Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - April 12, 2005, Winnipeg, Manitoba A10 Winnipeg free press tuesday april 12, 2005 Freedom of Trade comment editor Terence Moore 697-7044 Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights editorials keep heat on Iran i f anyone needed More evidence that Montreal photo journalist Zahra Kazemi was tortured to death in an iranian jail in june 2003, documents made Public in Canada this week fit the Bill. Iranian doctor Shahram Azam a Story about the woman a beaten broken body he examined has been backed up by documents including a time card proving he was at work in the emergency department at Baghi Atollah Hospital on the morning of june 27. And a National newspaper has translated the doctors Handwritten notes made upon his examination that Day of is Kazemi a comatose body. Meanwhile Iran clings to its Story or. Azam never worked at the Hospital. Such is the value of negotiating with a Theo cratic state run by conservative mullahs who imprison student demonstrators strike whole slates of reformist Candi dates from voters ballots and torture citizens promoting democratic Reform. Zahra Kazemi an iranian expatriate with citizenship in Canada fell into this Battle Between the mullahs Arch conservatism and Iran a vibrant but repressed Reform movement. She was picked up and detained by iranian agents for taking pictures of protesters outside Tehran a Noto rious Evin prison on june 23, 2003. Tortured brutally raped and beaten she fell into a coma and was delivered into the hands of or. Azam who recently was granted refugee status in Canada. Iran initially claimed is Kazemi suffered a brain attack from an accidental fall. A trial of a lowly intelligence agent ? charged in her death after International outcry led by is Kazemi a Canadian son ? ended not surprisingly and perhaps justifiably in an acquittal. Iran a conduct reveals the futility of petitioning for Justice from a state openly abhorrent of human rights. Iran does not Bow easily to International pressure. It is keenly conscious however of bad publicity. It feels injured by the support other states give Iran Ian organizations that push for democratic Reform and that promote respect for human rights. Sadly Canadas actions to Date have Given the mullahs an easy ride. Only the loud accusations and deter mined efforts of Stephan Hachemi is Kazemi a son have rattled a response out of Iran. Canada needs to recruit International allies particularly those in Europe into an unrelenting storm of protest. Canada should recall its ambassador to Iran appointed too quickly after his predecessor was pulled in protest of is Kazemi Skilling. Iran a ambassador to Canada should be sent packing. By pulling in the help of allies including those doing business with Iran Canada can pin mullahs in a symbolic Public Stock for a time drawing attention to the evil they visit routinely upon iranians press ing for change. That change will come Only when reformists gain adequate support. A relentless International tirade can help them along. It is the Only Hope of drawing a Good result from the death of a tortured Canadian. Ill placed Aid the Canadian government plans to give another $90 million in Aid to Sudan. That Sudan is in Desper ate shape is beyond doubt. That the people of Sudan ? particularly the people of the country a Darfur Region ? need All the help they can get is beyond dispute. The question is whether this will be Money Well spent. The answer is that it would not. Canada is niggardly in its spending on foreign Aid and there Are better places to put that Money. In february prime minister Paul Martins Liberal government increased the foreign Aid budget by $3.4 billion Over the next five years but even that Large infusion of Cash leaves this country Short. Canada agreed decades ago ? and the liberals restated the commitment in the 1990s and at the Kanana skis g-8 Summit in 2003 ? to devote 0.7 per cent of its Gross Domestic product to foreign Aid. That is the Aid budget target for most industrialized nations. Britain France and Germany have set out plans to meet that magic 0.7. Canada has no such plan and its Aid budget today even inflated by tsunami Relief and the new Money for Sudan is Only 0.3 per cent of Gap. The new Money for Sudan is not much but it is misplaced. Since Kanana skis the Federal govern ment has concentrated its International Aid on Africa. But because Canada gives so Little it should give it wisely and it is almost certainly wasted on Sudan. The country has been a slaughterhouse for years. There was a bloody civil War for decades Between the Blacks in the South and the Arab government in the North. Today the government in Khartoum is engaged in a genocidal War in Darfur. There Are hardly any International Aid organizations still working in Sudan today. The United nations has All but abandoned the country. The