An open letter to the principal of Massey College, Toronto, regarding its decision to invite former Amnesty President Alex Neve to deliver the prestigious 2025 Massey Lecture
Thank you, Daniel! Massey College is proving once again how badly academia in the western world has lost its way. Alex Neve has no business speaking at Massey. He's a total hypocrite who doesn't care about the very principles he claims are so dear to him and Amnesty International. He's a hack fraud with a subtle political agenda of his own. Alex Neve has never said a word about Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine, China putting the Uyghur Muslims in concentration camps, the slaughter of minority groups in Syria, the genocide of the Masalit, Fur and Zaghawa ethnic groups in Sudan, the massacre of Christians in Northern Nigeria, the plight of Afghan refugees expelled from Pakistan and Iran, or the Apartheid against Palestinians in the Arab world. But he never shuts up about Israel's faux "genocide" in Gaza. Mr. Neve is playing fast and loose with words. There is a difference-a big difference-between collateral damage in war which is nasty, brutal and bloody, and intentional genocide. The examples Daniel gave were excellent, but I will also add a couple of my own. The dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II was NOT genocide. It was a difficult measure the United States had to take during wartime to end the war, which otherwise would have dragged on for at least another year. Furthermore, millions of Allied and Japanese soldiers and civilians would've perished in an amphibious assault on the home islands. 170,000 Japanese civilians perished in the bombings. That is a terrible tragedy. But it was done to prevent an even greater loss of life, end the war quickly, bring American boys home, and liberate oppressed and occupied people all over Asia. It was NOT an intentional plan by the Allies to wipe out the Japanese people as a whole. Second example, we have the claim the United States committed genocide against the Native Americans. First off, there can be no doubt the Native Americans were treated horribly by the U.S. government. They were the victims of forced displacement, land confiscation, forcible assimilation, injustices, atrocities, enslavement, indentured servitude, and second-class citizenship.
But there was no plan by the U.S. government to exterminate them wholesale as there was with the Jews in Nazi Germany or the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. The U.S. government wanted to get them off their land and seize it for white settlement, put them on reservations and assimilate them to white society. While this was unjust and morally wrong, it can't be classified as genocide. Furthermore, as Daniel pointed out, even if we except the Hamas run Gaza Health Ministry's numbers at face value, the combatant to civilian killed ratio is still lower than the U.S. in Iraq or Afghanistan or any modern military conflict period. Alex Neve is a serial liar who has made it clear he has no integrity and is targeting Israel for libelous attacks exclusively. Amnesty International as an organization is a massive failure that doesn't do what it was created to do, fight for human rights for all. If they did, they wouldn't be so focused on the nonexistent genocide Israel is committing in Gaza. Human Rights Watch and the UN are the same way. If Massey College wants to preserve their integrity, they need to disinvite Alex Neve and issue a sincere apology to the Canadian Jewish community. Will they do so? No, I don't think so but that just proves that they are no longer the great bastion of intellectual learning they once were. Mark Carney I'm sure loves what they're doing and can't wait to meet Mr. Neve himself so he can slather him with praise for his work fighting the made-up genocide in Gaza. PM Carney will probably nominate Neve for the Nobel Peace Prize knowing him. You know who actually deserves a Nobel Peace Prize? The IDF. They've saved millions of lives in Gaza and defended the Syrian Druze community from the Islamist demons trying to wipe them off the face of the Earth. Neve on the other hand is no better than Dr. Goebbels or Father Charles Coughlin with all the vile, slanderous rhetoric he's spewing on social media. It is clear to me the staff at Massey College and Mr. Neve needs some education on what genocide actually is, here's a little reading list for them:
* The Holocaust: A New History by Laurence Rees
* The Gestapo: A History of Horror by Jacques Delaure
* Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial by Joseph E. Persico
* East Timor: Genocide in Paradise by Matthew Jardine
* The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide by Gerard Prunier
* War is Dead, Long Live the War: Bosnia by Ed Vulliamy
* Voices from Srebrenica: Survivor Narratives of the Bosnian Genocide by Ann Petrila & Hasan Hasanovic
* The Guatemalan Genocide of the Maya People by John A. Torres
* The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia Under the Khmer Rogue, 1975-79 by Ben Kiernan
* The Killing Season: A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965-66 by Geoffrey B. Robinson
* Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher R. Browning
* The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals by Richard Plant
Dr. Orbinski's book, An Imperfect Offering, is a life-changing read.
