THIS is why the pamphleteers are voting keith cole:

toronto pride made a bad, bad decision. censoring freedom of speech(which is exactly what they did when they decided to ban queers against israeli apartheid) at a pride event was not only completely unjustifiable but it has also exposed pride TO's true mandate: censorship for sponsorship.

for immediate release is this statement from Keith Cole, the These Pamphleteers endorsed Mayoral candidate.

keith was asked to hose PRIDE's 2010 ALTERNA-QUEER stage on Saturday, July 3. This is his response:

FREEDOM OF SPEECH MUST PREVAIL!
NO CENSORSHIP

I must decline the offer to host PRIDE’s 2010 ALTERNA – QUEER stage on Saturday July 3rd, 2010, South Stage. It is with great sadness that I must say NO to host one of PRIDE’s best music venues due to Censorship and complete ignorance and respect for individuals right to Freedom of Speech by PRIDE.

I love Alterna – Queer. It is and has been one of the best stages at PRIDE for years. The music, the people, the vibe and the bands have been great in the past and 2010 has a great line up of talent indeed, but PRIDE’s decision to dictate censorship and prevent freedom of speech leaves me with no choice – I must decline PRIDE’s offer to host this event. As a human, an artist, a gay and a 2010 Toronto Mayoral Candidate I cannot nor will I ever support an organization that acts as censors and denies people freedom of speech.

PRIDE has made a dangerous and sickening decision. PRIDE now has censorship mechanisms in place and freedom of speech has been challenged today and for the future. Any individual, any group, any person is now at risk at being censored by PRIDE and denied freedom of speech – who or what will be next? A group? An individual? An artist? A band? An idea? A painting? A book? A body-part? A name? A memory? A thought? A drag queen? A dyke? A fag? It could be anyone or anything next. We, the queer community, are the major stakeholders in PRIDE – not governments, corporations, banks, condo developments or beer companies etc… We are what made PRIDE and we will continue to define our PRIDE.

PRIDE will happen with or without government / corporate sponsorship. We will march, gather, protest, party, celebrate and keep on fighting the good fight. Free speech is worth fighting for and censorship must be stopped no matter what the price.

The community will not forget this terrible decision made by PRIDE.

I love the event Alterna – Queer and I love the music but I love freedom of speech and I can never, ever support censorship.

Sent with a Proud, Free & Uncensored Voice,

Keith Cole

Contact: Keith Cole 416-944-0077 / keithcole@sympatico.ca

pride, not "Pride", will prevail.

so there's some crazy and bizarre shit going on in ottawa(as per usual). apparently the harper government is defunding pride? we all saw this coming when they found out how much money they had given to pride and then freaked the fuck out(and you can read about that HERE).

it's really too bad they're so stupid. pride toronto is a huge tourist magnet, and we all know that toronto(and the country) need a lot of money to run.

also, there's apparently some motion to do the same thing in toronto, from a toronto level (HERE).

this is just silly. these morons are going to waste their time trying to defund a lucrative event? that brings in probably millions of dollars to our piddly little city, a city that can barely afford to run its own public transportation? really? pride ups the toronto reputation all over the world, it makes us look not incredibly backwards, and it's fun for a lot of people.

here's what i think: i think that if something this ridiculous actually goes through it's practically a blessing. it means that the right wing has revealed it's ugly face in our fair city once and for all and we can actually do something about it instead of always pointing fingers and then being called liars.

it means that we'll take to the streets and demonstrate our pride like we once did when there was no city/state funding for pride parades and there were laws against even BEING gay/queer/anything other than normative.

it means that we need to get creative about how to celebrate, how to organize and come together.

it means we need to get off our lazy goddamned asses, stop letting corporations run our pride, and do our own thing.

it means we need to acknowledge the right wing backlash in our country and stop pretending it isn't happening.

so yes, call your city councillor, your MPs, every representative you have. it's important that these events are funded.

but let's stop fooling our selves into thinking that this will stop us, because really it won't.

"All morons hate it when you call them a moron."

this is a really great article written by a member of Independent Jewish Voices.

anyone interested in israel and the israel politics needs to read it, and needs to know about david noble.


"David Noble is Jewish, a university professor, and a member of Independent Jewish Voices. He has provided me with the following information.

In 2006 Noble filed what may have been the first and only defamation lawsuit against the Israel Lobby in response to accusations made against him that he was anti-semitic because of his criticism of Israel and the Israel lobby. Members of the IJV are all too aware of this commonplace smear tactic. The overriding purpose of Noble's lawsuit was to make the smear tactic costly to those who use it and thereby curtail its use. While the lawsuit is still proceeding through the Courts, there are already signs of success (see 2 below).

(1) In November, 2004 Noble exposed the influence of the Israel Lobby on the York University Foundation, the fund-raising entity created by York University two years earlier. A day after the expose was made public, he became the target of a smear campaign branding him a bigot, racist and anti-semite. The campaign was spearheaded by the "Israel Affairs" (now "Israel Awareness") operatives of Hillel@York and Hillel of Greater Toronto and consisted of defamatory press releases issued collaboratively by the York University Foundation, York University, the Ontario branch of the Canadian Jewish Congress, the United Jewish Appeal Federation of Ontario, and the two Hillel organizations.

The next day, a story based on the press releases appeared in the Globe and Mail. Noble publicly demanded an apology, which was reported in the Toronto Star. No apology was ever made. He immediately thereafter filed a grievance against York University which culminated in a favourable Arbitrator's award for breach of academic freedom.

In November, 2006 Noble filed a civil suit for defamation and injurious falsehood against the other parties, all of whom, in addition to the key individuals involved (including the Hillel Israel Affairs operatives Dori Borshiov, Talia Klein, Tilly Shames, and Hillel of Greater Toronto Director Zac Kaye), became named defendants. That suit is now proceeding.

During three years of litigation, all defendants adamantly refused to answer any questions regarding Israel or Israel advocacy, insisting that the questions were irrelevant. The strategy of the defendants was consistent with that of their smear campaign: divert attention from exposure of Israel and the Israel lobby by focusing upon Jews and anti-semitism. In 2009, Noble filed a motion with the Ontario Superior Court to force them to answer the questions.

All but the York University Foundation dodged the motion by agreeing to answer the questions. In February, 2010 the Court issued a landmark decision on the motion, ruling that the questions regarding Israel and Israel advocacy were indeed relevant and ordering the Foundation defendants (former York University president and Foundation Board member Lorna Marsden, Foundation president Paul Marcus, and the Foundation as a corporate entity) to answer them within thirty days. The Foundation failed to comply with the Order and went into contempt of court for three weeks
to avoid answering the Israel-related questions. Noble has now also filed formal requests for documents in the possession of all defendants related in any way to the State of Israel, organizations and agencies associated with the State of Israel and advocacy, fund-raising, and lobbying on behalf of the State of Israel, and will go back to the Court to insure production.

(2) In April, 2010 Judy Haiven, a Jewish professor at Saint Mary's University (and member of IJV) was smeared as a racist and anti-semite by the head of the "Israel Awareness" organization of Dalhousie University, the same kind of operatives who smeared Noble. Like Noble, Haiven demanded an apology. But just days after the appearance of the Globe and Mail article on the landmark Court order in Noble's lawsuit, Haiven received the apology she had demanded. Noble believes there is a direct connection between this unprecedented apology and his lawsuit, demonstrating its intended effect.

Why does he think this? The Israel Affairs/Awareness operatives in Canada are in very close and constant contact. Paige McPherson, the student who smeared Haiven, is a Member at Large Eastern Canada of the Canadian Federation of Jewish Students (CFJS). CFJS is affiliated to The Canadian Council for Jewish and Israel Advocacy (CIJA), National Jewish Campus Life (NJCL), the Canada-Israel Committee (CIC), Hillel International, and the World Union of Jewish Students. It is extremely unlikely that she and her handlers were unaware of the lawsuit. Could it be that the message was sent that such smear tactics could be costly? Noble is convinced that is the story here and that it is one that IJV should broadcast far and wide.

(3) What Have They Got To Hide? The York University Foundation (YUF) has steadfastly refused to answer any Israel-related questions and has defied a court order commanding them to do so. Why? What is so sensitive about this information that they would risk contempt of court to conceal it? The YUF is the incorporated entity York created to raise and massage its money.

• YUF is headed and directed by prominent financial figures in the Canadian Zionist establishment:

• YUF President Paul Marcus is the former director of development for the United Jewish Appeal Federation and, before that, the director of International Affairs for B'nai B'rith.

• Chairman of the YUF Board of Directors Tim R. Price is the CEO of Hees Bancorp International and Brookfield Funds, Brookfield Asset Management, and the former Board Chair of the EDPER Group and Brascan. These international finance powerhouses are part of the Bronfman family empire. (Edper, which was Canada's largest conglomerate, is short for Edward and Peter Bronfman). The Bronfmans have, of course, been strong supporters of Israel.