Only agents who can distribute Canadas millions of dollars Are the killers in Khartoum. The dead and dying in Darfur Are not Likely to see any of it. It seems heartless to say do not give Aid to Sudan but there Are other governments in Africa that need it As much and deserve it More. Canada is a relatively Rich nation by International standards. Canadians will give As much As they can but they have a right to know that their gift goes to places where the people not the despots Benefit. Sudan today is not such a place. Coming soon married priests by Nicholas d. Kristof Here a my prophecy about the next Pope he will allow married men to become priests. This is simply a matter of survival All Over the world the Catholic Church is running out of priests. In the United states there was one priest for every 800 catholics in 1965, while now there is one for every 1,400 catholics ? and the average age is nearly 60. In All the United states with 65 million catholics Only 479 priests were ordained in 2002. The upshot is that the Catholic Church is los ing ground around the world to evangelical and especially pentecostal churches. In Brazil which has More catholics than any other coun try pentecostals Are gaining so quickly that they could overtake catholics Over the next decades. No one understands the desperate need for clergy More than the cardinals themselves. In fact John Paul ii himself Laid the groundwork for an end to the celibacy requirement. Few people realize it but there Are now about 200 married priests under a special Dispensa Tion Given by the Vatican to pastors of other denominations ? episcopalians lutherans and so on ? who Are already married and wish to convert to roman catholicism typically because they feel their churches Are going Squishy by ordaining women or Gays. Its really kind of a non Issue the Rev. John Gremmels one of those married Catholic priests in fort Worth told me of his status As a father of the usual sort. The Vatican also permits Eastern rite catholics in places like Ukraine and Romania to have married priests. That was part of an ancient Deal they would be catholics and accept the Popes authority staying out of the orthodox Church and in Exchange they would be allowed married clergy and liturgies in local languages. Polls show that 70 per cent of american catholics believe priests should be Able to marry. David Gibson author of the coming Catholic Church quotes Roger Cardinal Mahony As telling him that its reasonable to raise the Issue and adding we be had a married clergy since Day one since St. its True that St. Peter the first Pope was married and so were Many of the apostles and Early Popes. But then christians began to put More emphasis on chastity with Tertullian describing women As the Gateway to the Origen of Alexandria the great third Century Christian philosopher castrated himself. And Hugh of Lincoln a 12th-Century Bishop who was later canonized claimed that a heavenly being had obliged him by coming Down from heaven and castrating him leaving him feeling much More peaceful. By the Middle Ages the Church was Clamp ing Down on corruption and the tendency of priests to leave Church assets to their sons. So in the 11th and 12th centuries the rules for celibacy became formalized. Of course the Church sometimes adapts to local cultures. Christianity is at its most dynamic in Africa but clergy in Africa have often complained that the Effort to attract priests there is hobbled by a cultural emphasis on having children. In Central Africa a few years ago an italian priest told me of a local Bishops children. I thought he was speaking metaphorically about the parishioners but the missionary Shook his head. No he has a wife the priest said of the Bishop. Celibacy just runs against the culture Here. In fact if we find a priest who Sticks to just one wife we promote him to ordaining women would also be an excellent Way to provide a new source of clergy. Pope John Paul wrote forcefully about the dignity and Equality of women even championing the female orgasm. One of his successors As Pope will surely apply those precepts of Equality to the Church itself and allow the ordination of women. But maybe not in the next papacy. Its often noted that Pope John Paul ii chose All but three of the cardinals who will choose the next Pope but that does to necessarily mean another conservative Pope. After All Pope Pius Xii chose All but two of the Cardi nals who in 1958 chose his successor the far More open minded Pope John Xxiii. As my new York times colleague Peter Steinfels writes in a people adrift his Book about catholics today the roman Catholic Church in the United states is on the verge of either an irreversible decline or a thoroughgoing faced with that Choice worldwide losing ground to pentecostals the next Pope will be forced to choose transformation. ? the new York times intimidation finds a Campus