An intriguing discussion ensued among friends over a bottle of scotch following Roger Waters' despicable “performances” in Berlin and Frankfurt. We debated a fundamental question: why does Waters continue to draw audiences to his concerts despite the fact he has been accused of antisemitism? We debated the possible parallels to the complicity of the “useful idiots” who blindly followed the Nazis.

Can the psychoanalytical theory of cognitive dissonance provide a window into understanding why anyone would cheer for Waters while he is on stage dressed like a Nazi, whether ironically or not? Or perhaps the answer is tied to group-think, where personal accountability is lessoned when thousands of people participate. Participants are empowered by being anonymous in a sea of people, despite realizing they have crossed the red line.

In Berlin and Frankfurt, of all places, where Jews were marginalized and ghettoized before being taken away to be gassed to death, Waters’ concert-goers had no problem dancing below a giant inflatable pig emblazoned with a Jewish Star of David. Given that Jews are commanded in the Bible to not eat pork, the linking of the two by the former Pink Floyd leader was offensive and disparaging.

Just recently, the issue of the “Judensau” (Jewish Pig) was brought before German courts because some churches still have mocking carvings on their walls of religious Jews suckling at a pig for milk. Shockingly, despite the obvious antisemitic connotations, the German court ruled against eliminating the carvings. So why should anyone in the mainly German audiences in Berlin worry much about a pig floating above their heads with the Star of David?

We further debated a central and emerging question of recent days. Can you love the art but not the artist? After all, for decades, Waters' music has garnered him millions of fans.

But here lies the rub. Many artists adopt neutral or “vanilla” causes. They become world peace ambassadors or help in areas of famine or poverty or earthquakes. Most artists (although not all) stay away from politically charged issues. But not Waters.

Over these years, his music has been intimately connected with his political interests, and he has integrated both himself and his art into the Palestinian cause. In March, the City of Munich attempted to cancel a Waters concert, stating: “The background to the cancellation is the persistent anti-Israel behaviour of the former Pink Floyd frontman, who is considered one of the most widely spread antisemites in the world.”

In other words, I observed, in Waters' case, Marshall McLuhan was completely right. The medium is the message, and that is why you cannot separate this artist from his art. During his concerts in Berlin, he donned a Nazi-like outfit with a red armband while aiming an imitation machine gun at the cheering crowd.

How could any German approve of such a display? Waters’ despicable behaviour continued as he flashed Anne Frank’s name on the screen. It appeared to be an attempt to parallel the 15-year-old’s death at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp with the tragic death of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed accidentally by a stray bullet.

On social media, some people excused Waters by calling his performances a “parody” and a “metaphor.” One wonders if Waters would be excused for mocking any other genocide or group.

Waters likely sees himself as some kind of social justice warrior. He builds a celebrity persona around it and ties it to his music and stage performances. Reacting to global condemnation following his Berlin concerts, he tweeted that he had been doing this since the 1980s. “The elements of my performance that have been questioned are quite clearly a statement in opposition to fascism, injustice, and bigotry in all its forms,” he wrote. It’s hard to see that after he dressed up like a Nazi and aimed a fake SS-looking machine gun at the crowd.

In the real world, where ordinary people go to work and to school, they are taught to adhere to principles and practices of respect, equity, diversity and cultural sensitivity. In real life, most people would never cheer on anyone who dresses up like a Nazi. But in Berlin and in Frankfurt, this is exactly what took place. Was there no shame? To their credit, the Berlin police have announced an investigation into Waters on suspicion of incitement over his costume.


National Post

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/roger-waters-perfects-the-art-antisemitism

Having had the privilege of meeting 'Gorby,' it is easy to see how he rose to become a statesman of the world

Author of the article:Avi BenloloPublishing date:Sep 01, 2022  

The differences between Mikhail Gorbachev and Vladimir Putin could not be clearer. “Gorby,” as he was called, wanted to end the threat of nuclear weapons, dissolve the Soviet Union and align with the West for the benefit of his people. Putin, on the other hand, threatens to annihilate his adversaries with nukes and has re-isolated Russia from the West while launching an unjustified assault on Ukraine in an effort to re-establish the Soviet Union.

Having had the honour and privilege of meeting Gorby and spending nearly two hours with him, it is easy to see how this historic figure rose to become a statesman of the world. He was soft-spoken and kind and radiated humility and humanity. There was no vanity. No frill. Just a strong sense about his mission in life, which was to lift up the destiny of his people, who were then still lining up for bread.

For my generation who grew up under the threat of nuclear annihilation in the 1970s and 1980s, Gorbachev set a new world order, bringing about hope and optimism. No one of my generation can forget U.S. president Ronald Reagan’s famous six words on June 12, 1987, that would change the course of history: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Gorby heeded Reagan’s call and the Berlin Wall, which had separated West and East Berlin, came down on Nov. 9, 1989, as crowds of Germans began dismantling the “iron curtain” by hand.

Every now and again, a real statesperson appears on the world stage with enough conviction and capability to make the world a better place. Gorbachev introduced new policies like perestroika (reform) and glasnost (openness) that completely revolutionized Russia and brought down the totalitarian U.S.S.R. The Soviet Union dissolved as its republics broke away seeking their own freedom, democracy and alliance with the West. Among them and most substantive were Poland and Ukraine.

Gorbachev was certainly controversial. He introduced difficult economic and political reforms on one hand, while making some ordinary Russians super-rich “oligarchs” who would take advantage of the confusion.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union brought freedom to millions of Jewish people who had been trapped in its republics, unable to emigrate or practice their religion freely. Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, the “Free Soviet Jewry” movement had gained momentum with enraged calls from leaders in the Jewish diaspora to “let my people go.” On Dec. 12, 1987, a quarter-million people gathered in Washington, D.C., on the eve of a historic summit between Reagan and Gorbachev, to demand freedom for Soviet Jewry.

The fall of the Berlin Wall two years later and the breakup of the Soviet Union set freedom in motion as more than one million Soviet Jews left tyranny to emigrate to Israel and North America.

Some believe the 30-year campaign to free Soviet Jewry was a campaign for humanity that contributed to the end of the Cold War and brought upon freedom for everyone. Mass Soviet emigration to Israel began around 1991 due to Gorbachev’s reforms and the substantive “wind of change” (a 1990 hit song marking the era by the West German rock band Scorpions).

Gorbachev’s legacy however is rapidly being eroded by the Putin administration, which is once again regressing Russia into tyranny. In recent months, as tensions with Israel have escalated over Ukraine, Russia has forced the shuttering of the Moscow office of The Jewish Agency for Israel — an agency specifically responsible for helping Russian Jews emigrate to Israel.

It’s part of Putin’s obvious strategic plan to re-establish the Soviet Union. Putin’s realignment with the tyrants of the world, including Syria and Iran not to mention China, has elevated global instability. More significantly, it is jeopardizing critical Gorbachev-Reagan agreements including the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which was renegotiated in 2010.

Some say we may have romanticized Gorby, that the winds of change had already been present. 

However it took a very special person to realize the moment, capture its momentum and have the courage to inspire and mobilize that change for good. In the past few days world leaders have said he was “a courageous reformer,” that he had a “commitment to peace in Europe” and that he had the “imagination to see that a different future was possible.” All of that is true. But what is also true is that now more than ever, we need good and decent leaders around us who can rise to the occasion.

National Post

Avi Benlolo is the founder and chairman of the Abraham Global Peace Initiative.