• YUF Director Marshall Cohen, former CEO of Molson's, used to be the financial director for the Reichmann family real estate empire (president of Olympia and York) also strong supporters of Israel. He has also been a director of AIG as well as Ameritrade.

• YUF Director Julia Koschitzky, a founding member of CIJA and former head of the United Israel Appeal, has also been on the international Board of the Jewish Agency and Keren Hayesod, the Israeli funding agency.

• YUF Director Howard Sokolowski (husband of Linda Frum, former board member of the Canada-Israel-Committee) is CEO of Tribute Homes and fund-raiser extraordinaire who raised record amounts for the UJA and the Israel Emergency Fund.

• YUF Director Honey Sherman was Sokolowski's UJA fund-raising partner and is the wife of Canada's richest individual, Apotex CEO Barry Sherman.

• YUF Director H. Barry Gales runs the family's global international investment and merchant banking operations along with his sister UJA president Leslie Gales.

• YUF Director Alonna Goldfarb helps run the Goldfarb polling and marketing agency that handles the marketing of Israel bonds in Canada.
  

These are only the most prominent of pro-Israel supporters on the YUF Board (see the YUF website for the complete list of Board members).

Given the prominent financial profile and international reach of players such as these one must wonder what they are up to that requires such secrecy. (Noble spent three years trying to bring the YUF under the Ontario Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act; the YUF fought him tooth and nail and won on Adjudication, on the specious grounds of the legal fiction that the YUF was not a part of the FIPPA-covered institution, York University.)

Could it be that the YUF, which attracts donations from the creme de la creme of the Israel Lobby, functions somehow to funnel funds to the Israel Lobby, or to Israel itself? There is no evidence available to demonstrate any such connection and even to suggest it is pure speculation. But then what explains the extreme reluctance of the YUF to answer Israel-related questions? In time, with the production of documents in the ongoing discovery process in Noble's lawsuit, some answers might yet rise to the surface. Meanwhile, the matter merits close attention and further inquiry by the IJV.

The IJV should also note the connection between Noble's lawsuit against the York University Foundation and recent revelations regarding York University's attempt to block and censor last June's conference on Israeli and Palestinian statehood. A major role in this effort was played by Marshall Cohen, who was at the time a member of the Board of Directors of the York University Foundation as well as Chairman of the Board of Governors. Cohen was the founder of the Foundation. His direct effort to influence York's president would appear to confirm the truth of the allegations suggested by Noble's 2004 expose.

victory!

big news! a little while ago pride toronto got itself into a pretty hot spotlight when they put a new policy in place that required participants in the parade and the dyke march to have their signage approved by a committee.

after tonnes of really vocal opposition to the policy, the committee has revoked the policy!!

here is the letter they released today:

"Open letter to the Community

The Board of Directors of Pride Toronto has listened to feedback from the community, and the proposed plan for an Ethics Committee to review and approve all messaging prior to the Parade, Dyke and Trans March has been withdrawn. The process followed during the 2009 festival will remain in place for 2010.

This summer as we recognize 30 years of expressing our pride, we hope you will join us to celebrate the history, courage, diversity and future of Toronto's LGBTTIQQ2SA* communities."

hurray!! congratulations dissenters! and a thank you to rick telfer and jeffrey andrus, who started the "don't sanitize pride" and didn't back down(yet again)!

oh toronto pride, so not.. proud.

a storm is brewing over toronto pride that is threatening to rain on *some* people's parade.

pride toronto released its terms and conditions for the 2010 pride events/parade and it includes groups participating in the pride parade and dyke march having their signs approved by pride toronto.

in their press release co-chair jim cullen wrote that all messages of participating groups must "support the theme of the 2010 festival: celebrating 30 years of pride in toronto."

apparently this new policy is aimed at curbing hate speech at pride.

according to tracey sandilands, the executive director of pride toronto:

"the real purpose of this is to ensure that if someone turns up with real hate messaging - which has happened before in the history of pride toronto - that the mechanisms are in place to remove them and we don't all stand helplessly by. its not about preventing freedom of speech at any time. it's about being proactive to ensure the measures are in place to protect everyone that takes part and everyone that comes to watch."

when i first read that i was like, bitch please. you think someone is going to show up at PRIDE and spew hate, and the millions of participants are going to stand "helplessly by"? of course the pride committee needs to be mindful of hate speech filtering through their process, but don't they remember how hate speech is a crime and how they are not police?

and the terms and condition already have a section dealing with hate.

7) Messaging in the Parade : a) The Applicant will not present any messages - verbal, written, in imagery or otherwise - that promotes or condones violence or the incitement of hatred as defined in the Criminal Code of Canada.

so, if someone is presenting a message of hatred then all of the billion volunteers, security, and police officers can kick them out. so if i show up with a sign that says "god hates fags" then i'm guessing some intrepid volunteer will ask me to leave.

so what's the point of this new policy when there's an already existing no tolerance policy for hate speech/signage/messages?

a lot of people, and i happen to be one of them, are pretty sure it has everything to with pride 2009 and queers against israeli apartheid(quaia). --which you can read more about here--

last year reports went out stating that pride might try to prevent quaia from marching in the parade--afterwards pride backpedaled and said they only wanted quaia to register before marching(let's try to ignore for a moment how problematic it is to have to register for this parade...).

quaia's involvement in pride has drawn a lot of heat from zionist groups, however, and i'd guess with the majority that a big reason for the new policy as well as the bullying of quaia was/is to protect corporate sponsors who are affiliated or who ARE zionist groups.

in the xtra article that first discussed the new policy, gary kinsman(one of the founders of the original pride day in toronto as well as a former active member of the simon nkodi anti-apartheid committee) stated:

"i'm really quite disturbed about this...that [pride has] new types of criteria that can be used to bar people — rather than welcoming people into our movements to express their political views, as long as they're not expressing hatred or bigotry, it's a bit frightening."

in response to the new policy a facebook group was started by jeffrey andrus and rick telfer called "don't sanitize pride: free expression must prevail" and it already has 931 members.

i asked rick how he would respond to people who want to know what's wrong with trying to prevent hate speech at pride and he said that he agrees that there's nothing wrong with it, "so long as hate is clearly defined in keeping with canadian law." he pointed to hate crime law
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/hatecrimes/) , noting that "the process is simple, and there's no room for misuse or abuse."

so what's going on here?? is this an attempt by pride toronto to "sanitize" pride events? to de-politicize pride? to keep corporate sponsors happy?

it'll be interesting to see if the pressure on pride results in them retracting the policy or not. there is no "one" approved message for pride but over the years the queer community has seen pride parades in toronto become less and less diverse, less representative of the muli-facetted nature of the community, and more corporate driven than is comfortable. apparently we're only allowed to celebrate our pride if we're naked and we have a corporate sponsorship painted on our bodies.

(photo by emily mcdonald)

(we contacted tracey sandilands but have received no comment from her.)

ok, toronto pride isn't SO bad...

we wrote about toronto pride banning political groups(or, specifically, queers against israeli apartheid) here.

apparently the issue has been grossly misrepresented by the media and b'nai brith, the coalition against israeli apartheid has issued a press release:

"Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA)
Statement for Immediate Release
2 June 2009

**CAIA APPLAUDS TORONTO PRIDE COMMITTEE’S DECISION NOT TO BAN ANTI-APARTHEID QUEER GROUP FROM CITY’S ANNUAL PRIDE PARADE**

Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QUAIA) attacked by pro-Israel B’nai Brith; Toronto’s Pride Committee stands up to political pressure to exclude QUAIA from city’s annual celebration of LGBTQ pride.

On May 27, a National Post article by Joseph Brean incorrectly reported that Queers Against Israeli Apartheid “has been banned this year” from Toronto’s annual Pride parade. In response, Pride Toronto has issued a public statement which makes absolutely clear that “it has no intention of banning any participants from the Dyke March and the Parade because of their political agenda”. CAIA applauds Pride Toronto for standing up to attempts to discipline this year’s Pride parade grand marshal, El-Farouk Khaki, for speaking at a recent public event organized by Queers Against Israeli Apartheid.

CAIA stands with Pride Toronto in its refusal to cave in to pressure tactics from B’nai Brith and other groups that aim to silence well-founded criticism of the Israeli state for its ongoing violations of international law. Violations include Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territories; its settlement-building and construction of an apartheid wall on occupied land; its refusal to respect the right of Palestinian refugees to return; and its recent attacks on Gaza which resulted in 1400 Palestinian deaths and over 5000 injuries in 23 short days.

Despite boisterous and persistent claims by B’Nai Brith, criticism of the Israeli state is not anti-semitic or “hateful and divisive propaganda”.

B’nai Brith has issued several press releases recently, each aimed at silencing critics of Israeli policy, including queer community activists and artists. B’nai Brith has, for example, tried without success to shut down a reading of Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza, featuring the acclaimed writer and theatre artist, Anne-Marie MacDonald. Queer Jewish artist Reena Katz
has also been attacked for her support of the Palestinian cause. At the same time, B’nai Brith chooses to ally itself with Christian fundamentalist homophobes.

As an organization committed to ending racism and homophobia, CAIA recognizes Queers Against Israeli Apartheid as a vital and legitimate LGBTQ group in the tradition of the Simon Nkoli Anti-Apartheid Committee (SNAAC). SNAAC was active for many years in Toronto and organized the city’s LGBTQ community against South African apartheid. Comparisons between Israeli apartheid and South African apartheid have been made by a number of well-known figures including former US President Jimmy Carter and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop
Desmond Tutu.

In the face of growing support and understanding of the Palestinian plight, including that faced by Palestinian queers, the Zionist movement is responding with intimidation and repression. We are fully convinced these actions will fail and be seen for what they are: a desperate attempt by a failing movement to shut down free speech and the right to organize.

CAIA fully supports Pride Toronto’s refusal to exclude QUAIA and stands in solidarity with queer activists and artists and all those who refuse to remain silent in the face of silencing and intimidation.

Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) statement, also endorsed by:

Students Against Israeli Apartheid (University of Toronto)
Students Against Israeli Apartheid (York University)
Faculty4Palestine
Labour4Palestine
Teachers4Palestine
Educators for Peace and Justice

wait wait wait... toronto pride ISN'T political?

this year pride toronto is selling t-shirts and merch that say "I BELONG" and "CAN'T STOP/WON' STOP" on them.. very interesting considering the following:

yesterday at rabble andrew brett wrote about how "pro-israel" lobbyists(b'nai brith) threatened the government and corporate sponsorship of the toronto pride festival unless pride bans pro-palestinian marchers from participating in the parade.

apparently martin gladstone has met with and written to the pride committee many times asking them to ban queers against israeli apartheid( a totally legit group, btw), claiming that their presence has "very eerie parallels to nazi germany"

umm... you know what else has parallels to nazi germany? banning groups from participating in their community's own parade and festivities and punishing people for their political beliefs by pulling these seedy and totally unethical 'im holding your funding hostage' moves.

remember how under the nazis homosexuals were also persecuted?

b'nai brith did this last year as well after pro-palestinian marchers participated in pride i guess this year they're threatening to "go after funding from the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, the City of Toronto, Heritage Canada, and corporate sponsorships."

gladstone has said that the city of toronto and td canada trust, who are major sponsors of the event, have both contacted the pride committee and expressed their "opposition to the inclusion of the anti-apartheid contingent."

this morning an update was posted that pride banned queers against israeli apartheid. according to their statement
"Pride Toronto wishes to state publicly that it is a non-partisan organization created to serve the LGBTTIQQ2S* community of Toronto in all its cultural, religious, ethnic and sexual diversity. The organization does not have any affiliations whatsoever to political entities or causes."

complete and total fucking bullshit. really? the organization does not have any affiliations whatsoever to political entities or causes? what about the corporations whose money you're beholden to, those corporations ARE affiliated to political entities and causes and by affiliation pride is as well.

also, thanks pride for deciding who and who may not participate in an event that is supposed to be inclusive.

ANYONE who is participating in toronto pride this year should not do so unless they contact pride and tell them how disgusted they are with their decision. pride is pride, and queer political groups should have just as much right to march as anyone else--queer political groups are the most targeted, the most marginalized, and the most willing to go to the frontlines to fight for queer rights and pride toronto is just going to ban them?

right, because its just better to fucking plaster yourself with corporate logos and glitter and strip your clothes off down church street because pride "isn't political."

like it or not it IS political and this decision sets a disgusting precedent that noone should feel settled with. queer and gay rights don't exist in a vacuum, they are intrinsically linked to political and human rights across the globe and to ignore this issue and just march around all day pretending that all is well with the world is not only lieing to yourself and your community but also being totally complicit.

do something, we don't let people tell us who we can fuck or love so why is it alright for the pride committee itself to ban people from participating in their own fucking parade!?

this is a list of pride's sponsors(including bud light, pepsi, pizza pizza, yellowtail, trojan, and via rail), pick one, send them an email:

http://www.pridetoronto.com/sponsor/sponsors/

city of toronto helped this happen? write the mayor and tell him what a douchebag move this is:

mayor_miller@toronto.ca

td bank put the pressure on? if you're a client call your bank, i am a td client and i'm going to call today and tell them i'm closing my account with them:

phone: 1-866-222-3456

email: td.capa@td.com

you can go here and contact b'nai brith directly: http://www.bnaibrith.ca/contactus.html

and let's not forget pride toronto, who would have us throw away our politics for one day in the sparkly corporate sponsored sun: office@pridetoronto.com