SUPPORT POURS IN FROM ACROSS ONTARIO FOR PAUL FROMM’S APPEARANCE AT HAMILTON CITY COUNCIL
Letter to the Editor
Hamilton Spectator
To the Editor:
Your article advocating that the Canadian Association for Free Expression be denied the opportunity to submit a brief to Hamilton council is ironic, to say the least. In today’s editorial you stated: “Governments at all levels and of all stripes need to be very careful that they don’t abuse their positions of trust, including their commitment to be open, responsive and accessible to citizens. That’s central to their commitment to the democratic process and civic engagement”. If that isn’t doublespeak I don’t know what is. Let everyone’s opinion hit the table. Even Paul Fromm’s. If council or the public don’t agree with an opinion then argue it or ignore it. On the other hand, perhaps everyone’s point of view is essential to a robust dialogue on any issue at hand. What skin does the Spectator have in the game to deny a Canadian’s right to express themselves? Is it to control public opinion? Sounds like it.
Helen Kmera
Belleville ON
Former Hamilton Mayoralty Candidate Edward Graydon Comes to Paul Fromm’s Defence
[The Hamilton Spectator is a far left fake news smear sheet So out to lunch is it that while it practises freedom of the press with impunity — in fact, for all the smear stories they’ve done on me in the past year, they have only once ever called me for an interview –.it wishes for Hamilton City Council to deny me the right to speak for five minutes as a delegation later this month. In Ontario, local councils and school board set aside time at the beginning of their meetings for “delegations”. Normally, a person or group with a concern registers to get on the list and is assigned five minutes to air their views. Back in August, I sought to apply to be heard as a delegation in order to air my concerns as Director of the Canadian Association for Freedom of Expression in light of Council’s instructions to staff in May to explore plans to prevent “hate groups” (the Yellow Vests and Christian pastors critical of the LGBTQ crowd) from holding protests on public property. This was actually being suggested for Hamilton, not Havana.
Here the Spectator says I should be silenced. The two Ottawa incidents to which they refer involved access to the Parliamentary Press Gallery. I had twice booked the Parliamentary Press Gallery for a half hour news conference. I have done this many times. On these two occasions, I was banned entry to the Parliament Buildings where the Press Gallery studio is located. Jason Kenney, the loyal Zionist waterboy was acting on a complaint by the pro-censorship group B’nai Brith. — Paul Fromm]
Hamilton city council is under no obligation to allow Paul Fromm’s views a soapbox in a public meeting, held in a space owned and paid for by taxpayers. – Rene Johnston , Toronto Star file photo
Governments at all levels and of all stripes need to be very careful that they don’t abuse their positions of trust, including their commitment to be open, responsive and accessible to citizens. That’s central to their commitment to the democratic process and civic engagement.
That is why Hamilton city council needs to take very seriously its deliberations about whether to allow infamous white nationalist Paul Fromm to delegate at an upcoming meeting. Apparently, Fromm is worried about council’s proposed hate-prevention policies. Not surprisingly, he argues they limit free speech. “I don’t think it’s up to city council to play referee on various points of view,” Fromm said in an interview with The Spec’s Andrew Dreschel. “I was shocked I was hearing this in Hamilton, not Havana.”
Fromm knows very well there are already limitations on free speech. For example, your right to say what you want becomes illegal once you use it to make hateful comments about other people or groups. This, among other things, is what Fromm and groups he’s been involved with have done over a long career of far-right activism.
Fromm was a supporter of Ernst Zundel, who denied the Holocaust. Back in 2007, then-Conservative MP Jason Kenney successfully moved a motion to deny Parliamentary admission to Fromm and an associate “to preserve the dignity and integrity of the House.” The same thing happened in 2016 when Fromm tried to call a news conference in Parliament.
These setbacks didn’t deter Fromm. He ran for mayor in Mississauga when he lived there. He later moved to Hamilton and ran for mayor here in the 2018 municipal election. He has been an executive with white supremacist organizations. He has ties to former Ku Klux Klan members David Duke, Don Black and Mark Martin. The National Post described him as “one of Canada’s most notorious white supremacists.” In 2009 he participated in a White Pride march organized by the Aryan Guard, a neo-Nazi gang in Calgary.
Fromm is also, in his own estimation, a bit of an expert on semantics. All of these past activities don’t make him a racist or white supremacist. Rather, he argues, he is a white nationalist, committed to ensuring the “founding peoples” of Canada are not washed away by “waves of mass immigration.” (He’s not referring to founding Indigenous people, by the way. Only the white European ones.)
So, does any of this mean Fromm shouldn’t be welcome as a delegate to city council? The short answer is yes.
Odious as he and his views are, they are not illegal. He is free to hold them, and even to talk about them, provided he can do so in a manner that doesn’t promote hatred against identifiable people or groups.
But city council is under no obligation to allow those views a soapbox in a public meeting, held in a space owned and paid for by taxpayers. To do so would imply a degree, even if only a small one, of legitimacy to opinions based in bigotry.
Back in 2007, Kenney said this about his motion which successfully stopped Fromm from claiming Parliament as his podium: “If they want to get a soapbox and go out in front of the Parliament buildings in this free country, they’re welcome to do so, but this House isn’t going to let them use public, taxpayer-funded resources.”
Kenney was right 12 years ago and city council would be wise to make the same determination about Fromm’s delegation.
Paul Fromm, an avowed white nationalist and infamous far-right activist, is asking to publicly address councillors over his concerns their proposed hate prevention policies are limiting free speech. – Hand out
After a summer sizzling with hate issues, a new hot potato has landed in city council’s lap.
Paul Fromm, an avowed white nationalist and infamous far-right activist, is asking to publicly address councillors over his concerns their proposed hate prevention policies are limiting free speech.
Councillors will debate Wednesday whether to accept or reject Fromm’s delegation request.
They also have to decide whether to grant delegation status to Lisa Thompson, a member of the Hamilton yellow-vest group, which protests in front of city hall every Saturday.
Fromm, a Hamilton resident, says he was “shocked” by some of the hate prevention initiatives council floated earlier this summer in the wake of the Pride brawl at Gage Park and ongoing yellow-vest demonstrations.
“I don’t think it’s up to city council to play referee on various points of view,” Fromm said in an interview.
“I was shocked I was hearing this in Hamilton, not Havana.”
OPINION
OPINION
Fromm’s request lands after months of controversy, which saw: fisticuffs at the Gage Park Pride celebrations between white nationalist/homophobic protesters and Pride supporters/anarchists; criticisms of police response to the clash; the swarming of Mayor Fred Eisenberger’s home by LGBTQ+ activists/anarchists; and a city hall investigation ending with the departure of city IT worker Marc Lemire, who was linked to a former white nationalist group.
Against that background, the dilemma Fromm presents councillors is plain as a red flag.
By allowing him to address the general issues committee, they’ll almost certainly be lambasted for giving a platform to his ultraright agenda. But by rejecting his request, they run the risk of being criticized for suppressing free speech.
The mayor is well aware of how tricky the situation is. After all, he spent a good part of the summer trying to build bridges with the LGBTQ+ community after being accused of responding indifferently to its concerns.
Eisenberger told The Spectator that denying Fromm the five minutes of speaking time allotted to delegates could become a “bigger issue” than having the committee chair simply police his comments to ensure he’s doesn’t say “hateful things.”
But in the end, Eisenberger stated the obvious: the request is open to consideration by council.
Coun. Jason Farr is also cautious. Recognizing council is walking a “fine line,” he expects a “healthy debate.”
For his part, Coun. Sam Merulla bluntly states he won’t support Fromm’s bid because he’s a known white nationalist. He believes council should refuse to listen to him.
“If he wants to appeal it, he has every right to. But I think his track record speaks for itself, and it’s something not welcome at city hall.”
Fromm, 70, is the director of the Canadian Association for Free Expression, which bills itself as a political group committed to free speech, immigration reform and “political sanity.”
In 2018, he ran for mayor of Hamilton, racking up 706 votes. In 2007, the Ontario College of Teachers took away his teaching license for unprofessional conduct outside the classroom because he participated in white supremacist events and held beliefs contrary to tolerance and multiculturalism.
He previously supported Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel, who was deported back to Germany in 2005 after the courts judged him a security threat.
Fromm denies being a white supremacist but happily agrees he’s a white nationalist.
“As a white nationalist, I do not want to see the European founding/settler people of this country swamped, and that’s what’s happening with mass immigration over the last 40 years.”
Fromm says a lot of provocative things.
He says attempting to prevent hate speech is “like trying to prevent the wind.”
He says hate speech is a “term of abuse” that doesn’t apply until someone has been charged and convicted of it.
And he says if council won’t listen to his concerns, it’s a “sad comment on democracy” but indicative of a time when people are “terrified to open their mouths.”
Whatever council decides to do, the debate may be the torrid capper to this long, hot summer.
Andrew Dreschel’s commentary usually appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. adreschel@thespec.com @AndrewDreschel
905-526-3495
Andrew Dreschel’s commentary usually appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday. adreschel@thespec.com @AndrewDreschel
905-526-3495
Canada’s Cultural Marxist Tyranny: Political Prisoner Dr. James Sears Sentenced to One Year for “Hate Speech”
For years, YouTube has officially prohibited content which promoted or condoned violence or incited hatred against individuals or groups based on core characteristics such as ethnicity, gender and sexual identity, and religion. In June 2019 it updated that policy with specific prohibitions against ideologies like white supremacy, which asserted the superiority of one group in order to justify discriminating against or persecuting other groups. It also added that it prohibited content which denied violent events like the Holocaust or certain mass shootings. ADL called the update “an important step forward,” adding, “This move alone is insufficient and must be followed by many more changes from YouTube and other tech companies to adequately counter the scourge of online hate and extremism.”
Following the June 2019 announcement, it appeared that YouTube was taking steps to remove offending content from its service, and several channels that were noteworthy vectors for the dissemination of anti-Semitism appeared to have been shut down. However, subsequent analysis from ADL’s Center on Extremism (COE) found that significant anti-Semitic and white supremacist content continues to be accessible on YouTube even after the policy update. What follows is a sampling of channels that disseminate this content.
(*all page views are accurate as of July 22, 2019)
Anti-Semitic Channels
The following five anti-Semitic channels promulgate a variety of allegations and tropes which have been used for generations to stoke fear and hatred of Jews. Some of them are overtly Christian, including claims that Jews are aligned with the Antichrist, that they are a blasphemous and evil “synagogue of Satan,” or that they seek to undermine Christian society. Other anti-Semitic allegations are secular in nature and promote the belief that Jews are secret conspirators who control the media, academia, finance, and governments to the detriment of non-Jews. Belief that Jews control the levers of power in societies has been a crucial element of anti-Jewish conspiracy theories throughout modern times. Altogether, the following five anti-Semitic channels have been viewed more than 81 million times. (Note: The white supremacist channels enumerated in the following section also contain anti-Semitic elements.)
“TruNews”
This is the official channel of the fundamentalist Christian streaming news and opinion platform TruNews, whose programs routinely feature anti-Semitic content, and which has a long record of disseminating Islamophobic and anti-LGBTQ messages. TruNews founder and host Pastor Rick Wiles has used the YouTube channel to claim that Jews control the media, decimate American culture, and attack Christians. He describes Jews as the “Synagogue of Satan” and as agents of the antichrist. The TruNews YouTube channel has 178,000 subscribers and 17 million views.
Noteworthy quotes:
“Sanderson1611”
Steven Anderson, who leads the New Independent Fundamentalist Baptist Movement from his Faith Word Baptist Church in Tempe, AZ, has a long history of preaching anti-Semitism and anti-LGBTQ messages. He claims that Judaism is a “fraud,” and openly denies the Holocaust. Pastor Anderson’s YouTube channel has 121,000 subscribers and 61 million views.
“E. Michael Jones”
Longtime anti-Semite and traditionalist Catholic writer E. Michael Jones uses his YouTube channel and books to promote the idea that Jews are responsible for perpetrating attacks against the Catholic Church, as well as against standards, social stability and global political order. He portrays Judaism as inherently threatening towards Christianity; he also describes Jews as “outlaws and subversives” and claims that Judaism exhibits “a particularly malignant spirit.” E. Michael Jones’ YouTube channel has 37,000 subscribers and 3.5 million views.
“Michael Hoffman”
Michael A. Hoffman II is a Holocaust denier and anti-Semitic ideologue. In his writings and speeches, Hoffman frequently claims that Judaism condones pedophilia and the hatred of non-Jews. Hoffman’s YouTube channel has 3,600 subscribers and 178,000 views.
“Brother Nathanael Video”
This YouTube channel features videos of Nathanael Kapner, a former Jew who converted to the Russian Orthodox faith and is now a “street evangelist” and anti-Semitic provocateur. Kapner’s videos typically intersperse his conspiratorial, anti-Semitic rhetoric with clips and images from other media. The channel has 86,000 views. (Subscription information is not available for this channel.)
White Supremacist Channels
Anti-Semitism is just one iteration of the hate that is easily accessible on YouTube. The following YouTube channels are run by or feature white supremacists, many of whom use the platform to spread their racist, misogynist and anti-Semitic ideology.
“122 322”
This channel contains promotional videos for the Rise Above Movement (RAM). R.A.M. is a white supremacist group based in Southern California whose members believe they are fighting against a “modern world” corrupted by the “destructive cultural influences” of liberals, Jews, Muslims and non-white immigrants. They refer to themselves as the “premier MMA (mixed martial arts) club of the Alt-Right.” The 122 322 YouTube channel has 141 subscribers and 22,001 views.
“Alt-Woke”
Alt-Woke features “Radical Agenda” a recurring show hosted by Christopher Cantwell, a belligerent white supremacist podcaster who advocates for a white ethno-state. The Alt-Woke YouTube channel has 1,835 subscribers and 103,602 views.=
“America First with Nicholas J Fuentes”
America First is a recurring show featuring Nick Fuentes, an alt right personality whose rhetoric focuses on the failure of multiculturalism, immigration and the marginalization of white people. The America First with Nicholas J Fuentes YouTube channel has 38,097 subscribers and 845,643 views.
“American Free Press”
This channel is described as one “maintained by a supporter of the American Free Press, the only truly pro-American newspaper left in the country.” American Free Press is a Maryland-based anti-Semitic conspiracy-oriented publication that was originally founded by late Willis Carto. The American Free Press YouTube channel has 9,407 subscribers and 22,001 views.
“American Freedom Party”
The American Freedom Party (AFP) is a Third Position American political party that promotes white nationalism. Originally established by racist skinheads, the group was later transformed into a political party by William Daniel Johnson, a Los Angeles-based attorney. Since 2018, AFP has co-hosted an annual white supremacist conference dubbed “Nationalist Solutions.” The American Freedom Party YouTube channel has 2,069 subscribers and 507,276 views.
“American Identity Movement”
American Identity Movement (AIM) is a white supremacist group that formed during a rebranding effort by Identity Evropa in March 2019. As AIM, the group has moved away from European-focused rhetoric in favor of advocating for the preservation of “white culture” under the guise of American patriotism. The American Identity Movement YouTube channel has 1,944 subscribers and 39,675 views.
“American Renaissance”
American Renaissance is a white supremacist journal and companion website to The New Century Foundation, a self-styled think tank founded by Jared Taylor. The journal promotes pseudoscientific studies that attempt to demonstrate the intellectual and cultural superiority of whites and publishes articles on the supposed decline of American society because of integrationist social policies. American Renaissance generally avoids the crude bigotry and stereotyping characteristic of many other racist publications and Taylor himself personally refrains from anti-Semitism. The American Renaissance YouTube channel has 113,914 subscribers and 11,886,400 views.
“Arktos”
Arktos Media is a small publishing company that features books by white nationalist and translates European Identitarian works into English. The company, which is run by Daniel Friberg, a Swedish businessman and white supremacist who co-founded AltRight.com with Richard Spencer, also has an American chapter. The Arktos YouTube channel has 3,372 subscribers and subscribers and 166,414 views.
“Christogenea”
Christogenea is the name of a Christian Identity website and blog operated by William Finck of Florida. Finck is also a member of the white supremacist League of the South. The “Christogenea” YouTube channel has 213 subscribers and 2,824 views.
“Faith J Goldy”
Faith Goldy is a Canadian white supremacist who has promoted the “white genocide” narrative, recited the white supremacist “14 words” on an alt right podcast, and appeared on a podcast of The Daily Stormer, a site run by neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin. The Faith J Goldy YouTube channel has 105,964 subscribers and 6,528,307 views.
“The Foundry”
The Foundry is a recurring show hosted by William “Tony” Hovater and Matthew Parrott who helped found the now defunct neo-Nazi group the Traditionalist Worker Party. The group’s goal was to build a national socialist ethno-state for white people. Both men attended white supremacist rallies around the country including the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Foundry YouTube channel has 5,939 subscribers and 7,160 views.
“James Allsup”
James Allsup is a white supremacist activist associated with the American Identity Movement (formerly Identity Evropa) who is best known for his far-right podcasts and as the former president of a College Republican chapter at Washington State University. Allsup was a speaker at the May 2019 American Renaissance Conference. He also spoke at the March 2018 Identity Evropa conference and participated in the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The James Allsup YouTube channel has 452,560 subscribers and 72,925,714 views.
“Kenn Daily”
Kenn Daily is hosted by Kenn Gividen of Indianapolis, Indiana, who is the founder of DailyKeen.com and the author of “The Prayer of Hannah” and “Kennisms,” a book of offensive/racist quotes known as “Kenn’s Laws.” The channel includes “The Ethnostate” a recurring show hosted by Gividen, William Johnson of AFP and Paul Fromm, a Canadian white supremacist. The Kenn Daily YouTube channel has 44,155 subscribers and 119,434 views.
“Little Revolution 2”
Patrick Little is an outspoken anti-Semitic politician. In 2018, he made an anti-Semitic campaign run for Dianne Feinstein’s U.S. Senate seat in California. After his crushing defeat, he went on a nationwide “Name the Jew” tour, visiting cities across the country, spewing anti-Semitic propaganda at passers-by. In early 2019, he registered as a presidential candidate with the Republican Party but dropped out of the race in May. In a YouTube video titled “Our Government is just a sham” Little claimed, “At this point it’s just about waking people up to who’s really in charge and just letting them know that the Jews run stuff. It doesn’t matter who we put into office.” The Little Revolution 2 YouTube channel has 1,420 subscribers and 41,897 views.
“NPI/RADIX”
NPI/RADIX is the official channel of The National Policy Institute and Radix Journal run by Richard Spencer one of the best-known leaders of the alt right. The “NPI/RADIX” channel has 18,069 subscribers and 583,657 views.
“PastorEliJames”
The YouTube channel “PastorEliJames” features Eli James a longtime Christian Identity preacher from Illinois who operates Eurofolk Radio. The channel description reads: “This site is about the history of the Anglo-Saxon (Caucasians, Celts, Eurofolk, etc.) people and our eternal, enemy, the Edomite and Ashkenazi Jews, who are the impostors (Synagogue of Satan) pretending to be Israel.” The PastorEliJames YouTube channel has 1,378 subscribers and 127,920 views.
“ThePoliticalCesspool”
The Political Cesspool is an overtly racist show on which anti-Semites, white supremacists, and other right-wing extremists regularly appear to voice their views. James Edwards, the show’s founder and main host, is associated with AFP and the Council of Conservative Citizens.
ThePoliticalCesspool YouTube channel has 465 subscribers and 56,904 views.
“The Public Space with Jean Francois”
The Public Space is a recurring podcast with Jean-François Gariépy, a French-Canadian alt right YouTuber. The Public Space with Jean Francois YouTube channel has 47,287 subscribers and 4,230,207 views.
“TRS Radio”
This channel features a collection of podcasts featuring alt right propagandist such as Mike “Enoch” Peinovich, Jesse Dunstan (aka Sven/Seventh Son), and Alex McNabb, all of whom who host TRS (TheRightStuff). The TRS Radio YouTube channel has 13,000 subscribers and 1,400,000 views.
“Reclaim America”
Reclaim America is a channel which promotes the Patriot Front, a white supremacist group whose members maintain that their ancestors conquered America and bequeathed it solely to them. They define themselves as American fascists or American nationalists who are focused on preserving America’s identity as one of European-American identity. The Reclaim America YouTube has 1,341 subscribers and 47,585 views.
“The Red Elephants Vincent James” and “Vincent James”
The Red Elephants is a California-based extreme-right “media” entity headed by Vincent James Foxx. The site promotes conspiracy theories, anti-Semitic beliefs and white supremacist mantras. Beyond the virtual world, those associated with the Red Elephants have participated in rightwing and explicitly white supremacist rallies and demonstrations. “The Red Elephants Vincent James” channel has 286,659 subscribers and 33,367,186. The “Vincent James” channel has 52,989 subscribers and 8,235,381 views.
“Red Ice TV”
Red Ice TV is a Sweden-based online media company run by Lana Lokteff, an American born white supremacist, and her husband Henrik Palmgren. Red Ice features online TV and radio shows, including Lokteff’s own “Radio 3Fourteen,” that celebrate “European identity and culture.” Lokteff has interviewed numerous white supremacists on the show. She also co-hosts “Red Ice Live” and “Weekend Warrior” on Red Ice. In May 2017, Lotkeff appeared in a video segment with Jared Taylor of American Renaissance to discuss “the women of the alt right.”
The Red Ice TV YouTube channel has 327,961 subscribers and 45,799,930 views.
“TOQ LIVE”
The Occidental Quarterly (TOQ) is a recurring show hosted by James Edwards, who runs the white supremacist radio show, The Political Cesspool, and Kevin MacDonald, a retired professor who runs the anti-Semitic Occidental Observer website. The TOQ LIVE subscriber number is unavailable, but the channel has 42,730 views.
“VDARE TV”
VDARE TV often features Peter Brimelow, a white supremacist who runs the racist, anti-immigration site VDARE, which publishes writing by white supremacists such as Jared Taylor of American Renaissance, Brad Griffin of Occidental Dissent, and Unite the Right organizer Jason Kessler. The VDARE TV YouTube channel has 4,887 subscribers and 213,028 views.
Canadian Association for Free Expression
Box 332,
Rexdale, Ontario, M9W 5L3
Ph: 905-289-674-4455; FAX: 289-674-4820;
Website http://cafe.nfshost.com
Paul Fromm, B.Ed, M.A. Director
July 22, 2019
The Editor,
STONEY CREEK NEWS,
Dear Sir:
Your editorial “What is the Greater Good?” (July 18, 2019) deals with the dilemma of what Council should do or can do to curb protests on public property.
Actually, there should be no dilemma. The right to protest or to present grievances to the monarch or ruler goes back to Magna Carta. As well, the Charter guarantees freedom of speech, freedom of association or assembly and freedom of religion. A variety of groups, some of whose views some citizens find offensive, have protested recently. That’s their absolute right. Council has busainess even to consider restrictions
Despite the views of some snowflakes, we enjoy no right not to be offended. Critics frequently denounce those they dislike with terms like” hate speech” and “hate groups” . These weaponized words are a lot of noise without substance. “Wilfully promoting hate” against certain groups is a criminal offence in Canada. It is narrowly construed. To my knowledge, none of the participants on various sides of these protests has ever been charged with or convicted of hate. The accusation of “hate” usually tells us more about the accuser’s emotions than the words criticized. “Hate speech” means speech the accuser hates.
The city does have a legitimate role in ensuring that the protests are peaceful. Police should continue to observe these protests and, where rival factions show up, make certain that the two sides are kept apart — say on opposite sides of the street — so that both can exercize their right to wave their signs or flags and make their views known.
Council should go back to dealing with important issues like fixing our deplorable roads and leave free speech alone.
Sincerely yours,
Paul Fromm
Director
