Ron Banerjee: A Racist Walter Mitty

It is almost impressive how shameless Ron Banerjee is.

ARC has covered Banerjee, a supporter of Hinduvata, for a few years now. To suggest that he is anti-Muslim, anti-Sikh, and violently misogynistic would perhaps be a bit of an understatement:

His most recent appearance was at last week's anti-racism Town Hall where he and others disrupted the proceedings. However he has also unsurprisingly insinuated himself into the case of the 11 year-old child who made a false claim about a man cutting her hijab. In what is beginning to look like a bit of an AstroTurf campaign, a group of conservative Chinese-Canadians have been protesting since late January demanding Justin Trudeau apologize for his then condemnation of the attack while carrying professionally-made signs that imply that Muslims are a threat; their largest rally was in Ottawa and was joined by members of La Meute, Proud Boys, Canadian Combat Coalition, Northern Guard, and other similar groups.

When this group first began protesting, Banerjee showed up with his megaphone....

.... and implied that HE had organized the protest and that the Chinese-Canadian group were members and supporters of Rise Canada:

January 2018 Bits and Bites: PEGIDA Canada Fail, Trudeau Heckled By Known Islamophobe, And Paulie Whining

First, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Steven Alexander Paj Daus ندفة الثلج Copo de Nieve Iqhwa Gregory Myatt might just be having a few problems at the moment:

Well that's a damn shame.

Time will tell if this is long lasting, but I for one will enjoy the peace and quiet however brief it may be.

On with the rest of the article:

Pam Geller and Ezra Levant Event In Toronto: A Brief Who's Who.

By the time this article is published, the JDL sponsored event featuring Pam Geller and Ezra Levant may very well be in full swing. As such ARC decided to remind the readers who is and who claims they will be attending the event.

First of all is our buddy Steven Alexander Blair Kelley Newton Glass Gregory Myatt and Georges Massaad were among the first to provide footage of the venue:

So Myatt is in charge of the Northern Guard's public affairs bureau, eh? Sounds pretty fancy. It does remind this reader though that the Northern Guard, along with La Meute/CDN Wolfpack, Proud Boys, Threepers, and of course the JDL, are according to Wolfpack head Bryan Trottier providing security.... though apparently this is news to the organizers.

In any case, as the head of the Northern Guard's public affairs, perhaps Steven would like to discuss with Pam and Ezra why there are so many anti-semites in the Northern Guard, including the founder and president of the national chapter:

December 2017 Bits and Bites: Calgary Vandalism, Blood & Honour, and Ronny Cameron

It might be a bit early in the month to post a Bits and Bites article, but I figure if another is necessary later, I'm sure the readers won't mind.

In any case it has been a busy couple of days and I thought that I should address a few recent news stories that crossed my desk.

The first deals with racist notes left (and in at least one case thrown through a window) at the home of two women in Calgary:

Pair of Calgary women receive racially charged threats signed with altered Canadian flag 

Letters threaten specific violence against Indigenous woman and woman with Nenshi sign on her home
By Robson Fletcher, CBC News Posted: Dec 04, 2017 3:57 PM MT Last Updated: Dec 04, 2017 3:57 PM MT 

Calgary police say they are investigating after two women in the same neighbourhood received racially charged letters that threaten extreme violence against them, signed with a similar symbol that blends a Canadian flag with a Christian cross.
....
Both letters are signed with a symbol that is "essentially a Canadian flag with a red cross in the centre of it, rather than a maple leaf," said Misty Wind Shingoose, a resident of the southeast community of Deer Ridge. 

Shingoose said she awoke on Saturday to find a bed sheet sprawled out on her front lawn with a note left on the sheet. 

"There were death threats, threats of rape, and racial slurs and comments about me being an Indigenous woman," she said of the note. 

"It was really quite horrific." 

The note expresses anger at Shingoose for parking a large bus on the street in front of her home, a vehicle she has been retrofitting to use as a mobile hair studio to give free haircuts to the city's homeless. The bus was also vandalized. 

The note threatens specific sexual violence and murder against Shingoose.

A second woman was also targeted on the same street:

Later, Shingoose said she was contacted by a neighbour who received a similar threat.
"She essentially told me that she had the same symbol on the bottom of a letter after a massive stone was thrown through her window half an hour after my bus was vandalized," Shingoose said. 

"She's not Aboriginal. She's white and she had a Naheed Nenshi sign on her deck and her letter went off of that." 

Shingoose provided CBC News with a copy of the letter her neighbour received.
"You support Nenshi?" the letter says, referring to Calgary's mayor, who is Muslim.
"You are a Muslim sympathizer pig and you will pay." 

