CKNW Editorial
for February 18, 2000

The question is - should we be frightened of Jeorg Haider, the rightwinger from Austria and his party or is it all media hype and exaggeration by some members of the Jewish community and others in government and the media?

Attached to that question is this - does Foreign Affairs Minister really mean it when he tells Mr Haider to keep his mouth shut and does he really think that Canadians are so witless as to not be able to deal with what people say?

I think the answer to the first question is complicated. The lessons of the 1930s ought to be with us and the European Community. The civilized world simply cannot sit back and idly watch any suggestion of the return of fascism. The world took Hitler lightly - even Churchill was fooled by him at the very beginning. We read Mein Kampf making it a world wide best seller - and made Hitler a rich man in the bargain - and then paid no attention to what he said.

There are a couple of explanations for what Mr Haider has said in praise, however lukewarm, about Hitler. He is not old enough to remember is one. He has appalling bad taste combined with the first is another possibility. He is an ignoramus without any sensitivity is yet another. Or he may be a Hitler in sheep's clothing.

It is entirely appropriate that all Austria's neighbours watch Mr Haider very carefully especially since not all that long ago they elected a Nazi and perhaps Nazi war criminal as their president. It is also not only understandable but highly commendable that the Jewish Community remind us always of what happened when another Austrian became Chancellor of Germany in 1931.

But we must also remember that Austria is a free and democratic country. And free and democratic countries have free speech and by their very nature tolerate unpopular and even dangerous opinion. In Britain, prior to World War II, there was Sir Oswald Mosely and his black shirts who, when Churchill was trying to warn of the Nazi menace, was extolling the virtues of Herr Hitler. Britain's people had no trouble seeing through Sir Oswald. France has Jean-Marie Le Pen who spouts just as dangerous racial nonsense as Hitler did but he is not only tolerated but is part of the political makeup of the country. Free countries that truly believe in free speech must have confidence in their peoples. Tolerating outrageous and even highly provocative free speech doesn't imply that society approves these ideas much less encourages them. It simply demonstrates a cultural maturity confident enough in itself to withstand the most evil of its citizens.

Moreover, a man like Haider, taken at his worst, does us a service by reminding us all of just how horrible man can be if a society is not careful. In many ways we need nut cases like Ernst Zundel and Jim Keegstra to remind us that there is an ongoing evil in our society which must always be watched and combated.

I don't expect that the Canadian Jewish Congress nor Jews generally would welcome Mr Haider's appearance on the Canadian scene and it's clearly wise and appropriate that they should use this opportunity to condemn, in forceful and dramatic ways, what they believe he stands for. I think it was unwise to ban him from the Holocaust Museum ... I think a more sensible statement would have been something like this ... We welcome Mr Haider to the Holocaust Museum and trust that he will come away from the experience a much better informed and wiser person. Making martyrs of one's enemies is seldom a wise move. But that's for them to judge not me ... I simply comment from what I admit is a pretty safe perch.

The bottom line for me is this. If we look at the example of the town of Oliver a couple of years ago when they utterly rejected the defenders of a racist web site we see what decent Canadians do when they have full knowledge of what evil people stand for. There will always be some who fall for rubbish and there always will be bigots. Permitting them to speak out does not bring brainless bigots flocking to their cause but rather it gets decent people speaking out for what is decent.

Watch Mr Haider very carefully ... deal with what he says promptly if it is inappropriate ... but always remember that we are a free people and freedom of speech is the principal fundament upon which is free society is founded.