Letter to George Galloway and the Canadian Israeli committee.
As an activist for peace ……I fully support the idea that George Galloway be allowed into Canada. However, I would like to see Mr. Galloway and his supporters invite the Canadian Israeli Committee to participate in this event.
I think that if we ever want to find peace in this world we need to do much better than sit with a group of like minded individuals who agree with each other, and stew over the disgust we have for our enemies.
In all my years of working in this field, I have never seen Mr. Galloway support terrorists. If he had taking guns and bombs into Gaza instead of food and medicines as he actually did, then I would think otherwise. I personally like the man. I also admire his work in Iraq. Critics say that he praised Saddam when he was in Iraq but I saw him give lectures in north America where he said very unflattering things about Saddam. I believe it took courage to say what he said because he would then go back to Iraq knowing full well that those speeches would have been well noted by the Saddam regime. (I doubt Galloway’s critics would have had the same courage).
I also believe that the Canadian Israeli Committee have legitimate concerns that should not be dismissed out of hand. There is enough hate in this world without throwing gasoline over everything. A one sided presentation would tend to do that and I imagine that is what the Canadian Jewish Committee were worried about when they supported our governments stand on blocking Mr. Galloway from entering Canada. I have great compassion for their fears and everyone should acknowledge that and try to understand what they need.
Having said all the above….The people of Canada deserve more from Mr, Galloway.
Unfortunately his well intentioned approach reaches only those who already agree with him which is sad because he has a great grasp on facts and if a different approach were taken he could reach the very people who disagree with him.
Canadians would be much better off participating in an event where presentations and questions were welcomed from both sides of this debate.
We need to move beyond this approach as World Peace depends on it.
Deryk Houston
My work was Featured in the NFB documentary “From Baghdad to Peace Country” http://coastnet.com/dhouston/
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