Americans denounce Thobani - and Canada
( This is truly imbarrassing--for Canadians AND Americans.Imagine that a complete society/country has been swoshed with the same brush from the thoughts of one individual,with less credibility and more hate in her heart than I care to put to print.Were it up to these men hating thugs ,all white men would stoned to death in the street.
This is what we as Canadians have to endure from the professional activists and University Scholars ( one and the same? )year in and year out.If nothing else from this tragedy comes to good in Canada , it will be most level headed Canadian's utter repulsion of the Liberal left come election time,if they can still remember back this far four years hence. )Lest we forget.
PS: Sunera Thobani ,go home. I'm sure there must be a comfortable place for you back in Tanzania where you can spew the same diatribe. NOT! )
------------------------------------------------------------
Peter O'Neil
Vancouver Sun; Pg. A1 / Front
October 6, 2001 Saturday
OTTAWA -- UBC assistant professor Sunera Thobani, who attacked the U.S. government's "bloodthirsty" foreign policy earlier this week, was bitterly denounced Friday by American citizens after a transcript of her speech was displayed prominently in a major media outlet.
Coverage of the speech Thobani made last week to an Ottawa women's conference was published on the Drudge Report Web site, which gets more than three million visits daily.
"My niece lost three great friends in the Trade Center and my sister lost a neighbour. Our wounds are raw," wrote Evelyn Sumer of Fayetteville, N.C., in one of more than 70 e-mails sent to The Vancouver Sun's Ottawa bureau. "We are hurting and certainly do not need or deserve the comments made by this woman."
Sumer, who said her husband is a Muslim, questioned how Thobani could portray the U.S. government as the greatest destructive threat in the world when Washington has committed $321 million US -- nearly $500 million Cdn -- for humanitarian aid for the people of Afghanistan.
Mark Torres of Concord, California, said he knows little about Canada beyond awareness of its weak military.
"Now I also know that Canadians tolerate everything, including the hatred of Americans. With friends like Canada, who needs Third World enemies?"
A handful of e-mails supported Thobani's stand, while others were racist and threatening.
The Drudge Report published two news articles, from The Vancouver Sun and the National Post, two columns, including one from The Sun's Pete McMartin, and an edited transcript of the speech Thobani made last week at the Women's Resistance Conference.
An American analyst said such broad dissemination of Thobani's speech won't help Canada in its attempt to show the Bush administration it fully supports the war on terrorism.
"The fact that the Canadian government funded the conference, and the fact that everybody (at the conference) applauded her, makes it seem as if the government is sort of endorsing it, which it isn't," said Chris Sands of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.
"This will probably confirm some peoples' suspicions that the Canadian government has been wobbling, is not 100 per cent true-blue supporting us now."
A number of angry Americans asked how they could contact Thobani and Secretary of State Hedy Fry (Vancouver Centre), who attended the conference and was criticized for not walking out on Thobani.
Among the comments received Friday:
-"I am an American in Florida and know many Canadian friends who visit....Did this feminist crank, who would surely be stoned to death in Kabul, cite anything our President has done?"
Tim O'Neill, Florida.
-"With all the ... less than supportive statements by some of our 'neighbours' to the North, I think many of us were beginning to re-evaluate or perhaps at least begin to re-think our relationship with Canada.
"I live in Florida. My ex-wife is from Nova Scotia and we met when she was here on holiday. I understand some of the Canadian mindset and the struggle to assert individuality, identity and independence and I respect that. However, I believe now is a time to say "we are your friends and we are with you." Richard Premack, Tampa, Florida.
-"I am a Canadian citizen working in California and embarrassed to go to work tomorrow due to the well-covered opinions of Sunera Thobani here in the media. Mark Yaphe, California.
Among the messages of support was this one:
-"I don't understand the reaction here. Sunera Thobani only told the truth after all. As long as the U.S. maintains that human rights are only for Americans and close allies such honest feelings are to be expected, and encouraged.
"I wish more would speak up, as our own media appears too frightened to do so. If Americans knew an infinitesimal part of what their government did in their name they would not allow it for a moment. This would be good, both for America and the world." Jim Flynn, California.
Buck Shinkman, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, said his office has received only a handful of calls about Thobani's speech.
"It's not something we would react to. I think we're happy to leave it to the outrage in Canadian society to reflect a response," Shinkman said.
poneil@sns.southam.ca |
