What makes something antisemitic? When is it appropriate to call someone antisemitic? Terry Glavin offers some cogent thoughts on these and related matters in his consideration of the Canadian Green Party’s decision to drop John Shavluk - a “crank” - as a candidate.

Says Terry, on the comments of Green Party leader Elizabeth May:

In ditching Shavluk as the candidate for Newton-North Delta, May makes much of the Green Party’s “respect for diversity” and its encouragement of “dialogue, diversity, peace and cooperation.” There was this: “We condemn anti-Semitism,” but then this strangely passive-aggressive sentence: “I communicated with John and thanked him for his work on behalf of the Green Party but explained that he will not be a candidate because his views are not consistent with our philosophy.”

So is she saying Shavluk is an antisemite or not? What on earth is she thanking him for? And what is it about his “views,” precisely, that are so unsuited to the Greens’ philosophy that May sees fit to pull Shavluk’s candidacy papers?

And why now? The guy’s been an obvious freakjob for years. Shavluk’s bit about how the US government itself attacked the “shoddily built Jewish world bank headquarters” otherwise known as the World Trade Center in New York was from two years ago. Is there no Google function on any of the computers at Green Party HQ?

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