Canada wrong to exclude Galloway

I’m not crazy about British MP George Galloway’s support of Hezbollah and Hamas, but I’m even less crazy about the government of Canada denying Galloway entry into Canada for a four-city speaking engagement. Keeping Galloway (or William Ayers, for that matter) from delivering a lecture in Canada is a form of censorship we should be able to do without, as by inference it censors all Canadians and assumes they do not have the moral capability to discern good from evil.

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I was opposed to the government’s gagging and ultimate deportation on a ministerial warrant of neo-Nazi Ernst Zundel, even though I opposed all that he stood for with every fiber of my being. I am also opposed to pretty much everything that comes out of the mouths of Judy Rebick and Barbara Hall, but I don’t support censorship of their offensive blather, even though both would shut me up in a New York minute. I’d rather the repugnant Sid Ryan chose not to speak, but I would never suggest that the government should stop him from doing so. The majority of Jack Layton’s utterances are highly objectionable and it would be a wonderful gift were he struck dumb, but at the same time I couldn’t imagine forcing him to silence. I think most of what the late Susan Sonntag wrote was claptrap devised to further her lesbian agenda, yet I wouldn’t dream of banning her writings. So I think you get the point that I am a strong advocate of free speech. The recent kafuffle over Mark Steyn’s column in McLean’s Magazine and the inquisitions into Ezra Levant’s publications of the “Danish cartoons” have fairly demonstrated that we have taken the ban on free speech as far as it should be taken and it’s now time to back off. When we support the government’s silencing of any voice because we don’t like what it’s saying we are also supporting the silencing of our own voices. Preventing individuals from speaking is more a statement about us than it is about them. Of course, even the most ardent libertarian would agree that the right to free speech should have certain limits, as in the case of shouting “fire” in a crowded theatre. I also have problems with individuals that issue calls to action, inciting violence against certain individuals or groups, such as the fatwa against author Salman Rushdie or the KKK’s advocacy of killing Jews and blacks. But generally the concept of a free society and government censorship is anathema and has a difficult coexistence. The government of Canada needs to rethink its policies about who or what constitutes a danger to the country in cases where controversial public figures seek entry into Canada for the purposes of speaking. The government also needs to rethink the idea of allowing the various human rights commissions to determine what individuals may or may not say, lest some aggrieved person or group took offense. As for George Galloway, he’s harmless enough, albeit judging from this photograph, just a tad weird. Still, that’s no reason to deny him entry to Canada for the purpose of making a speech.