Hall explains history of suspension
Part two of a five-part special report
Following is part two of The Herald’s sit-down with Tony Hall.
Herald: “Might you briefly summarize for our readers the range of subjects covered in the 500-page defence document?”
Hall: “The document addresses the substance of a complaint against me written on behalf of the Board of Governors. As negotiated in the tripartite agreement, the issuing of the complaint accompanied my reinstatement into my professional duties on campus on Nov. 23 of 2017. One of the tasks I set out to accomplish in authoring the 500-page document was to explain the history of this case prior to the interjection of the recently-selected panel members. Allow me please to explain for readers as I do in the report some key features of the history spanning the period between the Facebook deception and now.
“To explain his actions against me, President Mahon released on Oct. 13 of 2016 the first of what would become a series of published announcements to the ‘University Community.’ Dr. Mahon explained, ‘this action is not focused on Dr. Hall’s published scholarship, driven by complaints of students, or the demands of external advocacy groups. It is focused on his YouTube-based videos and comments in social media that have been characterized as being anti-Semitic, supportive of Holocaust denial and engagement in conspiracy theories.’
“I have come to view the phrases used at the end of this statement as weaponized terms most frequently deployed with the object of trying to terminate or maim the careers especially of public intellectuals. The aim in my case and many others I have examined, is to try to kill the message by delegitimizing the messenger. Open debate is thereby constrained and sometimes crushed. As with Dr. Mahon’s announcement, the weaponized phrases are rarely deployed with clear definitions. Nor are they projected into the public sphere with explicit evidence.
“This way of trying to shut down discussion and debate especially in universities is hugely consequential. Most often this strategy is directed at critics of the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians, a category that includes me. Is this kind of public lashing an appropriate tactic to undermine professionally a faculty member with whom a university’s CEO disagrees?
“At the very least, surely there is a particular onus to be more circumspect and linguistically precise when a university president steps onto her or his bully pulpit to let loose weaponized language aimed at blasting an academic reputation to smithereens.
“Dr. Mahon’s reference to the role of YouTube in his effort to justify suspending me outside the terms of the collective agreement almost certainly points to my role in co-hosting with Dr. Kevin Barrett a regular internet broadcast entitled False Flag Weekly News. Between late 2015 and late 2017 I co-hosted a weekly conversation where Dr. Barrett and I regularly addressed about 40 media reports describing current events.
“A particular emphasis in our FFWN commentaries is to evaluate evidence concerning violent events often reported in mainstream media as the independent work of violent Islamic jihadists. Usually these reports indicate that Muslim terrorists act out of no other motivation than religious zealotry and hatred of western freedoms.
“Our sceptical approach to such reportage is framed within a larger interpretation of the role of deception in initiating and waging the Global War on Terror from 2001 until now.
“As many of your readers will be aware, there is a large and many-faceted citizens’ investigation fuelling a popular movement of millions of individuals who do not accept as valid the official narrative of what happened on 9/11.
“Dr. Barrett and I and many of those who regularly watch FFWN share this widespread scepticism. Based on long and focused research, publication and interaction with other investigators, Dr. Barrett and I share a general interpretation of false flag terrorism. While we often disagree on particular points, we agree with a general hypothesis.
“This interpretation posits that a deep state operation replaced the demonology directed at communism in the era of the Cold War with the demonology pointed at Islamic people and religion in the era of the Global War on Terror (GWOT). The purposeful and systematic demonization of Muslims is sometimes identified as the organized promotion of Islamophobia. Flawed interpretations of 9/11 and other subsequent episodes of possible falseflag terrorism can be interpreted as stimulants to Islamophobia.
“The process of helping along the creation of a new enemy has massively empowered those seeking to expand the militarization and police state attributes of the so-called ‘West.’ In the era of the GWOT, Muslim majority countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Yemen have been invaded and largely pulverized with the object of bringing about ‘regime change.’
“This military adventurism has resulted in the murdering, maiming and violent displacement of many millions of indigenous peoples in Eurasia and the Middle East. Worse is yet to come if the extension of the GWOT results in the invasions of Iran and possibly Russia as well. Where is the peace movement when we need it the most? How can the peace movement be effective without evidence-based analysis of the true genesis of the 9/11 wars, of the ongoing GWOT?
“On FFWN we consider, for instance, the U.S. backing in Syria of the al-Qaeda proxy army and its outgrowth in alNusra. This backing has been provided with the object of overthrowing the elected Syrian government led by Bashar al-Assad. This support for alQaeda in Syria replicates the CIA’s support for al-Qaeda in the 1980s when Western intelligence agencies recruited, backed and armed a Muslim proxy army with the object of overthrowing the Soviet-backed puppet regime in Afghanistan. How is it that the U.S. government has been backing the supposed culprits of 9/11 in al-Qaeda’s recent involvement in the clash of hostile armed forces in Syria? What is wrong with this picture?
“In the NATO countries, core polities of ‘the West,’ we face regular episodes of sometimes lethal local violence often attributed to the independent actions of Islamic jihadists in, for instance, Paris, Munich, San Bernardino, Orlando and even Ottawa in October of 2014. We talk about possible scenarios of what really happened on FFWN. Dr. Barrett and I also sometimes present our analysis in written essays, often with the object of trying to challenge the veracity of official narratives. One telling indicator of possible false-flag terrorism is the near instant release of official interpretations formulated well before proper police investigations could have taken place.
“The events of 9/11 offer a paradigmatic example of this phenomenon. The core elements of an interpretation about who did what to whom and why, were offered up almost immediately on the fateful day. The supposed culprits were identified and publicized long before the dust had even settled from the pulverization of three steel-frame skyscrapers in New York struck by two jet airplanes.
“The main outlines of this hastilyformulated official interpretation have been retained to this day despite the sceptical findings of many researchers who do not accept the official narrative as valid. One of these 9/11 sceptics is Prof. David Ray Griffin. Prof. Griffin has authored 11 carefully documented books describing various aspects of the 9/11 crime. Many agree with Prof. Griffin’s assessment that existing evidence does not support the official narrative of the 9/11 crime. This evidence remains incomplete due in part to the obstructions put in the way of proper investigations into what continues to be the most consequential global event of the 21st century.”
U of L officials were given the opportunity by The Herald to respond to all of Hall’s direct claims. They provided this statement:
“The University of Lethbridge will not provide any comment on the background or the process currently underway related to Dr. Hall. The process was agreed to by Dr. Hall, the University of Lethbridge Faculty Association (ULFA) and the University of Lethbridge Board of Governors. To comment at this time would be inappropriate and irresponsible.”
See Wednesday’s Herald for part three of this special five-part series.