scaramouche

Friday, 03 July 2009

Ducking into the tepee for cover: A former CAF executive who expressed some, ahem, colourful birthday greetings to his adopted home and native land is attempting to deflect the flak by hiding behind Aboriginals, as the National Post reports:

A former vice-president of the Canadian Arab Federation is not backing down after posting "F---Canada Day" on his personal Facebook page.

Omar Shaban, a 22-year-old university student, resigned from the CAF's executive on Wednesday night after his comments, which also referred to Canada as a "genocidal state," provoked an online backlash. Rather than apologize for his remarks, however, he published an extensive blog post yesterday defending them.

"I regret the dark history this country has," he wrote. "We are only lying to ourselves if we deny the dark past that Canada was founded on. Canada Day is seen as tragic by its true indigenous population. When Canada Day is celebrated for true freedom and not mourned by the indigenous population of Canada for its colonial and dark past, I will gladly show them my support."

Earlier this week, Mr. Shaban posted on Facebook that he "couldn't be more ashamed to be Canadian." He also wrote, "Might as well kill more natives ... as a token of support for this genocidal state." As opposition swelled on Canada Day, the CAF released a statement distancing the organization from Mr. Shaban, saying it "is proud of its Canadian identity and heritage" and the comments "in no way reflect of CAF nor its feelings towards Canada."

Mohamed Boudjenane, the CAF's executive director, referred to Mr. Shaban's comments as a "stupid faux pas."

"He made a stupid mistake we don't agree with, he resigned and the board accepted his resignation," Mr. Boudjenane said. "Omar Shaban is a young activist.... Obviously he holds certain views in respect to First Nations' rights and he expressed them on Facebook. That has nothing to do with CAF as an organization, but they will be used against us. We're not surprised."

Since his resignation, Mr. Shaban says he has received supportive emails from members of the native community.

Mr. Shaban's online commentary came at a particularly bad time for the CAF, an umbrella organization that represents 40 Arab groups. In April, the group lost nearly $2-million in federal funding after its president referred to Jason Kenney, the Immigration Minister, as a "professional whore" for his support of Israel. In his blog post, Mr. Shaban fired back at the CAF's characterization of his departure. "I resigned from CAF because I do not want to be part of an organization that openly refuses to acknowledge Canada's colonial and shameful history," he wrote…

Don’t you love it when an Arab points to Canada’s “shameful history” (for which it has offered endless apologies to its native population)--as if the Arab world, which systematically and unapologetically oppresses its minorities and is a morass of tyranny and pathological Jew-hatred, were a model of good behaviour?

As for Shaban's expletive being a mere faux pas (way to downplay it there, Mohamed): how can a statement that was obviously made with malice aforethought be dismissed as a mistake?

Better watch it, Omar. Your Islamist worldview is showing.

Posted by: scaramouche at 09:49 | link | comments (3)

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Posted by: scaramouche at 09:49 | link | comments (3)