Archive for February, 2009

As Freedom to Read Week comes to an end I want to follow up on a couple of things mentioned earlier in the week. To read about which books and magazines have and are currently being challenged in Canada you can click here. Also, be sure to check out Open Book Toronto in March, when Deborah Ellis will be the guest blogger. Ellis’s book Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak was challenged by many school boards after first receiving recognition from the Ontario Library Association as a Silver Birch nominee. Five school boards placed restrictions on the book, and “protests by the OLA, The Writers’ Union of Canada, PEN Canada and the Association of Canadian Publishers failed to persuade the school boards to repeal their restrictions.”

Here in Waterloo Region, grade 12 visual arts students at Forest Heights Secondary School in Kitchener created an exhibit of sculptures made from discarded books, all meant to bring attention to issues of intellectual freedom. The exhibit was on display at the Forest Heights branch of the Kitchener Public Library.

Earlier this week I blogged about professor William Ayers being denied entry into Canada to give a public lecture at OISE, University of Toronto. I have since learned that his invitation to speak at Georgia Southern University has been rescinded by the university after he had been invited by a student group. The university names the expense of security as the reason for cancellation, but many people are crying foul and protesting what they consider the attempt to limit freedom of speech on the campus. See this article for the facts and an interesting comment thread with opinons swinging wildly between those who consider Ayers a terrorist and those who support his invitation. A Facebook group has been created to advertise a student sit-in to protest the rescinding of the invitation.

Tweet This Post

I’m pleased to announce the release of Veneration and Revolt: Herman Hesse and Swabian Pietism. Part of the Editions SR series, it is the first comprehensive study of the impact of German Pietism on Hesse’s life and literature. Author Barry Stephenson teaches in the Department of Religion and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Editions SR/Éditions SR is a “generalist” series that incorporates those manuscripts that address the wide range of subjects covered in the journal Studies in Religion/Science Religieuses but cannot include because of the length of the manuscript. Books in the series Editions SR/Éditions SR are published for the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion by Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

Tweet This Post

It seems suitable in Freedom to Read week to address the idea of freedom of expression on university campuses. It may seem like a sacrosanct concept, but in reality, there are ongoing challenges to this freedom. These challenges prompt us to consider the right to express oneself against the rights of others, such as protection from hate speech, which the Criminal Code defines as “advocacy or promotion of genocide, the incitement of hatred against an identifiable group, when this incitement is likely to lead to a breach of the peace, and the wilful promotion of hatred against an identifiable group.”

In a report written for the Human Rights Commission in October 2008, Richard Moon considers both the right to freedom of expression and the regulation of hate speech and advocates that censorship be confined to a very narrow category of extreme expression, stating that “less extreme forms of discriminatory expression, although harmful, cannot simply be censored out of public discourse.”  For, as he says:

Each of the established accounts of the value of freedom of expression rests on a recognition that individual autonomy or agency is deeply social in its creation and expression. We become individuals capable of thought and judgment, we flourish as rational and feeling persons, when we join in conversation with others and participate in the life of the community. The social emergence of human agency and individual identity can be expressed in the language of truth/knowledge, individual self-realization/autonomy, or democratic self-government. Each account of the value of freedom of expression represents a particular perspective on, or dimension of, the constitution of individual agency in community life.

He goes on to say, however:

Recognition that individual agency and identity emerge in communicative interaction is crucial to understanding not only the value of expression but also its potential for harm. Our dependence on expression means that words can sometimes be harmful. Expression can cause fear, it can harass, it can mislead, and it can undermine self-esteem. The inclusion of section 1 in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is an acknowledgement that even basic rights, such as freedom of expression, may be limited when their exercise causes harm to the public interest or the rights of others.

So, ultimately, it is always a balancing act. It remains important, however, to speak out when we feel our freedoms are encroached upon.  Some of the more recent incidents involving university campuses are included below.

In January 2009, William Ayers, a distinguished education professor from the University of Illinois, was denied entry to Canada when he attempted to fulfil a speaking engagement at OISE the University of Toronto. Although co-founder of Weather Underground, a radical anti-Vietnam group, he has long since become a well-known author and lecturer.  He mostly recently made headlines this past summer when Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin referred to him as a terrorist friend of Barack Obama’s. His invitation to speak on educational reform at U of T garnered a lot of interest, causing the event to be moved to a larger venue. From The Star article:

Jeffrey Kugler, executive director of the Centre for Urban Schooling, is deeply disappointed in the turn of events. For him it’s a question of academic freedom. “It’s kind of ironic the day before Barack Obama is going to become president this is what the Canadian border security has done,” said Kugler. “It seems ridiculous that one university can’t have a professor from another university to come and give a lecture on an important educational topic.”

