The rubber is coming to meet the road.
In a statement just issued by the Canadian Association for Equality (CAFE), we have learned that radical groups are planning militant action to disrupt the upcoming talk at the University of Toronto by Dr. Paul Nathanson and Dr. Katherine Young, possibly with the use of violence.
From the statement by CAFE[1]:
A protest of this event is planned by the UTSU and its allies, including the Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students and the University of Toronto-based “Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG).” OPIRG, funded by levies on all students, has joined with more extreme groups Common Cause and the Radical Student Movement, to organize a “militant” response on Thursday. Common Cause has pledged to respond to “men’s issues” events with a “move towards reactivating a radical, militant feminist movement.” Meanwhile, the “Radical Student Movement,” promises that individuals associated with disagreeable groups will be “verbally condemned as well as physically challenged.”
Speaking on behalf of the editorial board of A Voice for Men, I urge all MHRAs who plan to attend this event to take this threat very seriously. Clearly part of the strategy of these groups in publicly announcing their intentions is to intimidate both the speakers involved and attendees into resignation. It would suit their agenda well if the event were cancelled due to the threat of violent actions. It would hand them their victory.
We urge CAFE, Drs Nathanson and Young, MHRAs and all students who plan on attending the lecture to persevere. Do not let a band of radical thugs dictate what discourse will and will not be allowed on a university campus.
That being said, we encourage all to be vigilant and careful. These groups have already demonstrated their willingness to employ violence whenever it suits their agenda.
Here is a short list of recommendations for those attending, which must also be regarded as marching orders for anyone in attendance of this lecture representing A Voice for Men.
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- Do not engage in violence in any form, for any reason. If you are facing physical hostility, retreat. Find a path away from it and take it without hesitation;
- If attacked and you cannot escape, hit the ground face down and cover your head with your hands. Pull your knees to your chest and make your body as compact as possible;
- Do not hesitate to call for police assistance. We anticipate they will be there in force;
- Do not attend this event alone;
- Do not attend this event alone;
- ABR. Always be recording. Do this as a protective measure, to dissuade anyone from becoming violent. AVFM News personnel will be there to take video in multiple locations;
- If doors are blocked, either by persons or objects, do not attempt to push through. Seek assistance from police;
- Do not engage in any shouting matches or exchanges of verbal hostility with protesters. Keep your emotions in check. Remember the men who were harassed at the Farrell lecture on the video by Studio Brule. BE THEM, NOT THE PROTESTERS;
- For MHRAs generally speaking, these are strong suggestions. For anyone in an official capacity with AVFM, they are a deal breaker. Anyone engaging in violence, escalating hostility or acting in a provocative way at this event will be immediately and permanently stricken from the ranks of this organization. NO EXCEPTIONS.
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It appears, gents and ladies, that the individuals who were shamed into docility and wearing masks after their moral bankruptcy was exposed to the world, have not much enjoyed wearing a leash since then. Let me remind you that it was not AVFM that put them on that leash, except to the extent that we along with others actively and accurately exposed their true mindset to the world.
It was not brute force that forced their brief retreat into the shadows, but the light of truth shining on them for the world to see. That same world, despite the best intentions of the mainstream media and hate groups like the University of Toronto Student’s Union, also saw the calmed and reasoned reaction of those who opposed them. We humiliated them with a mirror, not with a club or with hateful chanting.
For that sake of everything we stand for, we must stay on that course and refuse to be detoured by thugs and bullies. Let them be seen for what they are, clearly. Do not distort that image or distract from it with your own foolishness and immaturity. Nor with your anger, no matter how righteous you may think it to be.
Please read the CAFE announcement carefully and let it sink in. We are at what I think will be regarded as a pivotal moment in the history of the Men’s Human Rights Movement.
During the last protest at the University of Toronto protesters wore masks, which is now in violation of Canadian law.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_C-309
In closing, I also want to make a plea to certain parties that I am sure will be reading this announcement. To the Toronto Police Force, the University of Toronto Campus Police and the University of Toronto Administration: We respectfully urge you to protect the safety and personal freedoms of all who attend this event, including the right to peacefully protest. Above all, we urge you to consider the rights of individuals to gather in the name of fostering awareness of problems that affect our society. You have been publicly advised in advance of this event that militants are planning hostile, even violent actions to disrupt it and/or keep it from happening. That advance notice comes not from us, but from the militants themselves. We respectfully request that you act on that accordingly and with forethought.
All of you play an important role in preserving personal freedoms by PUNISHING offenders.
That begins with enforcing the law.
Also, to the members of the mainstream media: Kindly do your job. How you cover this story may well offer up proof to the world that you are either journalists, or ideologues who support violence and the repression of free speech; the very freedom on which your profession depends to exist in the first place.
So far, you have given violence and the abridgment of free speech a pass because it was perpetrated in the name of an ideology that many of you support. You have done this to your utter disgrace. Should any of you choose the path of journalism, which requires the real courage you have thus far not displayed, you have a chance at redeeming your integrity – if you ever had it to begin with.
To the readers of AVFM, I offer you a personal pledge. Regardless of what police, university officials, the mainstream media or any other entity does or does not do, this publication will not veer from its course. Protesters who obey the rule of law, and engage in their right to free expression will not be profiled on these pages or publicly exposed. Those who stray past that line, even by a fraction, will be subjected to every effort we can make to identify them and create a record of their actions that will follow them for life. We always have, and always will, continue to summarily dismiss any notions that we abandon that policy, regardless of the source.
And a final note to the militants. The days when you can silence the advocacy for men and boys are over. Indeed, your corrupt plans and illicit actions have only inspired the formation of more groups, in more cities, dedicated the justice you would deny us all. You have fomented the movement that will burn your hateful ideology to the ground. Like all hateful groups that came before you, you will eventually choke on your own toxic ideas. And the world will collectively say, “Good riddance.”
