[van-announce] * Social Justice Centre UBC needs your help * UPDATED

[Alissa W]

* Please continue to support the Social Justice Centre (SJC) with your attendance at the Wednesday, Dec. 8 emergency AMS (student society) Council meeting and your endorsement (see below).  Despite a favourable decision from Council last week, the AMS Executive is again stalling the donation to Gaza, there is another procedural complaint against the SJC, all of the Resource Groups at UBC are now under threat of loss of AMS funding, and the Israel Awareness Club UBC (IAC) president has launched a lawsuit against the AMS for not supporting IAC complaints against the SJC - which has increased even more the pressure on the SJC to defend itself and on the AMS Council and committees that will determine the fate of the SJC, the Resource Groups and the donation to Gaza.  (Detailed update below, please help distribute.)  Thank you for your time and assistance!
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Greetings:
 
This is on behalf of the Social Justice Centre of UBC (SJC), we ask for your support and public endorsement to protect the autonomy and integrity of this important resource. It is in urgent peril and needs your help now, especially as there are increasing threats from members of the AMS (Student Government) Council against the donation to Gaza, the SJC and the Resource Groups at UBC.
 
SJC has worked to fulfill its mandate to oppose socio-economic inequality or oppression and encourage student activism by organizing, sponsoring and participating in many events on campus and throughout the community. SJC has worked with many groups on a variety of social justice issues, including all of the other Resource Groups at UBC – Allies UBC; Pride UBC; Womyns’ Centre; Student Environment Centre; and Colour Connected Against Racism.  We have hosted many public panels, conferences, rallies, workshops, political documentaries and fundraising events. Next year we will hold our fourth annual conference on student issues, continuing our work to educate the UBC community by bringing in diverse speakers, promoting critical debates and holding workshops to enhance students’ organizing skills. SJC and the other Resource Groups receive a very small amount of each student’s AMS fees ($1.50 per year for all such groups) and are mandated to do political work explicitly outside of AMS interference.
 
Most recently we worked with Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights – UBC (SPHR) to endorse and promote an event with noted speaker George Galloway (a peace activist and former British MP) called Free Palestine, Free Afghanistan, Free Speech. We agreed to make a $700 grant to SPHR that would be donated to humanitarian aid through the Canadian Boat to Gaza, a flotilla opposed to the Israeli blockade of Gaza (which is illegal under international law). The funds raised will at all times be under the oversight of Alternatives, a registered Canadian charity, and Turtle Island Humanitarian Aid, a registered Canadian not-for-profit. At that time we began to be targeted by Israeli nationalist campus groups including the Israel Awareness Club (IAC) and the leadership of the Hillel House. Since then we have been publicly vilified as “terrorists” and "anti-Semites," harassed and attacked in various ways including racist, sexist and homophobic slurs and subject to repeated disingenuous procedural complaints. This is similar to nationwide campus incidents of pro-Israel groups attempting to silence criticism or debate.
 
Furthermore, the AMS Executive has repeatedly frozen the transfer of the grant SJC donated to SPHR. AMS President Bijan Ahmadian has also been dishonest in public and media comments about the chronology of events and reasons for his intervention and has even called campus security on SJC members who requested the minutes of a meeting to which they were entitled. At a lengthy December 1 AMS Council meeting, Council finally approved a motion which said that if the SJC has not violated its constitution (an AMS committee investigated and agreed it had not) and if Council is satisfied that the money will not support terrorism, then the donation must go ahead. When that motion was passed, most AMS Councillors and attendees believed that the issue was finished and the donation would go ahead.
 
After the majority of students left the meeting, however, the AMS Council also passed a motion allowing an AMS Legislative Committee (with a very conservative membership) to review the structures and funding for all of the Resource Groups. This continues a general campaign against these essential voices on campus. This report will be heard by AMS Council on January 12, 2011.  There has also been a second procedural complaint against the SJC, even though we have already proven that the SJC coordinators are legitimate and the donation proceeded according to proper process.
 
The day after the AMS Council meeting, the AMS Executive decided that they required more proof that the donation would not fund terrorism and froze the transfer again. They are now asking that SPHR and SJC submit evidence that the aid organizations will not give resources to terrorist groups. This is despite the fact that the charity and not-for-profit involved are already monitored and audited by the federal government. If PM Harper’s Conservative government has not found evidence of terror links by these groups then it is ridiculous to presume that a student government would be able to fairly determine otherwise. AMS President Ahmadian has also contacted CSIS (the Canadian intelligence service) to investigate SJC and SPHR, despite a legal opinion finding no links from these groups to terrorism. Even other AMS councillors oppose continuing the efforts to stop the donation. Most recently, the president of the IAC has launched a lawsuit against the AMS alleging that they have not followed proper procedure in addressing the IAC complaints against the SJC.  This has put even more pressure on the SJC to defend itself and on the AMS to thoroughly investigate the SJC.
 
A report based on this information will go to AMS Council on Wednesday, December 8, 6pm, an event we urge you to attend in support of SJC, SPHR and progressive activism on campuses nationwide. Meanwhile we ask you to send a message of endorsement to us addressed to AMS Council and executives (below). We will continue to compile the endorsements and forward them to AMS student representatives. We also ask all progressive and radical UBC students to come out to the upcoming by-election (early January) and executives election (February) of the SJC coordinators to support the vital work of the SJC.
 
Please share this information with your membership, other activist groups and individuals. The IAC and others have been inundating AMS councillors with form letters and promoting known inaccuracies about SJC to the UBC community and media (such as that we are funding Hamas). We are hoping for a diverse show of solidarity from the social justice community that is thoughtful yet overwhelming.
 
Thank you for your time and attention to this urgent matter.
 
HOW TO HELP:
 
1)  * Attend the emergency AMS Council meeting in the Student Union Building (SUB) in Council Chambers (upstairs) or the Norm Theatre (main floor) at 6pm on Wednesday, December 8, 2010. Also attend the AMS Council meeting which will review the report on the continued existence of the Resource Groups on January 12, 2011.
 
2)  * Send individual letters addressed to the AMS Council to socialjusticecentre.ubc at gmail.com as soon as possible so we can bring them to Council, please indicate if you are a current or former UBC student or employee - though all letters are needed.
 
3)  * Or send your personal or group endorsements of the below statement to socialjusticecentre.ubc at gmail.com as soon as possible:
  
"UBC AMS Council –
We support the integrity and autonomy of the Social Justice Centre - UBC (SJC) and believe it is an important part of the UBC and Vancouver communities. We defend the right of SJC and other Resource Groups to fulfill their political mandates without unjustified interference by the AMS or other student groups. We reject the dishonest and inaccurate complaints and actions taken against the SJC and its members and urge the AMS Council to take appropriate measures to protect the SJC."
 
4)  Join our Facebook group “UBC Social Justice Centre” or our mailing list sjc-ubc at lists.resist.ca (low-traffic, moderated) at https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sjc-ubc to stay updated.
 
5)  * Write letters to the editor of Vancouver and national newspapers and especially the main UBC paper The Ubyssey, which has written critical and inaccurate stories about SJC and the Resource Groups; email feedback at ubyssey.ca to have your say there. Letters supporting the SJC and the Resource Groups generally are encouraged.
 
6)  There is a petition available (only to UBC students) by the student group Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights to support the SJC and our humanitarian donation and object to the violations of the AMS Code used against us. It is at: http://www.petitiononline.com/SPHRGAZA/petition.html
 
7)  * Plan to attend the January by-election and February coordinators election of the SJC (dates TBA). We need all UBC students to participate in order to maintain the progressive mandate of the SJC.
 
7)  * Spread the word and forward this message far and wide.
  
Thank you all so much for your continued support!  SJC-UBC