http://www.tolerance.ca/Rubrique.aspx?ID=11&L=en Points of view Sun, 01 Aug 2010 00:45:16 -0500 2010 Tolerance.ca en-ca http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=92126&L=en By Marc Lebuis on behalf of the Point de Bascule team Translation by Point de Bascule In a letter published by Le Devoir on July 13th 2010, Phyllis Lambert* and Serge Joyal** ask the Charest Government to reconsider its decision to purchase the building that the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) was going to acquire in downtown Montreal in order to establish a mosque and a community center. Mon, 26 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=81139&L=en By Jasmina Munteanu Romania entered the European Union on the 1st of January 2007. Romanian emigration to Italy is relatively high, with the Romanian community in Italy numbering 796.477 as of December 2008. Sun, 25 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=79762&L=en by David Kilgour The main conclusion of the book (1) "is that there has been and continues today to be large-scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners". Mon, 12 Apr 2010 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=77693&L=en By Uri Avnery IT IS already a commonplace to say that people who don’t learn from history are condemned to repeat their mistakes. Some 1942 years ago, the Jews in the province called Palaestina launched a revolt against the Roman Empire. In retrospect, this looks like an act of madness. Palestine was a small and insignificant part of the world-wide empire which had just won a crushing victory against the rival power – the Parthian Empire (Persia) – and put down a major rebellion in Britain. What chances could the Jewish revolt have?   Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=76186&L=en by Claire Tremblay The Alternative Report issued in response to the Federal government's report on women's progress in Canada 15 years after the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action is a refreshing counterpoint to the Harper government's manipulation of the facts.   Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=73329&L=en In one of its latest judgments, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, an island situated at the southern tip of India, has granted an additional year to its president's term, following the 26 January 2010 presidential election in the country where outgoing President Mahinda Rajapaksa was re-elected. Given its nature, the piece of news would normally fall as a tile on the head of ordinary citizens waking up one day to learn that their President or their Prime Minister was granted one additional year to the term for which he was elected.   Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view Richard Tremblay http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=74312&L=en In the course of a debate, down here in Florida, I carefully used the “A” word. I was speaking about the future of Israel and the Palestinians and presented four possible scenarios, arguing that if Israel remained on its present course, not giving the Palestinians their own state or the vote, it would become an “apartheid-like” society. Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view Stephen Scheinberg http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=73669&L=en Belleville is a small city in southern Ontario with a high rate of unemployment. Young women go to Belleville to sell their bodies just as women desperate for livelihood have done for centuries during hard times. It's the only way they see to survive. The market for prostitutes in Belleville is huge with the Trenton Air Base just 20 minutes away.   Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=77927&L=en The recent mini-crisis in U.S. Israel relations is probably, given the needs of both parties, going to fade from the headlines but behind the scenes the issues will still fester. It was shameful that right wing lobbyists for Israel in the United States, ignored the main points in contention. AIPAC, the largest and wealthiest such lobby, viewed the announcement of 1600 new housing units in East Jerusalem, as only a “bureaucratic error” and stuck to their tired line that the United States and Israel have identical interests. It was the Obama administration that they faulted, for allowing the unfortunately timed announcement to create a rift between the two nations. Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view Stephen Scheinberg http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=71747&L=en By Peggy Shapiro In the midst of the tragedy and chaos in the Haitian capital, Israeli doctors, part of IsraAID -F.I.R.S.T. (the Israel Forum for International Aid), delivered a healthy baby boy in an IDF field hospital. When the baby's grateful mother, Gubilande Jean Michel saw her newborn son, alive and well, she named him Israel in gratitude to the people and nation who brought her this blessing.   Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=78776&L=en We all share in the anguish when terrorist acts needlessly destroy lives, whether in New York, Jerusalem, London or more recently Moscow. Recently, Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu extended his sympathies to Russian President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin and explained that his nation identified with the Russians, “as a country that is itself a target for terror.” He added that “we stand with you united in the struggle against terror.” Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view Stephen Scheinberg http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=69022&L=en To hold an international theatre festival during the Christmas holidays would probably be suicidal in the West, as most theatres are virtually closed at this time of the year, mainly when adverse weather invites itself at the party. Apparently, holidays and temperatures reaching a peak of 30 degrees at this time of the year in Kerala (India), are no problem for the State 2nd International Theatre Festival and its ten days programme running from December 20 to 29. Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view Richard Tremblay http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=68238&L=en There are some commentators on North American Jewry, largely neo-Cons such as Norman Podhoretz and Ruth Wisse, who are puzzled by the persistent liberalism of their fellow Jews. Why should Jews in the United States who “earn like Episcopalians, vote like Puerto Ricans,” is the question raised by this now somewhat dated quip. Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view Stephen Scheinberg http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=67401&L=en I have been looking and listening but have not seen or heard any organizational voices raised in the Canadian Jewish community to protest against the unfair attack pamphlet issued by the Conservatives. Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view Stephen Scheinberg http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=66562&L=en A “gambit” is one or a series of clever opening moves in a chess game. Bibi Netanyahu has recently demonstrated a mastery of the board and has dominated the play against Barack Obama. Unfortunately, there are more than pawns to be sacrificed in this contest. Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view Stephen Scheinberg http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=65868&L=en Canadians are deeply attached to our traditions of civil liberties and free speech and Canadian Jews have been counted among their most ardent defenders. We honour such heroes of Canadian liberty in our past such as Justice Bora Laskin, David Lewis, and more recently Alan Borovoy, soon to step down as leader of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. Yet, in the last months Canadian Jewry has played an unfortunate role in setting back the cause of free speech in a series of unfortunate events. Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view Stephen Scheinberg http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=64492&L=en I once attended an international conference where a Latin American delegate asked a staff member of a prominent American Jewish organization whether her association enjoyed democratic governance. She rightly replied that her own and most other such groups were governed not through elections but by self perpetuating “makcherocracys” (a makcher is an influential person or ‘big deal’). Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view Stephen Scheinberg http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=64028&L=en In all the understandable attention given to the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall this week, there is a risk that another important anniversary will be overlooked. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view Kofi Annan http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=63682&L=en They survive without electricity, heating, without social assistance, are subjected to serious discrimination, are at constant risk of camp clearances and racial violence, and now they have been hit by swine ‘flu, but no social or medical assistance has been planned for them. Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view Roberto Malini http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=61776&L=en I get tired of all the news of conflict from the Middle East . I hoped to be able to wake up this morning to the news that Israel ’s great writer Amos Oz had won a Nobel prize but we will have to wait for that. But there is interesting news on the technological front. Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view Stephen Scheinberg http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=60233&L=en By Riki Ellison, President and Chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA) On October 6, 2009, Members of the United States Senate passed, with overwhelming support, an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, directing Lt. General Patrick O'Reilly, Director of the Missile Defense Agency, to provide options by February 1st next year to deploy an additional Ground-Based Interceptor site in Europe or the United States to provide defense for our nation against future long-range missiles from Iran. Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=60101&L=en  I voted for Barack Obama last November, despite receiving countless negative e-mails, many of which originated from the Jewish Republican Committee. I was told that he was a Muslim, that he was anti-Israel and anti-semitic. Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view Stephen Scheinberg http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=59534&L=en By Riki Ellison, Chairman and Founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA) WASHINGTON - A momentous week of unveiling Iran's second nuclear site, which confirmed their intention to disperse and protect non-civilian nuclear development, coupled with their ballistic missile launches over the weekend from 90 miles to 1,200 miles requires close examination of President Obama's new direction of our nation's missile defense. Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=59103&L=en I wish it was easy for me to sort out the issues raised by the recently released UN report on alleged war crimes in Gaza . Judge Richard Goldstone, a Jew, a Zionist, a respected South African jurist who prosecuted war crimes in Rwanda and Yugoslavia , headed the UN investigation into crimes committed during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza . Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view Stephen Scheinberg http://www.tolerance.ca/Article.aspx?ID=199&L=en I am a dance artist, born and educated in North America. I was not exposed to Kerala and the Malayalee culture before I became an adult. In fact, I knew the culture through the art forms it has nurtured. One would assume that such a late exposure, which occurred after my early formative years, should prevent me from sharing with the Malayalees what they perceive as their “affective values”. Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0500 Points of view Richard Tremblay