In December of 2014, U.S. president Barak Obama and Cuban president Raúl Castro simultaneously announced their two countries were about to normalize relations.   The Obama administration would reopen an embassy in Havana and ease trade and financial restrictions on Cuba, as well as allow Americans to travel to the island, except for tourism purposes

.   Castro indicated his willingness to discuss the “profound differences” between the two nations, “particularly on issues related to national sovereignty, democracy, human rights and foreign policy.”

   But what has changed? “Nothing”, says Dr. Orlando Gutiérrez-Boronat, co-founder and spokesman of the Cuban Democratic Directorate based in Miami, Fla., who is also a lecturer at Georgetown University and an award-winning author.   In a lengthy interview with The Abraham Global Peace Initiative (AGPI) about the human-rights situation in Cuba, Gutiérrez-Boronat said Obama “had good intentions but did not understand how a totalitarian state works — even though he opened the doors, Cuba did not reciprocate in any way — no political opening, no real economic opening … this regime is an enemy to the United States who will change only when its forced to change.” 

  In remarks made during a trip to Cuba in 2016, a still-hopeful Obama said he was "confident that Cuba can continue to play an important role in the hemisphere and around the globe — and my hope is, is that you can do so as a partner with the United States." Referring to the end of apartheid in South Africa, Obama said, "We took different journeys to our support for the people of South Africa in ending apartheid. But President Castro and I could both be there in Johannesburg to pay tribute to the legacy of the great Nelson Mandela."

   One thing is for certain however: Castro and Obama were no Mandelas in achieving freedom. Freedom House, an American organization that measures freedom and democracy around the world, rates Cuba as “not free” and scores it 1.0 out of 40 on political rights and 11 out of 60 on civil liberties. The organization says plainly that “Cuba’s one-party communist state outlaws political pluralism, bans independent media, suppresses dissent and severely restricts basic civil liberties.”

   As Canadians, our tourism dollars are powering the continued repression in Cuba, said Gutiérrez-Boronat. “Cuban economy is controlled by the military and the Castro family. It’s a dictatorship that controls resources and especially tourism income. And that income is not being used to build hospitals, schools or fix roads. It's being used for oppression and to enrich these military dictators.”

    Worse, only a three-and-a-half-hour plane ride from the 49th parallel in North America, Cuba’s alleged continued alliance with some of the most despotic regimes in the world — including Russia and Iran — poses an incomprehensible threat to Canada and the United States. Putin's order to put Russia's nuclear forces on alert after invading Ukraine harkens back to the so-called Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when the Soviets used the island to threaten America with nuclear weapons.

 “To this day, the number one ally of the Russian Federation in the Western Hemisphere is the regime in Cuba,” said Gutiérrez-Boronat. “They have been at the forefront of the diplomatic defence of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine … These people are ideological allies of Putin.”

   The axis of repressive regimes goes deep and is fundamentally ideological. The Cuban regime’s alleged alliance with Iran is equally disconcerting. According to Gutiérrez-Boronat, Cuban pilots were sent to help Iran suppress the Syrian people in their uprising against Bashar Assad. “These people have entrenched alliances where they share intelligence, operational tactics and they also implement them on the ground, repressing these different countries.”

   That hostility has turned against Israel as well. In 1947, Cuba is said to have been the only country in the region that voted against the UN partition plan, but did establish diplomatic relations with the Jewish State in 1949.

  “The regime in Cuba is an ally of those who present an existential threat to Israel” said Gutiérrez-Boronat. “It’s a very anti-Zionist regime which has always identified itself with Arab hardliners.” He agrees with the proposition that the benefits of establishing economic and diplomatic relations with Israel far outweigh any relationship with despotic regimes. However, he contends that the Cuban regime is threatened by Israel’s open and pluralistic society, which it fears could empower Cubans to seek freedom and to emulate the “Zionism” — a dream Gutiérrez-Boronat said his movement aspires to follow in members' quest to return to their homeland.

   Cuba is rich with history, and the warmth and hospitality of its beautiful people is felt wherever one visits. As Canadians however, if we stay true to our core beliefs in freedom and democracy and our desire to combat repression, we need to reconsider how we are channelling our resources. Cuba is the fifth most popular foreign designation for Canadians, while trade between the countries is over $1 billion annually. Sadly, very little academic, political or civil society discussion seem to be taking place among Canadians to set forth new public policies on how to effectively encourage Cuba to facilitate positive change while protecting our own national security.

   National Post   Avi Abraham Benlolo is the founder and chairman of The Abraham Global Peace Initiative.  https://nationalpost.com/opinion/avi-benlolo-canadians-holidaying-in-cuba-are-powering-a-regime-of-repression

Here is the bottom line: to win the war against antisemitism, we must build an Abrahamic tent that brings people together who share the same values of peace and respect.    So when a Colombian police officer asked to take a picture with me for her mother who is a big supporter of Israel, of course I readily agreed. This work is people-to-people direct relationship building that can break down barriers of prejudice. With only about 4,000 Jewish people left in Colombia of a country of 50 million, we are a small minority in this vast land.    

The same happened when I plugged my phone into the police car on the way to give a Holocaust and antisemitism presentation at the National Police College in Bogota, one of my favourite Israeli songs accidentally started playing.   

The Colombian police officer turned up the tune, rolled down his windows and danced to the music. “This is really good, he said.” We may have not been able to speak the same language, but we spoke the language of humanity.    During my meeting with Maria Gutierrez, Colombia’s Director of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law at the Foreign Ministry, I noticed she was wearing a Magen David necklace (Star of David). She is not Jewish she said, but her faith brings her to this connection as a matter of normalcy it seemed. Still, we discussed some of the harsh concerns about Colombia’s reported crackdown on human rights defenders among other issues.    

A strong religious connection coupled with a Stephen Harper like president has changed the equation. President Iván Duque has embraced Israel more than any other nation in Latin America, thus strengthening Colombia’s connection with the Jewish people. Many will be sad to see him go in a few weeks when his term ends.    All this is why the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Police Force insisted that the Abraham Global Peace Initiative come to educate their officers about the Holocaust and antisemitism. They were severely embarrassed by an antisemitic incident from their own rank and file.  Last November, a group of police cadets uncharacteristically held a Nazi themed event in which they donned Nazi uniforms with Swastikas and one cadet carried a Hitler-style moustache.   An embarrassed president apologized for what became an international incident — covered by mainstream media. We offered to provide Holocaust education. Colombia agreed and invited us to train senior commanders.  The incident itself was seemingly borne out of ignorance. Holocaust education and awareness is nearly non existent, which is why Israel’s deputy consul general in Bogota told me she is spearheading a program for schools alongside the Jewish community.    

“Have you ever heard about the ‘Holocausto'”? I asked at the beginning of my presentation to hundreds of officers. Only one raised his hand. But when asked if they recognized the photo of Adolf Hitler that I posted on the screen, 90 per cent knew who he was. But did they know what he did? Apparently not so much.  You could see their body language and facial expression change once they learned about the six-million murdered Jewish children, women and men.   The discussion about white-supremacist ideology left them in shock and horror as they realized Hitler’s plan went beyond Jewish people. For policing especially, the connection of Nazi ideology with the recent shootings in the United States and “replacement theory” brought home the past and present threat of race-motivated violence.   

