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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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 Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 11:33 am Post subject: Academics fear speaking freely in Canada |
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The true north, strong and free...
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A group of U. S. professors launched a campaign this week protesting plans by a prominent political science organization to hold its annual conference in Toronto next year, claiming that Canada's restrictions on certain forms of speech puts controversial academics at risk of being prosecuted.
Bradley Watson, professor of American and Western political thought at Pennsylvania's St. Vincent College, said he will present a petition calling for the American Political Science Association (APSA) to re-evaluate its selection of Toronto for its 2009 conference at this year's annual meeting, taking place over the Labour Day weekend in Boston.
His protest has garnered support from dozens of professors across the United States, including prominent scholars such as Princeton University legal philosopher Robert P. George and Harvard University's Harvey Mansfield.
"Our belief is that the APSA should choose its sites carefully, with particular regard for questions of freedom of speech and conscience," Mr. Watson told the National Post by e-mail. "We therefore believe Canada to be a problematic destination."
Mr. Watson said that professors signing the petition are concerned that recent human rights commission investigations into Maclean's and Western Standard magazines over articles concerning Islam, and the conviction of pastor Stephen Boisson, who was ordered by Alberta's human rights tribunal in May to cease publicizing criticisms of homosexuality, suggest that professors risk being chilled from discussing important academic subjects, or ending up in legal trouble. Mr. Watson said he plans to distribute hundreds of buttons to attendees at the Boston conference reading "Toronto 2009, Non!"
Several professors in the working group behind the protest "have written in areas that seem particularly disfavoured by the Canadian legal establishment," Mr. Watson said. "We are uncertain of the extent of the legal jeopardy that APSA members might place themselves in should they make public arguments in Canada, or post those arguments online, concerning hot-button issues like homosexuality, same-sex marriage, or the nature of the Islamist threat to Western civilization."
The American Political Science Association, whose members include both American and Canadian academics, is the oldest and largest organization of political science professors. Next month's annual meeting, expected to draw roughly 7,000 political scientists, will be its 104th. The program includes such discussions as Terrorism and Human Rights; Varying Perspectives on Same-Sex Marriage; and Missing Alliances and (Un)expected Transformations in the Politics of Islam.
APSA standards for selecting meeting sites include "protection of academic freedom, equitable access to opportunity, and a commitment to non-discrimination," but Mr. Watson said Canada does not satisfy that test. "Our belief is that most Americans--even APSA members--have no idea how precarious the rights of freedom of speech and conscience are in Canada," Mr. Watson said. Earlier this year, APSA reevaluated a decision to hold its 2012 meeting in New Orleans in light of complaints by some members that same-sex marriage is not legally recognized in Louisiana. The organization's council voted in June not to overturn the decision.
The Toronto petition states that: "Whereas members of the Association ought to be able at the 2009 annual meeting to present research and argument on controversial topics, such as public policy concerning homosexuality or the character of and proper response to terrorist elements acting in the name of Islam, without fear of legal repercussions of any kind … we petition the Council and staff of the APSA to take all steps necessary to ensure that academic freedom and free speech, even on controversial topics such as these, are not threatened at the 2009 annual meeting, including soliciting legal advice and seeking the assurance of the Government of Canada and local authorities that the civil rights and liberties of members to free speech and academic freedom will be secure." |
http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=743273&p=2 |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 4:34 pm Post subject: |
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Excellent. It's about time Canada got a black eye for having this kind of nonsense.
As long as it is not rabid hate speech, academic discussion should be permitted and protected. |
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Cornfed
Joined: 14 Mar 2008
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| Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 5:08 pm Post subject: |
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| The issue of speech being formally illegal seems to be a fairly minor one, given that most of the restrictions on free speech are enforced through the rationing system. Commit any heresy against the state religion anywhere in the Western world and you are likely to be fired from your job, not hired in the first place, subject to civil lawsuits and complaints, denied professional licences or whatever. There's certainly no pretense of freedom of speech any more. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:21 pm Post subject: |
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| What Cornfed says is true. The personal is political, and the political is not confined to the state. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:25 pm Post subject: |
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| Cornfed wrote: |
| The issue of speech being formally illegal seems to be a fairly minor one, given that most of the restrictions on free speech are enforced through the rationing system. Commit any heresy against the state religion anywhere in the Western world and you are likely to be fired from your job, not hired in the first place, subject to civil lawsuits and complaints, denied professional licences or whatever. There's certainly no pretense of freedom of speech any more. |
Yes. But of course, avoiding any of this was never the pretension of protecting free speech anyway. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 7:32 pm Post subject: |
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It would be nice if Canadians spoke with honesty and openness and not contrived platitudes out of fear of failing the Canadian Political Litmus Test.
But now the litmus test is a "human right" and the HRC's are bravely going to defend them. |
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doc_ido
Joined: 03 Sep 2007
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Wed Aug 27, 2008 8:47 pm Post subject: |
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You equate Campus Watch with the Canadian government?
You do not understand what academic freedom is. |
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doc_ido
Joined: 03 Sep 2007
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| Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 12:26 am Post subject: |
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Well, if you think that Campus Watch isn't a threat to academic freedom then you probably haven't met enough academics.
But you said yourself that there's no freedom of speech on private property - and that's what most universities everywhere are. I stand by my earlier assertion that this is more likely to be about some profs not liking Canada than any real fears about getting arrested for discussing something. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 8:23 am Post subject: |
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You need to read up on the HRC's, and the bias against the "hater" built in the system. All that would be needed, as has happened before, is for one conically offended douchebag to launch a complaint and the defendant is immediately out 50k in lawyer fees. Free speech, in the sense that the state doesn't prosecute controversial ideas, is dead in Canada. Maybe just for now.
Campus Watch is a group of right wing blowhards who rail against the left wing blowhards that dominate middle east studies departments. The "bill of academic rights" is DOA and all that is left is a poorly put together website and campus republicans armed with research.
Opposite of this, check out what Canada does. The government of Canada/Alberta has informed this man that he is no longer able to discuss Christianity, as it relates to homosexuality. You may hold your breath in wait for similar rules to be passed to muslims.
http://ezralevant.com/2008/07/government-of-alberta-were-fin.html
What is most ironic to me, is that lefty Canadians have been getting themselves into dither about Chinese human rights while restricting human rights (real ones) in Canada. China is opening, and Canada is closing. We'll wave when we cross paths, I suppose. |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 9:10 am Post subject: |
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I wait for Ward Churchill to be arrested alongside Said (dead?) and Chomsky. Or maybe Victor Davis Hanson, on the other side, for being politically incorrect in Mexifornia. Or etc etc.
In Canada, now, islam and homosexuality are off topic. To deviate from the Canadian Values on these subjects will ruin you financially and quite possibly end up in censure. Unless you are a bulldog like Levant; a free speech monster who only gets stronger the more you challenge him. |
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burzy
Joined: 27 Oct 2007
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| Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 8:41 pm Post subject: |
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| mises wrote: |
In Canada, now, islam and homosexuality are off topic. |
so now we're catching up with you Americans, you should be happy |
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