[Note: Nizkor has no connection with any organization listed, and
opposes violence as a response to speech. The information about
the Martlet case is useful, however.]

|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
||| |||
||| A N T I F A |||
||| |||
||| I N F O - B U L L E T I N |||
||| _____ |||
||| |||
||| * News * Analysis * Research * Action * |||
||| |||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

*****

||/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\|/\||/\|| 
|| * -- SPECIAL - * -- February 11, 1997 -- * - EDITION -- * ||
||\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/|\/||\/||

* SPECIAL EDITION *
_____
_________________________________________________________________

CANADIAN ANTI-RACISTS UNDER ATTACK!

Antifascist Researcher & the Student Press Threatened
by Far-Right Canadian `Free Speech' League
_________________________________________________________________

CONTENTS:
-----

1. (AFIB) The Christie File: Anatomy of a `Free Speech'
Advocate

2. (TM) THE MARTLET: Kristallnact -- Light a Candle to
Remember

3. (CUP) CANADIAN UNIVERSITY PRESS: Lawyer Asks Martlet
to Retract Editorial

4. (INFO) Anti-Racist Resources

-----
_________________________________________________________________

THE CHRISTIE FILE: ANATOMY OF A `FREE SPEECH' ADVOCATE
_________________________________________________________________

by a Canadian Correspondent, Antifa Info-Bulletin


MONTREAL -- Doug Christie is a hero to Canadian neo-Nazis.
The lawyer has made a career out of defending the stars of the
racist right in a series of headline-grabbing trials. There is
hardly a neo-Nazi leader in Canada who has not been defended by
Christie, who styles himself as a simple civil libertarian
defending well-meaning racists against "left-wing McCarthyism."

Malcolm Ross, the Holocaust-denying author of _Christianity
vs. Judeo-Christianity_ ; John Ross Taylor, a leader of Canada's
Nazi movement in the 1930s who was active in the racist right
until his death just last year; the infamous Ernst Zundel; Imre
Finta, who was accused of crimes relating to the deportation of
over 8000 Jews during the Holocaust; Tony McAleer, who ran the
Canadian Liberty Net in close cooperation with Tom Metzger of
White Aryan Resistance; Bill Harcus and Theron Skryba of the
Manitoba Knights of the Ku Klux Klan; Murray Gauvreau, an
associate of the racist Canadian League of Rights; Rudy Stanko of
the Church of the Creator; and, British Holocaust denier David
Irving: these are some of the people who Christie has represented
over the past ten years. His importance to members of the radical
right in Canada is heightened by the fact that most anti-racist
organisations in this country still see the courts as being the
weapon of choice to silence fascists. As liberals have pushed for
hate crimes legislation and the dismissal of teachers who are
active in the neo-Nazi movement, legal defense of these bigots
has become a priority for Canada's racists. Thus, not only have a
variety of groups have been set up to attack what is mistakenly 
termed a threat to freedom of speech, but a man like Doug
Christie - himself sympathetic to many of the beliefs of the
far-right - is well-poised to play the role of white knight.

While Christie's value as a legal defender for the racist
right first became evident in 1984, when he defended Jim
Keegstra, a high school teacher in a small Alberta town who for
decades had taught his students that the Holocaust was a myth,
the federal government was controlled by Jewish-Soviet agents,
and that there was a life and death struggle going on between
Christianity and an international cabal of Jews. When Keegstra
was charged with willfully promoting hatred against Jews it was a
logical choice for him to phone up Doug Christie who, although he
was not registered to practice law in Alberta, had already met
the anti-semitic high school teacher through their activism in
Western Canada's tiny separatist movement...

In 1980 Christie had set up the Western Canada Concept
political party in order to oppose multi-culturalism, official
bilingualism, the metric system and "the demise of the Union
Jack." (1) The WCC sought to remedy these "ills" through the
creation of a separate state for what are presently the provinces
of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. A
typical right-wing populist formation. while the WCC attracted
some grassroots support from Westerners who opposed the Federal
Liberal government's economic policies it also became a hotbed of
racists. Keegstra became a member (2), as did future Aryan
Nations leader Terry Long (3), Aryan Nations associate Jim
Harding (4) and droves of like-minded Christian warriors. It was
through the WCC that Christie met Keltie Zubko (5), who he
quickly became romantically involved with and would eventually 
marry in 1992. Although the WCC quickly lost any support amongst 
mainstream voters, it remained a vehicle for the racist right for
several years. In 1990, for instance, Terry Long had members of
the Final Solution Skinheads provide security at a WCC meeting
where Christie was scheduled to speak. One of these, Daryl
Rivest, admitted that "The WCC was a political front for the Ku
Klux Klan here in Canada." (6)

