The Media Enablers, Q1 2019 Edition

The discussion -- and by "discussion" I mean valid and harsh criticism -- of the Canadian media's treatment of white supremacist events, ideas and personalities has been heating up in the first few months of 2019. It is astonishing that in an era where we have access to more information on racist extremism than ever before we are experiencing such a deluge of ignorance and racist enabling from the mainstream press. In an effort to create a long-term record of the problem, and to call out those who think racism is either an unimportant or acceptable position, ARC is launching a new series to highlight some of the worst media blunders.

Let's get into the first quarter events and reports that make up the first entries on our Wall of Shame:

UNITED WE ROLL aka YELLOW VESTS CANADA CONVOY, February 2019

The renaming of the convoy from Yellow Vests to United We Roll was an effort on the part of the far-right organisers to keep the focus on their opposition to Bill C-48 (the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act) and Bill C-69 (an Act to bring the Impact Assessment Act and the Canadian Energy Regulator Act into effect). Many in the media, including reporters at The Calgary Herald, The Toronto Star, and the CBC's The National bought into the idea that UWR was simply a pro-pipeline movement and nothing more. ARC already covered this mess in depth here. Even a cursory look at Convoy members' social media shows it's filled with assassination fantasies, extremist members, and over-the-top racism. At the protest in Ottawa, where Andrew Scheer spoke, Yellow Vests Canada Exposed reported seeing members of C3, Northern Guard, and possibly Proud Boys on scene. Faith Goldy delivered a speech, and yet it was still just about pipelines to many in the media. As Nosferatu asked at the time:

If I, Yellow Vests Canada Exposed, and the Canadian Anti-Hate Network find this with our limited resources, then why won't the major media do more than a cursory and shallow examination of this racist movement?

Research for this piece brought up many more exasperating articles, however, this one from the North Bay Nugget goes above and beyond in the worst possible ways. It is mostly unchecked quotes from Convoy participants, including these anti-immigrant and Islamophobic gems from Pat King, who was seen mocking Indigenous protesters in Ottawa:

Then the writer uses Snopes in a feeble effort to counter antisemitism and global banking conspiracies, but ends up somehow legitimizing them instead: 

The Convey is full of positive people and will make Canada great again:

And finally, no hiding the anti-globalist, anti-migrant agenda in this piece:

Lest anyone think it unfair that I'm picking on a small-town journalist, consider this: newspapers like the North Bay Nugget set the tone and voice for their communities in more intimate and direct ways than the CBC national news. They both dictate and reflect back the views and beliefs of their readers in ways that can have immediate influence over tensions between residents. A newspaper of any size has a responsibility to its readership and community to report racist extremism accurately and show residents that racism is not welcome. Local papers, like Sault Online and Soo Today have done a good job reporting on Dave Selvers, so we know it can be done. 

PEGIDA PROTEST, TORONTO, March 23rd

A couple of weeks ago, approximately 25-30 PEGIDA members and supporters were met by about 250 anti-racists in downtown Toronto. It was an impressive sight!

3:37pm. The police escort PEGIDA in the other direction, but are quickly cut off. Antifa + Allies have now flanked PEGIDA, with only police +bikes as a barrier. They stand still for some time. pic.twitter.com/s5pKYr4sJp

— du(ali)ty (@alijaveed_) March 23, 2019

PEGIDA's views are well-known and this protest should not have caused any confusion or sympathetic misrepresentation in the press. It really, really, really should not have, but it did anyway. First up is Sue-Ann Levy from The Toronto Sun with her piece "Anti-hate rally? Could have fooled me." She paints the anti-racists as hysterical, screaming, unwelcoming professional protesters who were provoked by Mayor John Tory to counter-protest. Meanwhile, the poor marginalized PEGIDA members were slandered and misunderstood:

While many in Toronto are, unfortunately, used to Sue-Ann Levy's...er...perspective on things, it was nonetheless surprising that after intense criticism from this piece she would double down and accuse certain municipal politicians of being "anti-white supremacy," as if that was a bad thing:

It was perhaps only a matter of time before a Sun columnist complained about politicians being "anti-white supremacy." https://t.co/OYLEc6EoSc pic.twitter.com/3j8UKf6HoR

— Jonathan Goldsbie (@goldsbie) April 1, 2019

It's sad and frustrating that The Toronto Sun is supporting a white supremacist sympathizer when, despite all its problems in the past, it used to support Bill Dunphy who was determined and unrelenting in exposing The Heritage Front and Grant Bristow in the '90s. It feels like this publication is following  dangerously close to Rebel Media's path into the arms of the so-called alt-right.

