The go-to person for quotes and media appearances on topics of (so-called) racism is a literal communist.
And it’s no secret that Saleh Waziruddin is a communist. The current chair of the St. Catharines Anti-Racism Advisory Committee and spokesperson for Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association (NRARA) has run for elected office for the Communist Party; he says he is “as communist as they get”.
Waziruddin is often quoted in local newsmedia (St. Catharines Standard, 610CKTB). Although never cited as a communist (except in stories pertaining to his electoral candidacies), he is presented merely as a representative of anti-racism advocacy, either in his role on the St. Catharine’s advisory committee, or as an “executive of NRARA, which appears to be little more than an activist outlet for Waziruddin, with no official status.
See news clippings for a collection of media platforming Waziruddin.
August 2022: SCARAC wants to cancel comedy act
“We can’t just say we’re a compassionate city against racism, but lie down and do nothing when it comes to town.”
This week, the St. Catharines Anti-Racism Advisory (SCARAC) committee has called for a nearly-sold out comedy show with ventriloquist comedian Jeff Dunham to be cancelled. The issue is expected to discussed in St. Catharines city council on Monday evening (August 29).
On August 26, Waziruddin was quoted (as the chair of the committee) in The St. Catharines Standard, and spoke for more than ten minutes on 610CKTB to host Steph Vivier.
In comments aired by CKTB, Waziruddin denounced Dunham’s comedy as “racist” and “hate” and “harmful”, claiming that allowing (“racist”) jokes, “creates an environment where people think it’s okay to escalate, to hate crimes and to violence.”
He referenced a city policy meant to prevent racial harassment and other abuse at sports events and claimed it should apply for performances. He said “I am hoping that council will direct staff to start negotiations to stop the show.”
Waziruddin said city-owned property “should not be used at the very least for racism, sexism, homophobia,” and went on to note that most of the venues on Dunham’s Canadian tour are public-owned.
“He is coming to other cities in Ontario, by the way, and they’re all happening in publicly owned venues … So city properties, public properties that we pay for should not be used at the very least for racism, sexism, homophobia, and that we need to be more concerned about the damage caused by that than by offending the people who want to watch this kind of stuff.”
“I think Achmed the Dead Terrorist is his [Dunham’s] most famous character, and it’s clearly Islamophobic because it’s associating religion, Islam with terrorism, which is one of the most common racist ideas about Muslims, that somehow their religion is dangerous”, he said in the radio interview.
“I’m sure he can find people of all races who would like racist jokes, but that doesn’t mean that represents everybody. And it’s dangerous, because the most important thing to understand about these kind of jokes that take race or gender or sexual orientation, gender expression, as the butt of jokes and mockery, is that it escalates. It creates an environment where people think it’s okay to escalate, to hate crimes and to violence, and it’s not a safe space,” claimed Waziruddin.
The CKTB host, Steph Viver, said, “I feel cringy when I think of Jeff Dunham’s stuff” and applauded Waziruddin for taking the stand. “I would just like to applaud you for bringing it forward.”
She said, “There’s a hiding behind it [the puppet characters] because the jokes that he’s saying. I don’t think in 2022, a comedian would be saying those jokes or should be saying those jokes,” said Viver.
Waziruddin made reference to other recent performance cancellations in other jurisdictions. “There’s been a whole bunch of comedians who are making money off racism, sexism, homophobia, who have been stopped, and in other cities around the world.”
“I think that there are people who are unfortunately more concerned about offending the racist than about the offense that racism causes. And so this is a barrier that needs to be overcome, that people need to understand why this kind of so called comedy is dangerous and how it relates to not just something I’m saying, but something the police are saying, and we’ve seen of spikes in hate crimes and that we need to act to stop it”
June 2022: NRARA platformed after Harriet Tubman vandalism
In June, a spate of vandalisms took place in St. Catharines at Harriet Tubman school and in the surrounding area. Waziruddin on behalf of NRARA was platformed by local media to denounce the incident. “We want the region to ring with condemnation of this,” Waziruddin said on June 15 on 610CKTB.
“No one in Niagara can rest in comfort thinking that the escalation of white supremacist and anti-2SLGBTQQIA+ violence will escape us”.
Niagara Region Anti Racism Association (Saleh Waziruddin)
Months later, two males, aged 14 and 15 years old, were charged for the vandalism.
Delegated four times, won’t defend your right to delegate
Waziruddin has appeared multiple times at Regional Council to delegate, including in favor of joining the Coalition of Inclusive Municipalities.
In an exchange on social media, Waziruddin was asked if he would defend the rights of delegates to speak at council and he replied: “I’m a communist not a liberal, I wouldn’t defend yours”, referring to rights. See receipts at bottom of this report.
He explains, “I’m a communist because I believe in it”
Media holds electoral candidates accountable to (communist) NRARA’s standards
In the 2021 elections, NRARA sent out an anti-racism survey to candidates and was subsequently platformed by local media for NRARA’s ratings of the response (or lack thereof) from candidates.
The response rated best by NRARA was from NDP MPP Jennie Stevens, who readers will know, has an LGBTQ+ advisor, Liam Coward, who in a socialist magazine called for the “elimination of capitalism” to achieve queer liberation and to “be prepared to throw bricks when the time comes” .
2020 interview on YourTV Niagara
SCARAC’s past work includes analysis of the racial diversity of municipal committees.
