The NDP’s Selina Robinson situation has been a subject of much debate in recent days. It began when the Coquitlam-Maillardville MLA and Advanced Education Minister made controversial statements in a late-January forum hosted by B’nai Brith.

Robinson expressed concern that today’s young people fail to understand that the region from which Palestinians were expelled after WWII was nothing more than:

a crappy piece of land with nothing on it. There were several hundred thousand people but, other than that, it didn’t produce an economy. It couldn’t grow things. It didn’t have anything on it.

It seems Robinson believes that the region was nothing more than ruins, barrenness and wasteland. This signals disdain and denial of the humans who inhabited the land before the creation of Israel.

The land as a wasteland is a myth repeated often by organized propagandists. It is false. Israeli historian and political scientist Ilan Pappé says that throughout history, outsiders sought to control the land because of its fertility and strategic location.

Most Israeli scholars would be quite hesitant about accepting the validity of these [wasteland] statements or sponsoring such a narrative. Quite a few of them, such as David Grossman (the demographer not the famous author), Amnon Cohen, and Yehoushua Ben-Arieh, have indeed successfully challenged it. Their research shows that, over the centuries, Palestine, rather than being a desert, was a thriving Arab society—mostly Muslim, predominantly rural, but with vibrant urban centers.

Ten Myths about Israel

BC Green MLA Adam Olsen issued a powerful response to Robinson, saying the NDP MLA’s ideas are important to Indigenous people in Canada:

First, it is important to understand that the notion of a “crappy piece of land with nothing on it” is a racist idea that empowered colonial exploits for hundreds of years. Minister Robinson is advancing the same argument grounded in the doctrine of discovery and terra nullius that I wrote about at length here.

The phrase “with nothing on it” may seem like a throw away, however, it is fully loaded with meaning...

Context of Minister Selina Robinson’s hurtful comments

It seems that British Columbia residents expressing support and sympathy for Palestinians targeted by genocidal acts may be discharged from their jobs, even when their words are deemed not to be hate speech.

Robinson has been under fire for interfering with the employment of Langara College instructor Natalie Knight. The academic spoke off-campus in support of Hamas actions. After complaints by Jewish Groups, the employer put Knight on leave, but reinstated her after an investigation. According to The Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of B.C. (FPSE), Knight was subsequently fired after Minister Robinson interfered.

Robinson issued a half apology for the words spoken to B’nai Brith. In response, Naomi Klein asked, “Are you sorry you said it or sorry we heard you?”

Another of the wise and articulate commentators on social media is Lindsay Brown. She has been reposting and commenting about this subject in the last few days. We should pay attention.

A number of comments from Lindsay Brown’s timeline on X:

• Tom Jackman: To me the worst part was her portrayal of hundreds of thousands of inhabitants as basically nothing/insignificant/not worth mentioning. I notice she hasn’t apologized for that portion of her remarks.

• Sanjiv Ghandi: How can this government claim the moral high ground for anything? How can it look BIPOC in the face and say they care? Fabricating outrage when it serves your political purpose but refusing to address racist attitudes means you have no right to govern.

• Lindsay Brown: It’s especially galling after the BCNDP’s oppo research crew hounded Greens candidate Sanjiv Gandhi out of running by digging up some mistaken Twitter “like.” And often NDP-friendly media attack dog Rob Shaw who trumpeted that? Silent on Selina now.

• Lindsay Brown: The problem is that Selina Robinson did not withdraw all her remarks, and furthermore she has been making similar online statements ill-befitting a cabinet minister for months.

• Mo Amir: If there’s not a resignation today, it will be an explicit signal that Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism is not only tolerated but also protected in this province…

• Jessa: I see people asking why Sarah Jama was removed from caucus and Robinson remains… Sarah challenged power – Selina is upholding it. The difference is critical because that’s what the NDP does.

• Lindsay Brown: If Rob Shaw is silent on Selina and then attacks the Greens, it’s going to be very revealing. BTW, Shaw’s fans Jody Vance and Lynda Steele hosted Selina on their TV show today without mentioning her racist & misleading remarks, or the scandal building around them. People remember.