A dishonourable mention for poor PEGIDA coverage goes to CityTV's Pam Seatle who put her own unpleasant experience of the event as the lead and then posted this Tweet, which was later deleted (source, Twitter user @Liam_Tosh):

It took a week, but CityTV finally apologized, stating this coverage did not live up to their editorial standards and they are committed to doing better. Time will tell if this is indeed the case.


CAYLAN FORD INTERVIEW ON GLOBAL NEWS RADIO'S DANIELLE SMITH SHOW, March 30th

Last but certainly not least on this quarter's list is Danielle Smith's dumpster fire of an interview with former UCP candidate, Caylan Ford. She resigned after PressProgress published verified screenshots from a Facebook Messenger conversation where she expressed classic white supremacist views about population replacement and special treatment for Islamic terrorists:

She opted to step down, supposedly for the good of the party, and then shared her story on Smith's radio show. Danielle Smith herself has deep roots in Alberta politics and was the Leader of the Wild Rose Party from 2009-2014 and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2012-2014. I can't help but wonder if, beyond her own probable racism, seeing a young female candidate ruined by leaked private messages created a sympathetic blind-spot for Smith that greatly impacted her ability to do her job as a radio host.

When seeking out this interview, I was expecting a 5-10 minute piece and was surprised to find that  Smith devotes nearly 40 minutes to Ford! She frames Ford as a good person who has been stalked and defamed by the UCP member who leaked the messages and then gives her nearly a third of the air time to go into great detail about this supposed victimization. While ARC certainly does not excuse or condone the behaviour Ford claims she was subjected to, it also should not be used to deflect and re-frame her exceptionally problematic statements.

It was completely irresponsible that at no point during their 40-minute interview did Smith directly challenge Ford's racism and white supremacist sympathies. On the contrary, they agreed about the "demographic problem" Canada supposedly faces, and Smith allowed Ford's explanation as someone who has studied Mandarin and practices "Chinese Buddhism" as proof that she cannot possibly be racist. If she honestly thinks Buddhists can't be racist by default, we'd be happy to introduce her to the works of Brian Ruhe, which should change her mind in a hurry.

The interview continues in this fashion until, near the end, they both cry together as Ford recounts the numerous letters of support she's received from people in her riding of Calgary Mountainview. At the end she states that critics of her interview were warned that it would be controversial and that they were welcome to not listen. Calling on critics not to listen, and thereby blaming them for their objections, in no way excuses her from giving a racist an opportunity to gain sympathy, redeem herself, and tell "her side" unopposed. Enabling white supremacy is still a problem regardless of who listens.


A FINAL WORD...

While there is no excuse for lazy journalism, or worse, for allowing personal prejudices to get in the way of responsible reporting, I want to recognize the role newsroom downsizing plays in the general mess we are seeing this year. When good journalists are let go to boost profits, or saddled with such a heavy workload that they cut corners, we need to call out the corporations that are responsible for these changes. Reporters need the resources and support to do their job properly or we all suffer the consequences. As consumers of the media, it is up to us to demand quality over quantity and responsible reporting over reactionary clickbait. I wish this was the only cause of our media problems, because time and money would be far easier to solve than their ever-increasing flirtations with white supremacy. No doubt I will be back in three months with another instalment.

Paul Fromm on Christchurch Manifesto: "I would agree with 95% of it" (and other racist ramblings)

NOTE: This is from ARC's newest writer, officially making the ARC Collective actually a collective again.

Those following along this week know that Paul Fromm is being investigated for publishing the Christchurch shooter's manifesto on his CAFE website. ARC has since learned that Fromm also published the manifesto, and the same preamble, on Canada First.

To make matters more...interesting, a video has surfaced of Fromm speaking at an event hosted and filmed by Brian Ruhe in Vancouver on March 16th, entitled "Rewriting Reality: Canada's Political Marxist Elite Loses Its Grip. And NZ Shooting." Ruhe is quite a fan of Fromm's, as discussed here, here, and here.

It's one thing to write a piece on the internet, but it's quite another to speak in front of a very friendly audience. As expected, Fromm has a lot more to say about the Christchurch shooter's manifesto, and other things he considers to be pressing concerns. But first, the manifesto, which, to Fromm, "makes sense:"

He goes on to discuss the theories -- and I use the term loosely -- of population replacement outlined in the manifesto and gives the first part of the document his stamp of approval. However, he believes the shooter did not fully explain the cause of this supposed problem:

And of course, as he said before, he doesn't agree with violence, BUT...

He then moves on to other topics, including Trudeau's supposed fear of Canada's Yellow Vests, who he quite enthusiastically supports:

Perhaps not surprisingly, he denies any knowledge of Yellow Vest members calling for Trudeau's assassination, but then goes on to call the PM a traitor and states that soldiers should go above and beyond a fence or a wall to protect our borders:

On the subject of James Sears and LeRoy St Germaine's recent conviction under S319(2) of the criminal code for promoting hatred against women and Jews, Fromm cannot resist using vile antisemitism himself:

Staying on antisemitism for a moment, in the Q & A, we learn that Fromm distributes British Fascist Arnold Leese's book on Jewish ritual murder, which made quite an impression on at least one person in attendance:

He also takes a swipe at Vancouver police for refusing to "protect" Stefan Molyneux and Lauren Southern's March 15th event, which was cancelled at the last minute. Apparently, diversity policies within the Force are to blame, because, of course they are:

Near the end of his hour-long ramblings, Fromm takes aim at Public Safety Canada for hiring Dr. Barbara Perry, and other accomplished academics, to study right-wing extremism in Canada. In a rant that includes misogyny, homophobia, Islamophobia, and Fromm's egotism, he seems equally incensed that the government is spending money on this project, that Dr. Perry hasn't spoken to him, and that the government hasn't given him the project instead. In the interest of transparency, I've edited together four segments of his rant, presented in chronological order, to cut down on unnecessary blather:

I think he's effectively illustrated why contemporary racists and racist movements in Canada need to be researched, understood, and called out. It's always helpful when guys like Fromm justify our work for us.

February 2019 Bits and Bites

You know, the reactionary Yellow Vesters really are doing a poor job of vetting their supporters.... unless the presence of neo-Nazis is a feature and not a bug (spoiler: it is a feature):

Pictured here is Brian Ruhe, friend and supporter of Paul Fromm, Holocaust denier, antisemite, and a quite literal Hitler worshiper:

ARC has of course profiled Ruhe a few times on the blog already:

• The Company He Keeps: Meet Fromm's New Friend Brian Ruhe (UPDATED)
• Brian Ruhe Compares Paul Fromm to Hermann Göring

Then again, Ruhe does really fit in to the reactionary Yellow Vester crowd given what ARC and especially Yellow Vests Canada Exposed have dug up. In fact others have decided to document the hatred and vitriol the supporters of this vitriolic movement has promoted, including on their own personal Facebook profiles:

@ARCCollective pic.twitter.com/HxIxJzOej8

— ClydeGronk (@clydegronk) February 6, 2019

But then the violent Islamophobic rhetoric isn't confined to the reactionary Yellow Vesters. As the sentencing for the 2017 Quebec City mosque murderer is imminent, members and supporters of the Canadian Combat Coalition have some things to say.... all of which are absolutely disgusting:

With all this in mind and considering the numerous threats made by reactionary Yellow Vesters, I'm just going to leave this here to do with as you please:

Here is a list of hotels for the #YellowVestsCanada convoy to Ottawa. Please contact the hotels and mention that they are giving group rates to a hate group. @ARCCollective @YYCantiracist

If they question this, please direct them to the information that we have provided. pic.twitter.com/pdjmbiESe6

— Yellow Vests Canada Exposed (@VestsCanada) February 6, 2019

Back in Alberta, a mosque received a threatening note demanding Muslims leave the province:

We are alarmed to find that another mosque in #yeg has been targeted by what appears to be the work of the clann.@jkenney should know that this is what antisemitism looked like ~100 years ago when antisemitic literature had been floating around freely. It didn't end well. https://t.co/QpXwjZNdfW

— Calgary Anti-Racist Action (@YYCantiracist) February 6, 2019

It appears that the note comes from the Clann of which Ryan Dean and Tyson Hunt are members. The note, as well as the subsequent denial by Dean on the Clann Twitter account, seems to be another example of Dean trying to create his own false flag straw man in an effort to blame others:

Alfred Schaefer Threatens Judge in His and His Sister's Trial in Germany

The trial of Holocaust denying Canadians Monika and Alfred Schaefer (Alfred is a long time resident of Germany) began July 3 in Germany. Monika is still in jail (perhaps as a flight risk) but her brother is currently free, however given very recent events that might change (information courtesy of Helmut-Harry Loewen):

250 neo-Nazis marched in Nürnberg this past Saturday in solidarity with Holocaust deniers and NSU terrorism trial co-accused Ralf Wohlleben, a veteran neo-Nazi organizer. German-Canadian Alfred Schäfer was the first to speak. He vowed that if he and his sister Monika Schäfer are found guilty of violating German criminal law on Holocaust denial (Schäfer was back in court yesterday), the judge would feel the wrath of his supporters and "hang by his neck until death." At the end of his speech Schäfer gave the Nazi straight-arm salute, which is also proscribed under German law. There were no arrests, despite numerous violations of criminal law -- Holocaust denial, antisemitic hate speech, display of prohibited symbols and gestures, glorification (Verherrlichung) of the National Socialist regime, and so on -- as observed by the JFDA/Jewish Forum for Democracy and Against Antisemitism at the rally.

Photo of Alfred Schaefer found here.

Now I'm no big time city lawyer, but I'm guessing that threatening to have neo-Nazis lynch the presiding judge in your criminal case then seig heiling during a speech to neo-Nazi supporters the day after your trial begins might just be rather counterproductive.

In the meantime, Paulie, Brian Ruhe, and the usual hive of scum and villainy continue in their efforts to save the Schaefer siblings from the justice they both richly deserve:

Homophobe Bill Whatcott Charged Under Sec. 319 of the Criminal Code

Looks like Bill Whatcott is having some legal problems:

Whatcott provides more details on his own web forum regarding the charges:

The response from Whatcott's supporters was as to be expected:

I Don't Think Steven Myatt Likes ARC Anymore

ARC first became acquainted with Steven Alexander Wicket Chirpa Tokkat Zephee Gregory Myatt in reference to his involvement in the June 3 Ottawa anti-M103 rally that was being organized by Mike Waine. Myatt appeared to have been another individual who had taken a leadership role in spearheading this event which missed it's target of one million Canadians marching on Parliament by roughly 999,830 people.

If truth be told, I didn't really think of Myatt as being especially significant and that my references to him (I thought rather briefly) was to simply detail the kind of people involved in what I believed at the time and which was confirmed by the numbers who arrived in Ottawa as a bit of a fool's errand.

Myatt however was eventually provided the link to at least one of the three stories in which he was mentioned and decided that this was evidence that he had arrived as an important figure in the anti-Muslim/anti-government/alt-right movement:

Dude, I have few illusions concerning ARC's reach or influence. If you think being ARC famous is a big deal, you really do need to reevaluate your life goals.

Since then, Myatt has continued to mention on occasion his inclusion in an article published on this blog, and in general he seemed to be pleased as punch. As recently as September he was touting being referenced on ARC as something to maybe celebrate:

Well.... no. The article was about the Northern Guard; this is the only time Myatt was mentioned:

Last night Steven Alexander Gregory Dwalin Balin Gloin Dori Myatt posted a video of Georges Massaad interviewing Quebec Provincial Vice President Eric Brazeau. Brazeau, who among other things stated the Northern Guard are survivalists, claims that around 20 members will be participating in the Ottawa event to, "provide security."

Myatt did get some love though from a person familiar to ARC readers though who claimed that you know you've "arrived" when Anti-Racist Canada writes about you:

More on Goudreau later, though I would hasten to note that come the end of November Anti-Racist Canada will have been online for a decade. During all of those years fascists have been predicting our imminent demise. ARC however persists while many of our detractors have disappeared.

Now Myatt never seemed to care much about how people on ARC's side of the ledger viewed him and seems to have taken a rather perverse pleasure in going out of his way to offend people, though I should perhaps note here that his efforts to be controversial often appear rather forced and he looks to be trying too hard to really be taken very seriously:

For example, in a recent post Myatt seems to suggest that women don't know what is best for them and that they should defer to men who do, though not without a little bit of pushback:

He has however also become increasingly frustrated with Facebook as he claims to be having some of his posts flagged and removed:

It was about this time, perhaps as a result of frustration, a decision to try to use the courts to stifle examples of free expression he doesn't like, or the realization that "freedom of speech" doesn't mean "freedom from consequences" that he made this post on November 7 directed at this little spot on the Internet:

Paulie Still Not Allowed into the United States

Last August we reported that Paulie had been denied entry into the United States, likely due to his leadership role in the Council of Conservative Citizens who's rhetoric inspired the murder who targeted members of an historic Black church in Charleston, SC.

Suffice it to say, Paulie feels aggrieved.

So rather than trying to fly into the United States, Paulie decided to try his luck driving down south.

Guess how that turned out?

Poor Paulie! When he urged countries to keep "undesirables" out of their respective (white) countries, he didn't mean himself. He meant people with a duskier skin color than he.

October 2016 Bits and Bites: Religious Bigotry Edition

We start with some rather ugly news from Calgary today:

Anti-Muslim posters at University of Calgary prompt rally of supportBy Robson Fletcher, CBC News       Posted: Oct 04, 2016 2:07 PM MT       Last Updated: Oct 05, 2016 6:55 AM MT 

Students, faculty and administrators gathered at the University of Calgary on Tuesday to condemn anti-Muslim posters that were plastered around the campus overnight. 

About 40 posters were discovered in various locations by morning, and the university was asking people to turn in any others that are found to campus security.....The removed posters included wording such as "Dear Muslims ... F--k your Quran" and "go back to the monstrous s--t holes you come from." 

They also included links to one Facebook page calling for Islam to be banned in Canada, and another that purports to "celebrate Canada's European heritage" but is largely filled with posts about Donald Trump, the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States, and links to American websites that decry "race agitators" and people who wear baggy pants.

The posters' appearance at the University of Calgary comes two weeks after similar posters targeting the Sikh faith were found at the University of Alberta campus in Edmonton.

We haven't found the websites refered to in the articles (we'll add information when we do) but we did check with the usual suspects to see how they reacted.

We think you won't be too surprised:

In other news:

The Topham Charter challenge continued today. There's nothing new concerning the trial itself other than the his supporters seems somewhat scattered given news concerning Anthony Hall of the University of Lethbridge (more on him later), but both Paulie and Topham have decided to comment on the CBC coverage of the trial. Not surprisingly, Paulie keyed on on the part that pertained to himself:

July 2016 Bits and Bites

This writer is currently on vacation, however there have been a few stories that have come out lately that our readers may find of interest.

Back when we first wrote about Monika Schaefer, former Green Party federal candidate and current Holocaust denier, we anticipated that the like of Paulie, Arthur Topham, and now nutter Brian Ruhe would play the "persecuted German" angle. We haven't been disappointed:

Former Green Party Candidate and 9/11 "Truther" Also Denies Holocaust

We would like to introduce our readers to Monika Schaefer, a three time (and perhaps four time) federal Green Party candidate in the Alberta riding of Yellowhead:

We first came across Monika Schaefer a few years back when Arthur Topham published an open letter penned by Schaefer to Green Party leader Elizabeth May regarding Schaefer's belief that the 9/11 attacks were a "false flag" operation:

Now, anyone being promoted by the likes of Topham in regards to this particular conspiracy theory is likely going to have some other suspect views. Ms. Schaefer confirmed this when she referenced, "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" as if it is a legitimate primary document rather than the plagiarized fraud it has been proven to be time and time again: