David Irving: Another rebel-misfit celebrity

In my debut column with Canada Free Press, I profiled maverick Florida pastor, Terry Jones, whom I qualified as a “rebel-misfit celebrity” for roiling the waters of international controversy by threatening to publicly burn copies of the Holy Koran. My piece concluded with a sense of anticipation that another white crow would soon arrive on the scene and mingle with the flock. I said:

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“Naturally, I don’t know who the next rebel-misfit celebrity will be, but I’m fairly confident it will be someone who, in a manner of speaking, will on a sudden break rank and boldly approach the review stand and give the Dear Leaders up there, whoever they are, the middle finger.” We had not long to wait. Enter British historian David Irving, now roiling the waters of international controversy with a lecture tour across Poland, leading a group on a visit to the more infamous of the wartime Nazi concentration camps, Auschwitz and Treblinka. The headlines generated by this sojourn to sites central to the World War Two Jewish tragedy, with Irving as leader, have so far produced a huge number of oxymoronic gems, including this one up on the front page of today’s National Post: “Holocaust denier’s tour to visit Nazi death camp.” The last time David Irving set foot in Canada was during the fall of 1992. His speaking tour, to start in Victoria, was nipped in the bud after police and immigration authorities raided the venue, a Chinese restaurant, and placed the British historian under arrest. The legal basis for his arrest was section 19 of the Immigration Act, which gives officials the right to ban people they reasonably suspect will commit an indictable offense. Irving had been here on about 30 previous occasions, once even once appearing the old CBC quiz show Front Page Challenge, without “crime” ever being an issue. Was the reason for detaining him political? I'd say so. What stands out from this period was the large and widely-circulated photo of Irving, seen holding up his handcuffed hands with the pen between thumb and forefinger. The British historian was quoted saying: “They put me in handcuffs. What are they afraid of? That I might write something.” It dramatically underscored how far we’d drifted from being a nation that valued freedom of expression, to one that smugly and righteously silences dissenting voices. I doubt Irving at all minds the worldwide publicity he is garnering. It may help boost sales of his books, including his excellent biography of Hitler’s propaganda chief, Goebbels: Mastermind of the Third Reich. Since he lost his libel suit against Emory University academic Deborah Lipstadt in 2000, Irving no longer commands the kind of resources he once enjoyed, shall we say, be they material or non-material. Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard is also in the news today, with rumours of a deal in the offing that may see Pollard released from prison in return for a Israeli settlement freeze in the West Bank. While such a denouement would no doubt gladden the Israeli spy’s very many Jewish supporters, among them Canada’s former attorney-general, Irwin Cotler, no less, that would in all likelihood bitterly disappoint the legal eagle who prosecuted Pollard for treason, Joseph diGenoa. In 1996, this former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, the lead prosecutor in the Jonathan Pollard espionage case, made a compelling case for why the convicted spy should not receive the special constitutional favour of clemency. These included Pollard’s singular lack of remorse, the far-reaching nature of his crimes, and a real possibility that were he free and able to move to Israel -- which, unconscionably, granted him Israeli citizenship -- Pollard could even now further damage U.S. national security by sharing his in-depth knowledge of stolen intelligence data. Pollard gave 360 cubic feet of secret, classified documents to his Israeli handlers; material that was never to be returned. To anyone of the view that Pollard was perhaps motivated by a kind of misguided zeal, by Zionist idealism, DiGenoa underscored the monetary angle in the secret arrangements he made with his handlers: "In 1984, Pollard agreed to a 10-year plan of espionage against the U.S. for pay. He was to receive $540,000..." If I couple these two names, the two personalities now, Irving and Pollard, it's because they speak to the mercurial nature of our perceptions. It is statistically very likely that the many who consider Irving a Nazi nostalgist also regard Pollard as a hero. It is also statistically very likely that the many who consider Irving heroic for standing up for freedom of expression or in facing down his opponents will regard Pollard as a traitorous dog. What’s important is that we who are bystanders, on the sidelines of history, be able to arrive at our own conclusions as to who are the heroes and who history’s villains. Why, there’s even a case to be made, we’re told, that the scriptures’ greatest betrayer, Judas Iscariot, may have been more hero than villain, an insider closer to Lord Jesus than either Peter or John. Judas, the traitor -- one of the straight shooters. Who knew? Orest Slepokura is a retired schoolteacher, after 30-odd years spent teaching, much of that in Alberta; but also in and around Montreal, as well as in a Native community on James Bay, over in London, England, and Toulon, France. A lifelong reader, Orest continues using much of my time reading books, journals, and newspapers.

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