Columns

“The Maclean’s article, and others like it, are examples of [Islamophobia]. By portraying Muslims as all sharing the same negative characteristics, including being a threat to ‘the West’, this explicit expression of Islamophobia further perpetuates and promotes prejudice towards Muslims and others. An extreme illustration of this is a 'blog' discussion concerning the article that was brought to the attention of the Commission which, among many things, called for the mass killing, deportation or conversion of Muslim Canadians.”

-- Barbara Hall, Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission

"As settlements grew (there are now almost a half million Israelis living in settlements in these occupied lands), not only did Palestinians lose ancestral lands and agricultural areas, they also lost freedom of movement, their way of life, and their hope for the future."

"If Obama surrenders to his advisers and to the Satan whispering in his ear, he may gain votes from the other camp but lose his credibility, and not only in his own camp. The public may decide, instinctively, that "he hasn't got it". That, after all, he is not the leader one can trust."

"ONCE UPON a time, the Israelis were absorbed both by football games and the political game. There was a profound emotional involvement in both. Now only football remains, a game played by transparent rules. What one sees is what is there. One can watch it without revulsion, while politics arouses general contempt and abhorrence."

"A CEASEFIRE is not peace (salaam), and not even an armistice or truce (hudnah). It is no more than an agreement between combatants to stop shooting for some time."

"Leaders have responsibilities to face - and so do you. You who have been given the opportunities to succeed here should remember those who shaped you: your families, your community, your country and all its people."

"Both men now share center stage, having proven their political skills in this difficult campaign. Each will present their competing political solutions to the problems plaguing U.S. foreign policy, the U.S. economy, and the role of government in addressing a myriad of social issues. As compelling as these differences will be, and as substantive as the debate over their proposed solutions ought to be, always before us will be these two competing narratives and images of what it means to be an American that each conveys."

"Grotesquely, the insurance and hospital industries at the center of health care in the United States are, in effect, profiting from priorities that condemn many people to death and many more to avoidable suffering."