Bloggers have drawn attention to comments and illustrations on the Web sites of Marc Emery, a marijuana crusader from B.C. A doctored drawing this month showed federal Justice Minister Irwing Cotler dressed in a Nazi uniform.
'Prince of Pot' in hot water over Nazi comments
NDP House leader 'disturbed' by description of Justice Minister
BY ZEV SINGER
OTTAWA * Marijuana crusader Marc Emery has found himself under fire this week as bloggers scrutinize the content of his Web sites, including a posting from his "jail blog" last summer in which he called federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler a "Nazi-Jew."
With the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administrtion after him, the case of British Columbia's "Prince of Pot," has become a cause celebre. Since his arrest a month ago, he has been facing possible extradition to the United States for selling marijuana seeds to U.S. customers.
Supporters of Mr. Emery, who calls himself "the leader of the marijuana people around the world," include federal NDP leader Jack Layton, who has argued against extradition.
Mr. Emery, 47, was serving a three-month sentence in Saskatoon last summer for passing a joint at a pot rally when he wrote the "jail blog," which he dictated to associates over the phone, who then posted it on the Internet.
In it, complained that Mr. Cotler went form being a human rights advocate to a justice minister who, as attorney-general, allows for the prosecution of cannabis users.
"I thought the term Jewish-Nazi, or Nazi-Jew, was an oxymoron until Cotler became the Injustice Minister," Mr. Emery's posting said. "What a disgrace he is to his Jewish roots. He should - so much - know better."
In June, the content on his main Web site - http://www.cannabisculture.com, which he edits, publishes and uses to help sell millions of dollars worth of marijuana seeds - prompted NDP House leader Libby Davies to write to one of Mr. Emery's employees, Chris Bennett.
"I have been extremely disturbed by the tone and characterization of the Minister of Justice, Mr. Cotler, as a Nazi-Jew and the Gestapo," wrote Ms. Davies. who has tried to help one of Mr. Emery's associates, Renee Boje, who also faces potential extradition to the United States. "I have been advocating for Renee against the extradition and will continue to do so, but find the anti-Semitic characterization of Mr. Cotler based on his religious beliefs to be very offensive and completely counterproductive."
Four days after Ms. Davies' letter was posted to the site by Mr. Bennett, Mr. Emery - temporarily taking a view that the Nazi metaphor "disengages almost everyone" - said he had a better word for Mr. Cotler: "capo."
"If you're going to make comparisons," he advised, "the term for Irving Cotler might be 'capo'. These were the Jews during the Holocaust who were fated to deliver their fellow Jews to their death..."
In this case, Mr. Cotler would deliver his fellow Canadians to his American "masters," Mr. Emery's posting explained.
This month, a doctored picture of Mr. Cotler in a Nazi uniform, with a caption calling him a "neocon-kapo," was removed by one of the site's administrators after it had been posted by one of the regular participants of the site's discussion groups. Several bloggers, including smalldeadanimals.com, later began to draw attention to that posting and to Mr. Emery's "capo" comment.
On Monday, the same regular member on the cannabisculture Web site posted a cartoon that depicted an Israeli soldier shooting a Palestinian in the back. An Orthodox Jew an exaggeratedly large nose then says to the soldier, "Hush... We Don't Want to Wake Him Up" while gesturing toward a large, dozing, globeheaded figure labelled "world opinion." A man in a kaffiyeh, checking the pulse of the sleeping figure says "Wake Him Up? He's Dead..."
When Mr. Emery, who is out on bail, was asked by the Ottawa Citizen about this cartoon in an interview on Tuesday, he said that while he didn't endorse it, it was "probably legitimate political commentary."
On Wednesday, he changed his view, posting a statement above the cartoon saying: "This illustration is offensive to our Jewish friends and cannot possibly help our cause..."
An administrator banned the person who posted the cartoon from the site. Mr. Emery said when he originally used the term "Nazi-Jew" he as in a very emotional state.
