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Shakedown: How Our Government is Undermining Democracy in the Name of Human Rights
 
 

Shakedown: How Our Government is Undermining Democracy in the Name of Human Rights (Hardcover)

by Ezra Levant (Author)
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 28.99
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Product Description

Review

"I was at a low moment, and beginning to fear that our adversarial culture was dying and the open society was losing its will to resist, when Ezra Levant showed that every citizen has the birthright of a little spark, and a grown-up duty to kindle that spark into a flame. Let the bureaucrats do their worst: the tongue and the word are chainless and nothing is sacred except this freedom above all."
— Christopher Hitchens, author of God is Not Great

“If we're not careful, if we force the Ezras in this country to shut up, our freedom of speech could be next.”
— Rick Mercer, in a “rant” from the Rick Mercer Report

“We are not yet three months into 2009, but Ezra may well have written the most important public affairs book this year.”
The National Post

“I read Shakedown and I am awed at Levant's persistence and powers of endurance.”
— Rex Murphy, in the Globe & Mail

“Why is Ezra Levant the flavour of the month? Dare I say because he deserves to be?”
Metro Vancouver

“…eloquent and powerful…”
London Free Press

“…puts everything on the line in the way the best Canadian journalists always did.”
Ottawa Citizen

“Let me put in a plug for Levant’s new book, Shakedown, which lays out, in example after example, how government-appointed human rights bodies warped the noble mission for which they were created.”
The Halifax Chronicle Herald

“...By the end of Levant’s book, readers will be left wondering whether it is enough to prune back the commissions, or, as he prefers, to weed them out altogether.”
Macleans


Product Description

Part memoir, part investigative journalism, this is a shocking and controversial look at the corruption of Canada’s human rights commissions.

“On January 11, 2008, I was summoned to a 90-minute government interrogation. My crime? As the publisher of Western Standard magazine, I had reprinted the Danish cartoons of Mohammed to illustrate a news story. I was charged with the offence of “discrimination,” and made to appear before Alberta’s “human rights commission” for questioning. As crazy as it sounds, I became the only person in the world to face legal sanction for printing those cartoons.”

As a result of this highly publicized event, Ezra Levant began investigating other instances in which innocent people have had their freedoms compromised by bureaucrats presuming to protect Canadians’ human rights. He discovered some disturbing and even bizarre cases, such as the tribunal ruling that an employee at a McDonald’s restaurant in Vancouver did not have to wash her hands at work. And the human rights complaint filed by a Calgary hair stylist against the women at a salon school who called him a “loser.” In another case that seemed stranger than fiction, an emotionally unstable transvestite fought for — and won — the right to counsel female rape victims, despite the anguished pleas of those same traumatized victims. Human rights commissions now monitor political opinions, fine people for expressing politically incorrect viewpoints, censor websites, and even ban people, permanently, from saying certain things.

The book is a result of Levant’s ordeal and the research it inspired. It shows how our concept of human rights has morphed into something dangerous and drastically different from its original meaning. Shakedown is a convincing plea to Canadians to reclaim their basic liberties.

Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
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Customer Reviews

25 Reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars (25 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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64 of 69 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Mr Orwell, you were right., Mar 29 2009
By Gerry Wood (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Skill-testing question: what do you get when you blend an Alice-in-Wonderland fantasy with a Simpsons' farce and an Orwellian dystopia. Why, the story of the Canadian Human Rights Commissions, of course. You didn't know? Don't feel too badly; for many years, none of us knew. The HRCs, established as institutions with the admirable tasks of attacking bigotry and discrimination, and of protecting the rights of the weak against the powerful, have themselves been hijacked for devious and scurrilous purposes by third-rate intellects and whacky activists. They are now instruments of language and thought control, weird social engineering and total disrespect for fundamental human rights and the rule of law. They make up rules of procedure on the fly and invent new "rights" in order to justify their agenda-driven decisions. All this happened under the radar screen, while Canada slept. It's all true. You can look it up.

Everything was going swimmingly until the Alberta HRC made the mistake of taking on the wrong person. They tried to railroad Ezra Levant. Levant is a Calgary-based political commentator/activist/polemicist. Being Jewish, he may have an inkling as to the real meaning of "discrimination" and "bigotry". A few years ago he was the editor of a small magazine that published the so-called Danish cartoons mocking Muslim extremism. His was a news magazine; the cartoons were huge news so it seemed appropriate to him to do what he did. Foolish man. As a result, he was dragged before the local HRC and put through the wringer for nearly three years. However, Mr Levant is not a man to go quietly. He is pugnacious; his style is in-your-face, never-back-down, never-go-quietly, feisty. Not my idea of a drinking buddy, but just right for the circumstances. He fought back aggressively against his accusers and launched a vigorous campaign to eradicate this HRC cancer before it destroys our liberal democracy. Hit and hurt by a flying Levant, the HRCs have now gone on the defensive. It's all true. You can look it up.

