{"id":112582,"date":"2022-08-24T15:50:50","date_gmt":"2022-08-24T19:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/?p=112582"},"modified":"2022-08-25T13:21:21","modified_gmt":"2022-08-25T17:21:21","slug":"lacadie-nouvelle-sparks-fear-of-white-supremacist-violence-with-islamophobic-cartoon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/lacadie-nouvelle-sparks-fear-of-white-supremacist-violence-with-islamophobic-cartoon\/","title":{"rendered":"L\u2019Acadie Nouvelle sparks fear of white supremacist violence with Islamophobic cartoon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Wednesday, L\u2019Acadie Nouvelle, the province\u2019s main French language newspaper, published a political cartoon that has angered and frightened some New Brunswickers.<\/p>\n

The cartoon depicts a caveman carrying a club and dragging a cavewoman behind him by the hair. Below that, it shows a man dressed in a turban and robe, carrying a rifle, with a woman wearing a head covering, crawling behind him on a leash. The caption reads, \u201cL\u2019\u00e9volution\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hear this story as reported on CHMA's Tantramar Report:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Saly Davis lives in the Tantramar area and although she\u2019s not an Acadie Nouvelle subscriber, it wasn\u2019t long before someone shared a screen shot of the cartoon with her.<\/p>\n

When CHMA spoke to her the day after it was published, Davis said her phone was still blowing up from people discussing the potential impact of the publication. Davis says the publication is \u201cterrifying, because I know there are white supremacists that will take action in the city,\u201d said Davis. \u201cI have lived it growing up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis grew up in the Moncton area, the child of immigrant parents. She says she suffered from violent bullying and abuse during those years. She\u2019s also keenly aware of the rise in hate crimes in Canada in recent years. Earlier this month, Statistics Canada released figures<\/a> documenting a 72% increase in hate crimes in the two years from 2019 to 2021. Stats Can says hate crimes targetting religions accounted for most of the overall increase.<\/p>\n

When Davis first saw the cartoon, she immediately called her sister who lives in Ontario, the province where last year a man targetted a Muslim family walking along the street, and ran them down, killing four people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt started that dialogue with my sister of, okay, first and foremost, are you okay? Are we actually processing what is happening? Is this actual hate-pushing?\u201d The two concluded, \u201cthis is no different than any other hate propaganda.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cartoon was published on page 12 of the August 17 paper edition of L\u2019Acadie Nouvelle. Davis says she had a hard time finding a paper copy after she found out about it, but eventually bought the last copy at a convenience store. (You can check out the cartoon for yourself at this blog post<\/a> by Davis\u2019s partner and Blacklantic<\/a><\/em> podcaster Clinton Davis.)<\/p>\n

Acadie Nouvelle boasts a daily circulation of 20,000 print and digital copies, with a daily readership of 43,000.<\/p>\n

The cartoon was also published on the paper\u2019s website, but the online cartoon was swiftly removed by L\u2019Acadie Nouvelle. The editor of the paper, Francis Sonier, declined comment on the removal to CHMA via email, saying instead that the paper was \u201cnot used to justifying our editorial choices in the same way that we do not ask other media outlets to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Sonier told Global News reporter Suzanne Lapointe<\/a> that the cartoon, drawn by regular contributor Marcel Boudreau<\/a>, was \u201ca comment on the behaviour of the Taliban in a specific part of the world, Afghanistan. Nothing else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saly Davis says she tried to give the paper and cartoonist the benefit of the doubt, but ultimately feels that it depicts a large population of people, and dehumanizes them. She sees the potential for the cartoon to inspire violence against a number of different communities, by stoking Islamophobia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact is, the education system has failed in educating the population as to what the difference is between any of these cultures,\u201d says Davis. \u201cAnd when they look at pictures like this, they don\u2019t know if it\u2019s a Sikh, they don\u2019t know if it\u2019s a Muslim, but they compile them all as Muslim.\u201d That\u2019s how Islamophobia ends up affecting other groups as well, says Davis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t even remotely start educating our population enough to be able to protect the people that we\u2019re bringing from outside,\u201d says Davis. \u201cWe pretend like this is a great place to raise a family if you\u2019re not a white person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis says that racism and Islamophobia are not properly acknowledged in New Brunswick. \u201cThere is a very profound history of racism here,\u201d says Davis. \u201cThis isn\u2019t a one-off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fostering feelings of anger and hate<\/h2>\n

Abid Sheikh is with the Muslim Association of New Brunswick. He had not yet seen the cartoon in question when CHMA spoke to him, but he was able to guess relatively accurately at the imagery nonetheless: \u201cThey\u2019ll probably show a bearded figure with a turban and a dagger or a gun in their hand, and ready to kill everybody,\u201d says Sheikh.<\/p>\n

Sheikh says that its \u201cvery alarming\u201d for the cartoon to show up in New Brunswick. \u201cThat cartoon is a hate message,\u201d says Sheikh. \u201cThis newspaper did not do any service to New Brunswickers by publishing this cartoon. All they have done is they have fostered the feeling of anger, hate towards Muslims.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fact that the intended subject was the Taliban\u2013a militant Islamist-fundamentalist group that has taken control of Afghanistan\u2013doesn\u2019t change the effect of the cartoon, says Sheikh. \u201cBecause who are Taliban at the end of it?\u201d he says. \u201cThey are Muslims, albeit non-practicing. But they are Muslims, and it is the Muslim community as a whole who will be targeted at some other point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Possible hate crime investigation<\/h2>\n

At least two people have confirmed with CHMA that they have reported the publication to the RCMP, and were told it was being investigated as a possible hate crime. But New Brunswick RCMP spokesperson Hans Ouellette will not confirm an investigation. In an email, Ouellette told CHMA the force won\u2019t say an investigation is taking place unless there\u2019s an operational need to do so, or if charges have been laid.<\/p>\n

Oulette added, \u201cthere is no place for racism or discrimination in our communities.\u201d He also said, \u201cthe RCMP promotes acceptance, respect and appreciation of diverse experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018I want them to be held accountable\u2019<\/h2>\n

Saly Davis says she is less interested in what L\u2019Acadie Nouvelle does in the wake of publishing the cartoon than she is in how the rest of New Brunswick responds to it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want them to be held accountable by the public,\u201d says Davis. \u201cPeople are coming forward, filing hate crime charges against l\u2019Acadie Nouvelle. Because such a publication was not done by one person. A group made the decision to publish this, a group thought it was funny to put other people\u2019s lives and other people\u2019s children\u2019s lives in danger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davis says people can help the situation by reaching out to Muslim and racialized community members to offer support.\u201cContact people who are members of your local mosque,\u201d says Davis. \u201cSee if they feel safe, ask them if their children are safe. Ask them if they want extra pairs of eyes on them or on their children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abid Sheikh says that the removal of the online cartoon almost immediately by l\u2019Acadie Nouvelle was a positive sign. \u201cMy hat\u2019s off to them for making the immediate right decision,\u201d says Sheikh. \u201cI hope that this will be a lesson learned by them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Wednesday, L\u2019Acadie Nouvelle, the province\u2019s main French language newspaper, published a political cartoon that has angered and frightened some New Brunswickers. The cartoon depicts a caveman carrying a club and dragging a cavewoman behind him by the hair. Below that, it shows a man dressed in a turban and robe, carrying a rifle, with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":112586,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[57,219,3265],"tags":[18032,6476,8290,8140,18034,708,525,18033],"radio":[227],"origine":[274,275,277],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112582"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112582"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112590,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112582\/revisions\/112590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112582"},{"taxonomy":"radio","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/radio?post=112582"},{"taxonomy":"origine","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canada-info.ca\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/origine?post=112582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}