Well, that's the way to deal with things. Hats off to the Calgary City Police and the University of Calgary for moving misbehaving people off the university property promptly, and efficiently.As any parent knows, you get more of the behaviour that you reward. The converse is also true. Behaviour you deeply deplore that is not dealt with in a firm and timely manner is likely to be repeated again, and again, as the US is finding as pro-Hamas 'encampments' spring up all over the U.S. Note to Edmonton: Move in, get it done, move on. .It is obligatory to say of course, that in Canada we have a right to protest. What we don’t have is a right to trespass, and trespass was the basis for the police action.So don't even go there. I don't disagree but in this situation I am happy to let somebody else make the case in favour of the free expression of vile and anti-semitic rhetoric in support of a vile and anti-semitic group of people who just want to kill Jews. Or for that matter, any other identifiable group of people. Go ahead, please. And in support of your case, name three occasions when in Canada, we have ever permitted such a thing in the name of free speech... or even once?Let us also not be distracted by the discussion of whether these were even university students.Certainly in other jurisdictions, it has turned out that pro-Hamas 'encampments' were fortified by the presence of people who were not registered at the institution. Who were they? How did they get there in such numbers? Is some shadowy and malevolent billionaire facilitating this activity? And who is producing and distributing 'Palestinian' flags fresh out of the plastic bag, by the thousand for continent-wide distribution?'Truth will out' eventually.Meanwhile, does all this seem rather more organized than spontaneous? Of course it is. Read on.But in a larger sense, it doesn't really matter who they were. What does matter is that this is not a spontaneous eruption of sympathy for people who live in Gaza. This is part of something bigger.Don't kid yourself; this time last year, few of the people in the tents could have found Gaza on a map. Among people of sophomore age, the level of general ignorance is legendary.Unfortunately, that ignorance extends to the recent history of the Jewish people. Thus, people who a year ago might have seen enough Hollywood movies to scream how much they hated Nazis, now cheer for people who act like Nazis.(So much for the benefit to Jews of 'owning' Hollywood, eh?)The bigger picture here is that this is just the latest cause intended by its leftist instigators to weaken the confidence of the citizen in the free, tolerant society that we in the West have enjoyed for a few centuries.A couple of years ago, it was Black Lives Matter. In Canada it was (and continues to be) the yet-to-be-proven allegation of priestly murder in residential schools. And if Israel collapsed, its people murdered and 'Palestine was free from the river to the sea,' it would move on to something else.Because for the left, the issue is not the issue. It is rather the ongoing struggle to delegitimize and then overthrow liberal democracy, so that they can exercise control, reward those who they wish to reward and punish those they wish to punish.For, there always is an out-group to blame for all that is said to be wrong, upon whom to focus hatred and who must suffer punishment... the aristocrats in France in 1793, the Russian bourgeoisie in 1917, and in Nazi Germany, well the same people who are fighting for their lives in Israel today. For those with a deeper interest in the storms that disturb the waters of humanity, I recommend Crane Brinton's 1938 'The Anatomy of Revolution,' and Saul Alinsky's 1971 'Rules for Radicals,' one anti-revolution, the other all about 'bringing it home.' (Sorry Pierre!)So, see pro-Palestinian encampments for what they are, the revolutionary tool of the day.The weakness of western liberal democracy is our conceit that all ideas must be accepted equally, because nobody has a right to tell somebody else what they must think, say or believe. Such liberty of thought is a magnificent aspiration, and it has in fact allowed our anglosphere society to change slowly for the better in the centuries during which it has defined our politics.Nevertheless, there are good ideas and bad ideas. And while people are free to believe what they want about the Jews, we owe no respect to those among them who celebrate the rape, torture, burnings and kidnappings of October 7, and demand more of the same.Because if that's what you have in mind for the Jews, God knows what you would do if you had the power to do it....It is a peculiarity of our age, that a law against trespass became the mechanism society used to push back against revolutionaries. So be it. Whatever works.The point is, if you value freedom, you do have to push back when the revolution comes a-calling. In the past, I have been harshly critical of leadership at the University of Calgary. Today, I am happy to credit them with having the balls to order the right thing done, and congratulate the Calgary Police Service for doing it professionally.As for the rest of us, our job is to back these people up when they defend our way of life. Liberal democracy is a good way to live. But, it requires the rule of law.What those of us who pay attention to these things have discovered, is that there are plenty of people who wish to steal, what we do not bother to defend.
