Please write to Carleton U president to protest this
Viejo Vizcacha
*Please Post Widely*
Carleton University Administration violates free expression - bans and
confiscates posters
Write to Carleton University president to demand the restoration of
student rights
February 18, 2009
On February 8, Students Against Israeli Apartheid at Carleton University
put up 100 posters for "Israeli Apartheid Week", a series of lectures
and public events that will occur on campuses in over 40 cities around
the world. On February 9, these posters were taken down at the request
of Carleton's Equity Services, under the rationale that the posters
"could be seen to incite others to infringe rights protected in the
Ontario Human Rights code" and are "insensitive to the norms of civil
discourse in a free and democratic society"
The poster was created by noted cartoonist Carlos Latuff and depicts a
situation - a child being killed by aerial bombardment – that occurred
over 430 times in Israel's latest attack on Gaza according to United
Nations reports. We encourage everyone to view the poster:
http://www.apartheidweek.org/sites/apartheidweek.org/files/Israeli%20Apartheid%20Week%202009%20poster.jpg.
Since it depicts a situation that has a factual basis and its intention
is clearly to invite people to a lecture series, the notion that it is
an incitement or a violation to norms of civil discourse is preposterous.
This is part of a wider pattern of repression of academic freedom and
rights to free expression, especially on Israel/Palestine, on Canadian
campuses, including Carleton University. It is accompanied by double
standards. When 56 Carleton professors asked President Roseanne Runte to
condemn Israel's bombardment of the Islamic University of Gaza, the
President refused. Neither the direct killing of hundreds of children
nor the direct bombing of a campus are enough to elicit condemnation,
but her administration has decided that a poster inviting people to
discuss the conflict ought to be banned. Instead of being lauded by
their university, students affirming the humanity of all peoples and the
universality of international law have been threatened by Carleton
University's Provost with expulsion.
The Carleton administration had already taken a biased political stand
on the Israel-Palestine conflict, and is now violating free expression
to prevent alternative views. Both the current and former Carleton
Presidents have taken very clear positions on the Israel-Palestine
conflict by condemning the academic boycott of Israel out of hand,
offering no alternative to this justice-oriented civil-society
initiative. Students and faculty at Carleton have requested that the
administration hold a public debate on the issue, to allow the Carleton
community to determine the most responsible course of action, yet have
been repeatedly rebuffed.
Far from defending human rights, the Carleton administration is treating
them with contempt. In a memo to students on February 12, the Provost
wrote that "all reported incidents of racial or religious intolerance
will be investigated vigorously and addressed regardless of the persons
or groups involved." The administration should begin a vigorous
investigation of its own behaviour, including its discrimination against
students who seek an open debate on a political issue but are being
silenced because they happen to disagree with the president's stand.
That Carleton's administration is using human rights grounds to violate
free expression on its campus is a double insult. Internationally, the
movement against Israeli apartheid has been endorsed by hundreds of
universities, unions, religious groups and social justice organizations.
This campaign is proudly anti-racist, and founded on the principles of
opposition to all forms of racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. It
draws its inspiration from the global campaign to end South African
apartheid and is led by many of the same individuals who were at the
forefront of that earlier struggle. By contrast, the administration that
banned the poster could not summon enough concern for human rights or
the right to education to speak against the bombing of a Gazan university.
SAIA Carleton demands that the Carleton University administration:
1. Immediately lift the ban on the Israeli Apartheid Week poster and
publicly apologize for the banning.
2. Explain, publicly and precisely, how the profound error of banning
the poster was made and address how to prevent such violations from
occurring in future.
3. Sponsor a full public debate-- ensuring generous access to the entire
university community-- on Carleton's position on the proposed
institutional boycott of Israeli academic institutions.
4. Appoint a university/community Commission to investigate the record
of the University in relation to democratic discourse and equity around
issues of Palestine solidarity.
This attempt to repress free expression will ultimately fail. The
Carleton University administration should understand that debates on
campuses on some of the most important human rights questions of our
times cannot be silenced by administrative rulings.
We call on student organizations, social justice groups and concerned
individuals around the world to support students at Carleton and the
broader fight for freedom of expression.
Please take the following actions:
* Immediately email the Carleton University President, Roseanne Runte,
at presiden...@carleton.ca demanding that she immediately restore
the Charter rights of Carleton students and send a copy of your message
of support to Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA Carleton) at
saia.c...@gmail.com
* Call or fax Carleton University President, Roseanne Runte, at 613
520-3801(phone) or 613 520-4474 (fax) demanding that she immediately
restore the Charter rights of Carleton students.
SAMPLE LETTER
Your refusal to insist on the protection and human rights of
Palestinians is appalling. Furthermore, your repressive measures against
those who work for the protection and human rights of all civilians,
Palestinians and Israelis alike, is outrageous, both from a moral and
Charter of Rights perspective. I have viewed the poster in question: it
does not reflect any racial or religious intolerance; it depicts what
actually occurred in Gaza between Dec. 27 and Jan 18. Of course, it is
critical of Israel’s actual actions. This is not anti-Semitic. This is
being pro-human rights for all, no exceptions. Are you pro-human rights
for all, no exceptions? Or anti-human rights for all, if you deem
Palestinians as “unworthy” of human rights?
I would like to express my support for the call by the Students Against
Israeli Apartheid (SAIA Carleton) to:
Immediately lift the ban on the Israeli Apartheid Week poster and
publicly apologize for the banning.
Explain, publicly and precisely, how the profound error of banning the
poster was made and address how to prevent such violations from
occurring in future.
Sponsor a full public debate-- ensuring generous access to the entire
university community-- on Carleton's position on the proposed
institutional boycott of Israeli academic institutions.
Appoint a university/community Commission to investigate the record of
the University in relation to democratic discourse and equity around
issues of Palestine solidarity.
I will be closely monitoring how Carlton University proceeds on this
matter. Depending on the outcome, I will decide whether to provide any
financial support and whether to send my children to your university.
Finally, if you continue to deny freedom of expression in violation of
the Canadian Charter of Rights, you can be sure that I will make every
effort to ensure that my tax contributions do not support your institution.
P.S. Would you also ban a poster depicting a hungry, poor Gazan child
looking across a border crossing (cruelly and illegally closed by
Israel) at a truck load of desperately needed food and humanitarian
supplies? Please read this Human Rights Watch report that was released
yesterday entitled: "Israel/Egypt: Choking Gaza Harms Civilians"
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/02/18/israelegypt-choking-gaza-harms-civilians.
Viejo Vizcacha
Scotius
<elbie_jo...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> Please write to Carleton U president to protest this
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *Please Post Widely*
>>
>>
>>
>> Carleton University Administration violates free expression - bans and
>> confiscates posters
>> Write to Carleton University president to demand the restoration of
>> student rights
>>
>>
>> February 18, 2009
>>
>> On February 8, Students Against Israeli Apartheid
Uh huh... just wanted to know what you considered a gross
violation of rights. Well, if they're anything like the idiots at
Ber(ser)kely, who wear keffiyahs to protests and write "Fuck Jews" on
their lockers, they ought to be slapped upside their stupid little
heads.