Malcolm Guy is a director and producer of docummentary and fiction films, and President and Co-Founder of Productions Multi-Monde. Mr. Guy is active in immigrant rights organizzations and in the independent film community and sits on several boards of directors. Malcolm has no ties to the Middle East, but is supportive of human rights regardless of nationaliity. One of his recent documentaries is “Bledi, mon pays est ici” (Bledi, this is our home), a film which discusses the status of forty thousand Algerian refugees in Canada. Guy believes that “whatever happens around the world is not far from home, regardless of the actual distance.” In this statemment, widely posted on the Internet,, he takes issue with the Canadian Jewish Congress for its “lack of toleraance,” as well as the Dworkin Founddation for its support of the Jewish National Fund.

With this letter, I would like to officially withdraw as a member of the jury for the 2008 Prix annuel de la Fondation Alex et Ruth Dworkin pour la promotion de la tolérance à travers le cinéma (2008 Prize of the Alex and Ruth Dworkin Foundation for the Promotion of Tolerance through Cinema) at the Rendez-Vous du Cinéma Québecois. For those who may not be aware, this prize, which includes a grant of $5,000, “goes to a producer representing the production team which has best demonsstrated, in the winning work, a message of comprehension and tolerance”. I accepted the invitation from the Rendez-Vous du Cinéma Québecois to join this year’s jury in good faith. But, after examiniing in more detail the political and financial basis of the prize, I must refuse to have my name associated with it. Behind this noble sounding “award for toleraance” hides a story of intolerance, division, and discrimination.

Firstly, I quit the jury beccause the Prix annuel de la Fondation Alex and Ruth Dworkin is an initiative of the Congrès juif canadien (Congress of Jewish Canadians), Région du Québec, an organizzation which I consider to be a vehicle for the Israeli propaganda machine, and funddamentally intolerant of dissent and differeence, particularly when it comes to Israeli government policies.

Firstly, I quit the jury beccause the Prix annuel de la Fondation Alex and Ruth Dworkin is an initiative of the Congrès juif canadien (Congress of Jewish Canadians), Région du Québec, an organizzation which I consider to be a vehicle for the Israeli propaganda machine, and funddamentally intolerant of dissent and differeence, particularly when it comes to Israeli government policies.

If we argue that television channels are not mission-driven and have no social responsibility in a problem-filled region, then we must accept that they are commercially-driven and that they are generating good revenue. The reaality is not so. Most of these channels are barely breaking even and many are losing propositions. The 80/20 formula applies here. With a limited growth of the ad share revenue and a fierce competition of TV amongst other mediums such as print, outdoor, radio and new media, this deduction does not make sense. This brings us to a bigger question: Why are these channels still here and how are they being sustained? At another level, high expectations were placed on private-sector initiatives. The most popular of these private-secttor entertainment channels were those based on formats directly purchased from the West. With the Arab majority consuming what was created by another culture for its own people, the search and reapply method could prove to be a smart short-term business stint but surely proves that our industry is not able to cater to its viewers anything of its own conception and creation. Almost every marketer speaks of the Arab youth bulge and the fact that we need to talk to them and answer their needs. Can anyone claim that the broadcast television industry has been able to answer or even touch on a fraction of the aspirations of the Arab youth?

In an open letter to the Jewish communitties of Canada, signed by over 100 members and supporters, the ACJC states: “Israel conttinues to pursue a primarily military strateegy, while claiming to speak in the name of Jewish people around the world.… Canadiaans, especially Jewish Canadians, seeking a peaceful resolution to the seemingly endless Israel-Palestinian conflict, should no longer remain silent in the face of Israel’s actions in the Occupied Territories.”

Secondly, I quit the jury because I have discovered that Alex and Ruth Dworkin are major backers of the Jewiish National Fund (JNF). On the JNF websites, they are listed among a select group of people “who have demonstrated an enduring commitment to Israel and JNF” by contributing $1 million and above to this Zionist institution.

Much has been written about the role of the JNF, but suffice it to say that thisorganization, under the guise of reforestattion and land purchase, has been used by the Israeli state to cover up and legitimize the massive displacement of the Palesttinian people and the occupation of their land. One example is Canada Park, located a short distance from Jerusalem. In a docummentary widely shown on Canadian televission entitled “Park with no peace,” it was revealed that this JNF-sponsored park, usiing tax-deductible money raised in Canada, was built on the remains of the Palestinian villages of Imwas, Yalu, and Beit Nuba.

CBC TV’s “The Fifth Estate” stated that some 10,000 Palestinians were forcibly remmoved by the Israeli armed forces from the land that was eventually turned into Canada Park. As a former member of the Israeli Parlliament who was interviewed put it, “Canaddians were used to cover-up a war crime.” I cannot be associated with people who finance such forms of intolerance and opppression. This is particularly so as Israeli troops lay siege on the people of Gaza, causing intolerable shortages of electricity, fuel, food, and other basic necessities – a situation which I protested along with hunddreds of other Montrealers last Saturday. I believe that the Rendez-Vous du Cinnéma Québécois should drop its affiliation with the Alex and Ruth Dworkin Foundattion and the CJC. This award and award money is tainted, thus casting a negative light on the Festival.

My desire to withdraw from the jury is not a comment on the films that have been nominated for the “Prix de la tolerance.” I am sure the nominated films are a fine example of what the best of Quebec cineema has to offer and the filmmakers and producers were guided by a true sense of justice and tolerance. But I do hope that they will take into account the points I have raised in this letter and will be guided by their conscience.