![[small-web-version_harperfree_poster.jpg]](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_WGczmWu7Wwc/SdCJyy2LN1I/AAAAAAAABWE/ABYCkbJaKaQ/s1600/small-web-version_harperfree_poster.jpg)
Archives Canada really wimped out when it shut down the screening of the documentary ‘Iranium’ critical of Iran’s nuclear program. The reason? Two letters threatening protest. After inspection, the letters were deemed “not suspicious at all”. The Iranian embassy also complained; that in itself is not enough to warrant the non-screening of the film.
All that’s pretty silly and a total overreaction by Archives Canada. But the real overreactions are the cries of victimhood from the wingnut bloggers north and south of the border. All the regulars – Cliff May, James Moore, BlazingPussyFur, Currie, Volokh – are screaming ‘thugs’ and whining with the accompanied outrage and ‘this cannot stand’ foot stomping. Entertaining to say the least.
…organizers were furious to see their event barred from the National Archives, a regular venue for the “libertarian, conservative” society that regularly screens films about democracy and current affairs.
“I’m outraged that in the capital of Canada the Iranians have been able to shut down a movie,” said the group’s president Fred Litwin. “Bad enough in Tehran, but in Ottawa?”
The Archives first called to cancel on Monday afternoon, Mr. Litwin said. Staff had received complaints about the showing of Iranium and offered to help the group find another venue. When Mr. Litwin said he couldn’t afford to show the film at the Museum of Nature, as the Archives suggested, he sought the help of Heritage Minister James Moore.
“Bomb Iran Now”! The reaction to this fiasco from the ‘moderate’ right? Jay Currie supplies the comic relief:
Hey, it’s a free country and a group called the ‘Free Thinking Film Society’ should be able to appreciate that a free society allows letters threatening protest and embassies to object. Neither of those is against the law.
If any blame is to be laid, the blame begins at the feet of Archives Canada for bowing to written pressure contained in letters deemed “not suspicious at all”.
But the best whine of course comes from Canada’s ‘Heritage’ Minister James Moore. I just love his chest beating bravado when, as a representative of the governing party of Harper’s Canada, he was unable to come to the rescue of The Free Thinking Film Society:
The Heritage Minister blamed the Iranian Embassy for the cancellation.
“The Iranian Embassy will not dictate to the Government of Canada which films will or will not be shown in Canada,” he wrote on his Twitter account on Tuesday evening.
Guess what, James? You, the Free Thinking Film Society and Archives Canada all look equally weak and inept. The film could have been shown. You didn’t have the money and you didn’t have the clout. Memories of the Levant-Coulter fiasco comes to mind.
One more thing. If you’re going to call yourself the ‘Free Thinking Film Society‘, you may want to screen something other than vile right-wing propaganda. That’s not freedom. There’s another word for what you’re up to. And it has nothing to do with freedom.
Aside: Come to think of it, I wonder if Canada’s Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney came to freedom fighter George Galloway’s rescue when he was fighting for entry into the country? Didn’t think so.
Cross posted at Let Freedom Rain.