 In Colombia however, antisemitism is reportedly remarkably low in comparison to most other places, Israel’s capable Ambassador Christian Cantor told me in a briefing at the embassy. Unlike Chile for example, Cantor said there was very little anti-Israel related antisemitism like the infamous BDS campaign. This may change should leftist presidential candidate Gustavo Petro comes to power,   

Cantor suggested  President Duque has built an admirable pro-Israel legacy. He has been among Israel’s staunchest allies, visiting the nation and visiting the Western Wall and Yad Vashem to pay his respects. Since then, he established an economic mission in Jerusalem and increased trade. Last week, he signed Colombia up to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism.    But everyone is anticipating a shift in politics and policy depending on who gets elected as Colombia’s next president. Petro’s opponent Rudolfo Hernandez is likened to Donald Trump, and both are unpredictable vis-a-vis Israel and the future of Colombia itself, which is increasingly polarized.    

The opportunity to meet with young up and coming diplomats at the foreign ministry left me with a feeling of hope for this very complicated country. We discussed democracy, human rights and civil society. They are Colombia’s great future.  Like anywhere else, for the Jewish community, its future is tied to its safety and security.   After years of attrition, this proud Zionist community seems to be reaching comfortable stability. Time will tell.  For now, we continue to build a big global tent of friends. The national police force has begun integrating Holocaust education into its curriculum and has greater awareness about the impact of antisemitism. Mission Accomplished.    Avi Abraham Benlolo is the founder and chairman of the Abraham Global Peace Initiative.  

National Post  https://nationalpost.com/opinion/avi-benlolo-colombia-a-fierce-ally-in-the-fight-against-antisemitism

KRAKOW, Poland — Your heart breaks as soon as you turn the corner and see the massive line of mostly women and children waiting for food outside of the Jewish Community Centre in Krakow, Poland. The line stretches outside of the JCC’s courtyard, onto the sidewalk and somedays, beyond. 

The courtyard itself is full of families and children running around, oblivious to their parents’ desperation. They line up for hours in the beating sun, but the JCC’s staff and volunteers coming from around the world treat them with respect and compassion.  Advertisement 2 Article content We bring sandwiches out to the courtyard. Instantly, dozens of people descend and graciously accept as many as they can carry to their family. The individual stories are heartbreaking. 

I met a 55 year-old woman and her 14 year-old daughter who said they only have their clothes on their back. Although 90 per cent of the refugees coming for help here are not Jewish, the woman and her daughter wanted to apply to immigrate to Israel, where they hope for a better life. The mother began crying as she pleaded for help — any help. Her daughter sat beside her quietly, seemingly oblivious to their dire situation — watching Tik Tok videos on her iPhone. A few minutes later, one of the volunteers took her to the used clothing area — she did not find anything appealing.  

Having raised tens of thousands of dollars for refugee relief, the Abraham Global Peace Initiative is here on a humanitarian mission. The 200 pounds of toiletries we brought from Canada are instantly absorbed into the refugee distribution centre and handed out. We help stock shelves with food, clothing and other personal supplies, but they are gone within minutes. The people keep coming and every story is heartbreaking beyond comprehension. 

One 34 year-old Ukrainian woman who now works for the JCC told me she had to run for her life with her five-year old daughter, after Russian bombs began falling on her neighbourhood. She now spends her days helping new incoming refugees find their way through the system.  Seeing the organized chaos is believing in the importance of this incredible act of kindness facilitated by the Jewish community here in Krakow and its friends around the world. I have brought many people through this city over the last decade on their way to visit the death camp. 

This city has seen its share of pain and suffering. Down the street from the JCC, nearly 80 years ago, Jews had been rounded up by the Nazis, put into a ghetto and then transported to Auschwitz, a mere hour away.   “Our community was decimated by the Holocaust because the world was mostly silent. Now we have the opportunity to help others and we are doing just that,” says Jonathan Ornstein, the JCC’s Executive Director. 

In fact, volunteers from around the world are coming together to help stock shelves, greet the refugees and roll-up their sleeves wherever possible. Elie Wiesel’s prophetic words expressed this action best when he said, “it is a cry against indifference, a cry for compassion.”  We cannot close our eyes to the plight of others. We cannot turn away. From time immemorial, on many occasions, we sought asylum, safety and most significantly, freedom. When others are suffering, we are suffering. That is our burden. 

To free ourselves from an impoverished and meaningless life, it is humanity’s metaphysical path to rise above this bondage, which incapacitates us. We have an obligation to remember and recall our oppression and to strive to make the world a better place. As Maya Angelo surmised, “none of us can be free unless all of us are free.”  

 And so, we find ourselves in this place where innocent victims of war are reaching out for help. We see children coming out of the food distribution centre with teddy bears in one hand and shopping bags full of food in the other. Their future uncertain, but with kindness and compassion, they might one day remember and pay it forward. Russia may be relentlessly pounding their homes just across the border. But here in Krakow and elsewhere along Ukraine’s borders, kindness and compassion is outshining hate and evil.  Sometimes, when there is no other way, the battle for freedom from tyranny requires action. 

To this vital lesson, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “freedom is not given voluntarily from the oppressor, it must be demanded by the oppressed.” In this we are required to speak out and take action when those who are oppressed cannot. We are obligated to feed the hungry, give a place at our table to the needy and elderly and extend our hand whenever possible. Action speaks louder than words and so we are here. Still, the line up outside the JCC keeps growing.  

National Post  Avi Abraham Benlolo is the founder and chairman of The Abraham Global Peace Initiative.

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/avi-benlolo-ukrainian-refugees-pouring-into-krakow-deserve-our-help-and-compassion

International justice for war crimes is often too little and too late for its victims. In the case of Bashar al-Assad, the UN’s Security Council has repeatedly failed to refer the Syrian president and his collaborators to prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The council excuses its selective attention to human rights by saying Syria is not a party to the Rome Statute, which created the court, and therefore it cannot be referred there.

This of course is nonsense. This week however, Germany put human rights first by sentencing a former high-ranking Syrian security service officer to life in prison. Anwar Raslan was found guilty of 27 murders as well as sexual assaults, and the torture of at least 4,000 people held at the infamous Al-Khatib prison, also known as Branch 251, in Damascus. With some 50 survivors coming forward, German authorities arrested Raslan in 2019 after he had the audacity to escape the Assad regime and seek asylum in that country.

Defending our borders against war criminals who seek asylum in the West should matter to all human rights activists. German lawyers wisely used the principle of universal jurisdiction to bring Raslan to justice, signalling to perpetrators worldwide that there can be no escape from justice. The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, hailed the "historic conviction” saying that “this trial cast a much-needed, renewed spotlight on the kinds of sickening torture, cruel and truly inhuman treatment — including abject sexual violence — that countless Syrians were subjected to in detention facilities.”

Bachelet is correct when she professes that “today’s verdict should serve to spur forward all efforts to widen the net of accountability for all perpetrators of the unspeakable crimes that have characterized this brutal conflict.” But what of the many other conflicts raging throughout the world? Last week, on these pages, I brought attention to the plight of the Christian community in such places as Nigeria, where they are murdered and persecuted by the dozens; the genocide of the Uyghur peoples by China; and the incomprehensible subjugation of women in Afghanistan.

We need the UN Human Rights Council to speak louder about a multitude of issues affecting the world today. Among them is the oppression and eradication of Christians in not just Africa but in Asia and Arab countries in the Middle East as well. My Christian friends have persuasively noted that while we speak about racism and intolerance against most other groups, our focus must also include what is possibly the most persecuted religious community on the planet. Silence is a form of complicity and for this reason, I will continue to bring attention to this pressing human rights issue.

