Dog-Whistle Politics

[Exposing "values" that Conservatives can really rally around.]

Not a term I was familiar with, "dog-whistle politics" has appeared in Canada late in the 2015 election campaign.

Obviously designed as a strategy by the Harper Conservatives' imported Dingo, the "esteemed" Lynton Crosby, the plan introduces wedge issues into the campaign.  In Canada, it's focus has been on something as innocuous as a small piece of cloth called the niqab.  One wouldn't think of this as representing an existential threat to Canada and whatever "values" we hold dear, but there you are.

 Almost immediately, social media erupted with posts from people who managed to conflate all of the following: muslim = niqab = terrorist = security threat = bombs = WTC = hijackings = whatever.

Just to remind us.... this whole thing appeared because the Harper Conservatives decided that a woman wearing a niqab during the Canadian citizenship ceremonies went against these Canadian values.  The Conservatives' ban on the niqab was challenged in court and so far, has lost twice, with the Supreme Court being the only level of the judiciary remaining to be heard from.  

One longer piece that discussed the niqab had to say:

Views on the significance of the niqab differ, however, its emergence as an issue on the national political stage is in large measure due to the expert machinations of the Harper Conservatives who are highly skilled in distracting the electorate from a consideration of their social, political, economic, and environmental record. This is an illustration of the "dead cat" theory of political campaigning as espoused by the "dark arts" practitioner and so-called "Australian rottweiler," Lynton Crosby, recently recruited by Stephen Harper to salvage his electoral prospects.

The niqab is described as a classic "dead cat issue":

"If you're losing an argument, if you're in a weak position, throw a dead cat on the table. Everyone will shout 'Jeez, mate, there's a dead cat on the table!'; in other words they will be talking about the dead cat, the thing you want them to talk about, and they will not be talking about the issue that has been causing you so much grief."

The article ends with the following: 

 ...the personal choices of women in their attire should not be a subject of political discourse on the Canadian electoral stage in 2015. When climate change threatens the future of humanity, when economic inequality oppresses the vast majority of the planet's denizens, when electoral dysfunctionality cripples democratic expression, when scientists are muzzled, Parliament is hamstrung, aboriginal communities are suffering, our public infrastructure is crumbling, trade deals threaten every aspect of our sovereignty, and refugees are pleading for succor at our doors -- these issues urgently need to command our political attention -- and not how a woman chooses to dress herself.

Calgary's mayor, the awesome Naheed Nenshi, one of the few Canadian politicians willing to stand up and be counted on this issue, recently blasted the practices of the Harper Conservatives in an article appearing in the National Post.

Of course, there is no shortage of articles over the whole issue.  The one issue that seems to have overtaken every other issue of importance that needs to be discussed in this election.

Such dog-whistle dead-cat tactics divide us and demean us all all as an article from the Georgia Straight puts it.

A Citizenship and Immigration spokesperson basically described it all as a complete non-issue.  

Canadians all need to remember that we have a Constitution with a Charter of Rights and Freedoms.  These rights don't just apply to things that you, personally, agree with.  The courts ruled on this years ago - remember the turban "issue" in the RCMP?  Somehow we've managed to move beyond that one without the world collapsing around us.

Let's call this what it is.  It's hate speech.  It's dog-whistle politics. It's a dead-cat issue.  It's intended to be divisive and appeal to all the racists, bigots, fearmongers, haters and xenophobes in society  For that, we can lay the blame squarely at the door of Harper's Conservative Party.  They are not fit to govern.

While Canada certainly hasn't always had the best record on such things (Jewish refugees fleeing Germany during WWII, for example), we like to claim, and maybe even believe, that we're better than this.  Are we?

From the National Post - To Uncover or not to Uncover - Why the Niqab issue is ridiculous.

As part of an interview with Calgary's Naheed Nenshi - 

"...we’re playing with fire, without question. But you know what? Good for Mulcair and good for Trudeau for standing up and saying, you know, this is a ridiculous argument. Mulcair had a great line: weapons of mass distraction. Because that’s all this is. And Canadians know that. And you know, when I say to any Albertan who walks up to me and says women shouldn’t be able to cover themselves while being at the citizenship ceremony, and I say well, you know, I go to a million citizenship ceremonies. It’s actually my favourite thing to do as Mayor. And not only have I never seen a woman in a niqab attempting to do it, but you understand that the oath is just ceremonial. They have to unveil themselves and give ID and sign the forms and sign the oath, all of that, separately. And in fact, the woman in Mississauga even offered to wear a wireless mic so that people could hear that she was actually saying the oath."

From a Canadian now living in the UK, these parting words: