Kilo_302 said:
This, coupled with the NDP's firing of two candidates who
dared to say that Israel has broken international law demonstrates that the NDP is no longer a left wing party, at least as far as leadership goes. The political spectrum of debate in Canada is now razor thin to the point that it raises real questions about the state of democracy here.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tom-mulcair-defends-praise-for-margaret-thatcher-s-winds-of-liberty-and-liberalism-1.3196265
So are you suggesting that the
test for the left is to be anti-Israel?
Let's agree that Prime Minister Harper (and his cabinet and his caucus and the CPC candidates) and many (most?) CPC members are pro-Israel, sometimes to the point of blindness. the
left is anti-Harper so I guess being anti-Israel fits.
Let's also agree that the "Jewish vote" in Canada, while not huge, is active and important and, despite many Jews' reservations about some of the CPC base's
social views, appears to be supporting Stephen Harper and the CPC. So, is being anti-Jewish also a 'test' for those on the
left?
I'm happy to agree that Justin Trudeau is, actively courting the Arab-Canadian vote ~ at least more actively than are either Prime Minister Harper or M Mulcair. Does that make them less pro-Israel?
But, traditionally, until the 1990s, both Jews, as a group, and Israel, as a nation, were considered to be, broadly,
left or
progressive. The changes occurred when the Arabs, after the political-military fiascos of the 1960s and '70s, hired some top flight New York PR/lobbying firms to create a new, anti-Israel
narrative, sometimes called "soft warfare" which was, actually aided by 9/11 when many Western political leaders went out of their way to "understand" Arab
grievances (many (most?) of which involve the very existence of Israel, even of Jews). There are legitimate Arab grievances,
I hope no one denies that; but there are deep, serious problems with the Arab
view of Israel's right to exist ~
I suspect many on the
left choose to ignore those problems. The biggest problem, in the West, is that Israel wins too often. It is, really, that simple: Israel's long, steady string of victories offends our sense of "fair play," of
balance. Why, we ask, must the Arabs always loose? The answer must be that the
system, the "game" is unfair, it's rigged; it cannot be because many Arab leaders are corrupt and fail to provide their military with the tools needed. It cannot be because many Arab governments don't really want to have powerful, effective militaries, because they (the soldiers) might overthrow the government. It cannot be because Arab armies are poorly disciplined, poorly trained, poorly led and so on. Can't be, can it? The
system must be rigged. But the "soft war" campaign was aimed, very specifically, at the US (and, to a lesser degree) the European
left. At the time both US Democrats and Republicans were, reliably, pro-Israel; if anything the Democrats were more pro-Israel (actually just less
isolationist) than was the GOP. But the big PR firms understood the changes being felt in American society at large and concluded that the
left would be easier to "move" towards and anti-Israel position than the
centre or
right. So, we now have a situation where the most traditionally
progressive of Americans, the Jews, have been booted out of the
left/progressive 'movement' because they're Jews and they, and their affection and support for Israel, have become touchstones for the Republicans and the
right (parts of the
religious right already had its own reasons for supporting Israel).
In my opinion: the
left was wooed and won by a slick PR campaign, nothing else.
But you,
Kilo_302, are my
left barometer here on Army.ca and I can now conclude that being
left and "democratic" means wishing for Hezbollah to defeat Israel and drive the Jews into the sea.
