Kossé ça donne?

- Ô-Ho! Dans les dents, comme on dit. Je n’aurais pas pu dire mieux.

”One can find many acts of racism all over Canada, but it is only in Quebec that you find racist remarks coming from the mouths of so-called political leadership, and routinely hear politicians musing on ways to cut Quebecers who are not ethnically pure out of the political process, as witness Marois Bill 195 and Pierre Curzi’s wistful musings about taking away anglo votes inthe west island, or a RDI radio announcer calling only ethnically pure Quebecois “real” Quebecers. ”

Only in Quebec, of course. Only in Quebec do most people speak and write in French, which makes it possible to misquote and misrepresent people’s opinions and get away with it before the public of another nation speaking another language.

Please quote the “racist remarks coming from the mouths of so-called political leadership” and I will gladly translate them to you and explain to you why you misunderstand them and how you misrepresent them.

Please quote the sentences which you consider proof of “politicians musing on ways to cut Quebecers who are not ethnically pure”. I will be glad to debunk yet another media fabricated myth.

You write:

“This yu do not find elsewhere in Canada. Moreover I could cite you many statistics and poll numbers that attest to anti-Semitic attitudes way n excess of those expressed in the rest of Canada.”

Please, oh please, do cite those many statistics that attest to anti-Semitic attitudes. Please don’t cite polls prepared for the medias of Corporate Canada.

“There is a very long tradition of anti-Semitism in the discourse of French intellectuals from France over 2 centuries and it filtered into Quebec.”

It is funny how this sentence very much fits the pattern of racist prejudice. And how did it filter into French Quebecer’s minds? Through their genes maybe? Ah, their language, you say. Are you so ignorant that you do not know of the equivalent tradition of anti-Semitism in the discourse of British intellectuals from Britain over 2 centuries?

How can you then write:

“Sympathy for the Arab countries and indeed for all the “oppressed” of the earth has made of Quebec intellectuals and cultural elites what Lenin called “useful idiots” in support of rogue regimes and the most malevolent revolutionary strains of the world.”

Wouldn’t that intellectual tradition be exactly the opposite of the other tradition which, you say, makes Quebec a place where anti-Semitism is stronger than in the other Provinces of the Dominion? Is it possible that both traditions were strong, at different moments in history, in different segments of Quebec society? Wouldn’t that be absolutely normal and common to most Western cultures? And why would sympathy for the Wretched of the Earth imply a support of rogue regimes? Isn’t it more likely to be the opposite, and somehow connected with the long tradition of denouncing British Imperialism world wide, and British American Imperialism over Quebec?

You write:

“Most educated Québécois are wonderful people to live amongst, and yes certainly Quebec is a peaceful culture. That said, the strains of racism that invariably accompany hardline separatists is a blot on the Quebec landscape, and until it is “cured”, the best and the brightest will continue to leave in droves. It is a great shame that the attitudes of 20% of this province taint the reputations of so many open and truly tolerant people.”

Barbara, the Quebecers who are educate, pro-peace, separatists, open and truly tolerant, sympathisers of the oppressed, the people who fight against British North American imperialism over Quebec, the democrats, the defenders of human rights are the same individuals. They in the majority voted Yes in 1995. If they are militants, they are to be found in the Parti Québécois and Québec solidaire. There may accidentally be a few lost ones inside the PLQ and one or two really confused individuals in the ADQ.

When the KKK members of your country manifest in Quebec, they don’t target the minorities, they target the majority with French sounding names and Catholic heritage.

To state that Quebec is in general very sympathetic to the Arab countries is to state a fact. When I wrote my column about “Quebecistan” I was appalled at the ignorance of the people who wrote to me in French. They had no idea of what Hezbollah was about, nor any concept of their raison d’être, namely to wipe not only Israel but all Jews off the face of the earth, nor were they aware that Hezbollah is a proxy militia for Iran, nor did they know that Hezbollah has been responsible for horrible bombings all over the world, including Argentina of all places, simply becuase there are Jews there.

Rather than respond to my initial post which poses truths and arguments you cannot counter, you simply take one statement, decide it is racist and go home. Boo hoo.

Thanks very much to Monique David who eloquently validates the fact that I have not been contradictory in my columns.

Here is a word of advice to AngryFrenchGuy: If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen. You are clearly not the type to have a blog. You apparently want it to blow your own horn but not to engage in real debate. Either you should grow a thicker skin, or get out of the blogging business. Barbara

J’ai lu les deux articles auquel on fait référence sur ce blog et je ne vois aucune contradiction. Dans Quebecistan elle dénoncait les politiciens d’avoir donné leur appui à Hezbollah. Ils ont d’ailleurs par la suite, un après l’autre, dit qu’ils ne s’attendaient pas à de telles manifestations et qu’ils se sont fait prendre et qu’ils n’auraient pas du y être. Barbara Kay l’avait dit depuis des semaines avant eux.

Dans l’article du National Post de cette semaine, elle dénonce le projet de loi de Marois comme l’ont fait d’ailleurs de nombreux journalistes québécois: Vincent Maressal dans La Presse a clairement expliqué que ce projet est anti-constitutionnel; lire aussi les chroniques de Lysianne Gagnon, et André Pratte, pour n’en nommer que quelques uns.

Je ne vois aucune contradiction dans les écrits de Barbara Kay. Au contraire, ses propos se tiennent et se complètent.

“Irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race, or religion”

The American Heritage Dictionary

I quite enjoy robust opinion debates. That’s why this Québec indépendantiste chooses to discuss his opinions in English, where I know I will encounter more resistance to my ideas.
I respect that different perspectives lead to different points of view.

I don’t respect people who dismiss an entire group of people based on their ethnicity.

In response to my latest post, Barbara Kay wrote:
“Sympathy for the Arab countries and indeed for all the “oppressed” of the earth has made of Quebec intellectuals and cultural elites what Lenin called “useful idiots” in support of rogue regimes and the most malevolent revolutionary strains of the world.”

Madame Kay, you can continue this discussion by yourself.