Date: Monday, May 13 2002 11:12 pm 
      From: <larail@mim.org>  

      To: rail-sb@mim.org 
      Reply-To: larail@mim.org 
      Subject: URGENT: Stop resolution against academic freedom 
      Full Headers:Display Headers



The resolution below -- which calls for the elimination of the U.C.
Berkeley course "The Politics and Poetics of Palestinian Resistance" and
would ban "similar course[s]" at the U.C. Santa Barbara -- will be voted
upon at the UCSB Associated Students meeting this Wednesday. We urge you
to speak out against this resolution at the open forum at 6:30 in the
UCen's Flying A Room.

Despite its denials, this resolution would (further) restrict free speech
at the University of California -- and a particular kind of speech,
namely, speaking the truth. It is not "anti-Jewish" or "hate speech" to
say that "Israel has terrorized Palestinians for years": it is the truth.

But don't take our word for it. A recently declassified Israeli
intelligence report considered the following three factors the most
important contributing to the emigration of 700,000 Palestinians during
and after the 1948 war:

1. "Direct hostile Jewish operations against Arab settlements."
2. "The effects of our hostile operations on nearby Arab settlements..."
3. "Operation of [Jewish right-wing] dissidents."

The report listed "Jewish whispering operations [psychological warfare]"
as the fifth most important factor.(1)

All of these actions should be considered terrorism, as should e.g. the
attack on the Sabra and Shatilah refugee camps in Lebanon coordinated by
now Prime Minister Sharon, which Israeli journalist Ze'ev Schiff describes
as "a premeditated attack which was designed to cause a mass flight of
Palestinians from Beruit and the whole of Lebanon."(2)

The list goes on and on . . . and is getting longer, thanks to operation
"Defensive Wall" and the systematic destruction of Palestinian lives,
homes and infrastructure as at Jenin.

There is a lot more prenicious crap in the resolution below -- e.g.
placing the blame for the recent intifadeh on Yasser Arafat (who couldn't
stop it anyway) instead of the brutal military occupation and colonial
economic policies that ensured Palestinians in the occupied territories
have "nothing to lose but their chains" -- but we hope the above suffices
to get you to come out and speak out against this resolution.

Academic freedom ain't shit if professors and students can't speak truth
to power.

-- Steve (mim4@mim.org) on behalf of the Maoist Internationalist Movement

p.s. If any of you know how we can e-mail or fax Associated Students, let
me know, and I'll pass that info on.

Notes:
1. Farsoun SK and Zacharia CE, "Palestine and the Palestinians,"
Boulder:Westview Press, 1997, p. 132.
2. Chomsky, N, "The Fateful Triangle," Cambridge:South End Press, 1999, p.
370.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A RESOLUTION

To Support the State of Israel and Oppose Anti-Semitism in the University
of California.

Whereas: Israel is a sovereign and democratic Jewish state; and

Whereas: Arab terrorists have committed grisly and cowardly homicide
bombings, killing innocent men women and children;

Whereas: Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat has done nothing to
curtail the violence in Israel; and

Whereas: UC students studying abroad in Israel were sent home before the
end of the school year by the UC Regents; and

Whereas: Students who choose to study abroad in Israel know the situation
they are getting into before they leave; and

Whereas: UC Berkeley offers a course that teaches that Israel has
terrorized Palestinians for years and warns conservatives to find another
course; and

Whereas: Free speech should not be restricted at a UC campus, but the
State of California should not fund hate speech.

Therefore let it be resolved that: The Legislative Council at the
University of Califomia Santa Barbara supports the State of Israel in
their fight to survive against terrorists that seek to destroy Jews in
Israel.

Resolved Further: UC students studying in Israel should be given the
choice of whether or not to terminate their studies.

Resolved Further: Legislative Council condemns the faculty and
administration at UC Berkeley for allowing an anti-Jewish class that
openly discriminates against conservative students.

Resolved Further: Legislative Council demands that UCSB never include a
similar course in their catalog.

Resolved Further: Legislative Council urges the UC Regents and UC Berkeley
faculty and administrators to eliminate "The Politics and Poetics of
Palestinian Resistance" from the Fall 2002 schedule of classes.

CC: UC Regents President Atkinson Chancellor Berdahl

ASUC UCSA Richard Watts





-----------------------------------------------------------------------
This message was sent via the rail-sb@mim.org mailing list.
To unsubscribe, send e-mail to majordomo@mim.org with body text of:
unsubscribe rail-sb
To reach the list manager, send mail to owner-rail-sb@mim.org