In many ways, rising autocracy, nationalism and radicalism force us to press further to promote human rights. We need a counterbalance to the evil and profane. We need to push back the darkness that can easily consume humanity and set us on a destructive path. That’s why The Abraham Global Peace Initiative recently launched The Power of One — an exhibit that showcases such human rights trail blazers as Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa. The world needs reference points to showcase good versus evil. We cannot allow a degradation of our conception of human rights and the normalization of crimes against humanity.

We can draw strength and inspiration from such role models as Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who saved thousands of Jewish people by issuing passes to them so they could escape the Nazis. Canada set our nation’s moral compass to a new standard when it recognized Wallenberg as an honorary citizen in 1985 and in 2001 designated Jan. 17 as Raoul Wallenberg Day. The Abraham Global Peace Initiative plans to commemorate this important day with the launch of its Power of One exhibit at Vancouver’s police headquarters and with a live telecast to press upon the public the importance of sustaining and furthering the universality of human rights for all people.

As parents and grandparents, it is our responsibility to leave this world a better place for our children.

National Post January 14, 2022

Avi Abraham Benlolo is the Founder and Chairman of The Abraham Global Peace Initiative.

Uyghur women in Chinese labour camps recall the horror of rape and forced sterilization. Imprisoned in “re-education” camps, their hair is shorn (likely sold as a wig) and earings are ripped out.  One woman recalled, “they pulled it so hard that my ears were bleeding…I was being treated like an animal”. Still, the world plans on participating in the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Meanwhile in Afghanistan, the Taliban banned long-distance road trips for women travelling alone. This latest decree was announced by the Taliban’s feudal-era “Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice”. The world abandoned Afghanistan’s women and girls as secondary schools are shut down and most have been banned from working.  Where is the international outrage from progressives and feminists?

In Nigeria, dozens of people were murdered and abducted on Christmas Day after Jihadists demanded the closure of churches. Some 15 Christian communities were said to be attacked by Jihadists who have been driving out the minority community from the region. Why is the world silent when it comes to the persecution of Christian communities in the Middle East and Africa?

Sadly none of these human rights issues and countless others will be condemned or assigned perpetual commissions of investigation by the United Nations (UN).  The plight of the Uyghurs, Afghanistan’s women and Christians in Nigeria will be relegated to the margin of international attention.  After you read this article, the stain of the former atrocities mentioned above and many like them will be forgotten.  Why? Because the UN’s relentless obsession with dismantling the Jewish State is designed intentionally to divert attention from legitimate human rights catastrophes on our planet.

Just before Christmas, it became painfully clear that the UN’s General Assembly will continue to expend an outrageous amount of money ($5 million) and human resources (24 staff) to investigate the only Jewish and democratic nation on earth – the State of Israel for alleged war crimes.  Even while the country makes up just .11% of the global population and despite its insignificant land mass (Canada is 455 times bigger), it continues to be subjected to disproportional pile-on by a majority of nations in the 193 member General Assembly. Thankfully the United States is Israel’s guardian angel at the UN, as eloquently pointed out by Mark Regev, a former senior advisor to Israel’s Prime Minister.

In the last two weeks, dozens of articles blasted the latest UN attack. Headlines blared, “Once Again, the UN Treats Israel Like the Most Evil Country on Earth”; “The UN’s Israel Libel Machine Expands”; “Jewish Leaders Condemn UN’s Open-ended Investigation into War Crimes”; and “UN Inquiry Comes with New Independent Façade, Same Israel Bias”.

The latest salvo launched by the UN against tiny Israel is an open-ended investigation into alleged war-crimes in last May’s war with Hamas. The so-called investigation was instigated by the UN’s infamous Human Rights Council who’se antisemitic bias against Israel is so pervasive, it is the only country included on its permanent agenda in every session.  Despite the fact the UNHRC is effectively run by dictatorships whose human rights records are despicable, the Geneva based organization pressed the UN to approve a heafty budget to investigate Israel for defending itself against 4,600 missiles that rained on its civilian population. 

Israel was defending itself against rockets launched by Hamas at its cities.  Hamas is designated as a terrorist organization by most western nations. ProfessorAnne Bayefsky of The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs recently wrote, 'The Human Rights Council resolution failed to refer to Hamas at all. It did not mention-let alone condemn-the launch of thousands of rockets by Hamas into Israel. Indeed, the civilian population was omitted from the resolution”.  In an editorial, The Wall Street Journal said, “Israel’s defense of its civilians was lawful, targeted and restrained, but the UN wants to use the war as a pretext to indict Israel for crimes, real or imagined”. 

Caroline Glick called the UN investigation an “inquisition” and said it was “run by outspoken haters of Israel with long records of demonizing the State of Israel aind its people”. Time erases memory but Glick eloquently reminds us that in 2005, under pressure from the Bush administration, then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan disbanded the UN Human Rights Commission exactly because it “was endemically antisemitic”. Just one year later, the UN Human Rights Council was formed and “its members and UN staff” says Glick “wasted no time making clear that they intended for the new council to be even more antisemitic than its predecessor was”.

No such open-ended investigation is believed to have been instigated against any other UN member. The double-antisemitic-standards are simply too abhorent to cotemplate alongside this incredible New Years gift handed down not only to Israel – but to the human rights community.  In other words, here you have a situation where say, Syria’s Basha Al Assad has literally gotten away with the gassing and murder of 350,000 plus of his own citizens with some eyebrows raised, but Israel is being hung on an edge of a cliff for defending itself against a deadly terrorist group? If rockets rained down on your home, would you not expect your government to protect and defend you and your family?

As a Canadian, more than anything in the world, I want the promise of the United Nations to work.  I want the Universal Declaration for Human Rights to be fairly and equally applied by all nations, especially by the block of fifty Arab nations that tend to vote against little Israel. I fear the UN will continue diminishing its raison detre and ultimately its universality of human rights if Israel continues to be held to a higher standard than any other nation on earth. At its peril, the UN body will continue ignoring the atrocious state-sponsored killings in Myanamar and the unlawful incarceration of dissidents in Iran’s Evin Prison, including the clampdown on freedom recently by China and Russia.

The 17 UN resolutions targeting Israel in 2020 shows an unhealthy fixation on the Jewish State.  It is a form of abuse, harassment and frankly, Antisemitism.  A restructure of the UN needs to happen now alongside the Abraham Accords which have offered the Middle East a new path toward peace.  Its success is an incredible juxtaposition against the disreality presented in the halls of the United Nations. As in all things in life, for every success there are those who will strive to tear you down.  Israel has matured, blossomed and become a global economic and scientific force.  The UN ought to get with the program.

January 7, 2022 - National Post By Avi Benlolo

All modern human rights framework is grounded in the travesty of the Holocaust. Soon after the murder of six million Jews and millions of others by the Nazis and their accomplices, the United Nations was founded in 1945 with the objective of maintaining international peace and security. What followed next was the publication of and supposed international agreement on perhaps the most significant document to safeguard humanity — The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

Adopted by the UN General Assembly 73 years ago on this day — Dec. 10, 1948 — it would become the moral and ethical compass for the advocacy for peace and security. Our celebration of Human Rights Day annually on this date should come with a profound recognition that it arose from the ashes of children, women and men who were murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz and dozens more death camps.

Without universal guidelines, humanity’s primal tribal traits give way to chaos and violence. Humanity requires governance, codes of conduct and rules to build a productive civilization. For centuries, our moral compass was governed by religion. Much of what we see in today’s UDHR was not invented by its Canadian architect, John Peters Humphrey, or by Eleanor Roosevelt, who pressed the document forward at the UN.

