[van-discuss] (MONTREAL) CALL FOR SOLIDARITY: Resistance on Trial at Concordia University

[Stefan Christoff]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 16:18:51 -0500 (EST)
From: Karameh <karameh at sphr.org>

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RESISTANCE ON TRIAL AT CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY
      Fighting the Criminalization of
     Palestinian Solidarity Organizing
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This is a callout to groups, organizations and individuals around the
world to support Palestinian solidarity organizing at Concordia
University, throughout Montreal and beyond. This call for support is
grounded in a belief in social justice and has as its aim the reclamation
of human dignity and human rights for the Palestinian people in the face
of the ongoing Israeli apartheid and military occupation.

We write to you from Montreal, Canada, home of Concordia University, where
on September 9th 2002, 1500 students and allies rose up in opposition to
the presence of war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu on the university campus.
In order to accommodate Netanyahu that day, the Administration spared no
expense on security, deploying 150 riot cops, metal detectors, and
bomb-sniffing dogs. Access to the 12-floor Main Building of the downtown
campus was shut down to two entries/exits through which thousands of
students attending regularly scheduled classes had to pass. This stands in
stark contrast to the Administrations refusal, one-year earlier, to issue
a permit allowing Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR Concordia)
to hold an outdoor bazaar, citing spurious safety concerns.

It is within this context of double-standards and insensitivity to student
and community concerns - particularly those of Arabs, Muslims and other
allies committed to issues of social justice - that a group of 150
demonstrators entered the Main Building of the downtown campus through a
side door that was overlooked in the Universitys security arrangements for
that day. These individuals entered the building to reclaim that public
space and deliver a community-drafted arrest warrant charging Mr.
Netanyahu under the War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity Act of 2000.
This direct action effectively prevented Netanyahu from delivering his
speech to a pre-screened and essentially handpicked audience for what was
to be a pro-Israel propaganda rally with no opportunity to pose questions
or engage in debate.

The actual events of that day have been seriously misrepresented by
Netanyahu and mainstream media outlets that cowtow to his brand of Zionist
extremism so that the successful shutdown action was termed a riot. While
the intolerant acts of a handful of the demonstrators in the action that
day have received lengthy coverage, reciprocal intolerant acts perpetrated
by pro-Israel attendees to the lecture against the demonstrators have
received no coverage.

In reality, and of greater import, the majority of the violence of that
day was perpetrated by Montreal riot police against students and members
of the broader community who were asserting basic human rights of assembly
and expression to further the cause of social justice.

In an attempt to abdicate responsibility for what happened that day, the
Concordia Administration has laid university charges and sanctions against
students and members of the Montreal community who were brutalized by
police beatings and pepper spray.

Examples of the charges and sanctions laid by the university include: a
three-year suspension for student organizer Samer Elatrash determined in a
hearing he boycotted due to panelist bias; a five-year ban from Concordia
for Chadi Serhal, a foreign student arbitrarily banned without a hearing
or due process; and a five-year ban for non-student Jaggi Singh, again
without any hearing or due process. Additionally, police charges have been
laid against several people and include charges of conspiracy to incite a
riot.

The Administrations poor decision to host a war criminal - under pressure
from the Asper Foundation who sponsored the event - the undemocratic
structure of the event and the continuing Administrative bias against
Palestinian solidarity organizing, have thus escaped scrutiny while
students and supporters who valiantly stood up for the rights of
Palestinians under occupation and in exile are being criminalized. All
those charged and sanctioned are filing for appeal.

The wisdom of deploying 150 riot cops on a university campus, which is
illegal in many countries, remains unquestioned by the Administration who
view their only failure that day as one of inadequate security. All the
security in the world will not, however, prevent people from breaking the
silence in the face of ongoing injustices both in Palestine and here at
home. It is not only at Concordia University that Palestinian solidarity
organizing is coming under attack. At York University, students protested
against the invitation of Daniel Pipes, founder of Campus Watch, a
McCarthyesque-era inspired blacklist for academics who are, in Pipes eyes,
too sympathetic to the Palestinian struggle for dignity, too critical of
U.S. unilateralism, or simply dare to cast American foreign policy in a
less than favorable light.