"When you're in jail, you can be seized by despair," he said. Yet, he said that while he did not wish to be "insulting" to Mr. Cotler, ultimately he believes the Nazi metaphor is fair.
"To me a Nazi is a person who would inflict pain, punishment, incarceration or death on anyone who's acting peacefully and honestly," he said. Mr. Cotler, he said, fits into the category.
Mr. Emery said it is his respect and admiration for Jewish people that is behind his belief that Mr. Cotler should be held to a higher standard. "I have a great sensitivity to the Jewish pogroms and I'm very steeped in knowledge about them. I love studying Jewish history, cultural history. A lot of people have always thought I was a Jewish wanna-be," Mr. Emery said.
David Matas, chief legal counsel for B'nai Brith Canada, said it trivializes the atrocities of the Holocaust "to call everything that happens in this world with which you disagree Nazism."
At the same time, Mr. Matas said Mr. Emery's use of the metaphor, although "totally inappropriate," is not an act of anti-Semitism, a brand of hatred which, he said, is generally based on conspiracy theories.
"I don't think this guy is in that business," Mr. Matas said. He said, though, that Mr. Emery should restrict his criticism to Mr. Cotler's record and leave his religion out of it.
Mr. Cotler declined to be interviewed for this story. A spokesperson said because Mr. Emery is facing possible extradition, he does not want to risk prejudicing the case.
CanWest News Service (NATIONAL POST, Saturday, August 27, 2005).
The prince of pot replies
Zev Singer quotes me accurately, though not necessarily completely. For example, I said and and had written that "a Nazi is a person who inflicts pain, punishment, torture, incarceration or death on another human being who is acting peacefully and honestly." But Mr. Singer forgot the next line from my statement: "And who believes in an ideology that morally justifies inflicting pain, punishment, torture, incarceration or death for the good of the state." Otherwise, I appreciate Mr. Singer's initiative in bringing up the topic. It's a discussion that we ought to have. Is the roundup of the cannabis culture worldwide a holocaust? Remember, most of the world refused to believe the Jews of Europe were being placed in concentration camps, or that there were vicious pogroms against them, until it was far too late. There were thousands of Jews in concentration camps during the 1936 Berlin Olympics, yet no one boycotted those Olympics.
The world did not believe there was a holocaust in Cambodia and the world did not act. The world did not believe or act on the holocaust in Rwanda.
Twenty-four million people world-wide have been arrested for their belief in cannabis since 1955 and many millions of them have spent substantial time in jail. Much of the world does not want to believe there is a cultural genocide going on against the 164,000,000 people who, according to the UN last year, cherish marijuana in their lives. Yet everwhere on Earth today in 2005 we are hunted down, humiliated, arrested, jailed or even executed.
The perpetrators are "Nazis," even though they may call themselves something else. They want do destroy our people and have given the state sanction to do it.
Marc Emery, leader, B.C. Marijuana Party, Vancouver.
______________________
Mr. Emery has had more than his 15 minutes of infamy. Enough already. The only lesson to be learned from this man: Kiddies, this is what your brain looks (and sounds) like on drugs.
Lynn Haley, Vancouver ("Letters", NATIONAL POST, Monday, August 29, 2005).
Cops seize $2.6B of pot
The state justice department's annual Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, or CAMP, is still a month away from ending after the season peak at the end of September.
The raids, many in remote, forested terrain, pit agents against often heavily armed guards protecting their marijuana plots (TORONTO SUN, Monday, August 29, 2005).
T.O. man faces pot rap
BRANDON, Man. (CP) - RCMP have charged a 46-year-old Toronto man in one of the largest outdoor marijuana grow operations ever found in Manitoba. Jai Qi Gu of Scarborough was charged yesterday after officers found about 13,200 plants on a farm west of Brandon. Six other men aged 18 to 57 are due to appear in court tomorrow ("CANADABriefs" TORONTO SUN, Wednesday, August 24, 2005).
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