Web of Hate: Inside Canada's Far Right Network

by Warren Kinsella

Inside Canada's far right network.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Canada, Politics

450 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1996

Reviews

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinsella has a big progressive bias, and the research in places might be shaky
but it's not a bad book for being a modernized version of the famous 60s American book the Yahoos from 1964

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The Yahoos
Mike Newberry's book

"The sobering expose of the attempt to poison the American mind by the inciters of racism, violence and mayhem...the Yahoos"

"The yahoos appear to be the most unteachable of all animals... they are cunning, malicious, treacherous and revengeful... of a cowardly spirit, and by consequence insolent, abject and cruel"
Gulliver's Travels

.....

Kinsella is a touch of a moralizing fear monger, but he does expose the dangerous world of weirdos
though i think Huntington is 110% about the nature of the problem

Huntington's book speaks about the American Identity and how it has erodes, but it applies to all of Western Civilization, so basically the message is just as true for America, Canada, and Europe

And pretty much in the twenty years Huntington's book has come out, it as admirably prediccted the future, like most of his books, especially The Politics of Disharmony, and Who are We?

..........

Who Are We?

Huntington argues that it is during the 1960s that American identity begins to erode. This was the result of several factors:

a. The beginning of economic globalization and the rise of global subnational identities

b. The easing of the Cold War and its end in 1989 reduced the importance of national identity

c. Attempts by candidates for political offices to win over groups of voters

d. The desire of subnational group leaders to enhance the status of their respective groups and their personal status within them

e. The interpretation of Congressional acts that led to their execution in expedient ways, but not necessarily in the ways the framers intended

f. The passing on of feelings of sympathy and guilt for past actions as encouraged by academic elites and intellectuals

g. The changes in views of race and ethnicity as promoted by civil rights and immigration laws

Huntington places the passage and subsequent misinterpretation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 at the center of government actions that eroded the American Creed.

.........

Finally, Huntington lists other ways in which America's identity has weakened.

These include: the collapse of the Soviet Union left the United States without an enemy against which to define itself; the denationalization of business, professional, intellectual, and academic elites; and the influence of diasporas.

By "denationalization", Huntington means that these Americans think of themselves mostly as members of an international community and not really as citizens of the United States.

.........

Renewing American identity

After laying out the concerns for the weakening and subsequent dissolution of America, which could plausibly occur due to cultural bifurcation and/or a government formed of denationalized elites that increasingly ignore the will of the public, Huntington attempts to formulate a solution to these problems.

He argues that adherence to the American Creed is by itself not enough to sustain an American identity.

An example of a state that attempted to use ideology alone was the Soviet Union, which attempted to impose communism on different cultures and nationalities, and eventually collapsed.

A similar fate could lie in store for the United States unless Americans "participate in American life, learn America's language [English], history, and customs, absorb America's Anglo-Protestant culture, and identify primarily with America rather than with their country of birth".

In particular, Huntington suggests that Americans turn to Protestantism, and recognize that what distinguishes America from other countries is that it is an extremely religious Western country, founded on the principles of the Enlightenment and Protestant Reformation.

..........

Things changed under Diefenbaker and Kennedy though

1947: The Canadian Citizenship Act redefines Canadians as Canadians, not British subjects. In the same year, the Chinese Exclusion Act is lifted, and Chinese-Canadians are given the right to vote in federal elections.

1948: Japanese Canadians win the vote. Alberta premier Ernest Manning lifts restrictions on Japanese Albertans.

1951: The Canadian government introduces modest quotas to allow limited immigration from India, Pakistan and Ceylon.

1962: The Diefenbaker government amends immigration policy, to assess applicants based on skill, irrespective of ethnicity, race or country of origin. However, a clause in the new regulations says only immigrants from specific “desirable” countries can sponsor adult relatives.

1967: New immigration regulations establish an objective points system, with applicants awarded points based on things such as education, language fluency and job skills.

.......

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart–Celler Act and more recently as the 1965 Immigration Act, is a landmark federal law passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

The law abolished the National Origins Formula, which had been the basis of U.S. immigration policy since the 1920s.

The act formally removed de facto discrimination against Southern and Eastern Europeans as well as Asians, in addition to other non-Western and Northern European ethnicities from the immigration policy of the United States.

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 marked a radical break from U.S. immigration policies of the past. Since Congress restricted naturalized citizenship to "white persons" in 1790, laws restricted immigration from Asia and Africa, and gave preference to Northern and Western Europeans over Southern and Eastern Europeans.