It goes on to tell the woman to either move or "have your house burned down in the next few years." 

It also offers "forgiveness" if she places a sign bearing the same flag-cross symbol on her fence for a week.

Ms. Shingoose posted a copy of the two letters as well as the vandalism done to her van on social media in an effort to elicit the public's assistance in determining who the individual is. I would ask ARC's readers to pay attention to the symbol posted to the letters as that may jog someone's memory as to who might have left the notes and vandalized the bus:

She also included the following:

So my Neighbour down the street from me ALSO had her home vandalized (huge rock through her window) for having a Nenshi sign on her house!! The guy left this threatening letter WITH THE SAME SYMBOL on it as my note!! 

Happened the same night, about 30 mins after!! 

Completely premeditated and he's been watching all over our area obviously! 

I am standing up against this RIGHT NOW and Phil and I plan to canvas the neighbourhood EVERY HOUSE in between mine and their home and around this direct vicinity with pamphlets I am making right now. They will have info regarding this cowardly person THREATENING us for simply existing in this community in a manner in which he doesn't like.

Also in Calgary this weekend, Blood & Honour members were also active leaving a flyer at the residence of Jason Devine:

Jason, Bonnie, and their children are sadly all too familiar with McKee and co as they have been the targets of vandalism, at least one firebombing, and a home invasion and assault all of which Blood & Honour (and their predecessor the Aryan Guard) are suspected of having carried out. The flyer was found only at the Devine's home; none of the neighbors received it so it is clear Jason and Bonnie were specifically targeted.

Tension Between JDL and Ronny Cameron? Perhaps.... But Probably Not

Close to two weeks ago ARC posted a story about Ronny Cameron's embracing of the "white genocide" mantra despite his own.... uhm.... I'll say personal situation. One particular thread turned out to be of some interest since it resulted in a nearly 50 year-old "Proud Boy" Robert Jones (and really, if he isn't embarrassed about that distinction he really should be) being taken to task by a member, or at least a supporter, of the JDL:

Gee, Jones rolled on to his back and subordinated himself pretty damn fast. Not all that much of an alpha I guess.

In any case, it seemed as if there had been some tension between members of the JDL and Ronny, or at least folks associated with Ronny, since he started on the whole "white genocide" canard and his involvement with people like Jesse Sanderson became a bit uncomfortable:

His association with the Proud Boys, whom AR Davis seems to have a problem with, might also be cause for some concern in the JDL:

 

 

 

 

Then there were the claims made by Ron Banerjee.

Now, it should be noted that Banerjee HATES Cameron. I mean really, really, loathes him. I'm guessing this is primarily because Banerjee is profoundly jealous of Cameron coming upon the scene relatively late and sucking up much of the oxygen, at least in Toronto far right circles. Banerjee has been talking smack about Ronny for months now, but the following post was an interesting new entry in the war of words which ARC found on the JDL Grand Poobah's Facebook page with no contradiction:

Banerjee has had a long relationship with the JDL, though it is a relationship more akin to Banerjee's Spike to Meir Weinstein and the JDL's Chester. Still, this would be a big deal (again, all things being relative as we are talking about a fringe movement still) if this were true.

The operative word being "if" of course.

Only two days later, Meir seemed pretty cozy with a person advocating for a blatantly racist and not so subtle antisemitic conspiracy:

Yeah, I can't say that I'm all that shocked that Meir Weinstein continues to make common cause with a movement that will turn on Jews as soon as they would dispense with Muslims, the enemy of my enemy and all that.

It's not as if he's been a profile in courage for years at this point.

Former PEGIDA Canada Supporter and RISE Canada Iraj Gardner Speaks to ARC

When ARC reported on the PEGIDA Canada rally in London, ON which was again dwarfed in number by comparison by counter-protesters this weekend, I also included information that was sent to me by someone who at one time had intimate knowledge about how PEGIDA functioned. She had that knowledge because at one time she was counted among them.

The current members of PEGIDA who follow ARC have figured out the name of this source though she didn't make any effort to hide her identity. While associated with PEGIDA and later (briefly) RISE Canada, Patti Gardner was one of the most vocal Islamophobes this writer had come across on social media. Her comments were often caustic and incredibly hateful, a characterization that I don't think she would disagree with now. Unlike others who's anti-Muslim and racist bigotry was confined primarily to social media, Patti was an active participant in anti-Muslim protests with PEGIDA and RISE Canada, including the now infamous protest outside the Masjid Toronto Mosque on February 17 this year.

But a lot can change in a few months.

Ms. Gardner, now going by the name Iraj, has not only rejected the hatred of groups like PEGIDA and RISE Canada, she has actually taken the steps to converting to Islam after having taken the time to examine her beliefs and biases and studying the religion she vilified. When she contacted me concerning Mark Vandermaas' involvement with PEGIDA and his complaint against the London city council, I immediately recognized the email as coming from someone who was on the radar but who's name hadn't come up in some time. Of course I had a number of questions and Ms. Gardner was kind enough to respond in a very thorough manner.

What follows is a lengthy discussion with Ms. Gardner regarding how and why her views changed so radically. Of course we understand that people may be skeptical since this really represents a 180° change, but if there's one thing that ARC has been consistent in is the view that most people can become better people so on that basis, and because of what seems to be her forthrightness regarding her past, I've decided to give Ms. Gardner the benefit of the doubt.

She respond to my question regarding her conversion as well as at one time being featured on the blog:

PEGIDA Canada Rally in London, ON Today: Outnumbered Again

Before getting into the news of today's PEGIDA event in London, ARC would like to direct readers' attention to this article detailing the history of far-right racist activism that has been present in the city for longer than this blog has been active. PEGIDA Canada in that context is merely the most recent manifestation of this phenomenon in London.

Regarding PEGIDA, after the drubbing they received in August, PEGIDA members decided to take another stab at rallying in London under the banner of preserving their, "free speech":

This change on tactic is in large part seems due to the efforts of Mark Vandermaas, a figure that some of our readers may remember from his involvement in the Caledonia stand-off. Now Vandermaas seems to have decided to take on the PEGIDA Canada cause filing by filing a code of conduct complaint against the London city government. A few days after filing his complaint, Vandermaas posted the following self-congratulatory video:

ARC was sent information from someone with knowledge concerning the inner-workings of PEGIDA Canada which includes speculation about Vandermaas' involvement:

Woman Who Verbally Attacked Jagmeet Singh Tied to Rise Canada

ARC's readers are already well aware of the incident in which a woman verbally attacked NDP leadership candidate Jagmeet Singh at an event in Brampton, ON. Of course the woman isn't named, but activists were able to figure out who she was pretty quick:

Jennifer Bush has been a frequent attendee at a number of anti-Muslim events including those held in Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto and is suspected of being involved in the anti-Muslim protests of the Peel school board. Ms. Bush also looked familiar and while I initially couldn't place her, a journalist was able to make the connection.

Bush, along the dude who tore apart a Quran at a Peel Region District School Board meeting in March, and Ron Banerjee, participated in an event hosting then Conservative leadership candidate Kellie Leitch who was at the time stoking fears of Muslims for fun and profit.

UPDATE 2: She also appeared at a protest at a Mississauga where she and the Rise Canada crew harangued children:

Infighting Amongst Canadian Islamophobes: Part 4

The previous post entitled, "Infighting Amongst Canadian Islamophobes: Part 3" was going to be the last in the series for a while as there were other articles I've been working on, but then I was given a gift by a reader that sort of screamed for a fourth entry.

In a few cities today, at least Toronto and Calgary, there were anti-Muslim rallies. The event in Calgary had only between 10 and 15 individuals show up. In Toronto, though the organizers had hoped for at least 200 and one of them (Ronny Cameron) suggested 100 had shown up, Arthur Smitherman contradicted this number:

Today the anti-Muslim protesters seemed to be outnumbered by a significant margin by anti-fascists, were kept bottled up in one area, and were unable to move.... so it was labeled a total triumph by the anti-Muslim side.

Well, there was certainly a punch. Keep reading. ;)

Infighting Amongst Canadian Islamophobes: Part 1

This past Saturday ARC reported that the Canadian chapter of the Soldiers of Odin had broken away from the Finnish parent organization because after basically two years of being presented with evidence that the founder of the Finnish chapter was a neo-Nazi and that much of the membership were neo-Nazis, the new Canadian leadership who had previously denied this reality had come to realize that the Finnish founder of the Soldiers of Odin was, indeed, a neo-Nazi.

Also, a lot of Canadian members didn't want to pay membership dues to Finland, so money was an issue.... probably the real issue.

As Stewart Bell observed in Monday's edition of the National Post however, this break has resulted in a schism within the Canadian movement:

TORONTO — The far-right group Soldiers of Odin has splintered in Canada after the two main factions turned against each other in a dispute over whether to remain aligned with their racist namesake in northern Europe.....The Finnish leaders of the anti-immigrant group responded by expelling Daniels and banning him from using the name Soldiers of Odin. The Quebec branch then said it was also splitting away from the Daniels wing. 

