Ezra Wins!
Calgary Muslim leader Syed Soharwardy says he is withdrawing his Alberta Human Rights Commission complaint against former Western Standard publisher Ezra Levant. national post
This is what happens when you fight back. The bully folds.
Well done Ezra!
And well done all the bloggers and commentors who have been keeping up the pressure. This complaint was not dismissed…it was dropped.
Update: But Ezra is not taking “yes” for an answer….
So why would Soharwardy do this—and why now?The answer lies in another Arabic word: hudna. A hudna isn’t a peace treaty. It’s a temporary truce called by a Muslim warrior who’s losing in battle. It’s pretty easy to understand how hudnas work by watching Israel fight Hamas and Hezbollah. Those two terrorist groups lob rockets and send suicide bombers into Israel for months; then, every once in a while, Israel deploys its military and flattens Hamas and Hezbollah, who then call for a hudna. The UN intervenes, saving Hamas and Hezbollah to fight another day. That’s a hudna: a tactical truce for a strategic advantage.
Soharwardy wants a hudna because he’s losing badly. Not financially: he hasn’t spent a penny to further the complaint against me—that has been done courtesy of Ed Stelmach’s government and the taxpayers of Alberta, to the tune of $500,000, I’d guess. Nor has Soharwardy had to spend hundreds of hours battling against me at the commission—Alberta government employees do that for him. It’s because over the past two years—and the past month in particular—Soharwardy has become known for what he is: an Islamofascist imam, who’s trying to bring Saudi values to Canada. Though I’m being pummelled in a kangaroo court, he’s being pummelled in the court of public opinion. He didn’t expect it, and he hates it.
ezra levant
Now, no doubt the niceniks and the Kinsellians will moan about how Ezra will not give this “Imam” a break and how mean Ezra’s being. Suing the man for abuse of process? How un-Canadian. I say go for it. It is well past time that people like this learn actions have consequences. Serious ones. A million dollars in damages? Go for it. It sends exactly the right message.
And, yo, Osgoode 4, do you know how long baby lawyers have to work to make a million bucks? Even the literate ones?
*graphic shamelessly stolen from freemarksteyn.com (but I didn’t hotlink it)
February 13th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Wins?
Liar.
February 13th, 2008 at 11:47 am
Anon, the other guy drops his complaint. I call that a win. But, no doubt, you have a spin on that which will prove “the system works”.
Well the system will work when Ezra can sue Soharwardy pantless and laugh him out of town.
February 13th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
And, as always, the reaction from the losers proves the signficance of the victory.
February 13th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
significance! Sorry.
February 13th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
I can’t wait for Ezra to sic em, abuse of process huh, hmm would that be applicable against someone who threatens serial libel suits?
February 13th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Ezra hasn’t won, Jay. He does have the potential to win. But if he’s going to continue to ignore the CPC’s shot across his bow yesterday I think Ezra is in for a world of hurt.
February 13th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Whatever, stupid.
February 13th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
“And, yo, Osgoode 4, do you know how long baby lawyers have to work to make a million bucks?”
About 8 years. After 10 years they can do it each year until they tire of it.
February 13th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Hi Jay,
Maybe I’m a nicenik as charged, but I think Ezra should have the sit-down with Soharwardy and enlist the imam in the struggle to get the laws changed and human rights commissions, both federal and provincial, reined in.
In fact, that sitdown should be videotaped and put on YouTube.
Deborah
February 14th, 2008 at 12:07 am
You must be nuts if you think a journal should sue for being forced to defend freedom of the press is an actionable matter. It should be an honour if he believes in the consitutional freedoms we have and it is part of the role he decided to play when he started up his magazine and published to the best of his ability in line with his conscience. Who the hell else defends this freedom if not the publisher?
By the way, did the Western Standard have publisher’s liability insurance?