Around the time of Keegstra's trial the anti-semitic school 
teacher and Christie founded the Canadian Free Speech League.
Despite Christie's claims that the organisation merely intends to
"oppose censorship" (7) in Canada, it has yet to be active around
any of the cases involving the seizure of gay and lesbian reading
materials by Canada Customs (a major problem in this country) or
any other censorship issue not of immediate concern to the far-
right; in fact, it would be fair to say that it is nothing but a
support group for racists. Over the past decade the CFSL has
organized speaking engagements for British Holocaust denier David
Irving (8) and has had its press releases published in the
newsletter of the racist Canadian League of Rights (9). KKK
leader Gordon Daniel Ray (10), Christie's wife Keltie Zubko (11),
Holocaust denier John Ball (12) and Gary Botting (13), a defense
witness for Keegstra and Zundel, have all been associated with
the CFSL.

In an important development Botting, himself a lawyer who 
represented the League in 1986, left the group denouncing it as
"a front for an antisemitic, pro-Nazi agenda." In a letter to
Christie dated April 19th, 1996, Botting returned an award that
had been presented to him by the CFSL and told Christie that, 


In the Canadian Free Speech League, the only opinions truly
allowed are those which conform to your own. And those
opinions, as you well know, are antisemitic and most
blatantly pro-Nazi. It is no coincidence that both you and
Ernst Zundel usually celebrate your birthdays on April 20,
Adolf Hitler's birthday. It is no coincidence that most of
the Canadian Free Speech League annual awards ceremonies
have been held as close as possible to that date.... The
George Orwell Free Speech Award was presented to me by you
in 1986 "for outstanding courage in challenging censorship
and historical orthodoxy." If I showed courage, I now
realize that it was misplaced and misdirected. Believe me,
it takes much more courage to admit that I was duped ten
years ago. (14)


Botting wrote that he doubts Christie knows what free speech
really means. Christie's work on behalf of the Eileen and Claus 
Pressler is a clear indication that this is in fact the case.
Eileen Pressler is the founder and leader of the Council for
Public Affairs, a group which actively promotes the writings and
activities of several of North America's leading racists.
According to the Salmon Arm Coalition Against Racism (SACAR), 


In the May/June 1992 issue of the CPA Digest she refers to
Jews as "world-destroyers who have been perfecting their
techniques for centuries." In a 1992 publication of the
Canadian League of Rights... Pressler has written that the
United Nations is the product of a Jewish conspiracy that
involved financing the 1917 Soviet revolution and forcing
Germany into fighting the Second World War. (15) 


The CPA has organized speaking engagements for David Irving,
Ernst Zundel, James Keegstra, Malcolm Ross, Murray Gauvreau as
well as American Holocaust denier Fred Leuchter, homophobic
fascist Paul Cameron, and many others (16). Not surprisingly,
Doug Christie gave a banquet address at its 1991 Leadership
Conference. In 1993 Christie filed suit on behalf of the
Presslers' against Dr David Lethbridge, the director of the
Salmon Arm Coalition Against Racism. They are suing Lethbridge
for "malicious defamation of character" (17) for allegedly
spreading rumours in the small community they all live in and for
having stated that they run a racist and antisemitic
organisation.

The Presslers' lawsuit, whether it is successful or not,
sends a chill through society far greater than any of the hate
crimes legislation Christie has so often bemoaned. SACAR now
estimates that the final cost of its legal defense will be more
than double the initial estimate of $100 000. And even if the
Presslers lose, SACAR's legal fees would only be partially
reimbursed. All of this for publicly opposing racist organizing
in one's community! And the plaintiffs are being represented by a
man who heads a "free speech league"!!!

