Bullying of Palestinian Solidarity on Canadian University Campuses
A $700 donation to an aid flotilla to Gaza by the Social Justice Centre (SJC) has been suspended by Alma Mater Society (AMS) executives after receiving complaints from students.Last week, the SJC, an AMS resource group, approved the grant to the University of British Columbia (UBC) club Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) to help fund the Canadian humanitarian aid flotilla to Gaza, which will sail in spring 2011. However, after student complaints made to the AMS executive, the money transfer from the SJC to SPHR was frozen, with intention of bringing the issue in front of AMS council for review on Dec. 1.
AMS President Bijan Ahmadian said that the initial complaint came from VP Finance Elin Tayyar, who felt uncomfortable signing off on the transaction without it being brought to council.
Executives also began receiving student inquiries and complaints about the SJC's funding, as well as petitions from UBC's Israeli Awareness Club (IAC). Ahmadian said that complaints were being made both in opposition to the resource group's support of Gaza and Palestine, as well as against AMS funds leaving student hands to be shipped overseas.
"A number of students said, ‘I don't like my student money being shipped out of the country like this.'"
However, SJC treasurer Arielle Friedman said that the $700 grant transfer to SPHR comes from $2,250 set for grants, from their overall budget of nearly $10,000.
Join the facebook event.
Noam Chomsky has also endorsed the SJC in this struggle.
I am happy to endorse the Social Justice Centre (SJC) and Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR). They are integral parts of the UBC and Vancouver communities, and important voices in the struggle for justice. I oppose any efforts to defame or destroy these groups, and would urge the AMS council to ensure their voices are prot...ected. I support the autonomy of the SJC, and defend the right of the SJC and other Resource Groups to fulfill their political mandates without interference.Noam Chomsky
MIT
Bullying Palestinian students at Canadian universities should stop
Finally, what was extremely alarming is the presence of the Alma Mater Society (UBC’s student union) president Bijan Ahmadian.It was insulting to the SJC as a club that appreciates its autonomy and was insulting to SPHR-UBC because this presence demonstrates bias against SPHR-UBC and his complicity in stifling free speech on UBC.
In fact, Mr. Ahmadian is notorious for his efforts to silence any sort of dissent on campus and prior to Israel Apartheid Week he attempted (and ultimately failed) to prevent SPHR-UBC from using the word Apartheid.
In fact, he also indicated that he wants to censor SPHR’s materials (which were nothing more than the Goldstone report and reports from Human Rights Watch).
It is worth noting the Mr. Ahmadian was endorsed by the Israel Awareness Club during his election campaign, and was labelled as a "friend of Israel." He actively participates in IAC events, and attended (shamelessly) the Dershowitz talk in Vancouver.
Following the AGM I invited the IAC to a public debate where their ‘concerns’ (as baseless as they may be) can be discussed in public.
If the IAC is truly concerned about George Galloway then they should not shy away from addressing these concern in pubic, and allow SPHR-UBC to respond to their false allegations instead of resorting to twisted and unethical methods to stifle free speech.
Click!
The gaza flotilla donation is fairGreat! Thanks for this, Catchfire.
Motion to hold referendum to impeach Queen's rector passesPetition in support of Queen's Rector, Nick Day.
And for background, here is the blogpost by intrepid rabble-watch cavalier, Jonathan Kay, which got everyone riled up.
I think at the very least Day has a duty to defend the principle of academic freedom, so his speaking up against Ignatieff's criticism was probably in order.
Whether that duty extends to accusing Ignatieff of being complicit in genocide (and statements Day reportedly made earlier this year regarding Remembrance Day) will be up to the students to answer.
Certainly that job description is not the only reason, but according to the CUP news story it is enough to make the difference for some students who otherwide support himl.
I am sure those who want to unseat him want this referendum to be just about alleged breach of position, not about the issue of criticizing Israel which is certainly in part behind the campaign.
Though no attack like this is ever welcome, it does present an opportunity and a challenge to make sure that the principle of academic freedom and political awareness remains part of the question. It will also be put to students in a way they cannot ignore as easily as not attending IAW events.
rabble.ca responds: Queen's U rector threatened with impeachment for letter in rabble.ca on Ignatieff's IAW statement
The funny thing is it is the israel supporters that are claiming to feel bullied and harassed, yet it is the organizers of IAW and supporters of palestinian rights who are targeted, harassed (on campus and in parliament)...
Sort of like in the OT, it is the israelis/settlers are portrayed as the victims living in fear of attack, when it's the palestinians who are really in that situation!
Israeli dissident Michel Warshawski wrote about this phenomenon some time ago.
Warshawski was very pessimistic in this article. (See Monthly Review Dec 2004, "The New Israel")
On Twitter: 72% students @queensu vote to remove Rector Nick Day due to support of Israeli Apartheid Week on @rabbleca.
But no one knows what to do next...
I suppose they should have done a bit of homework before rushing into a referendum.
They had no choice but to have the referendum once they were presented with over 2,200 signatures on a petition from the campus Conservatives. The AMS was constitutionally obliged to hold a vote, even though a majority yes vote among the undergraduates could not unseat the Rector. The Rector is elected by the entire student body, including the graduate and professional students, who were not part of this referendum, and whose student government supported the Rector.
The intent was simply to silence, bully, and embarrass.
The Rector's term of office expires in May anyway.
I thought (from gleaning through coverage) that he had another year to go.
If not, that is just silly and pointless on a number of fronts.
Has anyone who is there heard any reports about how much of this debate was about IAW, and how much of it was regarding his job description (realizing that there is a lot of grey area, of course)?
Meanwhile...
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/955253--threatening-tweets-sh...
MONTREAL—A McGill University student is under investigation by police after he allegedly made death threats using his Twitter account.
I’ve infiltrated a Zionist meeting. I feel like I’m at a Satanist ritual,” he allegedly wrote at the March 8th screening.
“I want to shoot everyone in this room,” another tweet said. “Never been this angry.”
The tweets call the documentary a “Zionist/Conservative propaganda film” and the gathering, which attracted about 20 students, “a secret Zionist convention.”
Then: “I should have brought an M16.”
Meterissian said Khan continued tweeting the following day, writing: “The jihad begins today.”
Hi Dodger, that link is off-topic and deliberately incendiary (thus trolling). Don't do it again.
Protesters swarm Ottawa University
As WilderMore helpfully pointed out in this thread, Mario Silva's pet project, the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) has "found" that "new anti-Semitism" is on the rise on Canadian University Campuses:
I imagine they've already approached Giorgio Mammolliti, noble foot soldier in the war against rising anti-semetism, who shot that incendiary footage of bare-breasted women chanting, "End Israel apartheid now!" during Toronto's recent Dyke March.
A friend of mine remarked that Mammolliti, a snickering councilman spending hours videotaping a parade in the hopes of dismantling it, is basically a Revenge of the Nerds villain.
Haha! Your friend is clever, Catchfire.
Yes, and as I remember, the Nerds win rather handily.
the really (not so) funny thing is if you extend the conclusions of the coalition to their logical end, you could make a pretty good case that radical israeli supporters are engaging "anti semitism" or it's equivalent here in canada against palestinians and their supporters.
*harassed, discriminated and bullied, made to feel unsafe on campus (not just by pro israel students, but also the university admins)
*under surveillance by federal authorities, harassed by police
*condemned by the federal government at the highest levels
*subject to threats and intimidation and physical violence
*subject to boycott and divestment campaigns (but in this case not by individuals, but by states)
etc, etc, etc...
On its list of allegedly anti-semitic "incidents" on Canadian campuses, the report includes the following:
Shame on the NDP for participating in this right-wing witch hunt.
People do the eradication of anti-semitism harm when they try to portray incidents which are not examples as anti-semitism as if they were.
Very reminiscent of Daniel Pipes and his CampusWatch organization.
Thanks for those catches, M. Spector. Very telling.
and it's funny because similar incidents have been happening, just on the other side of the coin.
galloway was prevented from speaking in canada, along with other people who talk about palestinian rights. IAW is routinely seen as some illegitimate thing that should be shut down, but when it's an israeli ambassador or an israeli who has actually pulled the trigger we're supposed to just sit back and accept it.
pro israel people complain when someone says israel/US (look at the outcry over richard falk posting a cartoon to his website) is responsible for terrorism against palestinians, which is factually correct and verifiable and out in the open for all to see. But it's no big deal to say that people who want to even just talk about palestinian rights are labeled terrorists, supporters of terrorism, jew haters, anti semetic, insane etc...
if these folks aren't the dictionary definition of "hypocrites" i don't know WHAT is!