The view from Pete

Its not a great look when a so-called green-light committee blocks an aspiring candidate from seeking a nomination or in this case, seeking leadership of a federal political party. Its not a great look, but its an absolute necessity.

Yves Engler was denied entry to the leadership race by this committee within the NDP was upheld on independent review…and look, if it was without cause, this would be outrageous.

But. This is a problem.

Just kidding. This is a HUGE problem.

And what’s with his Rwandan genocide trutherism?

In his own words: https://yvesengler.com/2017/09/22/statistics-damn-lies-and-the-truth-about-rwanda-genocide/

B’nai Brith, Humura Association, Ibuka Canada, Page Rwanda, and the Memory
Keepers Association of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda issued a letter regarding public comments of Yves regarding his genocide denial.

I can understand some folks antipathy towards Israeli policy today as it relates to Palestine; this chapter will be recorded as one of the darkest ever in humanity. But the potential of platforming a guy who undermines the experiences of Jewish people and amplifying the term ‘holocaust industry’ and is apparently a Rwandan genocide truther, imagine this man leading the party..

No thanks.

We on the left should never be in the business whatsoever in minimizing genocide or undermining the experiences and trauma of survivor communities who are left to bare witness in their wake. It is morally repugnant that anyone on our side of the political map would try this…and it’s a political cash cow to our opponents.

Yes, the NDP struggles to connect at times. We get eclipsed in the broader red/blue endless battle where little actually changes. The Liberals steal our progressive ideas, campaign on them then abandon them once in power; the conservatives hone their blue-collar populist appeal to working class by their own version of intolerant identity politics – only to deliver neoliberal economics once in power.

The NDP needs to reconnect to the working class, but the platforming (at minimum) of someone with such views would force the party to fight fires they started themselves. This is so unproductive and a major disservice to Canadians looking for a voice outside the usual liberal vs conservative merry-go-round.

We’d get the electoral oblivion we’d deserve.

So the green light committee as such, while imperfect and doesn’t get everything right – got this right.

If it’s true that Yves was musing about joining the Greens, fill your boots.

My2bits