Christie's work defending racists and suing anti-racists, 
organizing speaking engagements for the likes of David Irving,
and running organisations like Western Canada Concept and the
Canadian Free Speech League, has indeed made him a hero to
fascists across Canada and beyond, too. Kirk Lyons, the racist
lawyer for many American neo-nazis, has described him as an
"associate" (18) of his organisation CAUSE (stands for: Canada
Australia United States Europe). Christie has also been invited
to speak at the Institute for Historic Review, a Holocaust denial
outfit based in California. He has spoken to a variety of far-
right groups, and booklets of his speeches are distributed by
Gostick's Canadian League of Rights as well as the racist
Citizens for Foreign Aid Reform. When he spoke at an event
organized by the latter, its director Paul Fromm - who has
himself been a speaker at events organized by neo-Nazi groups
like Canada's Heritage Front and the United States' National
Alliance - introduced Christie as "my friend, our leader." (19)

Given his aggressive style in cross-examination - bringing
the racists' victims to tears on more than one occasion - and his
outspoken hostility to anti-racists, it is understandable that
few outside of the radical right take his claims of being a mere
"civil libertarian" seriously. According to a February 1993
investigation into Christie's conduct at the Zundel and Finta
trials, the discipline committee of the Law Society of Upper
Canada found that Christie's comments showed anti-Jewish bias.
According to the discipline committee, his statements were
anti-semitic and he has made "common cause" with like-minded
"lunatics." (20)

There is a great need to watch what Mr Christie is doing and
oppose his activities. Due to Canada's hate crimes legislation 
Christie plays a useful role within this country's racist right. 
Furthermore, as his suits against SACAR and The Martlet (see
below) show, he is capable of making himself a thorn in the side
of those who would truly exercise freedom of speech, not by lying
about historical events in order to whip up hatred and whitewash
fascism, but by speaking the truth and opposing the
rehabilitation of Europe's most odious political movement.

SACAR needs help meeting the astronomical costs of defending
itself against Christie and the Presslers. Make cheques or money 
orders out to: 

SALMON ARM COALITION AGAINST RACISM
SACAR Defense
1481 Okanagan Avenue NE
Salmon Arm, BC
V1E 1N5

-----

ENDNOTES

1. W. Kinsella, Web of Hate, Harper Collins, 1994, p. 75
2. Ibid., p. 77
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid., p. 137
5. Ibid., p. 76
6. Ibid., p. 278
7. "B.C. group denies anti-Semitism charge," by Maurice Lucow, 
Canadian Jewish News April 11th 1991, p. 6
8. "Holocaust author told to leave," by Scott Sutherland,
Montreal Gazette, October 31st 1992
9. "Criminal Prosecution of Holocaust Denial," The Canadian 
Intelligence Service, Vol. 42 - No. 11, November 1992
10. "Candidate did research for Zundel," by Stewart Bell,
Vancouver Sun, September 23rd 1991
11. Kinsella op cit., p. 78
12. Bell, op. cit.
13. Ibid.
14. Letter from Gary Botting to Doug Christie, April 19th 1995
15. Lethbridge D., The Council of Public Affairs: a case study, 
SACAR 1994, pp. 2-3
16. Ibid., pp. 7-9
17. "Fascist sues B.C. anti-racist leader," by Kimball Cariou,
People's Voice, February 1994
18. Kinsella op cit., p. 85. While Christie represented David
Irving in Canada during the latter's ill-fated 1992 tour,
Lyons represented the world-renowned Holocaust denier in the
United States ("Irving pourrait etre deporte au Royaume
-Uni", Canadian Press November 3rd 1992)
19. "Doug Christie Counsel for the Damned," by Paula Kilig,
Canadian Lawyer, November 1990
20. Kinsella op. cit., p. 86


*****

http://kafka.uvic.ca/~martlet/oped.html

-----

* THE MARTLET *
P.O. Box 3035 
University of Victoria
Victoria, BC
V8W 3P3
Phone (250) 721-8361
e-mail Martlet@UVic.ca

-----
_________________________________________________________________

EDITORIAL:
KRISTALLNACT -- LIGHT A CANDLE TO REMEMBER
_________________________________________________________________

by Martlet Staff


November 7, 1996

Fires burned during the Night of Broken Glass 58 years ago and
candles will burn in Victoria windows tonight to remember.

Tonight, the Jewish (interfaith) community of Victoria will
observe the anniversary of Kristallnacht with a public ceremony
at the Congregation Emanu-El Synagogue.