Home for some time there has been growing con Cern outside the Academy ? that is the Hal Lowed Halls of Post secondary education our universities and colleges ? that students in Liberal arts and the social sciences Are being shortchanged in their learning experiences by political correctness and advocacy education. Canadian students in the arts and social Sci ence departments of our universities Are being recruited to the hyper orthodoxies of Multi Cul Tural ism feminism marxism Post modernism and Bio politics wrote Barbara Kay in a recent comment in the National Post. Proponents of theses ideologies prefer social engineering and the subversion of West Ern values to the advancement of learning and respect for Western achievements. Further More today a welfare Campus Fosters a Cul Ture of Comfort grievance for women aboriginals other visibly distinct races and All sexual orientations for everyone that is except americans Israel sympathizers and heterosexual men of european is Kay goes on to suggest that More than 90 per cent of students polled agree that Campus political correctness generates a frosty anti intellectual climate hostile to academic other observers have lamented that while the West has endeavoured to spread Western ideas to other parts of the world not Only have we not been As successful As we would have liked but our importation of values previously alien to our society and our psyche has been rapid and steady. This is evident in the dialogue on campuses about the israeli Palestin Ian conflict and even on the notion of Israel a right to exist an Issue Long since to deem a performance by the israeli expat i resolved in this country Over half a Century ate too provocative a Perlman recital might ago but which surfaces with increasing venom be a Security risk especially if Solidarity for and intensity on Many campuses. Again and again it is contended that advocacy education and academic intimidation have replaced Dis passionate intellectual discourse on this emotionally charged topic. The postures adopted have found voice out Side the classrooms As students and academics particularly on the pro palestinian or anti Israel Side of the Issue have Given vent to vitriolic expression and physical denial of the right of pro Israel speakers to be heard on Cam pus. In Canada the most notorious examples have been the violent but successful efforts at con Cordia University in Montreal by palestinian Solidarity student groups preventing two for Mer israeli prime ministers Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak from addressing Public meetings from venues located on that Campus. The Barak episode last fall and the caving in by Concordia authorities who did not permit an on Campus address prompted Montreal Gazette journalist Mike Boone to ask would Itzhak Perlman be allowed to play at Oscar Peterson Hall or would Concordia universe palestinian human rights does to like the a similar situation presented itself at both Toronto a York University and the University of Toronto when noted american scholar Daniel pipes was invited to speak at each institution two years ago at York and just last month at u of t. Or. Pipes of Philadelphia has written 12 books. In 2003, after threats by those of opposing views his venue at York was moved to a relatively obscure area on the Campus and his address was Given under heavy police Protection. In Advance of his u of t Public lecture More than 80 professors and graduate students wrote an open letter of protest which while affirm ing academic Freedom and or. Pipes right to speak at the University added that hate prejudice and fear mongering have no place on this Campus notions which Are clearly in the Eye of the beholder. The object of academic discourse in its search for truth through knowledge is surely to present balanced exposition of All sides of issues advanced in the classroom and presented on Campus. The University of Manitoba stumbled in this respect last summer when a continuing education credit program for teachers badly Over balanced the palestinian perspective in an imputed dialogue on education and democracy in a global context. The program appeared to have been preempted by the supporters of Only one Side of this highly contentious Issue. As the prescient observer of Canadian and International affairs George Jonas was to observe peo ple who feel entitled to keep others from hearing whatever offends them Are a relatively Small problem. The bigger problem occurs when the authorities give in to ? 2005 Winnipeg free press a division of up Canadian Rudy Redekop newspapers limited partnership president up Canadian newspapers limited partnership published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue Murdoch Davis / publisher Winnipeg free press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Winnipeg Manitoba r2x 3b6, pm 697-7000 Patrick Flynn / Deputy editor ;