The UDHR is a secularization of basic religious precepts. Its premise is firmly grounded in the original rules handed to the Jewish people in the Torah at Mount Sinai. Eventually these ideas were transmitted to other religions that sprouted from Judaism — particularly Christianity. We all know the basic principles found in most religions today: Honour thy mother and father; do not commit murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not tell lies; do not be envious of others.

Human rights start with the simple, religion-based Golden Rule that should govern our conduct every day — “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It’s a basic principle that every child on the planet should be taught to observe. On this day for human rights, let's reinforce the UDHR's basic foundational parameters including that "everyone has the right to life, liberty and security," and that "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."

In a world that is tearing itself apart at the seams, getting back to these basic human codes of conduct is more essential than ever. In the past number of days, Canada has joined the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia in a diplomatic boycott of China’s Winter Olympics in protest over its human rights abuses. Indeed, democracies — as few as they are today — are the only governing bodies standing against such darkness today.

In Vienna, intensive discussions are underway again with Iran as Western allies try to avert a possible nuclear catastrophe with a radical Islamic regime clearly hell-bent on acquiring nuclear weapons. In many cases, defending human rights and averting a potential genocide involves more than negotiation and sanctions. In cases such as the Second World War and even recently in Rwanda and Bosnia, stopping an evil regime has required a military solution as a last resort.

The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) convention, adopted by the UN in 2005, requires member states to protect populations from genocide, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and war crimes. But tragically, we are failing, particularly in the case of Syria, where more than 350,000 civilians have been killed in its civil war — without as much as a peep from Arab neighbours and Western allies. Yemen and Africa, too, are on the cusp of famine due to continued war and ethnic conflict.

As democracies decline in number and strength and as the United Nations community of assembled states continues to overlook its foundational principles of preserving human and civil rights, the future of humanity is in jeopardy. Many in Western society focus on scientific innovations, on the next start-up, on the next electric car or their next vacation. We forget how fragile and insecure we really are. All this around us is a social construct, and material things become irrelevant when chaos and violence engulfs humanity. We need to protect our rights, our freedom and democracy first if we are going to protect our children and grandchildren from the coming storm. Think about it.

Shock. Anger. Resentment. These feelings capture the incredible feelings about the abject failure of the West in Afghanistan. America bears most of the blame for leaving innocent women, children and men behind to fend for themselves against a monster. A hydra. A pariah of modern civilization.

The Taliban is a terrorist extremist group that breaks every fundamental principle of human dignity. Even while it now claims to be a softer version of itself, whom among us could forget this group harboured the Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind al-Qaida, the terrorist organization that brought the world to its knees on September 11, 2001 in an attack on America killing some 3,000 people.

And now, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the free world wonders how could we look the other way? If those who forget the past are destined to repeat it, are we not jeopardizing our own freedom and values in the long run — again? Worse, if democracies are the guardians of human rights (as they should be), how can we possibly allow the return of a notorious group known for horrific punishments like public executions and amputations of murderers, adulterers and thieves?

The Taliban’s treatment of women is unconscionable. Even while it's promising to change its evil ways, if the past is any indication, women will be barred from education, with girls being restricted from going to school from after age 10. They will be forced to wear the all-covering burka and subjected to flogging and public shaming by the virtue police. Reports of educated and professional women attempting to flee the country before the Taliban’s absolute encirclement is saddening and maddening.

Arguments are being made that liberty cannot be imposed by force. The White House says that after billons of dollars and twenty years of preparation, it became evident that Afghanistan could not stand on its own without continued U.S. support. But America has military bases all over the region and truthfully, if it had kept even a few thousand military personnel in Kabul, Afghanistan would not be heading into an unprecedented human rights crisis. The Taliban will become a force to be reckoned with in the years to come.

Former UN Ambassador and Governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley expressed that even while there are many “barbaric” regimes in the world and its not America’s duty to police them, Afghanistan is different: “Twenty years ago, the terrorists bred in that country came for us. Now they are getting what they wanted.” The significance of pulling out of Afghanistan and relinquishing America’s role as a protector of human rights and its own security will cost America and the west dearly.

“They are not the only enemy satisfied by our defeat” says Haley. “China, Russia and Iran are watching a weak and retreatng America unable to protect our interests. As a result, America is less safe today.” In fact, America’s quick exit from Afghanistan has already emboldened other terrorist groups taking notes. This week, the Hamas terror organization that rules Gaza quickly issued a statement commending the Taliban on its defeat of America and pledging its support. That attitude will have consequences for Israel and western nations around the world.

Over the last decade, the free world has been retreating from projecting and promoting human rights. In Syria, hundreds of thousands of people were murdered by a brutal regime. The free world failed to act. Russian forces marched into Crimea with little consequence from the west. Belarus is now clamping down on its citizens, while 1,000 people have been reported killed since the coup in Myanamar. America’s Afghanistan departure is a retreat of democracy and human rights. It green lights more atrocity and global instability. Our freedom is at stake.

Elie Wiesel was the last one. Not the last Holocaust survivor. Not the last author or philosopher, but the last of the last from a generation of wise people who served as humanity’s conscience. 

We still needed his wisdom to help us navigate these tumultuous times. Britain’s renowned Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks defined this sentiment just a few days ago when he wrote, “there is a widespread feeling that the world in the 21st century is running out of control… these are dangerous forces, the far right seeking a return to a golden age that never was, the far left in pursuit of a utopia that will never be. They are both enemies of freedom.”

Elie Wiesel’s life was buffeted by such extreme ideologies, and his caution remains significant. In today’s world, where life often seems to have little value, where faceless innocents are slaughtered by the dozens in terror attacks and quickly forgotten, Elie Wiesel reminded the world of life’s incredible value. He remained forever astonished “that I survived the Holocaust and went on to love beautiful girls, to talk, to write, to have toast and tea and live my life.”

His generation was the generation of the 20th century that struggled to put a broken world back together. His generation was the generation of Martin Luther King Jr. A generation that fought for social justice and humanity. It was a generation that spoke about not being silent. In King’s words, “our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Similarly, Wiesel would argue “we must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

With Elie Wiesel’s passing, the great generation that empowered us and guided us to speak out against repression, violence and hatred - is gone. Gone are the icons who refused to shake hands with the devil, choosing instead to impart their righteousness through their actions and wisdom. Mahatma Gandhi, one of the first leaders widely revered for his non-violent methods, gave the world a new path toward freedom. He put the responsibility for social change on each and every one of us, instructing, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” And so, each of us becomes the centre – the bridge and the pinnacle – for expressing goodness.

A similar inner wisdom and peace is found in the profound writings of Helen Keller, who believed the moral imperative to improve the world starts from within. Deaf and blind from childhood, Keller understood better than most that “the best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.”

The 20th century also gave us Mother Teresa as a guidepost for compassion. She dedicated her entire life to extensive humanitarian work in Calcutta, caring for refugees, the sick and the orphaned with love and affection. Mother Teresa showered the world with good will and believed that “kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”

And among the last of the greats was Nelson Mandela – the man who freed South Africa from the chains of the racist project known as apartheid. He understood that “to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

Freedom from our oppressors. Freedom of faith. Freedom from hunger and deprivation. Freedom from darkness. Freedom from hate and intolerance. This is the wisdom that our great prophets have imparted to us. 

For Elie Wiesel and all those of his generation who advocated for social justice, the commitment to fighting for freedom often led to criticism and ridicule. However, if there is one lesson these great men and women could teach us, it is to stand up for what we believe and know in our hearts to be right and true – even if we are standing alone.

This moral compass is the greatest gift left to us by Elie Wiesel. We are now all committed to serving as humanity’s conscience.

Who gets to interpret a country's record on human rights? Over the past number of years, we have seen the degradation and devolution of the meaning of such rights, particularly at the hands of international institutions. When we think of the United Nations Human Rights Council, for example, we expect an institution that exemplifies an impartiality codified in its conduct and behaviour. Likewise, we expect the UN General Assembly to equally condemn state actors when necessary and uphold the values it was entrusted with.

Time and again however, our faith in justice and fairness has dissolved as we come to understand that despite this world's incredible achievements in science, medicine, engineering and the arts, these institutions are simply mirrors of humanity’s primal tribalism — to divide and conquer.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights codified by the UN General Assembly and its affiliate institutions is supposed to uphold fairness, equality and justice for all humanity. The 193 nation states that have a seat in the assembly are supposed to provide freedom and equity to their citizens; they are supposed to respect religion and minority rights; and they are supposed to work toward ending slavery, poverty and conflict in all its forms.

But in reality, we live in a world where state actors and non-governmental organizations have co-opted the meaning of human rights — sometimes for political expedience. It is why small countries like Israel that do strive to advance freedom and democracy are overwhelmed at global forums by actors opposed to these values.

The degradation of human rights and their meaning can best be understood by a complex social behaviour called Schadenfreude. Its simplest meaning is a self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures or humiliation of another.

With Schadenfreude, there is a false sense of justice associated with seeing either someone or a nation being accused of being “bad." This is why our conception of human rights on a social level and an international level is failing us today. It has been co-opted by false narratives and actors that act according to political interest, and the world is not blind that in the case of Israel, Schadenfreude appears to be the motivation behind the relentless efforts by state actors and NGOs to attempt to showcase its behaviour as being “immoral” or “bad” and therefore requiring punishment.

This version of human rights — the one that picks on Israel and even Western values — is troubling. In recent months, the International Criminal Court’s legitimacy has come to be questioned over what appears to be a politicized decision to investigate Israel and its leaders for war crimes. Despite the fact that Israel is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, and that the Palestinian Authority, which lodged the complaint, is not recognized as a “state,” the court is proceeding with its investigation.

And just this week, piling on the ICC’s targeting of Israel, the Human Rights Watch organization published a report outrageously alleging that “Israeli authorities are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.”

Nothing could be further from the truth. Israel is a small country that has suffered more violent confrontations with its neighbours than any other Western nation. It is a country that experiences terrorism — mainly from its Palestinian population — daily. As I write this piece, Israeli children are hiding in bunkers in the south trying to survive another round of rockets from Gaza. Yet the world is eerily silent. Where are its accusations of war crimes?

The pile-on-Israel continued on Tuesday as former CIA director John Brennan tweeted that he “always found it difficult to fathom how a nation of people deeply scarred by a history replete with prejudice, religious persecution and unspeakable violence perpetrated against them would not be the empathetic champions of those whose rights and freedoms are still abridged.”

In fact, despite the rocket attacks, the horrendous suicide bombings, the incitement and international campaigns to defame the Jewish State, Israel has continued to strive as a unified nation toward equality, opportunity and mutual prosperity. The strain it endures in the Middle East tinderbox would have broken most nations long ago.

Schadenfreude reminds us that when the Jews were marched out of their villages and shot at a nearby ravine, it was their neighbours who stood by. Schadenfreude teaches us why, 76 years post-Holocaust, when an elderly Jewish woman (Sarah Halimi) is thrown to her death from a third-storey balcony, the world is silent.

As a proponent of human rights, I believe we have to reclaim their meaning, defend civil and universal rights, and ensure that critical analysis is fair and contextualized. What is truly holding the world together are strong moral and ethical values espoused by people who are exerting goodwill, compassion and kindness every day.

We need to reframe the meaning of human rights urgently and passionately. Schadenfreude is a dangerous human complex that needs to be exposed wherever it manifests — for the sake of humanity.

One of my favourite songs from the 1980s is Midnight Oil’s “Beds Are Burning.” For me, it was a call to open our eyes to our own blind spots about the world around us. Its chorus hit home like a sledge-hammer: “How can we dance when our earth is turning? How do we sleep while our beds are burning?”

While many say the song is about Indigenous rights in Australia, it extends far beyond that. It extends to all Indigenous rights, to human rights and to how we are treating our planet. As we look around us today, nothing much has changed. In fact, it seems like things have gotten worse, especially in the last decade.  

Most days, it feels like the fire around us is burning stronger and inching closer and closer. Yes, we are dealing with COVID-19, which, by official counts has infected over 52 million people worldwide, and likely quite a few more. But while that’s in the news, other issues are being ignored.

A top civil servant told me that approximately 20,000 Indigenous people are living in “third-world conditions” in northwestern Ontario, the region he’s responsible for. Many of them don’t have access to drinkable water. It has to be boiled or trucked in. At least 23 communities desperately require the basic necessities of life, such as housing.

To make matters worse, many still suffer from multi-generational trauma resulting from having attended residential schools as kids. Sadly, according to the civil servant I spoke with, physical violence and sexual abuse are frequent occurrences. Their remoteness maintains our obvious neglect and blindness to their human condition.

News channels neglect to report upon critical global events that have dire consequences for humanity. 

The Uyghurs in China are also in a desperate situation. The Canadian executive director of the Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, Mehmet Tohti, told me that he hasn’t heard from his mother in years. He believes she was taken by the Chinese government to one of its concentration or labour camps. He doesn’t know if she is still alive and is calling on governments to take immediate action to help his people.

As the world turns, our beds continue to burn. Human suffering is pervasive, especially in remote places. It might be information overflow that limits our capacity to digest and act, or the overwhelming human feeling of helplessness and apathy. Or it may simply be a result of a polarized world that has lost patience in multilateralism, collaboration and co-operation. The United Nation’s 2005 Responsibility to Protect resolution — which requires states to act against genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity — is rarely mentioned anymore.

While we’re asleep and distracted, mass atrocities happen on a near daily basis. Just a few days ago, more than 50 people were beheaded in northern Mozambique by Islamists who turned a soccer field into an execution ground, where they decapitated people and chopped up their bodies. It’s believed that up to 2,000 people have been killed and about 430,000 have been left homeless in Cabo Delgado province alone since 2017.

It is easy to bury our heads in the sand, but ignoring events that shape our world has ramifications. Whether it’s the butterfly effect or the domino effect, every action has a reaction somewhere. Many believe that a life worth living changes the course of history by being a counterweight to the evil that lurks in the shadows. Positive actions can also have positive reactions elsewhere.

This starts with overcoming our blind spots. Freedom House says that, “In every region of the world, democracy is under attack by populist leaders and groups that reject pluralism and demand unchecked power to advance the particular interests of their supporters, usually at the expense of minorities and other perceived foes.” Indeed, there has been a marked decline in democracy around the world and a strengthening and retrenchment of tyrannies.

We cannot afford for this to happen. We cannot sleep while our beds are burning. Its our responsibility as a free nation to advance peace, freedom and democracy around the globe. I only take one exception with Midnight Oil — keep dancing as long as our earth is turning. That brings hope, optimism, happiness, friendship and resilience.

"My people were brought to America in chains.  Your people were driven here to escape the chains fashioned for them in Europe" - MLK

America celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day every January. MLK as he is affectionately called changed America and the world forever. Through his non-violent activism in the civil rights movement, MLK advocated for rights, freedoms and equality - something we need now more than ever. 

