MAJUMDAR: Moving forward -- Jewish civil rights in a new era

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MP Shuvaloy Majumdar (Conservative- Calgary Heritage) was recently honoured as the recipient of the Jewish National Fund Negev Honouree. The following is an excerpt of his remarks.

Thank you to JNF Calgary and to our remarkable community for this honour. Let me recognize JNF’s critical work in building infrastructure and supporting communities in Israel, particularly in underserved regions like the South in the Negev, by rallying support among North America’s Jewish communities.

It is a charitable endeavour, that in every day of this new Parliament, we will fight to restore as a charitable endeavour.

The theme of this evening, “Jewish Civil Rights in the Modern Era” is an opportunity to reflect on three primary disruptions that are taking place today.

The first is the multipolar disruption posed by the resurgence of authoritarian and hegemonic regimes like China, Russia, Iran, and others that seek to upend the postwar international order and its institutions. Regimes that collectively pull the poles of power across the world to fashion a re-order in their own image, and who individually are revanchist, anti-liberal, and profoundly tyrannical.

In visiting Jerusalem and Kyiv within the last 8 months, it’s not been lost upon me that Jerusalem and Kyiv exist in the same time zone. They confront a threat that shares the same supply chains of authoritarian regimes, the same tactics, the same equipment, the same commitment to proxy war in Europe and the Middle East.

And recently, in the Indo-Pacific, where in the Himalayas the confluence of Hamas and Pakistan’s ISI are evident, in the brutal massacre of innocent people in Kashmir, having sparked a wider conflict between two nuclear powers.

The second is the disruption posed by populism both on the left and on the right. It is a disruption that is characterized too often by condescension on one side, and anger on the other. A disruption which confuses the delineation between national interest or nationalism, and the post-modern post-national ideologies of a revived collectivism. A collectivism which replaces moral clarity with moral relativism. A collectivism now rampant across democratic institutions, our academy, our media, our bureaucracy – victimizing Jewish life yet again.

And the third disruption is the role that technology plays in every element of international security and prosperity, reshaping how we build things, how we learn, how we heal, how we communicate, and how we live. It has manifest in technological opportunity to improve the quality of human life unlike in any era before. And alongside that, powerful questions of the protections around civil rights, the domain of large corporations, and of state-sponsored threats in cyber security and information operations. Of algorithmic control, versus technology expanding human freedom and unleashing human prosperity.

How might this relate to the question posed today? Let me offer a few observations of Jewish life and culture which I affectionately admire so deeply.

The first is of young and early Jewish life – the pursuit of knowledge through basic literacy. Literacy that has survived thousands of years, that is a core part of understanding Torah teachings.

The second is the pursuit of truth, through inquiry as love. The capacity of critical thinking – of asking questions, questioning everything, as an act of unyielding love. To understand the truth of our time. The truth of ancient teaching. And the relevance of that truth to how we survive today.

And finally Shabbat – the practice of setting aside technology each week, and refocussing on human connection. On humanity itself. On celebrating family, and on celebrating faith.

So for the three disruptions of our modern age, isn’t it interesting that in these times of anxiety, how distinctly important Jewish contributions are.

That the antidote to tyrants and their tyranny, is literacy and knowledge.

That the antidote to mob rule, is critical thinking.

And that the antidote to technology and the ways it is abused, is through human connection.

For me, these are critical to the success of the civilized world over our medieval rivals.

Amid the gathering darkness, in the face of rising antisemitism, anti Zionism, skyrocketing hate crimes – up 250% over the last decade in Canada, where today 75% of all hate crimes are targeted against less than 1% of our population. When the fight to uphold the promise of Canada feels more difficult than ever, my message is simple:

We will never give up.

We will continue to confront extremism at every turn, on our streets, schools, and sanctuaries, and in our nation’s Parliament.

The light and promise of Israel and the Jewish people will prevail, and does so in part through the amazing work of organizations like JNF.

JNF’s mission to build up infrastructure in the State of Israel is but a chapter in the 3,000-year-old mission of the Jewish people, to live and thrive in the Land of Israel.

Just as the founders of this community once came and settled in the Canadian West by establishing deep roots and building infrastructure, today their eyes turn to Zion to do the same. Fostering strength in the Land of Israel, are among the perennial and proud legacies of our community.

Tonight, we honour this history as part of an ancient heritage, that we now remember in the modern age:

We remember Pharoah.

We remember Haman.

We remember Antiochus.

The Bar Kokhba Revolt.

The Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the pogroms.

We remember the Holocaust – even as those try to deny, or revise, or erase its existence – not just in January of the Allied liberation of Auschwitz, but as we did more recently on Israel’s Memorial Day of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

We remember the October 7th massacre.

We remember the hostages that have been held since that horrific day. The towers of light that are the IDF. The soldier that jumps onto the grenade to protect his brother. The mother and her daughter who endure hellfire and hate.

In this intersection where history meets history, we know that this legacy, of memory and history, this indigeneity, is the light that is our memory.

It is an enduring fight that we must continue to fight at every turn. With every audience. With common cause and with all who confront these violent ideologies.

We stand together to remember. To reclaim history. To fight for Jewish civil rights. To fight for human rights and for human dignity. For all. Forever.

Being honoured tonight is awkward for me…because in the test of these times, it is the Jewish people and the State of Israel who are on the frontline. And if what I’ve done in these last years is to be a small part of joining this fight, alongside you, in our fight for civilization over our medieval rivals, then I’m the one who is grateful.

I thank God for the Jewish State and the Jewish people.

I thank God for the honour of being your voice.

Not as Jewish. Not as an ally. But as a Zionist.

And for this, the Mitzvah is mine.