Fw: URGENT- VERY SERIOUS SITUATION AT CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY! B'nai Brith

----- Original Message -----
From: Ken <parson30@msu.edu>
To: <rpa-list@southwestern.edu>
Sent: Friday, November 02, 2001 4:37 PM
Subject: RPA: URGENT- VERY SERIOUS SITUATION AT CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY! B'nai
Brith


> *PLEASE FORWARD AND PLEASE CALL*
>
> CONCORDIA STUDENT UNION ACCUSED OF LINKS WITH "TERRORISTS" AND BIN
> LADEN.
>
> WE NEED YOUR HELP.  Please read this entire message and call the
> Concordia
> Rector at the number listed below.  ACT NOW to fight racist scapegoating
> and 'red-baiting' against Muslims, Arabs and leftists within the student
> union at Concordia. (details below)
>
> [note: a web page with more context and the pages in question of the CSU
> handbook will be up at www.csu.tao.ca/handbook by 2pm October 2nd.
> B'nai
> Brith's press release included below...]
>
>
> *****
>
> The Concordia administration and B'nai Brith are cracking down on left
> wing pro-Palestinian campus activism at Concordia, and this time the
> situation is more serious than ever- with allegations that the CSU is
> linked to "terrorism" and Osama Bin Laden, the notorious terrorist that
> the United States government accuses of masterminding the attacks of
> Sept
> 11th..
>
> Of late, the university administration- from the Board of Governors on
> down- has been actively working to smash the pro-Palestinian student
> left
> on campus by interfering in student politics and by openly backing
> reactionary elements of the student body (in the engineering and
> commerce
> departments) and supporting a petition to recall the left wing CSU
> executives from office.
>
> B'nai Brith has now upped the ante by issuing a press release today
> charging that "individuals who may have links to extremist groups have
> infiltrated Concordia and its student union, and are purposefully
> stirring
> up hostility and civil disorder."  To top it off, in a press conference
> today, a B'nai Brith representative posed a rhetorical question linking
> the CSU to Bin Laden by asking 'could the Concordia Student Union be a
> "training grounds" for supporters of Osama Bin Laden'?
>
> This may seem funny, or ridiculous and absurd- but it is deadly serious,
> and in the context of the racist and xenophobic backlash being whipped
> up
> in US war against "terrorism" it may well have severe consequences for
> student activists at Concordia.  Given a situation in North America
> where
> people have recently been murdered and hundreds more have been
> discriminated against, assaulted, and threatened for the "crime" of
> looking like "terrorists" (ie. being or "looking like" Muslims or
> Arabs),
> B'nai Brith's irresponsible rhetoric places all Concordia activists and
> all Muslims and Arabs (activist or not) at an increased risk from such a
> violent backlash.
>
> We need your help to let the university administration know that you do
> not support and will not tolerate B'nai Brith's McCarthyist witch-hunt
> against political dissent on campus.
>
> The economical and political interests of multinational corporations,
> the
> university administration and Zionist outfits such as the B'nai Brith
> are
> threatened by the existence of a strong and active anti-imperialist,
> pro-Palestinian student union at Concordia, and because students keep
> electing far left representatives, groups like the B'nai Brith find
> themselves limited to the use of these kinds of scaremongering tactics
> to
> try and turn public and student opinion against the CSU.
>
> Please read B'nai Brith's press release below, and then call the
> university Rector Frederick Lowy at 514-848-4849 (or if he's not there
> or
> won't take your call, call Vice Rector Michael Digrappa on his cell
> phone
> at 514-928-4815) and tell him that you support academic freedom at
> Concordia, and that you condemn B'nai Brith's irresponsible and
> dangerous
> actions. You can also email the Rector at Frederick.Lowy@concordia.ca
> (but
> please also cc the Concordia Student Union at csu@csu.tao.ca.)
>
>
>
> (The press release below also claims that an article in the CSU handbook
> "skirts dangerously close to infringing provincial hate speech codes
> with
> a potentially libelous diatribe against B'nai Brith, reference to
> Concordia's Rector Fred Lowy as the "Jewish Rector", and a claim that
> "Zionists monopolize the North American media".  Once again this is
> another ridiculous allegation, which will become quite clear if you read
> the article in question which we have also included at the end of this
> email for your information.
