--- Sponsor's Message -------------------------------------- Does Windows ME Work for You? Tell it to the list! Join our special technology discussion. http://click.topica.com/aaaa4Jbz8SnrbAjwjxa/technology ------------------------------------------------------------ SUPPORT DR. DAVID LETHBRIDGE __________________________________________________________________________ The Internet Anti-Fascist: Wednesday, 14 February 2001 Special Supplement (#513) __________________________________________________________________________ If You Value the Struggle Against Racism and Anti-Semitism, We Appeal to You .... A JUDGE'S REMARKS: "I conclude that Eileen Pressler and the CPA (Council on Public Affairs) are missionaries for anti-Semitism and pro-white racism. ... Eileen Pressler and the CPA have committed the tort of publicly inciting hatred against identifiable groups, namely, persons of Jewish background and those of non-white origin. ...The (CPA) Digest expresses views that can only be described as viciously white supremacist, racist, and anti -Semitic. Such viewpoints go beyond what is acceptable in a free and democratic society. They engender hatred of identifiable groups in violation of the Criminal Code. Thus they are beyond the pale of the law. They are both tortious and criminal. ... The instances of engendering hatred of identifiable groups in the Digest are legion. ... Eileen Pressler, by way of the CPA, has advertised and promoted several books which can only be classified as virulently anti-Semitic. ... Insofar as Eileen Pressler is concerned, her rabid views, as they would be regarded by all reasonable people, have in many instances been expressed in a manner that I can only regard as unlawful." -- Justice Owen-Flood, 20 May 1998. AN IMPORTANT LAWSUIT: Ia complex civil lawsuit, anti-racist activist Dr. David Lethbridge was found to have defamed Eileen Pressler and Claus Pressler. The suit alleged that Lethbridge defamed the plaintiffs on two grounds -- the first involving racism and antisemitism; the second involving the use to which new property acquired by the Presslers would be put. Dr. Lethbridge lost the suit, and has now lost a subsequent appeal. Essentially, the judges found that Eileen Pressler and her organization were indeed racist and antisemitic, but that the Presslers had been defamed on the property issue. Dr. Lethbridge must now pay between $50,000 and $75,000 -- the exact figure has yet to be determined. These funds must be raised, and very soon! If you value the struggle against racism, antisemitism, and hate propaganda, we appeal to you to help pay these legal costs. WHAT DID LETHBRIDGE SAY? On a CBC television show concerning rumors about property owned by Elieen and Claus Pressler, Lethbridge was asked if he was the source of the rumors. He said that he was not, and that it was his opinion that citizens were concerned about the Pressler property because the organization Pressler ran was anti-Semitic and racist. When Lethbridge was asked if he gave any credence to the rumor that paramilitary training might be carried out on the property, he explicitly denied the rumor, saying "They're not going to do paramilitary training; they never have." Lethbridge then said that it was his opinion that the property would be used to "hold conventions of extreme right-wingers and print and distribute literature which lies on the border of hate literature." He also said that the property would be defended in the sense that it would be impossible to get into, and difficult to picket since it was right on the highway. (Trial testimony revealed that the CPA offices were indeed on the rumored property, and that hate literature was indeed sold from that location.) Strangely, the trial judge and the appeal judges found that Lethbridge's few remarks constituted "defamatory libel" against Eileen and Claus Pressler. The appeal judges further claimed that Lethbridge's off-broadcast repetition to the TV reporter of rumors he had heard at a meeting of concerned citizens somehow constituted the basis for the entire TV show, and that Lethbridge was therefore responsible for the TV broadcast itself! WHO IS EILEEN PRESSLER? In the 1980s, Eileen Pressler was the president of the Salmon Arm chapter of the BC Free Speech League which, according to the Canadian Jewish Congress, was "in reality a vehicle for anti-Semitism and Holocaust- denial." At a meeting of the Pressler chapter, a version of the viciously anti-Jewish "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" was distributed. In the late 1980s and 1990s, Pressler founded and ran the Council on Public Affairs (CPA), and edited the CPA Digest. The Digest carried materials from a number of neo-Nazi sources. The assistant editor, Leonard Saunders, was an open Holocaust-denier who expressed an extreme hatred of Jews. The associate editor Eustace Mullins, was a long-time neo-Nazi, and prolific author of hate literature. Pressler held "Leadership Conferences" where such notable hate-mongers as Ernst Zundel, Jim Keegstra, David Irving, Bo Gritz, and many others were invited to speak. The courts found that Eileen Pressler and the CPA were indeed racist and anti-Semitic. The courts did not find that Claus Pressler's attendance at Council on Public Affairs functions, nor his appearance at other right-extremist functions, nor his published remarks claiming that historical accounts of the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews were "a battleship of lies," nor his employment of Ku Klux Klan spokesperson Janice Miller Long at his pharmacy constituted evidence of racism or antisemitism. WHO IS DAVID LETHBRIDGE? David Lethbridge has been an untiring anti-racist worker for many years. He has played a primary role in exposing and combating the neo-Nazi Aryan Nations organization across Canada, and helped force the resignation of its two top leaders. He has worked successfully against the KKK, the antisemitic Canadian League of Rights, the racist Canadian British-Israel Association and numerous other far-right formations. He has played a significant role in exposing and combating fascist Internet sites and bookstores. He has traveled across the country speaking out and organizing resistance. He is the founder of the Salmon Arm Coalition Against Racism (SACAR), and the Bethune Institute for Anti-Fascist Studies. WHY THIS IS A POLITICAL STRUGGLE AND NOT A PERSONAL ISSUE Clearly, this lawsuit is part of a longer and deeper struggle against racial hatred and bigotry. David Lethbridge sought no personal gain over those whom he opposed. Indeed, over many years of combating bigotry, he has spent thousands of dollars of his own money, and has put his personal safety on the line time and again. The struggle to expose and eliminate organized racial hatred is a community struggle and a political struggle. The response to this lawsuit must equally be a community and a political response. HOW YOU CAN HELP: The personal effect of the legal decision is financially devastating for Dr. Lethbridge. He simply does not have the money to make the necessary payments, and stands to lose both house and home. There are several ways that you can help and can demonstrate your solidarity. * You can make a substantial direct financial donation. This is most important. Please give generously. * You can start a "dollar campaign:" send a dollar, and make sure that one other person you know sends a dollar, and that the person you asked asks another person to send a dollar, and so on. In that way, the appeal campaign fans out to wider and wider circles. Almost everyone can afford a dollar, and there must be 75,000 people who would send a dollar to demonstrate their solidarity against racism. * You, or an organization you belong to, can hold a concert or some other public benefit, to raise the necessary funds. Please send all cheques, money orders, or cash donations to: Lethbridge Defence: 1481 Okanagan Avenue Salmon Arm, BC, Canada, V1E 1N5 __________________________________________________________________________ FASCISM: We have no ethical right to forgive, no historical right to forget. 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