Let’s consider the conflicting rights here. On one side there is the issue of academic freedom. Denying Ayers entry into Canada prevents him from presenting ideas about education reform that are considered radical by many. You could argue that this prevents students from having access to a full spectrum of knowledge.   The Universal Human Rights Declaration says that

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

On the other hand, surely the Canadian border service has the right to turn someone away that they believe will be a threat to the safety of Canadians, no matter how valid you think that belief is.  Presumably they are not preventing Canadian citizens from reading Ayers’ works; rather, denying the man himself entry into a country he is not a citizen of. Is this a situation where freedom of expression has been denied or not?

Contentious issues are often accompanied by passionate belief in one view or the opposite. When so-called “radical” views are expressed it can be difficult for the average person to sort out what is freedom of expression and what is a hate crime. This past week at both Carleton University and The University of Ottawa, a group of students called Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) were denied permission to put up a poster advertising “Israeli Apartheid Week.” The University of Ottawa issued the following statement:

A poster from the campus group Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights has recently come to the attention of the Communications Office. All posters approved by the Communications Office must promote a campus culture where all members of the community can play a part in a declaration of human rights recognizing the inherent dignity and equal rights of all students. Consequently, we will not place this particular poster on our campus billboards.

The university is clearly interpreting the part of the Human Rights Act that prevents expression that may incite violence against an identifiable group. Is this valid?  This website from an Israeli peace activist calls the decision “undemocratic” and a “violation of freedom of expression.” And the website Global Research has also condemned the decision, saying, in part:

Far from defending human rights, the Carleton administration is treating them with contempt. In a memo to students on February 12, the Provost wrote that “all reported incidents of racial or religious intolerance will be investigated vigorously and addressed regardless of the persons or groups involved.” The administration should begin a vigorous investigation of its own behaviour, including its discrimination against students who seek an open debate on a political issue but are being silenced because they happen to disagree with the president’s stand.

Clearly these are not easy issues. Freedom to read, freedom of the press, and freedom of expression are fundamental rights in Canada. They are especially important in places of higher learning such as universities. The challenge, then, is to balance these crucial freedoms with other equally important rights and to continue this dialogue at every occasion.

Tweet This Post

Sunday marks the beginning of Freedom to Read week, sponsored by the Book and Periodical Council of Canada. Based on Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

the week-long celebration focuses on issues of censorship and readers’ rights.

Although many think that censorship is something that happens in other countries, it is not at all uncommon in Canada, especially when books for children or teens are involved. Books are seized at the border or pulled from classrooms or library shelves when deemed inappropriate by “someone.” It’s often very difficult to get that book back on the shelf when faced with the moral outrage of people who have, in many cases, not even read it.

University Presses have a large role to play in the free expression of ideas. Peter Givler, Executive Director of the Association of American University Presses said, in support of a challenged book by one of its members: “All great universities champion freedom of inquiry; but freedom of inquiry carries with it the responsibility to publish its results. Otherwise the freedom is meaningless.”

Next week I will post about some specific challenges to freedom of expression that are experienced in Canada, but in the mean time, do check out the Freedom to Read website, which is a treasure trove of information: charter declarations, lists of challenged books, instructions on what to do if you have to deal with a challenge, posters, clip art, teaching kits, and much more.

Now, go and read a banned book and then blog about it so that others can discover it too!

Tweet This Post

We’re pleased to announce the latest volume in the Laurier Poetry Series. Fierce Departures: The Poetry of Dionne Brand, selected with an introduction by Leslie C. Sanders, features poems drawn from Dionne Brand’s work since 1997. The book includes an introduction by Sanders that traces the evolution of Brand’s poetic concerns and changing vision. Brand’s afterword is a selection of passages from her essay collection A Map to the Door of No Return. This is an excellent collection for the general reader and with the contextualizing introduction and afterword would be a good choice for undergraduate poetry courses.

.

Tweet This Post