“There is indeed a disconnect between SOO Quebec and SOO Canada,” said the Quebec chapter president, Katy Latulippe. “As the provincial president, and with a unanimous vote, we decided that Quebec would dissociate Canada.” 

The Daniels faction “will no longer be allowed to wear the colors of the Soldiers of Odin,” she said. “It is important to know that more than 50% of the divisions in Canada do not agree with Bill Daniels and also wishes to continue their activities under the banner of the SOO.”

One wonders what the Canadian Finnish loyalists would do should they come across anyone associated with Daniels' SoO wearing the colours of the SoO in defiance of the Finnish order?

That this is all happening isn't all that much of a surprise. ARC has witnessed the rise and fall of numerous hate groups which have broken apart due to personality conflicts within the group itself. And the SoO isn't the only anti-Muslim hate group to find itself in this position in Canada either.

For example, Stewart Bell has also observed that Ron Banerjee's vanity project Rise Canada has broken with Sandra Soloman who has become the most visible personality in the Canadian Islamophobic movement:

In another development, Sandra Solomon is no longer spokesperson for the anti-Muslim group Rise Canada, which removed the link below. pic.twitter.com/7XwIfDNbj6

— Stewart Bell (@StewartBellNP) May 1, 2017

Banerjee alluded to the breaking off of ties with Soloman, though he didn't refer to her by name:

Fallout from the Kellie Leitch Presentation in Brampton

First, before I continue to far, I will be writing about the events that took place in Toronto, Brampton, and Calgary on April first, though in the meantime we direct our readers to the CBC which covered the event in Toronto.

So, it's been a rather eventful week in Canadian politics.

• Video shows Kellie Leitch at meeting with controversial critics of Islam
• Kellie Leitch didn't know anti-Islamic group was part of Brampton event, campaign manager says
• Kellie Leitch Campaign Says It Rejects Anti-Muslim Group Now Promoting Her

ARC broke the story that Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate was courting a group in Brampton that included Ron Banerjee and Rise Canada. I'll talk more about Banerjee and Rise Canada in a moment, though I would be remiss if I didn't note that Ron must be feeling at least some heat in that he deleted both the video from YouTube and the article promoting Leitch on the Rise Canada website:

Good thing I saved a copy I guess.

But the reality is that there were other items in the video that I should also have focused on:

Ron Banerjee and Rise Canada Hate Group Meets With Kellie Leitch

I'm just going to cut to the chase here and show the video. Leitch appears at the 6:43 mark:



UPDATE: Also noticed that the man who tore apart the quran at the Peel School Board meeting was also present.

Our readers are already well familiar with Canadian Hindu Advocacy, Rise Canada, and Ron Banerjee who founded and leads both hate groups, but we understand that those coming to this blog for the first time likely have no idea who Banerjee or these groups are. For those people, here are a few relevant links:

• Ron Banerjee, André Drouin, and Rise Canada
• Rise Canada and Other Islamophobes Celebrate Their Islamophobia At Toronto Mosque
• Ford Fest Fallout: Ron Banerjee Alleged to Have Assaulted LGBT Rights Protester
• More Ford Fest Fallout: Ron Banerjee Focus Of Criminal Complaint
• PEGIDA Canada Rally Meets With Opposition: Banerjee Demands Opposition Be Shot
• Immediate Aftermath of PEGIDA Canada Rally
• Strange Bedfellows: Canadian Hindu Advocacy's Relationship with Social Conservative Christians, the JDL and the EDL
• April 2016: Bits and Bites

Banerjee also operates Twitter accounts for both Canadian Hindu Advocacy and Rise Canada in which he celebrates the deaths of Muslims and Sikhs, post misogynistic diatribes against women, and attacks the LBTGQ community. While it looks like Banerjee was not the organizer of the event, he was certainly a prominent figure who was speaking at the podium when Ms. Leitch arrived.

Kellie Leitch has become infamous during her campaign for the Conservative Party leadership for advocating immigrants be tested to determine if they conform to acceptable, "Canadian values." Below are some of the twitter posts from Banerjee on both the Canadian Hindu Advocacy and Rise Canada Twitter accounts that provide some insight into the, "Canadian values" of these two groups and Banerjee himself:

And more....

