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Bruce Bawer in Ottawa, a review
By Grace September 15, 2009
The Freethinking Film Society, a Canadian organization committed to providing the nation’s capital with interesting conservative/libertarian films, played host last evening to the much anticipated appearance of journalist Bruce Bawer, author of Surrender-Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom at the National Library, Archives of Canada to an enthusiastic audience.
The evening opened with a thoughtful introduction of panel members by Fred Litwin of the Free Thinking Film Society, and his blog Gay and Right, and with another to Mr. Bawer from Marc Lebuis creator of Canada’s most influential French language, anti-Islamist blog Point de Bascule. Also in attendance was James Cohen, the Canadian vice-president of the International Free Press Society, a vitally important global group which defends the universal right of free expression and combats those who would threaten it. The speaking panel consisted of four members, all of which brought remarkable qualifications, specific areas of expertise and varying political partisanship– award winning journalist and author Terry Glavin; David B. Harris, former chief of strategic planning for CSIS and currently a Senior Fellow for terrorism/national security at the Canadian Coalition for Democracies; renowned author Bruce Bawer and Marc Lepuis. It was easily recognizable from the start that despite the differences in their political views, the most potent of similarities between each of these men was a shared and cogent understanding of the very real and direct threat radical Islam presents to universal human values, and to the principle of individual freedoms.
I choose the words, ‘universal’, and ‘human’, deliberately, and carefully, as these terms reflected the basic undertone of the lecture. Each member thoughtfully reinforced the need to concentrate on the human face of this struggle, to reevaluate the usefulness of the popular concepts of left and right political partisanship we have so securely wrapped ourselves in and, to instead, abandon their usage and unite against those engaged in the furious pursuit to coerce and shift the world to ‘Dar-al-Islam’. It is also important to understand that countless Muslims the world over do not subscribe to the prescription of submission handed them by the fascist elements that live among them. Many suffer greatly with some, bravely seeking freedom from persecution and enslavement by this hateful and intolerant ideology. It is within this recognition the panel made clear, that we share the most common of ground, where all of us can stand united in direct and strong opposition to extremism.
Mr. Bawer illustrated effectively that we are living in the midst of a jihad most of us do not recognize. We have come to believe that the world suffers only from violent jihad; terrorist plots to murder fueled by an intense hatred of western values by seventh century crackpots in suicide gear, self-imploding at the behest of foaming, and slathering, Imams in far away lands. While it is true that terror attacks happen with great frequency, a simultaneous but less spectacular attack is in motion. Far more dangerous than a street lined with body parts is the quiet jihad, the stealth jihad of the ‘polite’, bridge-building kind which is being played out in quiet neighborhoods and courtrooms across the western world. This type is patient, cunning, culturally informed, well financed and legally savvy. Foolishly so, we are complicit in it’s advancement by both complacency and capitulation through our romantic attachment to such things as cultural-relativism, diversity projects, and multicultural policies. We have become dangerously vulnerable and as Mr. Bawer pointed out, they know it.
Islamists simply do not care which political office holds the power of the day as western legal codes are in and of themselves contrary to Islam. Left, right and the principle of democracy are man-made ‘illegal’ notions, a beyond-the-pale bastardization of the laws of Allah. These gross deeds can only be corrected by employing the scripture of the Quran as brought to the world by the prophet Muhammed in the form of sharia, the only law suitable for all of mankind.
Mr. Harris pointed to the increasing infiltration of the Islamist element seen increasingly in a vast array of institutions once dominated by the principle of democratic rule. Today in Canada as in western Europe, the political fascism of Islam has found a comfortable and protected footing among a variety of departments, banking institutions, political offices and inter-faith groups. His earnest call that we should insist upon the permanent crushing of section 13(1) of the HRC code received wide applause. Terry Glavin highlighted the moral bankruptcy of the feminist movement while in their staunch pursuit to defend the western woman, many routinely abandon the very same human needs asked of by an Afghan mother struggling against her male aggressors. Mr. Lepuis wondered why Imams in some Montreal mosques continue to stridently condemn Canada to a packed house of primarily second and third generation Muslims and why some honour killings are being committed at the hands of men who have been raised and educated in western nations. Each had cited circumstances clearly reflected in Bruce Bawer’s writing and each had reinforced truths found in Surrender.
Asked to review the speaking engagement given by Mr. Bawer and the accompanying guest panel, I entered the room like most other audience members. I left amazed and moved by three things: the unflinching bravery of Mr. Bawer and his devotion to reach out to those of us who seek to understand the growing threat of radical Islam and the operation of stealth jihad; the unity, comradeship and professionalism in common purpose held by the panel members to work in tandem against radical Islam and, the realization that we are not defending western values as much as we are defending human and universal ones.
Thank you to Fred Litwin at The Free Thinking Film Society for bringing Mr. Bawer to Ottawa for such an important event. Thank you to Mr. Harris, Mr. Glavin and Mr. Lepuis for their thoughtful analysis, expertise and professionalism and to James Cohen of the International Free Press Society for his attendance. Most of all, thank you to Mr. Dr. Bruce Bawer for his courage in writing such a book of importance and necessity, one which helps us to understand the threat of jihad by way of fundamentalist Islam.
Below, please find a video of Bruce Bawer’s excellent lecture in full. The video of the panel discussion is rumored to be ready and posted within a day or so and should be visible in this post as well, below Dr. Bawer’s lecture.
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