Weekly Update: 2-Apr-2022 to 8-Apr-2022

by | April 9, 2022

Here’s your Canadian Atheist Weekly Update for to .

This week’s items

[] Lux Média: Into the Home of the Québec Conspiracy Movement

It never ceases to amaze me just how small and interconnected the world of Canadian hate is.

I haven’t thought about La Meute in at least a couple of years, but here they are, poppin’ up again. And now, there’s a connection between them and… QAnon, to no-one’s surprise. And… Nazi alien bases on the Moon?

Okay, gotta admit, that last one was a bit of a surprise.

[] Hate speech and death threats: Canadian academics harassed after criticizing Hindu nationalism in India

I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t take Hindu extremism in Canada all that seriously. Oh, for sure I’ve always recognized it as a life-or-death, existential threat to people in India, especially visible religious minorities like Sikhs and Muslims. But in Canada, it always seemed a little absurd; more like bone-headed immigrants failing to realize what continent they’re on, and continuing to preen and bray like they have the same numbers and power they had back in India.

But I have witnessed Hindutva-inspired hate having very real effects here in Canada. The most common cases usually involve Islam, where the Hindutva bigots align with the usual islamophobic bigots, and give them a measure of credibility: “See? This isn’t white supremacy, and isn’t just Christian antipathy toward Islam. Those South Asian folks agree with us!”

Still, I didn’t realize just how bad the situation is. Hindutva-inspired bigots are not just bold, they are actively terrorizing anyone who dares criticize the movement.

Just look at the bizarre double-speak by the head of Dwarapalakas. “What? No, no! Of course we weren’t trying to intimidate her! We were just making sure she knew that we were watching her, to ‘expose her intellect (?)’! We didn’t want her to be afraid that we were stalking her! We thought she would be grateful!” Her great crime, by the way? Supporting a virtual conference on Hindutva.

As I said, Canadian atheists are most likely to intersect with Hindu nationalists via Islam. Hindutva bigots have been involved in just about every major attempt to harass or harm Canadian Muslims—everything from the face-covering and hijab bans, to the attempts to prevent Muslim students from being allowed to pray in public schools. I can’t recall many situations where we butt heads with Hindutva directly, because the movement has no real power or impact in Canada. But if they’re emboldened enough to harass academics so openly… then it’s very likely there will be some more direct confrontations with them in the future.

[] Canada isn’t hopelessly divided — but our politicians can always make it worse

This is a very nice analysis of a claim that I think most of our readers would accept uncritically: that Canada is now more divided than it has been at any time in the recent past. The article debunks it quite handily, but I think it doesn’t go nearly far enough in pointing the finger at where the “division” is really coming from.

I mean, there’s no way to avoid the obvious conclusion. The article even gets to it:

In other words, if Conservative politicians seem particularly concerned about divisions in the country, it might be because they’re the ones experiencing them most directly.

Yeah. Exactly.

Every time you see a Conservative politician blame Trudeau for the “divisive” politics causing so much strife these days, realize they’re just projecting their own guilt. It’s them. It’s the right.

Where do you think all the climate change denialism is coming from? It ain’t coming from NDP supporters. Who do you think the “freedom convoy” idiots support? Notwithstanding some Bernier support, I’d bet virtually all lean Conservative.

So yes, Canada is divided… but the dividing line runs entirely through the Conservative Party. There should be no reason for the rest of us to be bothered by their internal struggles… but of course, anything that bothers the right is everybody’s problem; that’s just the way it goes these days.

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