One of the men that raped me when I was a kid, caused significant damages to my neck, hands and hips. My neck is often in excruciating pain, so is my right hip. Has been so since I was nine. I nearly always wear scarves for warmth to ease the physical pain and comfort the emotional trauma, even on hot days (and to hide). Scarves are my security.
If I had a Keffiyeh, I’d wear it every day, everywhere, and nothing nasty snotty old white man Arnott said or did would make me remove it. Nothing.
Joshua Sealy-Harrington@JoshuaSealy 0ct 27, 2023:
Remember this genocide.
Remember what individuals, organizations & governments prioritized. Remember how they misrepresented the past & present. Remember the chasm between their beliefs & actions. Remember who they vilified. Remember their cowardice.
Remember their complicity.
Abolish #Zionism@SouheiLLLL:
I think we should give the Ontario legisature a new name:
The Third Reich is more suitable.
Colin D’Mello | Global News@ColinDMello April 18, 2024:
NEW: Moments after Premier Doug Ford said that he does not support the Queens Park ban keffiyehs, his government defeated a unanimous consent motion to allow them to be worn in the legislature.
The motion from the NDP:
I seek unanimous consent that this House acknowledge that the keffiyeh is a culturally significant clothing item to many in Ontario’s Palestinian, Muslim and Arab communities and should neither be considered an expression of a political message nor an accessory likely to cause disorder, and should therefore be permitted to be worn in the House.
The “no” to asking for unanimous consent was heard from the gov’t side.
Catherine Wilkie@TrilliumFlowers:
Actions speak louder than @fordnation empty words.
Louella Burchat@BurchatLouella:
my god, when does anyone in media start pointing out that every breath he takes, every word he says is a lie, every promise he makes is a promise unkept, day after day he just skates thru telling people what they want to hear for vote buying with no intension of following thru
Robert boileau@jrfan1980:
So basically as we have known for awhile @fordnation is a liar and his words and actions can’t be trusted. He clearly showed his true colors today.
Vincent Wong (vwlegal.bsky.social)@VWLegal:
HOW are institutions still suspending, evicting, firing, arresting, harassing, destroying the lives of people for opposing the Israeli regime SEVEN MONTHS INTO THE GENOCIDE??? The mind reels.
It’s beyond manufacturing consent for imperialist war. I’m increasingly convinced a large segment of the population just want to see colonized people displaced and murdered en masse if they dare resist colonization.
@EmissaryOfNight:
For the first time, we have official confirmation that a human rights panel within the U.S. State Department recommended sanctions against Israeli military units. The panel did so in December. Blinken has ignored the recommendations for five months since.
This report comes on the heels of the news that Blinken, against the objections of nearly two dozen Senate Democrats, certified that Israel is ‘adhering to US and international humanitarian law”.
Kim Mc@kimincanada:
Did they also ban signs of support for Israel?
Ghada Sasa PhD(c)@sasa_ghada:
Read that again: Ontario’s Parliament has BANNED the keffiyeh! This blatant anti-Palestinian move comes after 250,000 Palestinians have been massacred by Israel in the besieged Gaza Strip. How is any of this legal?!
Rabbi David Mivasair@Mivasair:
Blatant anti-Palestinian racism in #Ontario: Keffiyehs banned in Legislative Bldg in Queen’s Park. @fordnation pandering to his racist base.
Write to email hidden; JavaScript is required & email hidden; JavaScript is required. Demand they drop this.
@MaritStiles
@ShreeParadkar
@nccm
@IndJewishVoices
Sam Hersh@SamHersh01:
The @fordnation government banning anyone from wearing a keffiyeh in the Provincial Legislature is beyond disgusting and a direct attack on not only free speech but on the Palestinian community across Ontario.
It is racist and discriminatory.
This needs to be fought.
Also I really love how Conservatives are obsessed with freedom and free speech until they’re not.
@GreatLakesHello:
Immediately file a human rights of Ontario complaint. I can guarantee you there are people in the #ontariolegislature wearing jewelry, pins, perhaps even tattoos of a the Star of David, crosses, medicine wheels, flag pins of other countries, etc…a #kaffieyeh is NOT POLITICAL
Amir Attaran (@email hidden; JavaScript is required)@profamirattaran:
You can wear a kilt. You can wear a turban. You can wear Indigenous regalia. Yes, even a yarmulke.
But a keffiyeh? Not while racist @MPPArnottWHH is in the house. #Resign
Two points:
- Who the fuck is Doug Ford to tell women what they can wear?!
- This is obviously illegal discrimination on grounds of ethnic origin.
Chandni Desai@4cdesai:
During the 1936-39 Arab revolt the British Mandate which colonized Palestine banned the keffiyeh.
Hours ago the Legislative Assembly banned the keffiyeh in Ontario’s legislative building. Settler intimacies reveal their #antiPalestinianRacism & alliance with a genocidal state
Shame #ontpoli for violating basic civil liberties-freedom of expression. Your racism violates the Canadian Charter of Rights. Those wearing keffiyehs demand an end to the genocide in compliance with int’l law. Instead your appalling actions reveal you are supporters of genocide
Pepper’s Popper@OneBadDoggo:
The ethno-supremacist Zionist regime seeks to erase Palestinian people, history, and culture. The Ford government is complicit in that racism by barring Palestinians in traditional dress from accessing public buildings, institutions, and services.
@notanoogle:
Ontario you cannot let this fly for one single day, you need a keffiyeh protest in Queens Park immediately. Do not give them an inch on this I am begging you
@ShreeParadkar:
The speaker of Ontario’s legislature, where politicians show up to make political statements, banned the kuffiyeh from the chamber, saying it makes… a political statement.
Beisan @beisan:
As an Ontarian, it’s my charter right to not be discriminated against for wearing my own cultural dress in government buildings. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about that.
Except, there is a but: Steve Harper and Doug Ford and other racist and/or Zionist controlled politicians appointed/are appointing racist Zionist judges to our courts – I believe intentionally to prepare for such racist discriminatory actions like this Keffiyeh ban in Ontario’s leg. It’s like Harper’s vile supreme court of Canada’s ruling in Ernst vs AER (at the time, 7/9 judges were his appointees) shitting our our charter, intentionally publishing lies about me and my case, rudely taking away my right to sue AER for my valid charter claim against them. Dirty as Satan’s under ware.
I wonder if any constitutional lawyers out there wanna help my community sue the Ford government and win.
Milhouse Van Houten@MilhousHouten:
@ZaKhatib might be able to help! He fought Bana’i Brith and won. Could also try @martinezdefence
@beisan:
How about it @ZaKhatib @martinezdefence? Is there something to be done about the Ontario government’s complicity in my people’s genocide?
Zachary Al-Khatib@ZaKhatib:
Will DM – do you have the policy or directive?
Shane Martínez@martinezdefence:
Happy to discuss this as well.
***
The Ontario legislative assembly keffiyeh ban: Rights and parliamentary privilege by Emmett Macfarlane, Apr 18, 2024, Declarations of Invalidity
In a move even Doug Ford opposes, the Speaker of the Ontario legislative assembly ruled that wearing a keffiyeh was prohibited because it was an “overt political statement.” The keffiyeh is traditional cultural garb in many parts of the Middle East, and yes, it has in recent decades also become a symbol of solidarity with Palestine.
But the decision is nonetheless a fatuous infringement of basic human rights, including equality, one that targets the keffiyeh for special treatment. As NDP Opposition leader Marit Stiles correctly noted, cultural and political clothing is routinely worn in the assembly, including traditional regalia from Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures.
The idea that there are “neutral” examples of this and others are “political” is complete nonsense. Indeed, the idea that the floor of a legislative assembly is somehow not the place for politics is simply incomprehensible.
If the Charter of Rights and Freedoms applied to the Speaker’s ruling, it would be an easy case, a clear violation of both equality rights and free expression. But the Charter does not apply, thanks to a decision of the Supreme Court (the 1993 New Brunswick Broadcasting case) that the parliamentary privilege of provincial assemblies is part of the “Constitution of Canada” and, as one part of the Constitution cannot override another part, you can’t bring a Charter challenge against a decision protected by parliamentary privilege.supreme court of Canada contradicts itself regularly, and lies/makes shit up in rulings.
Parliamentary privilege is the right of the provincial assembly to execute its constitutional functions and, at the institutional level, the right to decide for itself how it operates, against outside interference. In its origins, parliamentary privilege ensured protection against the Crown, to preserve the rights of Parliament and its members (who enjoy freedom of speech and the right against arrest or other interference from attending the Houses of Parliament, etc.). In the modern context, parliamentary privilege primarily serves to protect against judicial interference.
Yet there is an open question as to whether the Court was correct to determine that parliamentary privilege was indeed part of the written, entrenched part of the Constitution (as opposed to largely the unwritten part, like certain prerogative powers of the Crown).
Indeed, it is not clear why either a legislative assembly or the individual members therein should be afforded the power to violate Charter rights or flout other laws.
Some will strenuously argue there are good reasons for the privileges to be absolute. For example, the free speech rights of members are essential to free and open debate in the assembly. This is why, for example, politicians are free from legal consequences even if they fraudulently defame individuals while speaking on the floor of the assembly or at committee.And lying judges defaming applicants like Rosalie Abella did to me in the supreme court’s ruling in Ernst vs AER, are legally immune. Quite disgusting but typical of raping colonizer countries like Caveman Canada.
Yet as the keffiyeh controversy shows, the freedom of speech of members is not an absolute freedom, because the assembly itself can limit or outright ban forms of expression it decides are impermissible.
Moreover, there is a rule of law issue here. It is not clear why the legislative assembly itself, or its members, shouldn’t be subject to upholding the fundamental rights we’ve enshrined in the constitutional text.
Yet this is the state of the law we are stuck with. And these days, relying on political figures to do the right thing, and avoid trampling on basic rights, seems too much to hope.
***
Doug Ford has proven himself to be a liar, just like Steve Harper, Jason Kenney, Scott Moe, Danielle Smith … Nothing they say can be trusted, especially not when it comes to their vile bigotry and racism.
Ontario Legislature bans wearing of keffiyeh scarves, Sarah Jama, Hamilton Centre Independent MPP, says ban ‘unsurprising’ but ‘nonetheless concerning’ by Muriel Draaisma, CBC News, Apr 17, 2024
The Ontario Legislature has banned the wearing of keffiyehs because donning the garment is making a “political statement,” the speaker says.
In an email on Wednesday, Speaker Ted Arnott just another racist old white man whose been in politics decades too long said the legislature has previously restricted the wearing of clothing that is intended to make an “overt political statement” because it upholds a “standard practice of decorum.”
“The Speaker cannot be aware of the meaning of every symbol or pattern but when items are drawn to my attention, there is a responsibility to respond. After extensive research, I concluded that the wearing of keffiyehs at the present time in our Assembly is intended to be a political statement. So, as Speaker, I cannot authorize the wearing of keffiyehs based on our longstanding conventions,” Arnott said in an email.
Arnott’s email did not provide specifics on who drew keffiyehs to his attention or when.typical racist old white man coward
Keffiyehs are a commonly worn scarf among Arabs, but hold special significance to the Palestinian resistance movement.
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles and Sarah Jama, Independent MPP for Hamilton Centre, are objecting to the ban. Jama drew attention to the ban through a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday.
Ban ‘unacceptable,’ Ontario NDP leader says
In an April 12 letter to the speaker, Stiles urged Arnott to reconsider the ban, saying she considers it unacceptable.
“The Assembly has always permitted Members, staff and guests to openly celebrate their culture, including wearing traditional clothing that represents their history, culture or faith, and I don’t believe it is your intention to change that precedent,” Stiles said.
Stiles said MPPs have worn kilts, kirpans, vyshyvankas and chubas in the legislature, saying such items of clothing not only have national and cultural associations, but have also been considered at times as “political symbols in need of suppression.”
She said Indigenous and non-Indigenous members have also dressed in traditional regalia and these items cannot be separated from their historical and political significance.
“The wearing of these important cultural and national clothing items in our Assembly is something we should be proud of. It is part of the story of who we are as a province,” she said.
“Palestinians are part of that story, and the keffiyeh is a traditional clothing item that is significant not only to them but to many members of Arab and Muslim communities. That includes members of my staff who have been asked to remove their keffiyehs in order to come to work. This is unacceptable.”
Suppression of cultural symbols part of genocide: MPP
Jama, for her part, said on X that the ban is “unsurprising” but “nonetheless concerning” in a country that has a legacy of colonialism.
“Part of committing genocide is the forceful suppression of cultural identity and cultural symbols,” she said in part. Jama added that “state powers” have suppressed Indigenous cultural dress, language, ceremony and beliefs “as tools of genocide” at various points in Canada’s history.
“Seeing those in power in this country at all levels of government, from federal all the way down to school boards, aid Israel’s colonial regime with these tactics in the oppression of Palestinian people proves that reconciliation is nothing but a word when spoken by state powers,” she said.
WATCH | An explainer on the cultural significance of keffiyehs:
Keffiyeh: How it became a symbol of the Palestinian people
Arnott said the keffiyeh was not considered a “form of protest” in the legislature prior to statements and debates that happened in the House last fall.
“These items are not absolutes and are not judged in a vacuum,” he said.
- ‘Chilling effect’: People expressing pro-Palestinian views censured, suspended from work and school
- Lawyers for Hamilton MPP Sarah Jama say her censure at Queen’s Park is an ‘abuse of power’
Arnott added that he reminded the legislature in a statement on Feb. 22 of its standard practice of decorum, saying: “It has long been the established practice of this House that members should not use props, signage or accessories that are intended to express a political message or are likely to cause disorder. This also extends to members’ attire, where logos, symbols, slogans and other political messaging are not permitted.
“This Legislature is a forum for debate, and the expectation in the chamber is that political statements should be made during debate rather than through the use of props or symbols,” he said.
Palestinian kaffiyehs banned from the Ontario legislature, Speaker Ted Arnott has prohibited Palestinian kaffiyehs from being worn by anyone — MPPs or guests — in the Ontario legislature over concerns the scarves make “an overt political statement.” by Robert Benzie, Queen’s Park Bureau Chief, April 17, 2024, Toronto Star
Speaker Ted Arnott has prohibited Palestinian kaffiyehs from being worn by anyone — MPPs or guests — in the Ontario legislature over concerns the scarves make “an overt political statement.”
“After extensive research, I concluded that the wearing of kaffiyehs at the present time in our assembly is intended to be a political statement,” Arnott said in a statement to the Star on Wednesday. …
@irinaceric:I saved the best tweet for last!
- Heaven forbid someone make a political statement in a…. legislature
- Did Doug ask the speaker if he could use the notwithstanding clause for real this time? Pretty please?
- Of course the Star chose this photo
Refer also to: