Hate-monger Supported by Canadian Civil Liberties Group

A professional disseminator of anti-Semitic hate mail, who filed an appeal this week against the decision by the postal authorities to suspend his mailing privileges, has won the support of a civil libertarian organization for his right to stay in business.

The Post Office halted the mail service of Emst Zundel, German-born owner of the Samisdod Publishers in Toronto in November, 1980, on grounds that the material he districted incites hatred of Jews. The Post Office acted, a?a year-long investigation, on the basis of a law which allows the suspension of mail that deliberately promotes race hatred or hatred against an identifiable group.

Zundel, a self-acknowledged admirer of Hitler, is the author of anti-Jewish and anti-Communist tracts. One of his mailed leaflets describes Jews as “vicious, greedy and militant.” Another claims that Jewish businessmen control the media and use their influence to inspire “murderous hatred” of Germans. He appealed the Post Office ban before a government appointed review board in Ottawa.

Zundel’s attorney. Lynn McGaw, told the board her client’s business has suffered as a consequence of the ban. Ian Scott, a lawyer for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, argued that it is illegal for the Canadian government to deny mail service before proving that an individual is breaking the law. Scott stressed that his group was not taking a stand on the content of Zundel’s material.

McGaw contended that Zundel “does not intend to promote hatred against anyone but to actively combat the stereotype of the German people as a group.” But Prof. Jean Ravault, of the University of Quebec in Montreal, told the board that it was possible that Zundel’s publications “make some frustrated readers believe that violent actions and discriminatory behavior against members of these ethnic and religious groups could be legitimized.”