On the 58th anniversary of one of the most shameful nights in
history, we should say once again that we must remember the past
or we're doomed to repeat it. It's equally important that we be
aware of what is happening in the present to safeguard our
society from the dangerous thoughts that prompted the holocaust.

>From Victoria, lawyer Doug Christie defends hate-mongers under
the auspices of the Free Speech League. Founder of the Western
Canada Concept Party, a far right-wing party, Christie has
defended such extremists as Jim Keegstra, Ernst Zundel and Robin
Blaber.

Recently, Christie booked a meeting room in the Victoria
Public Library ostensibly in order to promote free speech.
Actually, the room was a venue to spread hate being attended by
Christie and other extremist thugs. One can imagine the time
before the Nazis' rise to power the meetings in basements and
beer halls where hate was spread in the guise of political
vision.

It's easy to write off a small fringe element today as it must
have been to write off a clownish little man from Austria in
1930. Eight years later, his government sanctioned the
destruction of 1,406 synagogues and prayer houses and over 7,000
Jewish shops, businesses and homes. The police and fire brigades
watched and did nothing under government orders.

Certainly we can't deny groups the right to meet. But as long
as we are a vigilant society and see hate in the light of the
public forum, we will always recognize it for what it is. Without
complacency, racism can't grow.

Kristallnacht is not only a Jewish commemoration. We all share
the responsibility of remembrance. It helps us as Canadians
pursue our responsibility as citizens to speak out and act before
racism begins to spread according to the Victoria Holocaust
Remembrance Society.

Events during Kristallnacht days include the candle-burning
ceremony, a performance of God's Country, a docu-drama about the
growing white-supremacist movement in North America and a
photographic exhibit called _Fires in the Night_ open at Hillside
Mall from Nov 3-12.

Be sure to burn a candle in your window facing the street
tonight. Remember the flames and broken glass that spread across
two countries half a century ago as the flame reflects in your
unbroken window.

-----
_________________________________________________________________

LAWYER ASKS MARTLET TO RETRACT EDITORIAL
_________________________________________________________________

by Martlet Staff

January 9, 1997


VICTORIA (CUP) -- A local lawyer is threatening to sue the
University of Victoria's student newspaper over printed comments
that members of his Canadian Free Speech League are "extremist
thugs."

Doug Christie has given the Martlet a 30-day deadline to
apologize for editorial comments made in its Nov. 7 edition. The
Martlet ran the editorial denouncing Christie's group for using
the Victoria Public Library as a "venue to spread hate." In a
letter addressed to the Martlet, Christie wrote, "I am giving you
an opportunity within the next 30 days to write a retraction of
those remarks and an apology for any suggestions that myself and
the persons in attendance on behalf of the Canadian Free Speech
League were engaged in the promotion of hatred."

In the letter, Christie also advises the Martlet to "seek
legal advice on this point." However, after consulting with legal
counsel, Martlet Managing Editor Jess Howard and Editor-in-Chief
Andrew Lupton have decided against running an apology, saying the
comments fall within the boundaries of fair comment.

"The Martlet stands behind its comments about Christie and
his Free Speech League," said Lupton.

"Our defence in this issue is truth and fair comment. The
meeting in question was hosted by Christie's Free Speech League
and attended by people who've promoted hate and published racist
views in the past."

"These people include Doug Collins, who suggested Holocaust
deaths were exaggerated in a column he wrote in the North Shore
News," said Lupton.

Another attendee at the Oct. 26 meeting included Tony
McAleer. McAleer operated a telephone chat line that carried hate
messages until a human rights tribunal pulled the plug.

Christie's client list also includes Ernst Zundel, who in
1985 was found guilty of willfully causing harm to racial harmony
after publishing a booklet that claimed the Holocaust was a
Jewish hoax.

The Victoria lawyer has defended other holocaust deniers
such as Malcom Ross, whose books allege the Nazi slaughter of
Jews during the Second World War was exaggerated.

Christie has a history of launching libel suits, sometimes
successfully, sometimes not. In 1984 he was awarded $30,000 in
damages for comments published by columnist John Geiger in the
Edmonton Sun.

In his article, Geiger called Christie and supporters of the
Western Canada Concept Party members of a "lunatic fringe" and an
"Alberta version of the Klu Klux Klan."

In 1985 Christie launched an unsuccessful libel suit against
Vancouver radio host Gary Bannerman after the open-line host
said: "Doug Christie has aligned himself so many times with these
perverted monsters that he has to be viewed as one himself, in my
view."

A jury found that Bannerman's words were defamatory but
constituted fair comment and were used without malice.

"I find that ironic that on one hand, Christie claims to be
such a staunch defender of free speech, then calls for a
retraction when a journalist writes something he doesn't like,"
Lupton said.


*****

_________________________________________________________________

ANTI-RACIST RESOURCES
_________________________________________________________________


For more information on antifascist organizing in Canada
please contact:

* ANTIFA FORUM *
P.O Box 6326, Station A
Toronto, Ontario
M5W 1P7 Canada
Publishes: Antifa Forum

*

* ANTI-RACIST ACTION *

ARA Toronto
P.O. Box 291, Station B
Toronto, Ontario
M5T 2T2 Canada
Tel: (416) 631-8835
E-Mail: ara@web.net
Web: http://www.web.net/~ara
Publishes: On The Prowl

*

ALBERTA

ARA Edmonton
#29, 10024-82 Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta
T63 1Z3 Canada

*

MANITOBA

Winnipeg ARA
Box 3-905 Corydon
Winnipeg, MB
R3M 3S3 Canada

*

ONTARIO

ARA Durham
P.O. Box 66022
Town Centre Postal Outlet
1355 Kingston Road
Pickering, ON L1V 6P7

ARA Niagara
12-111 Fourth Ave., Box 103
(Ridley Square)
St. Catherines, ON L2S 3P5
Publishes: True Colors

ARA Peterborough
Box 25, 197 Hunter St. W.
Peterborough, ON K9H 2L1

*

* RADIO ANTIFA *
News, views, interviews & tunes from the anti-fascist scene
Mondays - every other week, 7:30 pm on CKLN, 88.1 FM - 
the farthest left on the FM dial!


* * * * *

ANTIFA INFO-BULLETIN (AFIB)
750 La Playa # 730
San Francisco, California 94121
E-Mail: tburghardt@igc.apc.org

On PeaceNet visit ANTIFA INFO-BULLETIN on pol.right.antifa
or by gopher --> gopher://gopher.igc.apc.org:7021/11/europe

On PeaceNet visit BACORR's  conference. 
For subscription information e-mail Wendi Jones,
wjones@igc.org

AFIB & BACORR text files can also be found on the following
sites:

ARM THE SPIRIT
WWW:gopher://locust.cic.net:70/11/politics/Arm.The.Spirit/BACORR
FTP: ftp.etext.org --> /pub/politics/Arm.The.Spirit/BACORR
FTP: ftp.etext.org -->
/pub/politics/Arm.The.Spirit/Antifa/Antifa.Info-Bulletin

INSTITUTE FOR ALTERNATIVE JOURNALISM (AlterNet)
http://www.alternet.org/an/demworks/html
gopher://gopher.igc.apc.org:70/00/orgs/alternet

+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+
+: A N T I F A I N F O - B U L L E T I N +:
:+ :+
+: NEWS * ANALYSIS * RESEARCH * ACTION +:
:+ :+
+: RESISTING FASCISM * BY ALL MEANS NECESSARY! +:
+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+:+

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Arm The Spirit is an autonomist/anti-imperialist information
collective based in Toronto, Canada. Our focus includes a wide 
variety of material, including political prisoners, national 
liberation struggles, armed communist resistance, anti-fascism, 
the fight against patriarchy, and more. We regularly publish our 
writings, research, and translation materials in our magazine and
bulletins called Arm The Spirit. For more information, contact:

Arm The Spirit
P.O. Box 6326, Stn. A
Toronto, Ontario
M5W 1P7 Canada

E-mail: ats@etext.org
WWW: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~ats
MRTA Solidarity Page: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~ats/mrta.htm
FTP: ftp.etext.org --> /pub/Politics/Arm.The.Spirit
ATS-L Archives: http://burn.ucsd.edu/~archive/ats-l
-----------------------------------------------------------------

++++ stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal ++++
++++ if you agree copy these lines to your sig ++++
++++ see http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/spg-l/sigaction.htm ++++

Home ·  Site Map ·  What's New? ·  Search Nizkor