Joint Statement on Minister Jason Kenney’s Condemnation of Israeli Apartheid Week 2012

March 10, 2012

Fifty-four organizations from across Canada, including Palestine Solidarity Network-Edmonton, have signed onto a joint statement in response to Jason Kenney’s recent condemnation of Israeli Apartheid Week 2012. The full text of the statement and its signatories is below, or you can download the pdf here.

Joint Statement on Minister Jason Kenney’s condemnation of Israeli Apartheid Week
March 9, 2012

As organizations and groups committed to protecting freedom of expression and public debate on Palestine/Israel, we demand that Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney immediately retract his March 7th statement “condemning Israel Apartheid Week”.

This statement is the Conservative government’s latest attempt to silence activist groups and organizations in Canada that act or speak in support of the basic human rights of the Palestinian people. While Kenney’s statement claims to value “free exchanges of ideas” and “academic dialogue,” his targeted condemnation of Israeli Apartheid Week events on Canadian universities this week (and in previous years) is a blatant attempt to shut down free expression for Palestine solidarity on campus.

The Harper government’s track record clearly reveals that it does not actually value the university as “an environment in which academic discourse can take place freely”. Indeed, it has been actively involved in undermining this ideal that it claims to uphold. In 2009 the Conservative Minister of State (Science and Technology), Gary Goodyear was widely criticized by Faculty for Palestine and academics across the country for his unprecedented and dangerous acts of state political interference in the public funding of an academic conference. The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) called for the Minister’s resignation around this incident, finding it “simply unacceptable” for the Minister to engage in any act that “compromises the integrity and public purpose of universities”. The sole target of the Minister’s actions was an academic conference at York University titled Israel/Palestine: Mapping Models of Statehood and Paths to Peace. His actions were so egregious that they have since been the subject of two major inquiries, one of which is written up in the newly published book titled No Debate: The Israel lobby and free speech at Canadian universities.

Free expression on Canadian campuses, including both academic discourse and political analysis, must be protected from these kinds of political interference and all attempts of censorship. Unlike the Conservative government, we encourage and invite open debate and discussion on the full spectrum of views on the Israel/Palestine conflict. As public events on university campuses, IAW talks are open to anyone who wishes to attend and is willing to participate within the standard regulations governing debate and events on university campuses.

For eight years, Israeli Apartheid Week has provided a model for free and open discussion by providing a week-long series of public lectures by academics and activists on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Currently IAW events are held on campuses in over 100 cities around the world. Many of these lectures address, in a factual manner, the nature of Israeli rule of a Palestinian population of some five million people within the borders which it controls and the effects of the exclusion of a similar number of Palestinian refugees. This system of blockade, occupation, settlement, discrimination and exclusion has been described as a form of
apartheid by a wide range of scholars, journalists, activists, politicians, UN officials and legal experts including former Minister of Government in South Africa Ronnie Kasrils and former Special Rapporteur to the UN Commission on Human Rights John Dugard. IAW events examine these conditions while also building awareness for the movement for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against apartheid Israel as called for by over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations in 2005.

The recent welcome for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Ottawa is just the latest indicator of where the current government stands on this issue. It is a serious threat to democratic interchange that the Harper Conservatives use their position as government to try to shut down discussion and debate on their uncritical support for every action of the Israeli state, including ongoing violations of international law and the human rights of Palestinians.
Israeli Apartheid Week has played an important role in opening up this discussion. This has been recognized by Palestinians, Jewish anti-Zionists, and South Africans including Bishop Desmond Tutu, and journalist Naomi Klein. Israeli Apartheid Week has always condemned anti-Semitism and all forms or racism including Islamophobia, and will continue to do so.

Endorsing signatories:

Boycott Israeli Apartheid Campaign (BIAC) – Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories
Canada Palestine Association, Vancouver
Canada Palestine Support Network (CanPalNet)
Canadian Arab Federation (CAF)
Canadian Boat to Gaza
Canadian Peace Alliance
Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME)
Centre for Social Justice
Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) – Toronto
Coalition of Arab Canadian Professionals and Community Associations (CAPCA)
College and University Workers United (CUWU, Montreal)
Edmonton Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (EQuAIA)
Edmonton Small Press Association (ESPA)
Educators for Peace and Justice (EPJ)
Faculty for Palestine – F4P (Toronto)
Faculty 4 Palestine (F4P Alberta)
Faculty 4 Palestine (F4P Carleton)
Greater Toronto Workers Assembly (GTWA)
Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War
Independent Jewish Voices (IJV)
Independent Jewish Voices, Toronto
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN)
Labour for Palestine
Latin American and Caribbean Solidarity Network
The Louis Riel Bolivarian Circle – Toronto
National Council of Latin American and Caribbean Women of Canada – LATIN@S
New Socialist Group
Nightslantern Suppressed News
No One Is Illegal Toronto
Not In Our Name: Jews Opposed to Zionism (NION)
Ontario Coalition Against Poverty – OCAP
OPIRG – Toronto
Palestine House Educational and Cultural Centre
Palestine Solidarity Working Group, Laurentian University, Sudbury
Palestine Solidarity Network – Edmonton
Peace Alliance Winnipeg
Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA)
Regina Solidarity Group
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network
Seriously Free Speech Committee
Socialist Project
SPHR UWO – Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights at Western University
SPHR Ryerson
SPHR – UBC
Students Against Israeli Apartheid at York University – Carleton
Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA)- Regina
Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) – University of Toronto
Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) at York University
Tadamon! – Montreal
Teachers for Palestine (T4P) – Toronto
Toronto Bolivia Solidarity
Toronto Coalition to Stop the War (TCSW)
Winnipeg CAIA
Women in Solidarity with Palestine (WSP)


Support Needed: IAW Events in Ottawa Face Possible Cancellation

March 7, 2012

UPDATE FROM SAIA – MARCH 7

Thank you for your support! Together, we have once again shown that through collective action, we will overcome attempts at repression and intimidation! After having received an incredible number of emails and phone calls urging the administration not to cancel our room booking for Thursday’s Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) event, the University of Ottawa has re-confirmed the room reservation for our panel discussion on that day. As such, our event entitled “Legalized Apartheid and Women’s Resistance in Palestine: Principled Solidarity and the Global Struggle for Liberation,” will proceed as originally planned at 7:00pm in Hagen Hall room 302.

However, the University has imposed the presence of agents from the Protection Services as a condition for the event to take place, after evaluating a complaint by unknown persons regarding our event on March 5th (“Arab Spring, Apartheid Falls? The Egyptian Uprising and Possibilities for Palestinian Resistance”). While we will not be contesting this decision at this point, it is our belief that such a security presence is unnecessary and does not contribute to a safe and open environment for our guests and speakers. Furthermore, despite repeated demands, we have received almost no information on the details and exact nature of the aforementioned complaint, leaving us entirely in the dark as to the reasons why a previously confirmed lecture event was precipitously placed in jeopardy only two days before it was due to take place.

As such, we encourage you to continue writing to the University of Ottawa Administration to demand transparency through the release of information about the complaint, as well as information as to how it was evaluated by the administration and how the latter motivated the decisions it took in consequence. It is both unacceptable and highly suspect that the University of Ottawa has taken such arbitrary action without any due explanation.

Allan Rock – President, University of Ottawa:
president@uottawa.ca; 613-562-5809

Martin Bergeron, Coordination Agent – Conventions and Reservations Services:
mbergeron@uottawa.ca

Please include in CC:
saia.carleton@gmail.com, sphr.uofo@gmail.com

Original Call for Support:

URGENT CALL FOR SOLIDARITY: UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA TRIES TO SILENCE SOLIDARITY FOR PALESTINIAN HUMAN RIGHTS (SPHR)

Defend the Right to critical discussion around Israeli apartheid on our campuses! Call on the University of Ottawa Administration to uphold free expression and follow clear and transparent procedures.

On March 5th, Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) 2012 opened at the University of Ottawa to a packed room, as students, faculty, and community members were treated to an informative lecture entitled “Arab Spring, Apartheid Falls? The Egyptian Uprising and Possibilities for Palestinian Resistance.” It featured an Egyptian activist who played an important role in the revolution that overthrew the Egyptian dictatorship, as well as a community activist from Montreal (click here for a full schedule).

Moreover, two students from the organizing committee were harassed by unidentified individuals, who on several occasions attempted to intimidate SPHR and Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) just outside the lecture hall during the event.

On March 6th, a member of SPHR received an email from Conventions and Reservations Services at the University of Ottawa telling her that their room booking for Thursday’s Keynote IAW event is now “on hold”, that SPHR “may not continue with this event for now”, and that SPHR’s contract was being forwarded to “Protection Service for evaluation.” These heavy-handed measures are because of an unnamed “incident” that supposedly occurred at Monday’s event. When members of SPHR met with the University administration, they were not told what this “incident” was (see below for full email from U of O). The very fact that the organizers were put in a situation, where their event was threatened with cancellation, is a form of intimidation from the University of Ottawa administration.

In 2009, the Administrations at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University banned the international-used IAW poster, gaining national and international headlines. SPHR and SAIA see today’s email as another attempt to silence the voices of students who advocate for Palestinian human rights. When the IAW poster was banned in 2009, we stood up and fought back with all of your support.

***
Let us take a stand again. We need your help in two ways:

1) Please write a letter to the University of Ottawa Administration demanding that they do not cancel our room booking, and that they explain why the threat of room cancellation was initially issued (see sample letter below). The University hasn’t yet “confirmed” whether or not our talk will be cancelled – with your support, lets encourage them to take the principled position. While a staff member at Conventions and Reservations Services sent the email to SPHR, we know from our previous experiences that it is people higher up in the University hierarchy who must be held accountable for these attempts to silence our movements. As a result, please direct your email to:

president@uottawa.ca – Allan Rock – President, University of Ottawa, and;
mbgeron@uottawa.ca – Martin Bergeron, Coordination Agent – Conventions and Reservations Services

Or call:

Allan Rock – President, University of Ottawa – Telephone: 613-562-5809

Martin Bergeron, Coordination Agent – Conventions and Reservations Services
Bureau / Office : (613) 562-5800 ext: 2825 Cellulaire / Cell : (613) 796-8099

Please include in CC:
saia.carleton@gmail.com, sphr.uofo@gmail.com

Draft Email to President Rock and Martin Bergeron

Dear President Rock and Mr. Bergeron,

I recently learned that the University of Ottawa is threatening to prevent the keynote event for Israeli Apartheid Week in Ottawa from taking place, by cancelling the students’ pre-approved room booking. Hiding these silencing tactics behind the cover of bureaucracy is worrying. Israeli Apartheid Week is a week of educational and cultural events that critically engages with the policies undertaken by the Israeli state against the Palestinian people. Over the past four years in Ottawa alone, this week has brought distinguished speakers ranging from members of the Israeli Knesset (Parliament), former leaders of the African National Congress (ANC), Jewish Holocaust Survivors, prominent indigenous leaders, and some of the most high-profile Palestinian scholars and activists from around the world. I also know that Israeli Apartheid Week has brought with it a great deal of backlash from University Administrations, including your own. When the University of Ottawa banned the Apartheid Week Poster in 2009, it shocked many people who were following the controversy, as it appeared that the University of Ottawa was taking a clear position in support of Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people, and against freedom of speech and student organizing.

I implore you not to make the same mistake again. Regardless of whether or not you agree that Israel is an Apartheid State, do not get in the way of student organizing and open discussion of this issue. Censoring the discussions that take place at your University through bureaucratic means reflects very poorly on the University of Ottawa and its leadership.

Consequently, I ask that you ensure that Thursday night’s IAW Keynote Speech is able to take place and that the room booking is not revoked. Also, I would like to know why SPHR was threatened with a cancelled room booking in the first place.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

2) If you live in Ottawa: Join us on Thursday, March 8 for IAW 2012’s Keynote Panel Discussion, “Legalized Apartheid and Women’s Resistance in Palestine: Principled Solidarity and the Global Struggle for Liberation.” We will be meeting at the University of Ottawa campus, in Hagen Hall Room 302 (near Laurier Bus Station). This is the room that we have booked, and which the Administration has threatened to cancel. Nevertheless, we will not be silenced. Whether it takes place in Room 302 Hagen Hall, in the Lobby of Hagen Hall, or somewhere else on campus, this talk will go on.

It is only though your active support, participation, and solidarity that we will be able to fight back against this new attempt to silence IAW and stifle freedom of speech on our campuses. Please write a letter and join us on Thursday.