During this time, most of those immigrating to the U.S. were Northern Europeans of Protestant faith and Western Africans who were human trafficked because of American chattel slavery.

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 has a long history of trying to get passed by Congress. This act has been introduced a number of times to the Senate between March 14, 1960, when it was first introduced, to August 19, 1965, which was the last time it was presented.

It was hard to pass this law under Kennedy's administration because Senator James Eastland (D-MS), Representative Michael Feighan (D-OH), and Representative Francis Walter (D-PA), who were in control of the immigration subcommittees, were against immigration reform.

When President Lyndon B. Johnson became president on January 8, 1964, he pressured Congress to act upon reform in immigration.

However, this president's support did not stop the debate of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 until January 4, 1965, when President Johnson focused his inaugural address on the reform of immigration, which created intense pressure for the heads of the congressional immigration subcommittees.

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I would say that Diefenbaker and Kennedy meant well, but Huntington saw it leading to a problem for national identity for Western Civilization as well as Kennedy historian Arthur M. Schlesinger.


"Multiculturalism is in its essence anti-European civilization. It is basically an anti-Western ideology."
Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order

"These transnationalists have little need for national loyalty, view national boundaries as obstacles that thankfully are vanishing, and see national governments as residues from the past whose only useful function is to facilitate the elite's global operations.”
Samuel P. Huntington

..........

The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society is a 1991 book written by American historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., a former advisor to the Kennedy and other US administrations and a winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

Schlesinger states that a new attitude, one that celebrates difference and abandons assimilation, may replace the classic image of the melting pot in which differences are submerged in democracy.

He argues that ethnic awareness has had many positive consequences to unite a nation with a "history of prejudice."

However, the "cult of ethnicity," if pushed too far, may endanger the unity of society.

According to Schlesinger, multiculturalists are "very often ethnocentric separatists who see little in the Western heritage other than Western crimes."

Their "mood is one of divesting Americans of their sinful European inheritance and seeking redemptive infusions from non-Western cultures."

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's too bad the only documentation done in this book is at the very end in "Chapter Notes," and not proper footnotes throughout the book. APA documentation is absent in the entire book. Certainly this book, although very dated is still topical and relevant in today's political climate. Better documentation and less personal political positions by the author would have made this book better. When I read a book about a topic such as this I'd rather have facts, not the authors political beliefs. Regardless it was an interesting and informative account of the history of the extreme right in Canada and some of the notable individuals and groups.

[Rob Black · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative and elaborate, it's an interesting reference to Canada's far right networks, their origins and motivations. The book itself reads like a giant monologue, hopping around what seems like a disconnected group of hillbillies until well over midway where it gets a bit more incestuous. Important read. Could have been shorter.

[Grumpylibrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was recommended to me by a coworker after a discussion re: current neo-nazi skinhead activity in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He'd been an undergraduate student at University of Alberta during the height of the mid-80s skin movement (both racist and punk) and had a lot of experience observing the movement as a punker.

Kinsella has cast light on a seemingly wide-spread and well-developed network of hate and violence in Canada that holds strong ties with American leadership of the KKK and other racist hate groups. The fact that these groups exist and thrive in Canada despite the general population's apparent disagreement with their beliefs implies that Canadians have a much larger issue with racism then is obvious. In recent history Heritage Front candidates have run for office and garnered 13% of the overall vote despite public distaste.

This network of hate has had more than 100 years to develop from straight-forward white supremacy into a complex series of groups inclusive of Nazism, "national socialism", white supremacy, hate towards Christian groups (Catholicism & the United Church of Canada, notably), women, abortionists, atheists, and more. The network is now essentially a catch-all for socio-cultural, religious, and political right-wing extremism that has no basis in fact. However, the movement must hold a compelling argument for certain segments of people, including members of the Canadian military and members of major political parties including the Former Progressive Conservatives, Reform Party & Canadian Alliance.

While I was fascinated with Kinsella's work, I wish he'd had the opportunity to propose potential solutions to the ongoing solicitation of new membership for hate groups. Perhaps suggestions for legislation that would bar members of these groups from gathering, legislation that conclusively bars active members of hate groups from the armed forces, legislation that avoids protecting hate groups, hate speech and hate publication under the guise of protecting free speech.

[Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

Welcome to Alberta folks