Students successfully lobbied through official channels to have the speech
cancelled, but were later surprised to find out from the media that the
university caved in to outside pressure, specifically from the Canadian
Jewish Congress (CJC). The event went ahead with only 40 seats of the 225
seats open to the general public while the remainder were allocated to
Jewish Student Federation (JSF) attendees only. All questions to Pipes
were screened through a central feed. Security for the event comprised of
200 riot police, some 20 of them on horseback. Demonstrators against Pipes
presence decided to occupy President Marsdens office instead of risking
confrontation with the police, demanding an apology and explanation as to
why Pipes was allowed to speak on campus. York University has now decided
to require event sponsors to pay for 50% of the costs of security deployed
at all future events with the University deciding how much security will
be required. This will prevent many grassroots groups from organizing at
all since the costs will be too prohibitive. There are also calls from
York faculty to charge the students involved in the occupation of Marsdens
office: If they can do it Concordia, why not here?

So, concerned individuals and groups have come together to form Karameh to
fight the ongoing attempt to criminalize Palestinian solidarity
organization at Concordia and other universities and communities,
throughout Montreal and around the world. Karameh is a working group of
Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR Montreal) and includes
individuals and members of other community groups committed to issues of
social justice. The word Karameh means Dignity in Arabic and is also the
name of a town from which the Palestinian resistance launched its first
effective attack in the effort to reclaim their land and rights.

====> BELOW ARE THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES TO WHICH KARAMEH IS COMMITTED:

1) We reject the attempts of governing institutions to criminalize dissent
and grassroots political organizing that challenges the status quo, and
are particularly incensed by the cynical and inappropriate use of
September 11th to justify this ongoing criminalization.

2) We reject attacks waged by Western governments on immigrant and refugee
rights. We stand in solidarity with those communities who are subject to
the policy of racial profiling, arbitrary arrest and detention. The
rounding up of thousands of Arabs and Muslims by the INS and other
government agencies amounts to a policy of internment that we view as
completely unacceptable.

3) We reassert our fundamental human rights to freedom of assembly,
expression and movement and remain committed to popular education, civil
disobediance and direct action as completely legitimate and necessary
means to challenging the injustices perpetrated by ruling authorities both
here, in Palestine and elsewhere.

4) We stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people whose decades-long
and valiant struggle for their indigenous rights serves as an inspiring
example to others advocating for social justice. Palestinian solidarity
organizing in Montreal is intimately connected to social justice
organizing in general, and is committed to values of solidarity, justice,
and dignity, and stands in opposition to racism, anti-Semitism (in the
dual sense of the word, as in against both Arabs and Jews), sexism and all
forms of oppression.

====> OUR DEMANDS OF THE CONCORDIA ADMINISTRATION ARE AS FOLLOWS:

1) A withdrawal of all charges and sanctions placed by the Administration
against students and community members for their participation in the
September 9th demonstration against Israeli war-criminal Benjamin
Netanyahu.

2) A full inquiry into systemic racism and discrimination at Concordia
University with a Particular focus on anti-Arab/anti-Muslim racism and
discrimination and its relationship to the wider global context.

3) A formal commitment on the part of the University Administration to the
rights of students and community members to access and use university
space for community organizing and events free from harassment and
intimidation in the form of a police presence on the university campus.

We strongly encourage you to phone and email the Concordia University
Administration and to bring to the attention of the University Rector Dr.
Lowy your support of the demands which Karameh has issued to Concordia.

Please cc: karameh at sphr.org. Be polite, but very firm about the situation:

Rector Dr. Lowy
Email: lowyfh at vax2.concordia.ca
Telephone: (514) 848-4849

Provost Jack Lightstone
Email: pvrr at alcor.concordia.ca

Secretary of the Board of Governors Danielle Tessie
Email: Danielle at alcor.concordia.ca

Interim Rights & Responsibilities Advisor
Email: Peter.Cote at concordia.ca

The Link (Concordias student newspaper)
Email: letters at thelink.concordia.ca

====> BUILDING SUPPORT & SOLIDARITY <====

-> If your group or organization would like to endorse the demands issued
by Karameh to Concordia University, please send an email with the name of
your group or organization to -karameh at sphr.org or call 514.905.5101.

-> We need people to participate in and join Karameh. If you are
interested in getting involved and supporting our efforts to support
Palestinian solidarity organizing contact us and find out about upcoming
meeting, events and actions.

-> We need your help to build awareness in your community about our
campaign. If you would like organizers from Karameh to come to your
community, your school, or your place of work, please contact us to let us
know.

-> Karameh has created a legal defense fund for the many Concordia
students and Montreal community members who are facing criminal charges
for the September 9th actions against Mr. Netanyahu. If you can make a
donation please send them to:

Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights / Legal Defense Fund
1118 St-Catherine Street West Suite 405
Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3B 1H5

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 Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights / Karameh
     1118 St-Catherine Street - West Suit 405
	 Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3B 1H5
	 karameh at sphr.org - 514.905.5101
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