Kathy Shaidle, Ezra Levant and Salim Mansur were rockstars last night, playing to a packed music house in London Ontario. The evening was moderated by Dr. Christopher Essex of the University of Western Ontario (where Salim Mansur is also a Professor).

Filling a big room in a smallish town in Ontario on a Monday night (after a long weekend) was unexpected, but people drove in from Toronto, Montreal and even Michigan to attend. The topic was just that important - Freedom of speech as it pertains to the Canadian Human Rights apparatus.

I’ve known Ezra for a long time and of course Kathy and I are very close friends, but this was my first opportunity to meet Salim Mansur (pictured here with Doctor Roy Eappen, who came in from Montreal for the event). I promised myself that I would approach Mansur with an open mind out of respect for him and for the evening. However, I didn’t expect any real surprises. After all, I was the one who promised my readership that I could produce a leprechaun before they could produce a moderate Muslim. There ain’t no such thing, right?

Well… now I’m not so sure.

Aside from the fact that he’s a charming and dapper fellow, he speaks truth that I have craved to hear from Islam. On stage, he spoke of how the lights went out in Islam centuries ago, with those who dared to question the approved dogma silenced by imprisonment or death. This is something that continues to occur today, in a so-called modern world. He told the rapt audience of his early years, escaping the Islamist hordes in unruly Bangladesh, and his appreciation for Canada’s freedom, which is being sadly jeopardized by those very same people who cut off hands and murdered people in his youthful Bangladesh.

I have a feeling that Professor Mansur and I are not yet finished the conversation we began after hours in the bar of Ezra’s hotel, where we sat and talked directly to each other, despite the 20 or so other people that vied for both our attention throughout the evening. I may have found my elusive leprechaun, and that turns my thinking upside down. I may be in for my own enlightenment…

I have heard Kathy speak before, and have enjoyed her knowledge and humor. However in the past there have been a lot of “inside jokes” that perhaps other less involved members of her audience may not have got. Last night she was open and witty, educating and entertaining us all. Her book-signing before and after the panel was well attended, and I believe she may have sold out of the copies of Tyranny of Nice she had brought with her to London.

As a personal aside, I met a longtime reader who has always been very kind to me, even going so far as to check up on me by telephone when I was down in Kansas last year, Joe Molnar. He paid me a great honor last night by asking me to co-sign his copy of Tyranny, my signature right alongside Kathy’s. Thank you, Joe.

Ezra was… Ezra. For anyone who has ever caught him on TV or radio, or watched his YouTube videos, you already know how dynamic and entertaining a speaker he is. During the Q&A after the speeches, Ezra was asked by Ted Bellman how Jews can expect to be protected if we abolish Section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Code (that’s the speech/thought crime section). The crowd had a high Jew-to-WASP ratio, so it was a very relevant question to ask, considering that Canada’s official Jewish organizations have been so instrumental in creating the human rights monster that we rail against today.

Despite being a Jew himself, Ezra has no sympathy at all where Section 13 is involved. He reminded Mr. Bellman of the fact that it is very easy - and that it makes perfect sense - for the enemies of Jews to use this faulty legislation against the Jewish community, as we’ve seen with Ezra’s own case, as well as the case against B’Nai Brith, both instituted by radical Muslims.

Chapters/Indigo, the Canadian book behemoth, sent two delegates with crates of Shakedown
- now going into it’s THIRD printing - for sale and signing. Congratulations to Ezra on the runaway success of his book.

Apparently, last night was the largest, most well attended political meeting London has ever seen outside of an election campaign. Thanks must go to the Forest City Institute for organizing it. And a personal thanks to Josephine and Duke for hauling my ass back and forth to London to attend.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 14th, 2009 at 2:30 pm and is filed under Freedom of Speech, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.