The danger of viewing everything through the ‘oppressed vs oppressor’ lens.
Let’s take a moment to imagine what Canada would be like if it was run by Hamas.
Women’s rights would gone (Women in Gaza are often blocked from even being able to fight domestic abuse in court).
LGBT rights would be gone (many LGBT Palestinians flee to Israel for safety).
Speaking out for working-class people? Nope. Hamas brutally suppressed cost-of-living protests in 2019.
Diversity of thought? Nope. Hamas uses the educational system to indoctrinate people into one way of thinking, and dissenters are often jailed, tortured, and even murdered.
Political debate? Nope. Hamas has suppressed the opposition, and executed members of rival political factions.
Freedom of religion/freedom not to be religious? Nope again. Blasphemy laws are strictly enforced by Hamas, allowing for only a very narrow range of religious expression in line with what Hamas agrees with?
Academic freedom? That’s a ‘no’ there as well. Student protests have been violently put down, and academics are heavily constrained by fear and censorship.
Fighting inequality? Nope. Hamas leaders take much of the international aid sent to Gaza for themselves, and have become billionaires while much of their populace lives in poverty. Many Hamas leaders don’t even live in Gaza, preferring to live in the lap of luxury in Qatar instead.
As you can see, there is nothing – not a thing – about Hamas that is ‘progressive’.
So why does the NDP continue to push for a course of action that would let Hamas stay in power, and why does the NDP relentlessly blame and demonize Israel?
Well, what we are seeing is the danger of the ‘oppressed vs oppressor’ mental framework much of the left has adopted.
Because Israel is a successful nation – having embraced individual freedom, democracy, markets, and religious freedom to a much higher degree than any other nation in the Middle East – and because Gaza is so poor – because of Hamas choosing to prioritize terrorist indoctrination, building rockets, planning genocidal attacks, and siphoning money to their leaders above the well-being of Gazans – the left has concluded that Hamas must somehow be on the ‘right side.’
There is also an element of a lack of self preservation mechanism. The same NDP politicians who promote a pro-Hamas course of action would be horrifically oppressed by Hamas if people like Hamas were in power in Canada. But somehow, they don’t see it.
And of course, let’s also remember that the NDP has revealed itself to be deeply anti-Semitic. They have let their hatred completely override what they claim to stand for.
This is a problem Canada could be dealing with for quite a while, as many Canadians have bought into the ‘oppressed vs oppressor’ narrative and are thus unwilling to see the immense threats facing our way of life.
Spencer Fernando