Thread by @SPhillipsAB

Jason Kenney's Advanced Ed Minister thinks a Holocaust denier should have been protected at the Uni of Lethbridge & shouldn't have been let go a few years ago. In fact, he thinks we need to change our policies to allow a holocaust denier a platform & a paycheque.
(Thread)

Background: The UCP want to impose a new so-called "free speech" standard at universities, even though we already have those rights in the Charter. Even so, the UCP are bringing in what's called the "Chicago Principles" for Alberta universities.

All of this sounds a bit academic, until the Minister was asked, on a radio show, what problem he was trying to solve with this initiative. And the answer he gave was the case of Tony Hall here at the University of Lethbridge.

When queried as to what kind of speech would be protected by these Chicago Principles, Minister Nicolaides said the 2016 case of Tony Hall. Indeed, Hall was suspended and then later left the University of Lethbridge. Why?

Tony Hall spread Holocaust denial.
He called 9/11 a Zionist conspiracy.
He said the leader of the KKK had some good ideas.

Demetrios Nicolaides took the side of someone who spread Holocaust denial to justify a policy change.

This is beneath the dignity of the office. Jason Kenney needs to act, swiftly and decisively, and do the following:

1. The Minister needs to retract and apologize in writing.
2. The Minister needs to abandon this far-right ideological experiment of the "Chicago Principles."

Reminder: 2 years ago right now, neo-nazis marched in the streets of Charlottesville. A woman was murdered by a neo-nazi that day, on video. In fact, the murder happened while Faith Goldy, working for Rebel Media, stood in the crowd giving sympathetic coverage to extremists.

That same Faith Goldy then went on to appear on a neo-Nazi media outlet. Two times. That same Faith Goldy that Jason Kenney exuberantly invited to Alberta, publicly, on twitter. Later on, Doug Ford still merrily had his picture taken with her.

And what have we seen in the past two years? A disturbing rise in anti-Semitism, globally and at home. The Tree of Life synagogue shooting. Anti-Semitic attacks all over the world, especially places like Hungary, where anti-Semitic rhetoric is openly used by the President.

There is no both-sides-ism here. Holocaust denial is hate speech. It is part of anti-Semitic ideology and there is no room for moral relativism. When it comes to this kind of hate, tacit approval dressed up as "nuance" or "whataboutism" is deadly.

This thread is about anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, and our role as elected officials. I am not saying that Islamophobia, white supremacy, violent misogyny, or transphobia are not also deadly and do not contain within them some similar ideology and/or rhetoric.

However, they are not strictly analogous. So, I've confined my comments here to neo-nazis and the rise of anti-Semitism. And the troubling habit of far-right movements to conflate free speech with hate speech. The latter is what Jason Kenney's Minister of Advanced Education did.

The reason I made a long thread is this:
This topic is
Deadly.
Serious.
The Premier must act. This is on him. #AbLeg