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12 June, 2004
Malcolm Azania

My friends recently went to a rock concert and were excited to be able to purchase a recording of the live rock show they had just attended—the perfect souvenir.

But since then, “corporate mega-giant” Clear Channel has “purchased a patent making it illegal for any band to record their own live show, and sell that recording day of show at the venue, unless the band pays Clear Channel” (click here for source). This is what happens when the powers of communication become too concentrated.

This week, NDP candidate Malcolm Azania came under fire after *National Post* columnist Colby Cosh drew attention to comments made by Azania concerning racial inequalities. The comments were made on a University of Alberta internet discussion board in 1994. The issue has become a very big deal, and people across the country are discussing it on the internet. But what is significant is the coverage in major media outlets.

Azania is being blasted by all sides, including NDP leader Jack Layton. Clearly what Azania wrote is bad. (Though one should read the whole of what he wrote before judging him.) But he wrote it ten years ago! Can a man not be permitted to see the light? What is the arbitrary age after which a person can never be said to have grown or changed? Most children are bullies to some extent; why can we forgive most people but not a politician?

What about George Burdi? Burdi founded the largest distributor of racist music in North America, was arrested, cut all ties with the white power movement, and now plays in a band with two black members and is engaged to an Indian woman. Clearly his fiancée and bandmates have forgiven him, and he was arrested seven years ago. Is it so hard to believe that Azania has changed in ten years?

Did our own premier not get drunk, enter a homeless shelter, verbally abuse the homeless there, and throw money on the floor? Yes, he did. Is he still premier? Yes, sadly, he is. These were real actions committed not three years ago. Azania’s crime was a written abstraction committed a decade ago. Did Klein not incense Albertans this year with his allusion to Pinochet’s brutal regime in Chile? He did. Did he apologize to Chilean Albertans for sympathizing with the actions of the Chilean despot? No. Is he still premier? Yes, he persists still. He persists despite submitting a paper for a University course with substantial sections either plagiarized from internet sources or cited simply as “Internet”. Could I submit a paper and cite my sources as “Library”?

What gets Klein off the hook every time is the fact that Albertan voters enjoy the rich-friendly, poor-stomping, forest-razing, lake-drying, arts-snubbing policies that Klein’s government has installed. What matter that he’s an idiot, a boor, and a drunk? He’s pro-businessman, and that’s what counts.

Has any mention been made of Azania’s political platform? Here are the key points therein: quality affordable education and health care; clean, green environment; fair work, wages and trade; and international peace and development. Also, his past behaviour reflects his platform (much like Klein’s drunken money-throwing): he very actively pursues social justice and environmental goals.

Mass media outlets are owned by businessmen. Because businessmen prefer immediate wealth for themselves to social justice for all, mass media outlets report favourably on Klein and unfavourably on Azania. Major news outlets do not offer full news; they offer what businessmen want people to know. This is why alternative news outlets are so valuable. Interested? Check out rabble.ca to start. (And thanks to the Gazette for printing this.)

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