>
> In addition the graphics and other parts of the handbook referred to in
> the B'nai Brith press release will be posted to the CSU website at
> www.csu.tao.ca by 2pm on October 2nd for your viewing.)
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
>
> Tom Keefer
> (recently expelled student of Concordia University and CSU
> representative.
> For more information about the expulsion please go to
> www.csu.tao.ca/sdc)
>
>
>
> CONCORDIA STUDENT UNION ADVOCATES VIOLENCE AND ANARCHY
> Bnai Brith Canada denounces student agenda as propaganda that threatens
> democracies
> October 1, 2001
> For Immediate Release
>
> Montreal, October 1, 2001 Bnai Brith Canada officials today called for
> an
> investigation of attempts by the Concordia Student Union (CSU) to
> inculcate a culture of violence, incitement to hatred and civil
> disobedience on campus. As investigations continue into reports of
> possible links between foreign terrorist groups operating in the
> province
> and the tragic events of September 11th, calls to burn the Canadian flag
> on July 1st ("Anti-Canada day")  as well as instructions on how to defy
> the police and a rationale for stealing as a form of "empowerment"  have
> been distributed by the CSU to all students. In what is being termed a
> chilling and bizarre coincidence, the agenda, printed before September
> 11th, also contains drawings of planes crashing into a crowded boardroom
> full of businessmen.
>
> Apart from virulently anti-Israel propaganda pieces, with Israels
> Independence Day solely referred to in the calendar as Al-Nabka (the
> 1948
> Palestinian Catastrophe), the agenda ominously entitled "Uprising"
> advocates violence, revolution and anarchy. It also skirts dangerously
> close to infringing provincial hate speech codes with a potentially
> libelous diatribe against Bnai Brith, reference to Concordias Rector
> Fred
> Lowy as the "Jewish Rector", and a claim that Zionists monopolize the
> North American media.
>
> Rochelle Wilner, National President of Bnai Brith Canada, voiced
> concerns
> that such incitement has no place on our campuses, on our streets or
> anywhere in our society. We continue to encourage all sections of
> society,
> and organizations of all religions, to work together to ensure that the
> harmony of civil society not be undermined in such a dangerous fashion.
> We
> call on all parties to publicly condemn CSUs actions.
>
> Frank Dimant, Executive Vice President, warned that this agenda
> threatens
> to be a blueprint for campuses not just in Canada, but throughout North
> America. At a time when all democracies face the threat of terrorism,
> this
> attempt to indoctrinate our young people in the ways of violence and
> confrontation is a dangerous move to destabilize society. Co-operation
> with law enforcement officials and security officers should be of
> paramount priority and any attempt to advocate otherwise warrants full
> investigation.
>
> Patrick Essiminy, Quebec Regional Chair of the Institute for
> International
> Affairs, expressed concerns not only that that legislative protections
> against hate speech and incitement to violence are being contravened by
> the CSU agenda, but that individuals who may have links to extremist
> groups have infiltrated Concordia and its student union, and are
> purposefully stirring up hostility and civil disorder.
>
> -30-
>
> For further comment call:
> Rochelle Wilner(416) 254-1010
> Frank Dimant (416) 802-1057
> Robert Libman (514) 865-1940
> Steve Slimovitch (514) 871-8971
>
> Bnai Brith has been active in Canada since 1875 as the communitys senior
> human rights organization. In its 125 years of service, it has worked to
> respond with practical aid to many disaster situations around the world.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
>
> Entitled "Arabophobia" here is the article that B'nai Brith accused of
> "skirts dangerously close to infringing provincial hate speech codes".
> Read it yourself and see...
>
> Arabophobia
>
> By Laith Marouf
>
>
> Last year, the progressive elements at Concordia joined forces for the
> CSU
> elections. I was voted in as VP-Internal on the ACCESS slate. When
> campaigning began, the neo-liberalish slates running against us mainly
> criticized ACCESS for alleged support from the group Solidarity for
> Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR). Competitors claimed that "theres a
> planned Arab take-over" and warned students not to "let the Arabs rule
> you." This was shocking since I was the only Arabic person on a slate of
> six members, and the percentage of students of Arabic origin running for
> council was representative of their population at Concordia.
