Saturday, September 27, 2008

Andrew McKeever - NDP flagbearer in Durham...Shame! Jack???

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2 comments:

krystalline kraus said...

Firstly, let me address the issue of Mr. McKeever's comments. What Mr. McKeever said was sexist, offensive and wrong.

No woman should ever be called those names or threatened in such a way. Ever. Since this encourages a toxic public climate of hatred which affects us all.

This is not so much about getting caught by Facebook and is more about how no one should ever be using such insults to refer to women or threaten to beat up someone they don't agree with.

I am all for debate and free speech, but I firmly believe that debates should be kept civil. In all my online responses to Mr. McKeever during this summer, I made it known to him that his comments were unacceptable and inexcusable, they would not be tolerated and that he was embarrassing himself.

I do not for a minute regret standing up for myself and challenging him on his conduct.

What Mr. McKeever had said was already said and done and I and many others have already expressed their outrage at these comments.

After the NDP contacted me about this situation, I was the one who reached out to Mr. McKeever last week and asked to speak to him; this was the first time I had ever spoken to him.

I did this because I feel forgiveness is the best weapon against hatred. The ultimate goal for him is for him to no longer feel that way (concerning the comments he made to various different groups) about those he offended. That's how you disarm hatred.

That said, I should note that I had been asking for Mr. McKeever's resignation from the very beginning and for Mr. Layton to make a public statement stating neither he nor his party condone Mr. McKeever's comments.

It was made very clear to me last week that Mr. McKeever was not going to step down, so to make best of a bad situation, I asked that a joint statement be released reaffirming what the NDP's stance was regarding the war in Afghanistan and its continuous support for Iraq war resisters.

I'm simply confused by the NDP's decision to first allow this candidate to run for the NDP and then to continue to support this candidate while other candidates -- who have said a variety of offensive comments from immigration or 9/11 -- have been forced to withdraw from the election.

Regardless of whether a candidate stepped down or not, when a candidate from another party had made offensive comments, their party leader's has gone public with statements condemning what was said.

I don't know why this has not happened in this case when Mr. McKeever's comments go against the very principles of the NDP.

I actually do not see how removing Andrew McKeever harms the NDP at all, in fact, I think it strengthens and reaffirms their position. But I am not a member of the NDP so I can only recommend solutions.

As an anti-war activist, I still firmly believe in the NDP's support to bring an end to our troops involvement in Afghanistan and its support of Iraq war resisters. I just want the NDP to solve this continuing problem and make it right.

Regardless of what the NDP chooses to do in this situation, in the end I believe in democratic justice and it's the voters who will ultimately let their opinions of this situation be known. And that's how democracy should work.

thank you,
krystalline kraus
journalist for www.rabble.ca

October 03, 2008 4:09 p.m.
krystalline kraus said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
October 03, 2008 4:09 p.m.

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