Press Action ::: A Taste of Things to Come for Canadians?

Friday, July 30, 2004

A Taste of Things to Come for Canadians?

By Jordy Cummings

Joseph Pannell In his excellent memoir, Eric Hobsbawm talks of how he could live freely and happily as a communist in Great Britain during the Cold War, quipping that even if governed by forces of reaction, the UK was not the USA. Traditionally, this has been the same deal in most other industrialized countries, especially Canada. When Pierre Trudeau, who opposed the Vietnam war allowed literally thousands of American political refugees, some highly skilled professionals among them no doubt, into Canada, Nixon was not pleased.

We all know that Trudeau had complex, somewhat Gaullist, somewhat personal and somewhat cynical (let Bombardier sell fighter planes while Pierre smokes grass with John Lennon) reasons for this policy. They were in many senses, though Canadians in general, from Tory to Socialist, could never understand the idea of political persecution. On a cultural level, the Vietnam draft dodgers and many, many others who were being persecuted, like Naomi Klein’s folks, made Canada a better country.

As someone who counts many American-Canadians and their kids as close friends, mentors and comrades, I can say that Toronto would not be the city where it’s hip-to-be-left, where dance clubs fly the hammer and sickle, if not for this invasion of good old-fashioned American radical schmaltz. Torontonians saved my mother’s good friend Reuben (Hurricane) Carter, who is a cultural leader among Toronto’s growing African-American and Caribbean population, who should be up in arms, and may adopt such a position in the coming weeks.

Beyond the surface of the persecuted lawyers and educated professional migrants-by-choice were serious political refugees. As we speak, one of them—a former Black Panther, now a civil servant by the name of Joseph Coleman Pannell, seems to be getting handed to the Yanks on a silver platter. Pannell and his wife have been working as librarians at the cavernous Toronto Reference library for nearly 20 years. The Globe and Mail reports that there seems to be a sense of cover-up amongst the staff of this vaunted public institution. The only workers willing to talk to the G&M wanted to do so off the record.

As goes the official story, Pannell shot, but did not kill, one Terrence Knox, a Chicago cop, in March 1969. As goes the official story, Pannell “admitted” doing so in official U.S. custody, which should not say much, and traditionally should be challenged by our department of immigration affairs. Pannell’s attorney, Joseph Segal, says that he maintains his innocence and his confidence in the Canadian system. I wish I could share that optimism. Canadians and Americans alike should watch this case closely, and especially for the unanswered questions.

No one but the most foolish liberal would deny that this is a political prosecution. Why would there be a vaunted “cold case” about someone who isn’t even alleged to have fatally shot someone? Likewise, how was he found out? The authorities, the same ones who let Maher Arrar get kidnapped, are claiming that Pannell’s fingerprints surfaced when he was using another name and was charged with “smuggling.” Just as likely he was being watched by American agents. Since Paul Celluci threatened Jean Chretien a year or so ago, American leftists in Canada report feeling a sense of paranoia. Hearing these stories, I’ve scoffed, but after the sudden arrest of Pannell, I’m a little nonplussed.

Canadians and Americans must demand fair treatment of Joseph Coleman Pannell in the Canadian system. Likewise, his attorneys must remember that he is being asked to return to a country that recently stole an election by way of disenfranchisement of a largely African American electorate, a country in which rape in prison is used as a weapon of control. While maintaining his innocence, as he must, it should not be forgotten that it isn’t like he’s being asked to return to Bush’s mainland Gulag.

Jordy Cummings, editor of Pure Polemics, lives in Toronto and can be reached at yorgos33ca@yahoo.ca.

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