Rise Canada and Other Islamophobes Celebrate Their Islamophobia At Toronto Mosque

On February 17, Ron Banerjee, Eric Brazau, Sandra Solomon, and other Islamophobes protested in front of a mosque in Toronto. As of Saturday the Toronto Police Service claimed to be investigating the protest as a possible hate crime.

And since Banerjee was kind enough to provide video of the event, this writer decided to provide our readers with the pertinent excerpts interspersed with Banerjee's tweets and screen shots from the Facebook profiles of some to the other participants.

Yep, this writer made a video:

Yeah, it isn't great; poor production value, editing, and all that (including a rather unfortunate lapse in memory regarding the year that we are currently residing, as the first text page has the date that the rally took place as 2016 rather than 2017 UPDATE: fixed). It's my first time so cut me a little slack. But we think it provides our readers with the general tone of the protest as well as the bigotry of at least some of those involved in the protest:

Meir Weinstein and Ezra Levant, unsurprisingly, thought the protest was supper kool:

Though they wouldn't have needed the excuse be hateful towards Muslims, Banerjee and co. were reacting to M-103, a private members motion condemning Islamophobia.

Actually, lets, post the full text of the motion:

That, in the opinion of the House, the government should: (a) recognize the need to quell the increasing public climate of hate and fear; (b) condemn Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination and take note of House of Commons’ petition e-411 and the issues raised by it; and (c) request that the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage undertake a study on how the government could (i) develop a whole-of-government approach to reducing or eliminating systemic racism and religious discrimination including Islamophobia, in Canada, while ensuring a community-centered focus with a holistic response through evidence-based policy-making, (ii) collect data to contextualize hate crime reports and to conduct needs assessments for impacted communities, and that the Committee should present its findings and recommendations to the House no later than 240 calendar days from the adoption of this motion, provided that in its report, the Committee should make recommendations that the government may use to better reflect the enshrined rights and freedoms in the Constitution Acts, including the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

That's it. And it is similar to the wording of another Liberal motion condemning the rise in antisemitism around the world:

a) there has been, in the words of the Joint Statement issued following the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on January 22, 2015, “an alarming increase in Antisemitism worldwide,” including the firebombing of synagogues and community centres, the vandalizing of Jewish memorials and cemeteries, incendiary calls for the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people, and anti-Jewish terror; 

b) this global anti-Semitism constitutes not only a threat to Jews but an assault on our shared democratic values and our common humanity; 

Therefore the House: 

a) declares its categorical condemnation of anti-Semitism; 

b) reaffirms the importance of the Ottawa Protocol on Combating anti-Semitism as a model for domestic and international implementation; 

c) reaffirms, in the words of the Ottawa Protocol, that, “Criticism of Israel is not antisemitic, and saying so is wrong. But singling Israel out for selective condemnation and opprobrium – let alone denying its right to exist or seeking its destruction – is discriminatory and hateful, and not saying so is dishonest;” 

And the House further calls upon the government to: 

a) continue advancing the combating of anti-Semitism as a domestic and international priority; 

b) expand engagement with civil society, community groups, educators, and other levels of government to combat anti-Semitism and to promote respect, tolerance, and mutual understanding.

That motion condemning antisemitism was, rightfully, adopted unanimously.

So it would make sense that M-103 would be similarly accepted. I mean, given that this motion will be voted on in the aftermath of what appears to be a likely Islamophobic mass shooting resulting in the death of six men as well as numerous assaults on Muslims and vandalism of their places of worship, who could possibly have a problem this this non-binding motion?

Right?

Nope. People are losing their shit. Or to be more specific, demagogues such as Kelly Leitch and some other Conservative Party leadership candidates as well as Ezra Levant and his merry band at "The Rebel" are ginning up fear that this, I once again stress, non-binding motion will take away people's free speech, become an anti-blasphemy law, and impose sharia on Canadians:

Except this happened in 2015.

And despite the efforts of reasonable Conservative such as Michael Chong and rather valiant efforts by some media outlets such as the CBC, "Globe and Mail," "The National Post," and Global to inform the Canadian public as to what M-103 is and what it is not, the folks who are inclined to believe Muslims are hiding under their beds and in their closets ready to jump out one day to dress their women up in niqabs and force feed them kabobs are having none of this rational discussion and have fully embraced the crazy:

In the meantime, Liberal MP Iqra Khalid who tabled the motion spoke about the death threats she has received ("The Star" also covers these threats and sexually demeaning insults) as a result of her motion as a reason why she would not remove the word "Islamophobia" from the motion as requested by the Conservative Party. She has since been offered police protection.

You know, threats (as well as other lovely comments) like these posted yesterday: