The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, February 11, 1993-Page 3
young Jews to
By JAMGE ARNOLD
MONTREAL-
Writer Mordecai Richler told an audience of young Jews that if he was their age. he wouldn't stay in Quebec because he sees little future for the anglophone community here. He advised them not to "invest tixi much emotionally and financially" in this province.
He said Quebec is entering a ; "tribal periixl of great intolerance. If I was 22 or 25.1 wouldn't stay; who needs it?...If 1 was young. 1 would hope for the best, but prepare for the w o r s t. ■ ■ ^
He made it clear he is pessimistic not because they are Jews, but rather English-speaking. Francophone Jews, such as; the Sephardim of Moroccan origin, probably are more welcome here, and jokingly suggested they "buy out" the Ashkenazim.
"It's not sufficient to be bilingual and Of>en: it's necessary to be de souche (old stock French Canadian)." In the Quebec of tomorrow, ".some will be more equal than others."
Richler's talk was sponsored by the As.s(x:ialion of Young Jewish Adults (.AYJA). a club that encourages;this age group not ttv leave, and held-at
the Saidye Bronfman Centre. The 350-seat theatre was less than half-full; the $25 ticket price ^nd limiting of admission to those under 35 may have affected attendance.
This was Richler's first public address to a Montreal Jewish audience since his book O/i Canada! Oh Quebec! Requiem for a Divided Nation was published last spring.
He used the forum to express the "betrayal" he felt by Canadian Jew- ; ish Congress' (CJC) efforts to dissociate the Jewish community from Richler's opinions on Quebec anti-Semitism, after the botik and an earlier essay in New Yorker magazine in the fall of 1991 were published.
With caustic humor and trenchant characterizations, he recreated a private conversation he had with CJC officials Alan Rose. Michael Crelin-sten. Jack Jcdwab and Frank Schlesinger in detail that left no doubt ab(")ut his disdain for the organization. That meeting followed on the publi- . cation of an op-ed article under Crelinsten's byline in Ui Pres.se and Tfie Gazette, which downplayed anti-Semitism as an issue, and Schlesinger's comments to Le Devoir that Richler's views were "reprehensible."
Among other well-chosen words.
Richler called CJC "obsequious." "timorous apparatchiks" and "court Jews" who want to "make nice" with Quebec nationalists.
What bothered Richler the most was that they agreed in private with him, but felt they had to "denounce me (publicly) to prove they are loyal Quebecers." .
CJC"s warning that Richler was playing into the hands of anti-semites didn't wash with him. "They need no help from me. neither will I be ihtirni-dated."
B'nai Brith was spared Richler's wrath. "They .said I was a free agent and it wa.s monstrous to demand that the Jewish community [denounce niej for my own opinion.
"I do not speak for the Jewish community, and it most certainly dws not speak for me."
Of all the outrage expressed by French Quebecers. Richler recalled one letter from a francophone Montreal architect as particularly telling. It concluded that a gue.st should not (defecate) on his host's front porch.
"Now I am-.a guest in the land where I was born. The tribalists are so dense, they can't grasp when they are being anti-Semitic."
Richler said his article and b(/v)k was intended to show the "silliness"
of Bill 178 and banning of English .signs. On the matter of anti-Semitism, he said he wanted to make three points: tha.t Canon Lionel Groulx was a "rabid anti-Semite"; that Le Devoir had a "long history" of anti-Semitism; and prejudice against Jews is more prevalent in Quebec than the rest of Canada, as evidenced by three separate surveys.
What di.stmguishes Quebec's anti-Semitic period from elsewhere in Canada and the United States in the "30s, Richler said, is that the latter was a "blight limited to its times" extending no further than "the lunatic fringe." •
By contrast. L<' DevoirWds a "mainstream journal of ideas" and Groulx remains a revered figure today in Quebec, he said.
Engli.sh Quebecers also harbored anti-Semitism, expressed in discrimination against Jews at universities, in corporations and clubs, Richler said, but it was "never as virulent" as that of francophones.
"I can't recall anglophones marching through the Jewish district in 1941 yelling 'Kill the Jews.'"
Racism in Quebec today is exemplified by the"sanitized" version of the St. Jean Baptiste Society that
paints immigrants and non-francophones as a threat. Richler said.
In response to a question. Richler said he thinks much of Bill lOI is "reasonable." in particular, those sections that make French the language of the workplace and that he . understands many francophone.s feel threatened about their culture. "While there are xenophobic elements, it would be unfair to generalize that Quebecers hate Jews."
He said he still believes iheTliajori-ty of Quebecers have "tix> much commonsense" to opt for independence, but '=if they.do. the rest of us should not stand in their way."
Anglophones, he thinks, will not have "the luxury" pf a protest vote in the next election and the Equality Pany therefore likely has no future. (Richler stiimped for Richard Hold-en in 1989.)
On a lighter note. Richler gave a few hints about a.lengthy article he is writing for the New Yorker inspired by his month-long visit to Israel last fall. He looked up people he grew up with who made aliyah 40 years ago. stayed at an artists' colony in Jerusalem, and had his new typewriter blown up when it was left behind at the airport.
ortation
By RON CSILLAG
TORONTO -
Heritage Front leader Wolfgang DriK^ge will be in Federal.Court.in Toronto on Feb. 23. when he must convince a judge why he should not • be charged with contempt of coun.
Droege will have his. work cut out: earlier this month, the Canadian Human Rights Commission convinced a Federal Court judge in Ottawa to grant the hearing, based on the commission's argument that the white-supremacist Front has violated an injunction preventing it from playing certain messages on its telephone hotline [CJN. Feb: 4).
The injunction! issued last August, prohibited further use of hotline.messages which target people on the basis of religion or race.
The commission says two messages recorded in mid-January are anti-Semitic.
One called the late film comedy actor Charlie Chaplin "a little traitor ... whose Communi.st tendencies and sexual attitudes were his norm." The mes-sage said. Chaplin's real name was Israel Thornstein. .
The other al leges that Reform Party leader Pre.ston Manning is "kowtowing"' to Jewish groups. ;■
"The messages are clearly anti-Jewish." said David Satok. chair of the community relations community of Canadian Jewish Congress.
There is "no doubt" that the name Israel Thornstein is of Jewish origin and no doubt that the Front's attempt to link Comrnuni.sm with Judaism is ' an old anti-Semitic canard. CJC stated in a recent letter'to: the com-mission!
If convicted of contempt. Droege could face up to two years in prison.
Droege has denied that the me.s-.sages are-anti-Semitic! He says this latest action i.s' "only; a desperate measure of the Je^A'ish congress to do anything they can" to shutdown the hotline. .
The Front hotline is being investigated by the commission sepjarate-ly to see whether it violates the Canada's Human Rights Act.
The two-member panel looking into allegations that the hotline tar-' geted Native Canadians has adjourned until next month. The complaint was brought forward by the Native Canadian Centre, supported by Canadian Jewish Congress.
A third' member of the panel resigned recently when .Droege accused him of bias.
It was on the panel's first day of
hearings last month that a wild melee broke out between .some 450. anti-racism protesters and police, who were escorting Droege and about 30 of his foljowers into the courthou.se.
Meanwhile, three complaints have-.surfaced against another' telephone hotline in Toronto mn by Kevin Lew. self-styled (3rand Wizard of the Na.-tional Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
CiC has alleged that one of the hotline's messages incited hatred on the basis of religion:
The message, broadcast last November, refered to the film version of the life of "black racist and .segregationist" Malcolm X, who "at least knew what the Jews were up to. which is more than what you can say •■for the average Joe Sixpack."
Joining Congress are the Urban Alliance on Race Relations, which says another message targeted persons on the bksis of race, and Toronto councillor Kyle Rae. who charges that the line incited hatred on the basis of sexual orientation.
the complainants plan to use a precedent: last December, as a result of a complaint laid by B'nai Brith Canada, the coriimission shut down a Winnipeg telephone hotline run by the Manitoba Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
SCIENCE MIR_
Or Haemet students (from left) Shmulik Hazan, Talia Barak and Jimmy Bensimon examine an experiment on electricity prepared for the grade 8 science fair. The large turnout of enthusiastic parents, friends and relatives and the excellence of the exhibits augured well for the success of the Sephardic school, says president Jack Benquesus and vice-president Maurice Benzacar,
TORONTO -
In his first major address since his ar-. rival as Israel's vice-consul to Toronto. Chaim Waxman defended.his country's temporai-y removal of Hamas leaders. .
Addressing 75 people attending the executive,committee meeting of Canadian Jewish Congress. Ontario region, the new envoy pointed out that in the past five years Hamas has launched 157 attacks in which 36 Israelis and 107 Palestinians were killed and 148 Israelis wounded.
What is happening in Israel's territories is tied to the peace process, he explained. Hamas, a terrorist organization, objects to any Mideast peace negotiations because it believes Israel has no right to exist:
The ternpqrary removal of the Hamas leaders by the Israeli governnient. took
place because of the acceleration of violent acts by the group in both Israel and the territories.^ Waxman noted. Israel wanted to signal to Arab leadership that Hamas' actions could endanger the peace process.
The diplomat charged that the media's depiction of the.expulsion was "diston-ed because it was pt^rtrayed without context and background. Don't we Israelis have the basic human right to live freely." • Israel made the decision regarding Hamas for the .safety of Israelis — both Jews and Palestinians — and for the saving of the peace process — "the most historic event taking place in our time." declared the new envoy.
The level of violence in the territories is down.since the expulsion orders: "This is a definite blow to Hamas-."" he stated.
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