that calls itself Anti-Racist Action, ARA. This is a collection of anarchists, Trotskyists, Stalinists." ANGELA: "The ARA that Peter described firebombed Ernst Zundel. I'm sure you've heard about the problem various leaders of the so-called right wing have received firebombs." Yet, this is the group a majority of you voted to fund! With this FAX, I am including copies of two ARA posters which appeared around downtown Toronto last week. The first poster announces an October 23 "Rock Against Harris Concert." There is the logo of the communist star and the words "Rock Against Racism". The graphics show a profile of Adolf Hitler in the background, then former Alabama Governor George Wallace, and, in the foreground, Premier Harris! What possible connection could even a demented person make between Premier Harris and Hitler or Wallace? The juxtapositioning of these pictures is a clear incitement to violence -- to serious harm against the Premier. Hitler died of a gunshot wound, a suicide.The ARA seem obsessed with Hitler's violent end. If you check out their website, you'll find a poster graphic of a crude picture of Hitler with a gun in his mouth and the slogan: "Follow your leader". Gov. George Wallace was the victim of an assassination attempt that left him paralyzed and effectively ended his aspirations for the U.S. presidency. Premier Harris' picture as the third in this trio would seem to indicate a grotesque call for his assassination. Just in case the message of violence escapes anyone, the alleged acts to appear at this "Rock Against Racism" are the "Drop Dead Beats", "Politikill Incorrect" and "Random Killing". Is this poster consistent with the Council requirement, passed July 4, in giving them the $8,000 grant, that they provide "written clarification of their policy respecting the use of force and violence in achieving their objectives"? The second poster "Shut the Nazi Down!" also seems to promise breaking the law. It calls people out for a 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. picket outside the office/home of Ernst Zundel on October 25. "Anti-Racist Action will be shutting down a nazi business right in the heart of Toronto. ... Be young, have fun and smash racism." It may be the ARA's right to peacefully picket Zundel or anyone else they wish, but the promise to "smash" racism and "shut" him down smacks of violence. It's hard to understand how, without a permit ARA could hold a promised "kosker barbecue" on busy Carlton Street. The words are highly suggestive of firebombs and other illegal acts, an impression further strengthened by another ARA poster about town urging participants to :"Make a fashion statement! Bring your balaklava!!!" Would people intent on peaceful protest be planning to wear such disguises more usually associated with airplane hijackers and bank robbers? I urge you to call on Metro Police to act on CSIS's clear statement that the ARA perpetrated the May 7, 1995 firebombing of Ernst Zundel's house and to seek immediate counsel as to whether the statements in these posters violate the Criminal Code as to incitement to commit a crime. Sincerely yours, Paul Fromm [email protected] encl: 3 cc: Solicitor-General Robert Runciman Media et al. ARA Poster #2