In Toronto: On Feb 14th 2010 Canadian Muslims celebrate anniversary of the Islamic Revolution
Canadian Muslims celebrate anniversary of the Islamic Revolution
On February 11, 2010, millions of people in Tehran attended the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution in Iran. The larger than usual turnout this year refuted all western media predictions that people in Iran no longer support the Islamic government.
While huge crowds attend such programs in Tehran regularly, Toronto is also becoming a major centre for such celebrations about the Islamic revolution. This year, the event gained added significance because of massive media propaganda that the revolution is losing support among people. True, there is a tiny group of counter-revolutionaries and munafiqeen that rave and rant against the Islamic Republic regularly, but they are so small in number that few people take them seriously.
On Sunday February 14, hundreds of Muslims and non-Muslims from all walks of life braved freezing temperatures to attend the program held at the Islamic Society of York Region. The program commenced with recitation from the noble Qur’an immediately after maghrib salat. In his introductory remarks, Zafar Bangash, Director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought, welcomed the guests and gave examples about the negative propaganda in the western media about the Islamic Republic as well as Islamic movements such as Hamas in Palestine and Hizbullah in Lebanon. He emphasized that Muslims should not expect any truth to emerge from the western media because it serves the interests of the corporate elites that own the media.
Other speakers at the program were Mr. Hamid Mohammadi, Cultural Counselor at the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Ottawa, Mr. Peter Liebovitch, a leader of the Labor movement in Canada, and Michael Keefer, Professor of English Literature at Guelph University. There was also an Islamic Art exhibition with paintings by Mr. Solaiman Saeidabadi, Head of Islamic Art department, Soore University, Tehran. Mr. Saeidabadi is currently visiting Canada with a number of his paintings and these have been on display in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver.
Mr. Mohammadi spoke about the origins of the Islamic revolution and how the west and its media have used extremist groups like al-Qaeda and their actions to tarnish the peaceful image of Islam. He said that Islam’s teachings were against such acts and that Iran could in no way be equated with the actions of such people. Mr. Peter Liebovitch, a long time peace and justice activist, reflected on the challenges faced by people in Canada and the US. He said that the corporate elites in Canada and the US deliberately misrepresented facts and targeted people, especially Muslims to advance their own agenda. He said that the west’s record of human rights was very poor despite claims to the contrary.
The keynote speaker for the evening, Professor Michael Keefer, gave a brief overview of his own background—degree from Canada’ Military College in Kingston, and PhD from the University of Toronto in English Literature—that brought him to the point where he is now a strong campaigner against false flag operations and how Muslims are targeted using these. He has boldly challenged official narrations about global events and emphasized that many acts of terrorism have official complicity to advance their pre-set agenda. He gave an example of how he and another professor were invited to appear in a television program to debate the events of 911 with two experts from the US. He said that he presented the argument that initial evidence from the day of the 911 attacks had been carefully omitted from the mainstream media. He especially mentioned the series of explosions that had occurred in the buildings following the plane attacks. He said that no media outlets now talk about these. At the end of the program, the television station asked its viewers to send in their opinion about which side in the debate, the one represented by Professor Keefer saying that there was official complicity in the 911 attacks or the other side claiming that it was a group of Arab hijackers who did this, was correct. He said that the program’s host, Mr. Steve Paikan was astonished to discover that 82 percent of the respondents agreed that there was official complicity in the attacks.
Professor Keefer also pointed out that recently, western media outlets had admitted that the attack on Afghanistan was launched in order to secure access to Central Asian gas and oil reserves. He said that the allegations that were made against Iraq’s weapons of massive destruction in 2002 and 2003 were now being repeated against Iran as well. He said that all people of goodwill need to be vigilant about how western media and corporate elites use propaganda to brainwash the minds of people in order to prepare the ground for aggression and war in other parts of the world.
Professor Keefer is also writing a book on ‘Antisemitism: Real and Imagine’. This book is about to be published and its contributors include a number of anti-zionist Jews as well.
Throughout the program, the audience remained attentive and appreciated the presentations made by the speakers. There were also two videos, one about Palestine and the other about the achievements of the Islamic Republic of Iran, were shown. The program was highly successful and showed how deep the attachment of Muslims and many non-Muslims is to the success of the Islamic revolution and how they admire the courage of the leadership in Iran to stand up for the rights of the people of Iran as well as oppressed people worldwide. The success of the program also reflected the fact that not everyone is taken in by the negative propaganda against Iran and that most people understand that the western media tells many lies about the reality of life in Iran.
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