I imagine his allegiances still include MSF and Amnesty. In the case of this conflict, both MSF and Amnesty have been guilty of fronting for Hamas.
(In my opinion.)
How else can one explain the imbalance in focus? Amnesty has spent untold resources tying to prove a false genocide claim against Israel, and even went so far as to alter the definition of genocide to try to make it stick.
Much of Amnesty's outreach doesn't mention Hamas at all, as if Israel is operating in a vacuum.
Thank you for drafting the letter and making the case.
I totally agree with you about Amnesty. Please could you "sign" this open letter by sending your own email quoting my name to jorbinski@masseycollege.ca
Thank you for publicizing this because it means that the CBC editorial board, who sponsors the Massey lectures, is complicit in believing and spreading this blood libel. How can they possibly present unbiassed news to Canada?
CBC also needs a letter since the Ideas program producers are the ones who choose the lecturer. They may also be lost cause. House of a Anansi press also has some say, but the literary world is not a welcoming one these days.
I would suggest copying some of our federal politicians as well.
Thank you, Daniel! Massey College is proving once again how badly academia in the western world has lost its way. Alex Neve has no business speaking at Massey. He's a total hypocrite who doesn't care about the very principles he claims are so dear to him and Amnesty International. He's a hack fraud with a subtle political agenda of his own. Alex Neve has never said a word about Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine, China putting the Uyghur Muslims in concentration camps, the slaughter of minority groups in Syria, the genocide of the Masalit, Fur and Zaghawa ethnic groups in Sudan, the massacre of Christians in Northern Nigeria, the plight of Afghan refugees expelled from Pakistan and Iran, or the Apartheid against Palestinians in the Arab world. But he never shuts up about Israel's faux "genocide" in Gaza. Mr. Neve is playing fast and loose with words. There is a difference-a big difference-between collateral damage in war which is nasty, brutal and bloody, and intentional genocide. The examples Daniel gave were excellent, but I will also add a couple of my own. The dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II was NOT genocide. It was a difficult measure the United States had to take during wartime to end the war, which otherwise would have dragged on for at least another year. Furthermore, millions of Allied and Japanese soldiers and civilians would've perished in an amphibious assault on the home islands. 170,000 Japanese civilians perished in the bombings. That is a terrible tragedy. But it was done to prevent an even greater loss of life, end the war quickly, bring American boys home, and liberate oppressed and occupied people all over Asia. It was NOT an intentional plan by the Allies to wipe out the Japanese people as a whole. Second example, we have the claim the United States committed genocide against the Native Americans. First off, there can be no doubt the Native Americans were treated horribly by the U.S. government. They were the victims of forced displacement, land confiscation, forcible assimilation, injustices, atrocities, enslavement, indentured servitude, and second-class citizenship.
But there was no plan by the U.S. government to exterminate them wholesale as there was with the Jews in Nazi Germany or the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. The U.S. government wanted to get them off their land and seize it for white settlement, put them on reservations and assimilate them to white society. While this was unjust and morally wrong, it can't be classified as genocide. Furthermore, as Daniel pointed out, even if we except the Hamas run Gaza Health Ministry's numbers at face value, the combatant to civilian killed ratio is still lower than the U.S. in Iraq or Afghanistan or any modern military conflict period. Alex Neve is a serial liar who has made it clear he has no integrity and is targeting Israel for libelous attacks exclusively. Amnesty International as an organization is a massive failure that doesn't do what it was created to do, fight for human rights for all. If they did, they wouldn't be so focused on the nonexistent genocide Israel is committing in Gaza. Human Rights Watch and the UN are the same way. If Massey College wants to preserve their integrity, they need to disinvite Alex Neve and issue a sincere apology to the Canadian Jewish community. Will they do so? No, I don't think so but that just proves that they are no longer the great bastion of intellectual learning they once were. Mark Carney I'm sure loves what they're doing and can't wait to meet Mr. Neve himself so he can slather him with praise for his work fighting the made-up genocide in Gaza. PM Carney will probably nominate Neve for the Nobel Peace Prize knowing him. You know who actually deserves a Nobel Peace Prize? The IDF. They've saved millions of lives in Gaza and defended the Syrian Druze community from the Islamist demons trying to wipe them off the face of the Earth. Neve on the other hand is no better than Dr. Goebbels or Father Charles Coughlin with all the vile, slanderous rhetoric he's spewing on social media. It is clear to me the staff at Massey College and Mr. Neve needs some education on what genocide actually is, here's a little reading list for them:
* The Holocaust: A New History by Laurence Rees
* The Gestapo: A History of Horror by Jacques Delaure
* Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial by Joseph E. Persico
* East Timor: Genocide in Paradise by Matthew Jardine
* The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide by Gerard Prunier
* War is Dead, Long Live the War: Bosnia by Ed Vulliamy
* Voices from Srebrenica: Survivor Narratives of the Bosnian Genocide by Ann Petrila & Hasan Hasanovic
* The Guatemalan Genocide of the Maya People by John A. Torres
* The Pol Pot Regime: Race, Power, and Genocide in Cambodia Under the Khmer Rogue, 1975-79 by Ben Kiernan
* The Killing Season: A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965-66 by Geoffrey B. Robinson
* Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland by Christopher R. Browning
* The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals by Richard Plant
Thanks for all the references Noah. May I add you as a signatory to the Open Letter?
Yes, gladly
C'est parfait!
Thank-you Brad. If possible please contact the principal directly to associate yourself with this letter.
I'm doing so this morning.
Many thanks.
orbinski@masseycollege.ca ?
Dr. Orbinski's book, An Imperfect Offering, is a life-changing read.
I imagine his allegiances still include MSF and Amnesty. In the case of this conflict, both MSF and Amnesty have been guilty of fronting for Hamas.
(In my opinion.)
How else can one explain the imbalance in focus? Amnesty has spent untold resources tying to prove a false genocide claim against Israel, and even went so far as to alter the definition of genocide to try to make it stick.
Much of Amnesty's outreach doesn't mention Hamas at all, as if Israel is operating in a vacuum.
Thank you for drafting the letter and making the case.
I totally agree with you about Amnesty. Please could you "sign" this open letter by sending your own email quoting my name to jorbinski@masseycollege.ca
I sent my letter. I'm glad you inserted Dr. Orbinski's email address among the comments.
Thank-you so much Fred.
Well said.
Thank-you for your support. Please could you "sign" this open letter by sending your own email quoting my name to jorbinski@masseycollege.ca .
Done.
Thank you for publicizing this because it means that the CBC editorial board, who sponsors the Massey lectures, is complicit in believing and spreading this blood libel. How can they possibly present unbiassed news to Canada?
My pleasure Cynthia. Would it be possible to write to the Principal at jorbinski@masseycollege.ca to "sign" and associate yourself with this letter?
I definitely will and may be able to get a number to do the same but James Orbinski, physician, founder of Doctors without Borders is a true believer in the blood libel and unlikely to be swayed. He wrote a hideous Op-ed condemning Israel in the globe and mail at the very start of the war. https://honestreporting.ca/petitions/globe-mail-commentator-accuses-israel-of-indiscriminately-bombing-gaza/
CBC also needs a letter since the Ideas program producers are the ones who choose the lecturer. They may also be lost cause. House of a Anansi press also has some say, but the literary world is not a welcoming one these days.
I would suggest copying some of our federal politicians as well.
Well said.
Thank-you Ian. Please contact the Massey principal directly by email to associate yourself with and "sign" the email.
Ok, have you got an email I should write to at CBC?
I don’t have the contact to write to, but here’s some information https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/how-to-get-tickets-to-attend-alex-neve-s-2025-cbc-massey-lectures-1.7581003
Thanks. Can I put your name on the letter?
Yes please.
Judith Weinroth MSc MD
Concordia is ground zero. Change can only occur when funding is cut off.