Media giant Canwest files suit over parody of Vancouver Sun, threatens free speech

News Flash: Free speech not safe from attack by Canadian media corporation

News Flash: Free-speech advocates rally for support in lawsuit by media conglomerate

New Event: Activists sued by CanWest speak out in Vancouver Sept 26

VANCOUVER- Sun owner Canwest has launched an unprecedented civil lawsuit against three local activists: Mordecai Briemberg, Carel Moiseiwitsch and Gordon Murray. In this direct attack on freedom of expression, the activists are being sued for a four page parody of the Vancouver Sun satirising Canwest’s well-known bias for supporting the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

In fact, the media giant’s founder, Izzy Asper, boasted that “In all of our newspapers… we have a very pro-Israeli position…we are the strongest supporter of Israel in Canada.” Now Canwest is attempting to bully and silence criticism of its political position – we can’t let them do that.

The Seriously Free Speech Committee has been formed to resist this bullying, demanding that the suit be dropped in favour of an open public debate of the important issues of Israel and Palestine.

As the Supreme Court of Canada said in its June 2008 unanimous decision about freedom of expression, “the law must accommodate commentators such as the satirist or the cartoonist who… exercise a democratic right to poke fun at those who huff and puff in the public arena.”

New Honourary Members of the Seriously Free Speech Committee*:
Paul Moist, National President CUPE*; Phyllis Bennis, author and analyst, Fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies (Washington D.C.)*; Nick Dyer-Witheford, Associate Professor, Faculty of Information & Media Studies, University of Western Ontario*; Dorothy Kidd, Associate Professor, Department of Media Studies (University of San Francisco)* and member of Media Alliance*; Ali Mallah, Canadian Peace Alliance steering committee* and vice-president Canadian Arab Federation*;
*affiliation for identification purposes only / à des fins d’identification seulement

For a complete list of the committee’s honourary members, click here.