In solidarity,
SPHR Ottawa and SAIA Carleton

***

Email sent to SPHR from University of Ottawa:

Hello [SPHR member],

Following the incident that occurred during your event in Fauteux 147A on March 5th 2012, your event scheduled for March 8th in Hagen 302 from 18:00 to 23:00 is on hold therefore in “Pending“ mode. You may not continue with this event for now. Also, I urgently need you to provide the name of the speaker(s) who spoke on the 5th of March as well as the ones that are scheduled to speak on the 8th of March 2012 in Hagen 302. This information needs to be provided to me no later than today. Also, I am forwarding your contract to Protection Services for evaluation. Again, you may not proceed with your event in Hagen 302 on the 8th of March until I confirm.

Please respond to this email promptly

Martin Bergeron
Agent de coordination, Coordination agent
Service de congrès et réservations / Conventions and Reservations Service


Action: Support University of Regina Students’ Union’s BDS Resolution

March 4, 2012

The University of Regina’s Students’ Union voted at its AGM on February 1 to join the global boycott, divestment and sanctions movement in support of Palestinian human rights. The resolution resolved that the U of R Students’ Union:

- Recognize that the right to education is a fundamental human righttp://psnedmonton.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpht that is basic to human freedom;

- Join student organizations around the globe by endorsing the 2005 call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions from Palestinian civil society;

- Commit to identifying and divesting from companies that support or profit from Israeli war crimes, occupation and oppression;

- Affirm that students have a vital role in supporting struggles for social justice, and stand in solidarity with Palestinians’ struggle for self-determination and freedom.

While there is widespread support on campus for the resolution (URSU president Kent Peterson says, “There were actually no con speakers to the motion. There were a few pro speakers, and then it was voted upon. I believe it was passed unanimously and if it wasn’t unanimous, there might have been one vote against it.”), pro-Israel groups including the Canadian Federation of Jewish Students and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs have predictably decried the democratically passed resolution and are calling for it to be repealed.

Prince Albert Conservative MP Randy Hoback rose in the House of Commons on March 1 and called on U of R President Vianne Timmons to condemn the move, charging that URSU had used “alarmist language” and taken “a simplistic and prejudicial view to an issue that deserves a far more mature and balanced approach.”

In the face of this coordinated backlash, members of the URSU need to know that their principled move is supported by Canadians who are concerned about human rights. Please take a few moments to send a note to URSU executives to congratulate them on their principled resolution and to indicate your support:

You can send emails to URSU at contactus@ursu.ca, and/or to individual members of the exec (phone calls are great too):

Kent Peterson (President)
(306) 586-8811 ext. 206 | president@ursu.ca

Paige Kezima
Vice President of External Affairs
(306) 586-8811 ext. 203 | external@ursu.ca

Haanim Nur
Vice President of Operations & Finance
(306) 586-8811 ext. 235 | finance@ursu.ca

Melissa Blackhurst
Vice President of Student Affairs
(306) 586-8811 ext. 212 | student@ursu.ca


Event: Academic Freedom and Palestinian Solidarity in Canada

November 26, 2011

To mark the United Nations International Day of Solidarity With the Palestinian People, Faculty for Palestine (F4P) Alberta is hosting its inaugural event:

Academic Freedom and Palestinian Solidarity in Canada: What Can Alberta Faculty Do?
Tuesday, November 29 (5:00 – 6:30 pm)
Room 7-152, Education North Building
University of Alberta
(North of 87 Avenue at 113 Street)

How can academics work in solidarity with Palestinian civil society? How can faculty support educational initiatives about Israel/Palestine? What can you do as an Alberta educator to protect academic freedom and free expression? Please join us on the United Nations International Day of Solidarity With the Palestinian People for an inaugural panel discussion. Find out more about F4P Alberta, and meet colleagues from different departments and universities. All faculty and other interested individuals are welcome. Refreshments will be served.

Moderator:
Dr. Lynette Shultz

Dr. Toni Samek
“Academic Freedom: A Moving Target?”

Evelyn Hamdon and Scott Harris
“Israeli Apartheid Week in Canada”

Dr. Yasmeen Abu‐Laban
“F4P Alberta”

About F4P Alberta:

Linked to the national F4P network, the Alberta Chapter is a solidarity group consisting of faculty members from all ranks and post-secondary institutions in Alberta. As members of society responsible for education, teaching, and research, we recognize a public responsibility to bear witness to the continued oppression and suffering of Palestinians, and to publicize the complicity of Canadian policies. We are also concerned with threats to academic freedom in Israel, Palestine and Canada.


CPCCA: Follow the Money

July 29, 2011

An excellent article in Macleans magazine on the secretive funding behind the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism.

Follow the money
An MP inquiry into anti-Semitism vowed to be open and independent. Its shadowy funding says otherwise.

When a group of Conservative, Liberal and NDP MPs formed the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism in 2009, they decided to work outside of the normal structures of Parliament and raise their own money to hold a conference and conduct an inquiry. But transparency would be crucial, they said, pledging on their website to “voluntarily disclose all sources of funding” and remain independent of the Conservative government, advocacy groups and “Jewish community organizations.” By the time they released their report this month, however—warning that anti-Semitism is on the rise in Canada—that vow of full disclosure seemed to be forgotten, and the coalition appeared closely tied to the government.

Conservative MP Scott Reid, chairman of the coalition’s inquiry steering committee, said the CPCCA promised anonymity to private donors, who contributed a total of $127,078. As for their relationship with the government, the coalition accepted $451,280 from the department of Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, who sat on the CPCCA’s inquiry steering committee as an ex officio member. The coalition’s key conclusion that a “new anti-Semitism” tends to focus on criticism of Israel echoes Kenney’s long-standing position.

Perhaps surprisingly, the MPs’ ethics code appears not to oblige them to reveal the names of their backers. The Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner didn’t comment specifically on the CPCCA, but told Maclean’s the “Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons” requires only that individual MPs disclose money they receive—not MPs acting as a group. “There is no mechanism within the code for a group of MPs to disclose a collective gift,” the commissioner’s office said. The coalition knows the rules. “The ethics commissioner doesn’t cover [the CPCCA] because the donations went to an entity, not to an MP,” said Mike Firth, Reid’s executive assistant.

If the CPCCA’s private backers remain unnamed, the government’s support is a matter of record. Still, the arrangement between Kenney’s department and the coalition isn’t straightforward. The grant was paid to a third party, a non-governmental organization called the Parliamentary Centre, a not-for-profit group that helps legislatures around the world, mainly in developing countries, to build their capacity. The centre took on a narrowly limited role for the CPCCA, acting as the recipient of both the Citizenship and Immigration grant and private contributions. As a registered charity, it was able to issue tax receipts to those anonymous donors.

Citizenship and Immigration refused to release its full agreement with the centre. A summary description says the grant was provided to the centre to “host the Ottawa Conference for Combating Anti-Semitism.” That three-day conference was put on last fall by the CPCCA; the centre played, at most, a supporting role. “There was government funding that was earmarked for this particular conference, and we were approached because we had NGO status, and charitable status, and had the systems in place to manage donor funding,” said centre spokeswoman Petra Andersson-Charest. “We were not involved in designing or managing the subject matter that was discussed,” added Ivo Balinov, senior expert in parliamentary development at the centre.

Firth said most of the grant money went to pay expenses of conference participants, including visiting parliamentarians and experts. The coalition also held 10 days of hearings in 2009 and 2010 on Parliament Hill, gathering testimony from dozens of witnesses concerned about anti-Semitism. The CPCCA did not invite outspoken critics of Israel’s stance toward the Palestinians to testify. Its final conclusions were faulted by some for blurring the distinction between anti-Semitism and legitimate criticism of Israeli government policy.

If the coalition’s findings were controversial, its funding mostly escaped attention. But it’s far from typical. MPs normally work within their own office budgets, or through official House committees, which are of course paid for by Parliament. The CPCCA’s broad membership largely insulated it from partisan scrutiny. Along with well-known Conservatives like Reid and Manitoba MP Candice Hoeppner, the MPs who joined included prominent Liberals such as interim party leader Bob Rae, and veteran New Democrats like Peter Stoffer and Pat Martin. That opposition support, and close compatibility with Kenney, made it unlikely the coalition’s financing, however unusual, would be criticized from within political circles. It seems any questions about this shadowy new model for MPs to tackle a policy issue will have to come from outside.


Canada Clamps Down on Criticism of Israel

July 22, 2011

A great article by Jerusalem-based journalist Jillian Kestler-DAmours on the CPCCA final report and other Canadian support for Israel, which appears on Al Jazeera.

Canada clamps down on criticism of Israel
In an affront to free speech, government committee declares that criticism of Israel should be considered anti-Semitic.
Jillian Kestler-DAmours

Nearly two years after the first hearings were held in Ottawa, the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) released a detailed report on July 7 that found that anti-Semitism is on the rise in Canada, especially on university campuses.

While the CPCCA’s final report does contain some cases of real anti-Semitism, the committee has provided little evidence that anti-Semitism has actually increased in Canada in recent years. Instead, it has focused a disproportionate amount of effort and resources on what it calls a so-called “new anti-Semitism”: criticism of Israel.

Indeed, the real purpose of the CPCCA committee seems to be to stifle critiques of Israeli policy and disrupt pro-Palestinian solidarity organizing in Canada, including, most notably, Israeli Apartheid Week events. Many of the CPCCA’s findings, therefore, must be rejected as both an attack on freedom of speech and freedom of protest, and as recklessly undermining the fight against real instances of anti-Semitism.

Read the rest of this entry »


Response to CPCCA Report by F4P Members

July 21, 2011

An opinion piece by members of Faculty for Palestine responding to the final report of the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA) appears in today’s National Post Full Comment.

Report on anti-Semitism seeks only to protect Israel
By Sue Ferguson, Mary-Jo Nadeau, Eric Shragge, Abby Lippman, Gary Kinsman and Reuben Roth

This month, a serious attack was made against free speech in Canada. A pseudo-parliamentary committee calling itself the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA) issued a report calling on the federal government to adopt a definition of anti-Semitism that would criminalize criticism of the state of Israel. The report claims to support free speech and open debate around the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but its recommendations aim to silence pro-Palestinian voices, especially on campuses. The CPCCA’s biased processes and dubious conclusions contradict its own argument for balanced debate, and make a mockery of the notion of disinterested parliamentary inquiry.

The CPCCA was founded in 2009. While it included MPs from all parliamentary parties, the CPCCA is not an official parliamentary committee. It nonetheless draws upon the resources and authority of Parliament, while refusing to hold open debate in keeping with due process.

The CPCCA’s mandate was to define, analyze and address anti-Semitism. However, the coalition formed its core conclusions before beginning its inquiry. Its founding documents emphasized the so-called “new anti-Semitism,” associating it with the global movement for Palestinian human rights.

CPCCA materials published prior to the hearings cited campuses as places of special interest, but provided no substantive evidence. Later, the inquiry’s findings confirmed their biases through distorted claims that pro-Palestinian events create a campus environment ripe for anti-Semitism. Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), an annual program of public talks, films and workshops supporting the Palestinian Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement, is singled out; it is depicted as an aggressive campaign that “hijack[s] any open and honest dialogue regarding the Middle East.”

The report conveniently overlooks IAW’s value as a site of global education on the plight of Palestinians living on, and in exile from, land that is illegally occupied by Israel. The participation of Jewish students and professors in IAW is systematically ignored. So is the fact that IAW organizers focus their analysis on a critique of the Israeli state, not Jewish people. That IAW explicitly condemns anti-Semitism and all racism is similarly neglected.

The report also dismisses the testimony of campus administrators who refuted the CPCCA’s preconceived notions. To be clear, the 25 university presidents or their representatives who spoke to the panel are no friends of pro-Palestinian organizers, having previously banned IAW posters, obstructed room bookings and otherwise tried to silence criticism of Israel on their campuses. And yet, their testimony consistently denied that the “new anti-Semitism” threatens their students. Instead, they suggested debate of difficult ideas should be encouraged at universities, not censored.

Most who seriously challenged the CPCCA were simply excluded from the so-called “public” hearings. Faculty for Palestine — a network of 450 faculty members from Canadian universities and colleges — for example, was not invited to discuss our written submission despite the CPCCA’s assertion that the “new anti-Semitism” is especially concentrated on campuses. Co-chair Mario Silva explained these exclusions as follows: “I personally feel I didn’t want to give a platform to individuals who had no time for us. Why should we have time for them?” It is no wonder that Bloc Québécois MPs withdrew from the CPCCA in 2010, citing the refusal of the steering committee to hear groups with opposing viewpoints, including from organizations such as the Canadian Arab Federation.

The CPCCA is fluent in doublespeak. The coalition urges critics to commit to serious and rigorous debate, but it avoids engaging in debate. It relies on hearsay, anecdotes and cherry-picked testimony while ignoring a wealth of research countering its claims. The report asserts that IAW should not be banned, but then asks university presidents to condemn IAW and calls on government to legislate this new criminalizing definition of anti-Semitism.

Faculty for Palestine is deeply concerned by the CPCCA’s analysis and recommendations — we think it should be treated with extreme skepticism. Its conflation of criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism is inaccurate and dangerous. Indeed, the Israeli state just announced unprecedented legislation banning boycotts. If Canada accepts the CPCCA’s recommendations, we may soon travel this same politically repressive road. A commitment to real dialogue on this complex conflict in the Middle East must win out over attempts to shut down debate and criminalize movements for social change.

The authors are members of Faculty for Palestine.


Support Academic Freedom and Queen’s University Rector Nick Day

March 14, 2011

UPDATE, March 16, 2011

Action Required – Stand up for Queen’s Rector who spoke truth to power

As you may already know,  Nick Day,  the rector of Queen’s University in Kingston Ontario has come under fire for writing an open letter to Michael Ignatieff in defence of Israeli Apartheid Week (see below for more details).

At issue is the fact that Day signed the letter to Ignatieff using his title.  He has apologized for this but the campaign to impeach him spearheaded by the Queen’s Conservative, Liberal and Israel clubs continues.

Please write a letter of support for Nick. Letters should be addresses to Principal Woolf, Queen’s Board of Trustees, University Senate, and University Council and sent to:

Daniel Woolf, principal@queensu.ca
Georgina Moore,  mooreg@queensu.ca
University Secretariat: univsec@queensu.ca
Please cc: academicfreedomqueens@gmail.com

Read the rest of this entry »


This Is What Complicity Looks Like: Palestine and the Silencing Campaign on Campus

March 10, 2011

An excellent article from The Bullet on the silencing campaign on campuses aimed at Israeli Apartheid Week, co-authored by Mary-Jo Nadeau who will be speaking at IAW in Edmonton on Friday, March 18 at 1:00 pm in Education Building Room 165 as part of the panel on Academic Freedom and the Palestinian Solidarity Movement: Making the Connections.

This Is What Complicity Looks Like: Palestine and the Silencing Campaign on Campus
Mary-Jo Nadeau and Alan Sears

The campaign to silence Palestine solidarity reaches its annual crescendo during Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW). As IAW 2011 approaches, we need to prepare for another round of silencing. This means assessing the silencing campaign and the experience of standing up for free expression over the last few years.

The ongoing campaign to silence Palestine solidarity on Ontario (and Canadian) campuses represents a major assault on academic freedom and freedom of expression in general. Over the past five years, attempts to suppress speech about the issue of Palestine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have become routine, both on and off campuses. The goal of this campaign is quite simply to shut down political activism and scholarly exchange that explores Palestinian experiences and/or criticizes the Israeli state. This silencing project echoes that of the Israeli state itself, which has systematically clamped down on all aspects of Palestinian life while trying to eliminate signs and memories of Palestinian existence

IAW Attacked

The silencing campaign on Ontario campuses has included: the attempt to ban the words “Israeli apartheid” on McMaster campus in 2008; the banning of Israeli Apartheid Week posters on four campuses in 2009; ongoing attempts to ban IAW altogether including a motion in the Ontario Legislature condemning the event; efforts to shut down the “Israel/Palestine: Mapping Models of Statehood and Paths to Peace” conference at York University in 2009, including political pressure on the SSHRC to defund the conference and an unprecedented inquiry commissioned by the York administration to investigate that conference; a campaign of attacks on the York University administration for letting former British MP George Galloway speak on campus after being banned from Canada at least in part on the basis of his Palestine solidarity work; attacks in the National Post and the Ontario Legislature on the Sociology and Equity Studies program at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) (part of the University of Toronto) and specifically on the thesis of one of its graduate students, Jenny Peto; and most recently, the assessment of extraordinary security fees to shut down a talk by American scholar Norman Finkelstein at Mohawk College in Hamilton.

