McHale: United We Stand — Divided We Fall

Editor’s Note: This special op-ed was submitted to Landmark Report by activist Gary McHale. To shorten this article to editorial standards, portions have been edited that do not effect the intent of the article.

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United We Stand – Divided We Fall
By Gary McHale

This past weekend, key representatives from various groups in Ontario, Canada, the United States and Britain gathered in Toronto to talk about the growing concern that Western Countries have turned their backs on equality of law for all citizens. While Ontario struggles with the reality that Native protesters see themselves as exempt from the law and are, in fact, not held accountable in the same way as non-Natives, the rest of the western world struggles with the increased special rights given to Muslims.

This gathering was by invitation only to various lawyers, activists, political insiders and a few church leaders. It was held secretly due to the fact that the guest speaker has a world-wide death order against him. A man, I’ll call ‘Bob,’ was a Sharia court jurist in a Muslim country for many years until he rejected Islam and moved to a European country. (Sharia Law is the system whereby people are executed for adultery, hands are cut off for stealing etc.)

We listened to Bob for three days. We also listened to a speaker from Dearborn, Michigan because, in Dearborn, there are already sections of the city that are considered to be no longer U.S. soil — where Sharia Law is practiced and US authorities do little to uphold the law. Bob is an informal advisor to various high level politicians in Europe.

On Sept. 11, 2005, Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty publicly stated, “There will be no sharia law in Ontario.” McGuinty said his government intends to provide “one law for all Ontarians.” Six months later, the illegal occupation by Natives of the Douglas Creek Estates (DCE), in Caledonia, started and suddenly there was no longer “one law for all”.

What was interesting to hear from people from the U.S., England, France, etc. was how the governments are reacting exactly the same way whether it is Caledonia or Amsterdam. The appeasement of extremists in order to avoid enforcing the law has only caused the problem to get worse.

The full force of the state is used to silence law-abiding citizens instead of arresting those who openly commit acts of violence. Three times the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have arrested me, and twice they failed to get a conviction and they will fail again. Of course, their goal isn’t a conviction, but travel restrictions and intimidation.

In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders, a member of Parliament, was charged in order to silence him. Six years ago, virtually no one had heard of Wilders. He formed a federal party and in just two elections he has become the leader of the opposition. While the state continues to prosecute him, the polls show that he is set to form the government in the next election — the state has failed to silence him.

What has happened in Ontario, in Michigan, and throughout European countries is that governments have created land areas where state authorities refuse to enforce the law. These areas become lawless areas governed by radicals who demonstrate to the government their willingness to use violence. Government finds it easier to appease violent groups than to uphold the Rule of Law.

What many people in the Haldimand region do not know is how much the occupiers of DCE have been supported by the various radical groups from around the world. There is little doubt that these groups understand that if they can force the police and government to cave in and allow sections of land to be viewed as non-Canadian territories then it is far easier for the next group to get their strip of land governed solely by their own laws.

These strips of land will not be subject to Canadian law nor the Charter of Rights and Freedoms — This is exactly what we have seen in Caledonia.

In 2006, the occupiers of DCE proudly listed out seven Palestinian groups that supported the occupiers and one group helped raise a Palestinian Flag on DCE. By August 2006, the occupiers joined an anti-Israel rally in Toronto. A Caledonia resident happened to be in downtown Toronto and photographed Six Nations protesters marching right beside supporters of Hezbollah — a terrorist group. The photos from the rally show Mohawk Warrior flags proudly flying beside a poster of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nazrullah, who has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel.

Other supporters of the occupation of DCE have appeared wearing t-shirts supporting the Tamil Tigers — another group on Canada’s terrorist list.

In 2006, other groups listed by the occupiers as supporters are; B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, B.C Latin-American Collective, Bolivia Solidarity Committee, Canadian Network for Democratic Nepal, Haiti Solidarity B.C, Iranian Federation of Refugees, Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance, South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy, Anti-Capitalist Community Forum and many others.

What the DCE has to do with Bolivia, Philippines, Nepal, Iran or Haiti is a mystery to me but it has become a lot clearer after hearing the reports from the various speakers this past weekend.

Canada, the U.S. and European countries have well established laws with a wealth of judicial history that ensures all citizens are protected and benefit by being equal before the law. There are those who know they cannot change the law in order to have areas exempt from the State Law so they simply use violence to force government to overlook who is controlling sections of land.

This is why the battle in Caledonia must be won. The police and government cannot be allowed to believe they can turn over areas in Canada where the Rule of Law doesn’t apply.

Our future depends on winning.