It is clear that the fight for civil rights is far from over and that we must work harder. 

MLK became the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, just four years before he was assassinated.  He participated in and led the march in Selma, resulting in the Voting Rights Act, legislation that helped African Americans exercise their right to vote. 

According to one report, "King preached on the unity and similarity of the Jewish and Black communities in 1958 at a American Jewish Congress meeting. “My people were brought to America in chains. Your people were driven here to escape the chains fashioned for them in Europe. Our unity is born of our common struggle for centuries, not only to rid ourselves of bondage, but to make oppression of any people by others an impossibility,” King said.

It's widely known that Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, considered a major figure and theologian in the Jewish community, was a close friend and supporter of MLK.  He was said to have been photographed with MLK marching in Selma. He presented the Judaism and World Peace award to King in 1965.

"Much of my work and effort over the years in countering hate and discrimination has been based on the courage and heroism of MLK.  I continue to study and gain strength from his courage, his imperfections and his personal sacrifice" 

Maybe it’s COVID fatigue, but lately, every week seems to be carrying with it a different theme song in my head.  Since Zoom became a way of life 10 months ago, its been mostly “Zombie” by the Cranberries. But since last week’s rampage on the United States Capitol, the radio frequency changed, replacing “Zombie” with the “Land of Confusion” by Genesis.

Its lyrics express our deepest level of anxiety: we “must’ve dreamed a thousand dreams; been haunted by a million screams,” and we can “hear the marching feet; they’re moving into the street.”

There simply is no other way to express the confusion, paralysis and fear everyone is feeling about the events taking place around us. How can we ignore the sight of violent rioters rampaging through American streets that began with the George Floyd protests in the spring? People fighting in the streets. Shootings. Buildings desecrated. Broken glass everywhere. We are all losing sleep.

Hoping that “danger’s gone away,” we turn to each other wearily each morning and ask in despair, “Did you read the news today”? Yes, the so-called “news” that is fed to us each day by a biased, agenda-driven media. Politicians look to score points at our expense. Who to believe? Some incite. Others lie. They promise that “the danger’s gone away.”

In this land of confusion, the only truth-teller between the pandemic shutdown, insurrection and impeachment proceedings in Washington is my theme song’s haunting words: “I can see the fire’s still alight, burning into the night. There’s too many men. Too many people making too many problems. And not much love to go ’round. Can’t you see this is a land of confusion”?

Most days, it feels like we are living in the biblical story of the metaphorical Tower of Babel. The story goes something like this: Humanity was finally united after the Great Flood (The Great War for us). We spoke a single language and lived peacefully. Eventually, we became arrogant, materialistic and egotistical to the extent of even wanting to build a tower into the heavens. Naturally, disagreements ensued. We became divided, disorganized and confused. We spoke different languages. The tower came tumbling down.

Likewise, America is divided. An armed insurrection on inauguration day is now anticipated. If America fails, we all fail. How did we get here? “Everything’s gone wrong somehow. The men of steel, men of power, are losing control by the hour.” Where are they now? Where is our stability? Where is our rock?  “Ooh Superman, where are you now”?

The pandemic hasn’t helped. It has jeopardized our well-being. It has distanced us from each other, creating a real and present danger to the very foundation of our communal life. The incongruities of daily alerts from authorities coupled with a disorganized distribution of the vaccine and weak leadership has degraded our faith in government and institutions.

There is no “Superman” coming to rescue us. What’s necessary in these times of trouble is leadership, strength and conviction. As a nation, we must go back to our foundational roots of faith, morality, compassion and kindness. Figuratively speaking, we must speak one language again. Our path forward must include one step back to our very beginning — of service to our nation and to each other. A step back to our national Genesis.

Those were the days when we came together in spirit and conviction and self-sacrifice. We fought and died for our freedom and our democracy. We have to try our hardest to get out of this land of confusion, because as the song pleads, “This is the world we live in. And these are the hands we’re given. Use them and let’s start trying. To make it a place worth living in.”

These are young people who have been traumatized by events beyond their control, sealed in their homes with little social contact and, in all likelihood, will experience lasting psychological effects

Students returned to school with a changed perspective about the world around them. School officials have been busy working on plans for how to safely reopen schools, but have they given enough consideration to the transformative psychological and social impact the pandemic has had on our children and teens? Are educators prepared to confront a radically changed student cohort?

These are young people who have been traumatized by events beyond their control. They have been sealed in their homes with little social contact and, in all likelihood, will experience lasting psychological effects from the events of the past six months. They are being tasked with returning to some form of education — whether in class, online or some other form — while following strict health protocols: wear a mask all day; social distance from your friends; walk on the other side of the hallway; no extracurricular activities!

These are kids who have been destabilized. They have seen their parents’ lives disrupted. People around them have fallen ill and perhaps died. They’ve faced fear, anxiety and depression. Given the newness of this disruption, psychologists are only now beginning to assess the pandemic’s true impact. 

One recent survey conducted by Harris Poll found that seven out of 10 teenagers were struggling with their mental health in some way. More than half said they experienced anxiety, 45 per cent said they felt excess stress and 43 per cent told pollsters that they have struggled with depression.

Children and teens are adaptable, but most experts argue that a stable environment and a predictable routine is healthiest for growth and development. Sadly, it is entirely possible that any routine established this fall will be disrupted by the coming second wave of the virus. Unless parents and educators speak to their children about this social volatility, they will feel hopeless about their future, about their dreams and aspirations.

Let’s not pretend that this return to school is business as usual. Our education system needs to address the psychological, and even socio-economic, needs of students. The curriculum itself must change to reflect these needs and the changed world in which we live.

As parents and educators, we should worry about our children’s loss of innocence. We are all witnesses to these same events, which are beyond our control. We see political scandal after scandal, as our leaders plainly deceive, conspire and make empty promises. We see rising racial tensions and violence in the United States, Canada and abroad. We try to hide our fear, our concern for our kids’ future (and ours), in order to protect and insulate them. But the shock and awe of this turmoil is wearing everyone down.

Still, socialization is healthier than isolation. A return to  some form of normalcy is a welcome relief for most teachers, parents and students. At the same time, we all have the double burden of maintaining health and safety standards, while exhibiting care and compassion for our young people. We have one chance to seize this opportunity, to demonstrate to them that they matter. Let’s not let this moment pass us by.

There is no place on Earth like Canada – the land of the free. Canada is perfect for anyone seeking a life of relative tranquility, peace, freedom, equality and opportunity. That’s why more people immigrate to Canada – 250,000 per year approximately – than almost anywhere else on the planet. 

Canada is the second-largest land mass on the planet, blessed with plenty of water and magnificent lakes, rivers and mountains. Its people are resilient given the harsh winters, yet caring, compassionate and mostly respectful of one another.

Yet Canada continues to be a work in progress, having progressed and sometimes regressed over the last 150 years since nationhood. We should celebrate but not be satisfied that our work is done.

Our national shame is our treatment of the indigenous community. Canada is a first-world nation, but within Canada there are indigenous people who are worse off than people living in third-world countries. According to Scott Gilmore in MacLean’s, indigenous communities have an “unemployment rate worse than Sudan… and infant mortality rate worse than Russia.”  

I was shocked to learn “there are 89 communities without safe drinking water”; that “the murder rate is worse than Somalia’s and the incarceration rate is the highest in the world”; and that “a child is more likely to be sexually assaulted than to graduate high school.” According to an RCMP report, 1,017 indigenous women and girls have been murdered in Canada between 1980 and 2012 – a homicide rate roughly 4.5 times that of all women. How can this possibly be in our beloved Canada?