These relatively overt acts of silencing are accompanied by more insidious attempts to restrict the boundaries of legitimate debate. In this essay, we explore both the overt and the more subtle aspects of the silencing campaign, analyzing specific instances to examine their broad implications for freedom of expression and activism on campus.
Read the rest of this entry »

ACTION: Support Freedom of Speech at York

March 8, 2011

The administration at York University has recently announced that organizers of Israeli Apartheid Week events will be forced to pay “security fees” to hold their events on campus or their room bookings, which were made more than a month ago, will be cancellled. Please take a moment to support SAIA@York by taking the action they outline in their public statement:

Public Statement About Israeli Apartheid Week
Room Cancellation at York University

On Thursday the 3rd of March 2011, less than one week before the beginning of the Seventh Annual Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW), the administration of York University informed the IAW organizers of a change to a room booking which had been made over one month in advance. The message from the administration was clear- the room will be cancelled unless the group pays “security fees” to hire police to be present during the event. This decision was based on A “security assessment” by York University. Despite repeated requests from the IAW organizers, the York administration refused to explain what the security considerations involved, and did not share any information as to what or who is the source of the security threat.

Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA-York), the organizer of the event, refused to pay the “security fees” for the following reasons:

i) Accessibility: These fees will put a significant strain on the very limited budget of the student group.
ii) Unreasonable demand: SAIA-York does not see any need for police presence. IAW activities took place on York campus for the past 3 years without incident, and there is no basis to believe that this year will be different. This is especially the case given that the three speakers at the event are two professors, one of whom teaches at York, and the third is a York student. Furthermore, it is unjust for SAIA-York to be asked to pay to protect itself from harassment done to its members and supporters by outside aggressors.

This last minute condition imposed by the York administration is consistent with the recent pattern where the Israel Lobby groups pressure educational institutions to raise the costs for holding Palestine advocacy events. Last month, Mohawk College presented a similar ultimatum for allowing a lecture by Dr. Norman Finklestein to proceed as planned on its campus. Unfortunately, by imposing the security fees and putting a price tag on freedom of speech and inquiry, York University has become the most recent institution to use this silencing tactic. This of course comes as no surprise. As demonstrated by a number of incidents in the past, documented by publications and reports, York University’s commitment to freedom of speech is almost always limited when it comes to Palestine.

SAIA-York calls on supporters of Israeli Apartheid Week and everyone who supports freedom of speech and inquiry to contact York President Mamdouh Shoukri. Help explain to York University Administration the importance of freedom of speech, and that freedom of speech should not be treated as a commodity granted or denied based on the ability to pay. Please, make your voice and ours heard by following the steps below:

Step One

Copy/paste the sample letter below (feel free to modify) into the body of an email.

Dear President Mamdouh Shoukri

I am writing to communicate my outrage and sorrow at your recent decision to cancel the room booking for Students Against Israeli Apartheid @ York unless they pay “security fees”.

While safety considerations are very important, the attempt to impose the fees on a student club is unacceptable. It is more so when the University refuses to disclose the reasons for its assessment.

The university is meant to be a space of free debate and discussion. By imposing the fees, you are restricting the margins of free speech and limiting it to those who have the means to pay. This is contrary to the values on which the university is built.

This last minute cancelation is consistent with the recent pattern OF Israel lobby groups pressuring educational institutions to raise the costs for holding Palestine advocacy events. Last month, Mohawk College administration presented a similar condition for allowing a lecture by Dr. Norman Finklestein to proceed as planned on its campus. Unfortunately, by imposing the security fees and putting a price tag on freedom of speech and inquiry, you are showing that York University has little respect for values that are considered the basic tenets of academic work.

I urge you to cancel the “security fees” and resist all political pressure to cancel or restrict student activities on campus.

Yours,

Step Two

For the subject line, write: York shamefully puts a price tag on free expression.

Step Three

Copy/paste the emails below into your to: field

presidnt@yorku.ca; mshoukri@yorku.ca; rjtiffin@yorku.ca; normasue@yorku.ca

and cc: SAIA@York:

saiayork@riseup.net

Step Four

Hit send!

Step Five

Use the sharing links in this post to encourage your friends and networks to do the same!


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