• Torrance Coste: One of my sharpest and wisest friends just pointed out in the group chat how telling it is that an NDP minister is assigning value to land based solely on what resources can be exploited on it, and that looooooooots of problems here in BC stem from that exact mindset.

• Tom Jackman: Today, B.C. Premier David Eby said that Minister Selina Robinson had used her position and authority to “increase division in our province.” Eby then called her words hurtful, belittling, and dismissive, before deciding to do exactly nothing about it. This is unacceptable

• Christi Belcourt: This is what the British said about Indigenous people and the lands, and it justified Canada’s genocide while they stole every inch. Same same same Terra Nulius bs as ever. Empty lands and/or the lands had nothing of worth till white ppl arrived.

• Lindsay Brown: I want to observe that most good media commentary/coverage we’ve had on Minister Selina Robinson’s overt online bigotry is from reporters outside the BC leg press gallery old boy network. (Naming BIPOC/WOC reporters might make that mess even more aggravating for them.)

• Lindsay Brown: When people talk about “Team Access” in media, they’re referring to journalists who only say nice things about the sitting govt in return for access to Ministers – odd as Ministers reveal nothing but blah blah blah hi

• Sanjiv Ghandi: The truth is brown skin always consigns people to the bottom. Brown skin means you have to work 2x as hard to achieve the same levels of success. The pervasive attitude is brown does not deserve white privilege. That is the take away from the Minister’s unfiltered words.

• Lindsay Brown: Sanjiv Gandhi gets the last word here. Not only is the BC Leg press gallery v. white. & seems to be handling the Selina Robinson issue differently than many BIPOC reporters are, but there’s a vast difference in how white & BIPOC politicians are treated.

• Lindsay Brown: I was tempted to use all the screenshots of Selina’s horrifying twitter behaviour over the past few months but there is just so much of it.

• Lindsay Brown: You can’t see daylight between politicians and these hacks. Tho I have to point out that there are some good people in the BC Leg Press Gallery (not naming names to prevent backlash) and I know the hackish old boy culture in that place is insufferable for them.

• Lew Edwardson: David Eby has waited too long. The statements were Robinson’s. He did not ask for her resignation at the time, so it’s clear any action he takes now is a result of his discomfort with the magnitude of the blowback, not the statements themselves. His first instinct was let it ride

• Adam Olsen: On today’s CBC Political Panel we discussed Min. Selina Robinson’s hurtful comments, and the BC NDP’s troubling response. Historically, when a cabinet minister casts doubt on the government’s integrity, it’s been tradition for them to step aside so they’re not a distraction.

• Lindsay Brown: Keith Baldrey is busy claiming attacks on Selina Robinson are “unfair.” Back in November he & the BC Leg press gallery were all jumping on Sanjiv Gandhi over a mistaken “like” – and that wasn’t “unfair”? Was that a mob? Looked like it.

• Lindsay Brown: Should Keith be allowed to opine? He’s unelected.

• Lindsay Brown: After many months of people losing their jobs for expressing pro-Palestinian solidarity, this may be the first loss of office for someone who has been fired or forced to resign for anti-Palestinian bigotry.

• Steve Lloyd: Note to Dave Eby, Keith Baldrey, and friends: The “mob” calling for action against racist statements by a BC NDP cabinet minister includes Jewish, Muslim, and many other organizations across BC and Canada. Characterizing them as “a mob” helps clarify your sincerity.

• Lindsay Brown: Eby hopes a cabinet minister – who spent 4 months tweeting vitriol against Palestinians on Twitter, denied Palestinian history & suffering, distinguished between Indigenous and regular people, & overstepped her powers to get someone fired – will run for the NDP again.

x

• Lindsay Brown: A word on Eby calling those who opposed Selina “divisive”. This exhibits a paternalistic & undemocratic politics. We ARE divided on an issue. Stop trying to legislate false unity & toxic positivity, Dad. We are addressing a division; that is how adults resolve things.