When a neo-Nazi hate rag returns, don’t stick your head in the sand.
As many of you know, Lisa and I and many others – in the Jewish, Muslim, LGBT, and other minority communities – have been fighting the neo-Nazi hate sheet Your Ward News for more than two years. We have launched civil actions, we have pushed the authorities into laying criminal charges, and some of us have even initiated private criminal prosecutions of these white supremacists and neo-Nazis.
The latest issue of this so-called newspaper, however, is out. (CBC News has interviewed us about it; the link is over on my web site.) Lisa and I have been hearing from many people on the East side of Toronto who are very upset. They thought the laying of the criminal charges would put an end to Your Ward News.
Unfortunately, however, that hasn’t happened yet. While the publisher and editor of this Holocaust-denying, pro-Hitler piece of filth have been charged with wilfully promoting hatred against women and Jews, the courts have lifted some conditions which would’ve made it difficult for them to continue disseminating hate. That was a mistake.
This week, then, I started a new civil action against the haters behind Your Ward News, and they’ll be served soon. Lisa, meanwhile, launched a civil action against them last year – and she is represented by the legal powerhouse of Heinen Hutchinson. And, next month, we will be back in the criminal courts to pursue the editor and publisher for printing death threats.
The best approach, then, is not to give up. The best approach is not to stick your head in the sand. The best approach – notwithstanding what our sadly-misguided local councillor says – is not just to shrug and give up.
The best approach is to keep fighting.
If you receive this newspaper, contact the police. Contact your local MPP. Contact your Member of Parliament. Let the media know. The only way to defeat hate is for communities to come together and keep up the pressure.
That’s what we intend to do, and hopefully you will too.
As many of you know, Lisa and I and many others – in the Jewish, Muslim, LGBT, and other minority communities – have been fighting the neo-Nazi hate sheet Your Ward News for more than two years. We have launched civil actions, we have pushed the authorities into laying criminal charges, and some of us have even initiated private criminal prosecutions of these white supremacists and neo-Nazis.
The latest issue of this so-called newspaper, however, is out. (CBC News has interviewed us about it; the link is over on my web site.) Lisa and I have been hearing from many people on the East side of Toronto who are very upset. They thought the laying of the criminal charges would put an end to Your Ward News.
Unfortunately, however, that hasn’t happened yet. While the publisher and editor of this Holocaust-denying, pro-Hitler piece of filth have been charged with wilfully promoting hatred against women and Jews, the courts have lifted some conditions which would’ve made it difficult for them to continue disseminating hate. That was a mistake.
This week, then, I started a new civil action against the haters behind Your Ward News, and they’ll be served soon. Lisa, meanwhile, launched a civil action against them last year – and she is represented by the legal powerhouse of Heinen Hutchinson. And, next month, we will be back in the criminal courts to pursue the editor and publisher for printing death threats.
The best approach, then, is not to give up. The best approach is not to stick your head in the sand. The best approach – notwithstanding what our sadly-misguided local councillor says – is not just to shrug and give up.
The best approach is to keep fighting.
If you receive this newspaper, contact the police. Contact your local MPP. Contact your Member of Parliament. Let the media know. The only way to defeat hate is for communities to come together and keep up the pressure.
That’s what we intend to do, and hopefully you will too.
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