SHAKEDOWN is Mr Levant's story, both his own experience in "court" and his subsequent campaign; it is laced with numerous real-life HRC stories. Read about the woman who had the right not to wash her hands even though she was a restaurant worker; the six foot transsexual athlete who had the right to provide counselling in a rape crisis centre (and of the rape victims who were obliged to comply); the Christian pastor who is prohibited from expressing his opinions even though they are sincere and consistent with his religion. These are a just a few of the truly bizarre stories that help make this book compelling. It is well written; Mr Levant is an accomplished wordsmith. Read it; you will laugh and cry at the same time. It's all true. You can look it up.

Read about the marketing campaigns designed to increase business: Alberta's is hilarious, but Ontario's is, quite frankly, sinister.

Mr Levant skips rather lightly over the gradual degradation of the HRCs and his story would be even more fascinating if he had explored this aspect in more depth. Starting with noble ideals, how did we evolve into dystopian tragicomedy? How did this happen? The fact that HRCs were political dumping grounds for embarrassing whackos to whom politicians owed favours is obviously a major part of the explanation; for years they operated off the radar screen so nobody noticed that they were behaving like, well, whackos. A chronology of this evolution with an examination of the mentality of the culprits would be highly entertaining. Perhaps that is the basis for another book.

Mr Levant's crusade is ongoing. Chronologically, SHAKEDOWN takes us to the state of play around the end of 2008. So far, Mr Levant is winning; it is to be hoped that this book will have wide circulation, more Canadians will be aware of the travesty, the campaign will attract wider publicity and the politicians will eventually put an end to the nonsense.

It's all there in SHAKEDOWN. The story is so bizarre you may not believe it. But it's all true, and on the public record. You can look it up. But be quick. At least one HRC has made a concerted effort to hold a secret hearing, even trying to ban the defendant!

Shame on us that it happened. More shame on us that it continues, even after Mr Levant has lifted up the rock to show us what's underneath.
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Plain scary! Makes Canada look like a 3rd world banana republic, April 4 2009
By Winston "Iran Blogger/Activist" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
I only thought a country like Iran, Cuba or Saudi Arabia prosecuted people for expressing their opinions. I was wrong. It's scary to think that in a 1st rate country like Canada, a great country, such courts exist. These government sanctioned courts/tribunals make it hard to express your own thoughts and Mr. Levant has embarked on a crusade to expose these Stalinist kangaroo courts and defeat them in the real court of public opinion. I think he has been successful. This is an extremely well done book. Greatly researched, written by a very passionate man who cares deeply about his country and has done so to protect it from these HR courts. Buy this book and let others read it too. Every single Canadian of all stripes must know what's going on and how their tax money is spent. I, for one, am glad that brave men like Mr. Levant have the guts to go through such fights. For their bravery, Canada will be a much better place and a safer place to live. 5/5
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38 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Scary, Mar 26 2009
By Saffron Jenkins (Burlington, ON) - See all my reviews
Hard to believe that these kangaroo courts actually exist in Canada. Very frightening at how much power they seem to have.
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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Shakedown
A great book from a Canadian hero. All Canadians should thank Mr. Levant for his tireless work (and personal expense) in exposing this corrupt and useless bunch of bullies at the... Read more
Published 3 days ago by C. Burke

5.0 out of 5 stars Ghost writers
Reads like an article by Christopher Hitchens. It had me rolling in the aisles. A sort of voyage round Ubu land. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Scollen Michael

5.0 out of 5 stars A principled defense of freedom
In Shakedown, Ezra Levant exposes the misdeeds of so-called Human Rights Commissions across Canada. Part of the book is devoted to procedure: how HRCs don't follow the usual... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Martin Frankland

5.0 out of 5 stars Human Rights dishonesly
This book is a real eye opener on control by a government.
It seems to me a person should have a "right" to their opinion, as long as it is not a personal attack. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Virginia Dean

5.0 out of 5 stars Canadian, timely, and outrageous
Incompetent and corrupt kangaroo courts in Canada are egregiously violating civil rights in the name of "human rights". Read more
Published 5 months ago by Robert New

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding - a must read for all Canadians
Absolutely one of the best books I have read. Profound, disturbing and humourous all at once. It should be mandatory reading in our high-school curriculum.
Published 5 months ago by David Hatherly

5.0 out of 5 stars Thanks for the warning, Canada!
I have been following the machinations of the Canadian HRC's from here in Australia. Why, you might ask? Read more
Published 5 months ago by Sholto Douglas

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book
This book should be required reading for all Canadians.
We thought this miscarriage of justice only happened in third world countries. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Bobcat

5.0 out of 5 stars CHRC bureaucracy run amok
Mr. Levant exposes the CHRC as an incredibly outsized bureaucracy on a desperate "make-work" mission. Read more
Published 6 months ago by KC McGill

5.0 out of 5 stars Sad
I could only read this book once. It's like a horror story. I'm truly ashamed to be Canadian. Good luck Ezra.
Published 6 months ago by A. C. Seeley

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