We are calling on folks to take a few minutes to
respond to ABC 7 reporter Chuck Goudie's inaccurate and irresponsible
reportage on OccupyChicago, OWS in general, and the Palestine support
movement, as well as his continued attacks on Palestinian community
organizer Hatem Abudayyeh. The link to Goudie's report: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/iteam&id=8407349
***Call-In Day to WLS TV / ABC 7 Chicago Assistant News Director Joyce Fisher
TODAY, Friday, October 28th, 2011
9 AM to 7 PM
312.750.7380
Demand that she pull
the piece off the web and apologize for the inaccurate statements and
borderline libel against the OWS and Palestine support movements.
Also, below is a letter you can send to Goudie and
others on the ABC 7 news team. Or draft your own letter. If you would,
please b.c.c. defend....@gmail.com so we can get an accurate estimate of the movement's response to this alert.
Take action!
Email: chuck...@gmail.com
Carleen Mosbach, assignment editor, carleen....@abc.com
Jeff Marchese, night-side assignment editor, jeff.a....@abc.com
Assignment Desk, wls....@abc.com
Jennifer Graves, news director, via news desk, wls....@abc.com
Fax: general news assignment, 312-899-8019
general assignment, 312-750-7381
Thank you,
Shirien Damra (Coalition for Palestinian Rights)*
Joe Iosbaker (Committee Against Political Repression)
Maureen Murphy (Palestine Solidarity Group)
Rocky Pyskoty (OccupyChicago)
Shira Tevah (International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network)
____________________________________________________________________
October 28, 2011
WLS-TV / ABC 7 Chicago
190 North State Street
Chicago, Illinois 60601
To Whom It May Concern:
Last night, you broadcast an irresponsible and uninformed report by Chuck Goudie (
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/iteam&id=8407349).
Goudie asserted that the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement has a “vein
of anti-Semitism flowing through [it],” and used the presence of
Palestine solidarity activists in the movement to “prove” his argument.
The Occupy Wall Street movement has the support of tens of thousands of
Americans in cities across the country, and is growing rapidly, because
Americans are suffering from an economic crisis brought about by Wall
Street and big banks. As the OWS movement describes it, the “99%”
experience extreme economic inequality, where millions are unemployed
without meaningful help, while bankers in trouble are bailed out.
While there have been unfortunate anti-Semitic
statements made by individual protesters at OWS actions that should and
have been challenged as dangerous and divisive, the vast majority of the
movement does not espouse these opinions. Media reports, including
Goudie’s, have inflated these unrepresentative views for the purpose of
discrediting two movements—OWS and Palestine solidarity. Instead of
substantiating his false claim that anti-Semitism is a pervasive problem
in the OWS movement, Goudie uses the presence and involvement of
Palestinians and Palestine solidarity activists at OccupyChicago and
elsewhere to “prove” the movement anti-Semitic.
By smearing the OWS movement and Palestinian
community and solidarity activists, Goudie blatantly avoids discussing
the real issues that are bringing tens of thousands of Americans to the
streets in cities and towns across the country.
For example, some OWS protestors, including
American Jews, have brought to the protests Palestinian flags and signs
condemning US military aid to Israel. The US gives $3 billion a year in
aid to Israel, which is used to carry out its policies of military
occupation, inequality and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian
people.
And in an ad hominem attack, Goudie also falsely
accused Palestinian-American community organizer Hatem Abudayyeh of
advocating for the destruction of Israel because he spoke in support of
Palestinian freedom and self-determination at a Chicago anti-war rally
earlier this month.
Holding a Palestinian flag and advocating for
Palestinian human rights, civil rights and equality should never be
equated with anti-Semitism. By doing so, Goudie attempts to smear a just
movement and evade discussing the real issues: unequal economic
policies in the US and unrestricted military and diplomatic support to
the human rights-abusing state of Israel.
Finally, Goudie also claimed last night that
OccupyChicago did not provide a response to his emailed questions, but
as an example of how disingenuous and unprincipled his whole process
behind this piece has been, the questions were not sent to
OccupyChicago’s spokespeople until after 8 PM, less than 2 hours before
the broadcast. OccupyChicago did eventually respond, and WLS-TV posted
the statement on the page linked above.
We call on Goudie and WLS-TV/ABC 7 Chicago to
immediately apologize for the story's false statements about Hatem
Abudayyeh and mis-characterization of the Palestinian flag and struggle
for freedom as symbols of anti-Semitism.
Sincerely,
Your Name
City, State