Our country is great, but it’s taking us a while to reconcile with the past and fix the present. It was not until 2008 that then-prime minister Stephen Harper apologized for the dreadful residential school system that destroyed many lives. In fact, only last week on National Aboriginal Day did Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announce that the name of the building which houses his office would change from Hector-Louis Langevin – the architect of the residential school system – to the “Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council.” 

While we are strong and free, this was not always the case for everyone. It is hard to believe Indigenous Peoples – the originals on this land – were only given the right to vote federally in 1960. As difficult to comprehend today, the disturbing “Chinese Exclusion Act” was repealed in 1947, granting Chinese-Canadians the right to vote in federal elections. Fifty-one years after Canada’s Confederation in 1867 – the “Women’s Franchise Act” was passed permitting all women to vote in federal elections. But it was not until 1929 that Canadian women were declared to be “persons under law.” 

Some Canadians certainly noticed and tried to beat down the prevalent racism and inequality in this country. Canada was forced into introspection when it signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1947. Our greatest achievement from a human rights perspective was that it was crafted by Canadian John Peters Humphrey – an opportunity for Canada to truly become the land of the free. 

The declaration was signed only a year after most Canadians said they opposed Jewish immigration. Who could forget that Canada would not give refuge to Jewish immigrants trying to flee the Nazis between 1933 and 1945 and how it refused entry to the St. Louis, a ship carrying 907 German-Jewish refugees, in 1939?

The horrible internment of more than 20,000 Japanese in 1942 and the continuous legacy of the “Chinese Head Tax” beginning in 1885 give us pause. Canada’s consciousness began evolving when in 1971 the federal government introduced multiculturalism as a policy of acceptance of ethnic identity. Things progressed from there. In 1977, the Canadian Human Rights Commission was established and in 1982 the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was introduced.  

In 1985, people such as Jim Keegstra could no longer promote hate against Jews. Women were required to be fully integrated into regular and reserve Canadian Forces in 1988. In 1990, Sikhs were permitted to wear turbans while in RCMP uniform. In 2005, the Civil Marriage Act was passed, making same-sex marriages legal in Canada, and in 2006 the prime minister apologized in the House of Commons for the Chinese Head Tax. Canada must still endeavour to correct the injustice of its indigenous population, and this began in 2008 with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

For all of our gains, lately it feels like we still have to continue fighting to ensure Canada remains strong and free. Let’s proudly celebrate our birthday – and pray that “God keep our land glorious and free.”

If the legacy of the Holocaust has given us anything, it is the hollow cry of Never Again. The last 76 years has shown us that if we want to act, if we want to stand up in the face of injustice, we need to do more than shout Never Again. But how do we live Never Again?
What does it mean to act on Never Again? 

And yet, Never Again has been the thesis and theory behind so many Holocaust education programs. We have failed. Since the Holocaust, we failed in Cambodia, in Rwanda, in the Sudan, and now we are failing again in China. Never Again was meant to be a global stance, a rallying cry for nations to stand up against and call out injustice. 

Today, it is a whispering echo, disengaged from how our students experience the world and how educators approach their pedagogy. Sure, students can recite these two words, but are we teaching and practicing their fulfilment? Given this reflection and a global legacy of political platitudes and photo opts, we need to accept that something is not working. Maybe it is our educational system, or maybe it is our approach. Maybe it is both.

Taking up the challenge of the latter, as experts in education, we now believe that we have been doing Holocaust education wrong all these years.  Instead of teaching good character, we taught information in a factual, linear method. For instance, we taught people how Hitler rose to power – but not how the German people were supposed to grapple with the ethical dilemma they were thrust into. 

When students asked us how the Holocaust could have happened, we explained it to them but failed to engage with them on a human level. Instead of teaching kindness and compassion, we told students about the Final Solution. When students asked us questions, we turned to blurry black and white photos, Hollywood movies, or textbooks, all disconnected from how education and media can be used as tools of socio-political indoctrination.  

Instead of teaching how to take action in the face of injustice (and requiring them to do so), we have been teaching them about Nazi propaganda. 

We have failed to demonstrate, connect, and engage. Education is performance art; it's experiential, it's kinetic, it's about getting in the sandbox, getting our hands dirty, tasting, touching, smelling. There is a saying that you cannot learn how to ride a bicycle from a textbook, and yet this text-book reliance has seemingly been our approach to Holocaust and human rights education. We failed to listen to Anne Frank who, having witnessed the devolution of humanity, said,  "Human greatness does not lie in wealth or power, but in character and goodness." 

            All too often, we overemphasize wealth and power.  Frank’s warning stands the test of time: wealth and power do not necessarily have a moral compass.  Human greatness is achieved through deed, conviction, and principled action. Our fractured world is a testament to the necessity of building moral and ethical humans who differentiate between right and wrong.

As educators observing the rise of antisemitism, hate and intolerance, we are ready to deliver pedagogy that will create new educational underpinnings that may literally save humanity from itself. The Abraham Global Peace Initiative is a novel foundation that has developed unique systems of understanding humanity and human rights education. 

While not new to educational discourse, we are integrating character education as an intellectual, participatory, and philosophical endeavour to engage in and with students, teachers, and global communities. We aim to hone critical thinking skills and develop what feels like a natural moral compass. We also aim to highlight a philosophical antecedent to character education that encompasses a broad range of perspectives dating from antiquity: the humanist tradition.

A humanist understanding of character as pertaining to character education maybe traced to Aristotle’s “moral virtues possessed by a good human being” and Cicero’s insistence on the importance of the human community and aiming for what is right as being worth more than any other value. The Greek word eudaimonia, which Plato and Aristotle typically used to identify thegoal of life, can best be translated as the ideal of the fully human life. 

This ideal includes exercising our capacity for rational thought in both the use of judgment in practical affairs and the theoretical contemplation of intellectual truths. In a similar vein, classical humanist understandings of character call for virtuous action and a need to participate morally in the world. English Renaissance poet Sir Philip Sidney described this virtue when speaking on the purpose of knowledge and education. 

The purpose of education, he holds, is not only a “private end in [itself] . . . directed to the highest end of the mistress knowledge”; but rather it is a broader pursuit which must include “knowledge of a man’s [sic] self, in the ethic and politic consideration, with the end of well doing and not of well knowing only.”  

We assert that human rights education should enable students to involve themselves in the deepest problems of society, to acquire the knowledge, the skills, and the ethical vocabulary necessary for what philosopher and former Czech president Vaclav Havel (1998) called “the richest possible participation in public life.”

Yes, we must still teach the fundamentals of the Holocaust and other horrific encounters in human history in our effort to ensure they never happen again. Of course, we should teach about the rise of Nazism.  Naturally, we should teach about the ghetto system and concentration and death camps. Of course! But we need to go deeper: critically inquire, interrogate, and intentionally interrupt our practice. 

We need to do better. We are passionate about education and moral development and in doing so grapple with how moral development and character education intersect in a world where we need more upstanders over bystanders. The Abraham Global Peace Initiative believes that an environment conducive to character education is one that facilitates learners’ active and meaningful participation in righting global injustice. This is the way forward. This is how human rights education can be reimagined and fulfilled. 

We know that rather than being told what to think, students need tools to learn how to think critically. To confront the impending dangers in our world today, strife and turmoil, the Abraham Global Peace Initiative will soon be deploying a global human rights curriculum that builds in a strong character component. 

NOTE: This article was originally published in the National Post on July 9, 2021