CanWest Talking Barbie says:
Responsible Journalism is Hard!

In Saturday's Vancouver Sun, columnist Barbara Yaffe said "BC unions anti-Israel stance is troubling" (I don't have a link to the column, because damn it, I'm not paying for it twice). If this is what Barbie considers so "troubling", I wouldn't make any sudden moves around her. It's obvious that she rattles easier than Patriots fans during the last couple of minutes of yesterday's Super Bowl. (Note:anology shamelessly dropped to point out I called it in my previous post.)

CUPE BC's International Solidarity Committee (Drop the sarcastic quotation marks, Barbie, CUPE BC does have an International Solidarity Committee) produced "The Wall Must Fall" in response to a resolution passed at the union's 2000 convention which called for "a peace process based on international law and equality between Israeli's and Palestinians". The Labour Movement has a saying: "What we want for ourselves we want for all", and aren't peace, justice, and equality just as important as defined benefit pensions and prescription drug benefits?

What gives Yaffe the right to decide that workers shouldn't strive for Peace, Justice and Equality outside the immediate membership of their union? CanWest Global editorial policy, that's what! In the CanWest world, in case you haven't noticed, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a zero-sum proposition where the scattershot, decentralized terror from the likes of Hamas is always deplorable and evil, but the organized, state-sponsored terror from the Sharon regime is always justified. Contrary to what Barbie and the Aspers might think, most people I know think killing of any kind is just plain wrong, and more to the point, there's two sides to every conflict. "Tear Down the Wall" might be a laundry list of Palestinian grievances, but it's still a different perspective than the Sun and the National Post have been serving up for months.

Saturday's headline labels CUPE BC as "anti-Israel", which is interesting, given "Tear Down the Wall" features a forward from Canadian Jewish Outlook editor Carl Rosenberg, and points out the rapidly growing peace movement among Israelis. Talking CanWest Barbie also makes her own attempt to accessorize her position with remarks from UBC Professor Howard Stein who charged the union with trying to "pass on this one-sided propaganda to unsuspecting students". That's right, Professor Stein, with a provincial election and a critical round of bargaining on the way this year, the CUPE members in Locals 2950, 2278, and 116 who work at UBC are more concerned about having enough copies of "Tear Down the Wall" to hand out with "The Protocols of Zion" to give to unsuspecting students during Frosh week.

Yaffe points out that taking a position contrary to the CanWest one "can only contribute to a negative climate on campuses in B.C." That's funny, I thought she'd be happy with anything that makes it easier to cross picket lines because "unsuspecting students" think union members stand shoulder to shoulder with suicide bombers.

Which brings me to this question, why, during a substantial thaw in Israel-Palestinian relations, do Barbie and her pals at the Sun's editorial board choose to pick this fight now? CanWest Global editorial policy, that's why! Yaffe signed on off on Saturday calling for "broader debate on whether it's cricket for unions to politically indoctrinate their members". Is this really about a position paper that (with apologies to the International Solidarity Committee) sat pretty much unread on information tables at last year's CUPE BC Convention, or is it about casting aspersions about Labour's more immediate political organizing?

Barbie's TV friends over at Global Vancouver were sure quick off the mark a few months ago, rounding up the mouth-breathing gutless wonders (i.e. too scared to complain at a meeting or launch a decertification bid) who call themselves union members to scream on camera about CUPE BC's Dirty Deeds Calendar. Most CUPE BC members, however, don't Believe BC (tm) and the BC Liberals the same way the Sun, Province, and Global TV have been insisting since "A New Era for British Columbia" (tm) began in 2001. The overwhelming majority of CUPE BC members, as polling done for their Political Action Committee illustrated (at least they allowed PAC Chair Mark Hancock a rebuttal), won't be supporting Gordon Campbell on May 17, and since the NDP needs the backing of about 65% of union households to pull off the most humiliating defeat in Canada's political history, perhaps a little whiff of anti-Semitism might be just the thing to pick off a few of the less than true believers and give BC's best known drunk driver the keys to the province for another four years.

You know, if Yaffe or anyone else at Canwest was looking to take a potshot at CUPE BC, they could have dug a little further into the current conflict of interest allegations between Local 15 (City of Vancouver workers) and the coalition of Progressive Electors, i.e. the possibility that Local 15 has been floating COPE's debt from the last civic election while at the same time bargaining with a COPE-dominated City Hall. Mind you, Larry Campbell and the "Diet COPE" caucus have had no qualms in betraying their core constituents, backing the RAV line, while flipping the bird to core constituents like the Bus Riders Union. I'm sure the Sun's editorial board had no qualms about that kind of behaviour either. Of course, for the likes of Barbie, there's too many facts (a few of which would toast the conflict of interest altogether) at City Hall to get in the way of a good story, like, say, 'Unions hate Israel'.