Disagreement on how to fight hate sparks lively panel debate.
BSI6CK mSDO^ALS STAFF REPORTER
they all agreed on the problem; it was the solution they had trouble with. A debate on hate and how to fight it highhghted the fourth annual Vancouver Conference for Children of Holocaust Survivors.
About 50 people attended the conference held Sunday, Dec. 10 at the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. The program featured different approaches to fighting racism from the perspectives of three guest panelists.
The panelists were: Alan Button, executive director of Canadian Anti-Racism Education and Research Society (CARERS); Ken McVay, founder and director of the Nizkor Project; and Sigmund SoMewski, anon-Jewish Holocaust Survivor and founder of the Auschwitz Awareness Society.
The trio offered some insights into racism from their personal experiences before entering into an open discussion on ways to &ght hate.
Mr, Button spoke of renewed Ku Klux Klan activity in B.C. and the recruitment of young people ijnto white supremacist organizations through the use of racist rock music.
**New Klans are coming on with a vengeance," stated Mr. Button. He warned that while hate groups in the past recruited firom the **blue collar^ segment of society, these d^ys youth from middle class and professional families are joining hate groups in alarming numbers.
Part of the reason, according to the CARERS director, is the rise of organized groups who are using modem marketing and media tecliniques to appeal to vulnerable youth. "They are mer-chandising hate for profit," he said.
But racists also prey on young people who feel disconnected from family and alienated from
with alienated youth. "They give them food, they give them monr ey, they give them a sense of belonging."
Mr. McVay, whose organization fights Holocaust denial on the Litemet, said revisionists and anti-Semites spread disinformation to potentially millions of online users through newsgroups and World Wide Web pages.
"The/ve retreated from interactive public forums," he commented. But, "when you get in their face, they go away."
Racism Educafiori and Research Society, holds up a Ku Klux Klan
blame their plight or lack of employment on a "Jewish conspiracy."
Insome cases, recruiters form a child/parent-lilce relationship
Bressed in his replica striped Auschwitz prisoner's uniform, Mr. Sobolewski spoke of the difficulties trying to reach a generation far removed from the Holocaust years.
He recalled an anecdote in which he visited a high school to talk about the Holocaust, The Grade 11 and 12 students didn't know about World War II, said the 73-year-old Catholic.
With a word of advice for anti-racist advocates, Mr. Sobolewski cautioned people presenting themselves as experts that they had better have their facts straight, because **demers" will jump on inaccuracies to use as a coimtertool.
In discussing methods to fight racism, Mr. Button advocated using the legal system with existing and new anti-hate legislation.
Mr. McVay disagreed, at least in the realm of the Internet.
"Censorship on the Net is impossible," stated the Nizkor director. He pointed' out that Canadian onerators of hate-mes-
sage Web pages could have the actual Web site located in overseas countries in which authorities here would have no jurisdiction. Instead, Mr. McVay preferred a strategy to expose those spreading hatred and to counter misinfonnation with fec-tual material.
"Counter attack," suggested Mr. Sobolewski, refining the same techniques used by hate groups or, "we are going to lose this war."
But as Mr Button pointed out, there are no alternatives to the sophisticated hate messages delivered to today's youth through high quality print material and high energy rock music.
Buring the second half of the conference, attendees rotated through workshops offered by the thiee panelists.
George Bluman, whose parents are Holocaust Survivors, is a member of the Second Generation Group, which is sponsored in part by the Vancouver Holocaust Centre Society. He said he was interested in hearing different perspectives on fighting racism.
A non-Jewish participant, Jack Christian, said he attended because he had become interested in the Holocaust as a child at the end of the S«x>nd World War.
"It hasn't been officially acknowledged, particularly by we Christians, and it was Chaistians who did the work of the Holocaust. I think we feel a lot of guilt about it. And I'm afraid if we don't acknowledge the shame that we feel about it... we will do it again," he said.
This yea/s conference was the first time it was fuUy open to the public, according to oo-organizer
"Every year it's usually been targeted for Second Generation people." she remarked. 'This year if s a little bit different. It's meant to be more of a proactive approach to Holocaust issues. TMs year we're hoping to reach a broader audience. So we're getting involved in fighting anti-Semitism and racism." □
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