>
> It didn't stop there. After winning the election with almost 50% of the
> vote (more than the first three runners-up combined), the Israeli lobby
> in
> Montreal started its hate mongering full-force. On April 5, The Jewish
> Tribune (Bnai Briths official newspaper) published an article headlined
> "Bnai Brith, Hillel concerned as Arab lobby wins Concordia student
> vote."
> In this article, Raphael Lallouz, director of advocacy for Bnai
> Brith-Quebec, claims that "...now the Arab student leadership has
> infiltrated the CSU." It didnt matter to Zionists like Lallouz that it
> was
> a democratic election or that the language that he used was akin to Nazi
> propaganda. I still wonder what would have happened had someone
> published
> an article saying that "the Jewish leadership has infiltrated Concordias
> administration," on the grounds that Rector Lowy and Provost Lightstone
> happen to be of Jewish faith!
>
> The hypocrisy didn't end there. The article attributed all of the
> problems
> faced by the pro-Israeli-apartheid lobby at Concordia to the large
> number
> of students of Arabic background at the university. Ironically, just a
> short time prior to this, Bnai Brith mounted a campaign against Yves
> Michaud, who was running as PQ candidate for the Mercier riding, for his
> comments on the Cte St-Luc voting results of the 1995 referendum. The
> Cte
> St-Luc riding has a large percentage of Jewish-Canadians and Michaud was
> angered that "no one" in that riding had voted for Quebec sovereignty.
> He
> was accused of blaming the referendum failure on the Jewish vote. Sound
> familiar?
>
> The article then proceeds to quote Prof. Scheinberg, chair of Concordias
> History Department and leading "spokesman" for Bnai Brith Canada:
> "Scheinberg points out that the upper echelon of Concordias
> administration
> remains in a predicament concerning this debate. Both Rector Lowy and
> Provost Jack Lightstone are Jewish. It is very difficult for a
> Jewish-led
> administration to clamp down on freedom of speech." This sounds like the
> writer and Scheinberg are saying that the Rector and Provost should, or
> want to, clamp down on freedom of speech--and this within a university!
> Then again, the University administration has probably tried to do every
> thing it can to prevent SPHR, or anyone else, from speaking on the
> Palestinian-Israeli conflict. This is highly likely considering that
> Lightstone is an official representative of the Canadian Jewish
> Congress,
> which formed a special crisis committee, along with B'nai Brith Canada,
> the Canada-Israel Committee and Federation CJA, to help Hillel "counter"
> SPHR.
>
> Another article published soon after by Canadian Jewish News (April
> 12th),
> is headlined "Anti-Israel resolution adopted by Concordia students." How
> can the referendum question be called anti-Israel when all it asked for
> was human rights for Palestinians? You could call the resolution
> anti-Israeli-state-terrorism-and-apartheid but not anti-Israel, which
> implies that the resolution called for an end to the state of Israel.
>
> Then it proceeds with "Lowy's hands are tied. Concordia has a large
> number
> of Jewish backers, but he has to uphold free speech, and Concordia sees
> itself as a liberal university." This is as if to say that the "Jewish
> Rector" knows how much money the university owes to Zionists, but there
> is
> a limit to what this money can buy before they break the law.
>
> That being said, it is important to note that Arabophobia is not limited
> to Concordia. The majority of Canadian media is owned by two Zionists,
> Conrad Black CEO of the Southam-Hollinger group, and Israel Asper, CEO
> of
> CanWest Global. In 1993 Black wrote that he regards the Palestinians
> (not
> their government) as "vile and primitive". His wife went even further
> and
> compared Palestinians to animals. In a speech this June, Asper said that
> "Israel is a lonely outpost of Western civilization and its values in a
> sea of terrorism, corruption, dictatorship and human enslavement". Add
> to
> that the fact they both co-own the Jerusalem Post; we can understand
> then
> why there are more divergent views in the Israeli media than in Canada.
>
> In the end a lie cant sustain itself forever, even if Zionists
> monopolize
> North American media. Now they scramble to stop groups like SPHR from
> educating the Canadian public, and accuse anybody that dares to
> criticize
> Israeli-Fascism of anti-Semitism.
>
>
>
>
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