Stop Blaming the Victims

It's amazing how spin works. First a bad thing happens, then the most powerful group, usually the one responsible for the bad action manipulates the media and consequently the public into siding with them and ignoring the facts. A clear example of this manipulation is the continuous barrage of condemnations heaped upon the organizers of the September 9 cancelled speech by former Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu.

Let's look at the facts. Netanyahu was invited to speak at Concordia University as part of a four city speaking tour. The lecture hall was booked according to university rules, extra security was arranged and at the request of Concordia security tickets were distributed to interested participants at the discretion of the organizing group.

Yes, it's true that Concordia University security felt that the downtown campus would pose a security risk, but nobody has asked why. Why would there be less security downtown than on the suggested Loyola campus? Why is it that a former Prime Minister of a democratic state is labeled a provocation before he even speaks, but Jewish speaker Norman Finkelstein, a man who constantly refers to Israelis as Nazis is not? Why can the likes of Louis Farrakhan, Khalid Mohammed and even former South African President F.W. Declerk speak at Concordia without incident, but Netanyahu had to be cancelled?

Could it possibly be that the tensions between Jewish and Arab students at Concordia were so high that even the thought of bringing a pro-Israel speaker on the main campus would erupt a volcano of emotions that the institution felt they couldn't control? Does the campus Hillel group have less rights than the Society for Palestinian Human Rights or the Bangladeshi Students Organization in bringing in speakers?

Where was the security? For weeks prior to the Netanyahu event, posters and pamphlets were being hung and distributed calling on Concordia students to stop Netanyahu from speaking. Basically, a frenzy was being built up under the noses of Concordia security who did nothing to stop it. The posters were still hanging in front of the building on September 9 when rioters kicked in the windows. Should the university security not have guaranteed a peaceful event by removing the posters and controlling protest organizers?

Where were the riot police? Shouldn't they have created a perimeter around the university to ensure safe entry and exit from the institution? When they saw that the crowd of protestors on De Maisonneuve was getting out of hand, should they not have removed them from the street? When an organizer got on the roof of a vehicle with a loudspeaker and urged the crowd to stop Netanyahu "any way possible" should they not have taken action?

Bishop street, the entry point for ticket holders was run over by rioters in less than two minutes. Ticket holders were pinned against the building, some were roughed up including a Rabbi and his wife. A Holocaust survivor was kicked in the groin. Where were the police?

When rioters overran the escalators inside the lobby of the Hall Building, why were riot police not called in to remove them? Why is it that the police department had to request entry to the building three times before they were admitted?

A university is supposed to be an institution of higher education. It is supposed to be a forum for open discussion, open debate and a platform for varying political ideologies. Here's a novel concept, if you don't like a speaker don't attend the speech.

It's easy to blame the victim, but in reality Concordia Hillel had the right to invite whomever they pleased to speak on campus and the university had the responsibility to ensure the safety of all participants. Let's place the blame where it belongs. The university administration failed their students, failed their institution and failed themselves. The police failed to protect peaceful participants who followed the rules and a group of thugs managed to stifle democracy and freedom in downtown Montreal. What a shame.

Howard Silbiger is a local journalist and a Concordia University alumni.