>From the Toronto Star.. cheers Ken Hanly OTTAWA- Montreal's Concordia University was granted a court injunction yesterday that allowed it to bar NDP MPs Svend Robinson and Libby Davies from using its campus to discuss the Mideast conflict.
It was a move condemned by Canada's university teachers but it did not stop the students' union from sponsoring a speech by Robert Fisk, a veteran Mideast journalist. The speech is to take place on campus tomorrow. "It's a disgraceful day. There's no precedent for this in the last 50 years in Canada," said James Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, which represents some 40,000 faculty members across the country. Turk said his organization will seek legal action against Concordia. "The fact that a university would attempt to shut down discussion of a major issue is inconceivable. It's even more upsetting that a court would go along with this," he said. "We don't need to pre-empt free and open discussion. What then differentiates us from totalitarian societies?" The injunction was sought because yesterday's event would have ignored a moratorium on all debate regarding Israel and Palestine. Concordia imposed the moratorium after a stormy demonstration Sept. 9 resulted in several arrests and forced former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel a speech. Yesterday's injunction forced the New Democratic Party MPs to speak on the sidewalk just off campus, where about 300 people listened to them denounce the university's actions against an event originally billed as "Peace and Justice in the Middle East." "We're here to say we won't be silenced," Robinson, the NDP foreign affairs critic, told the cheering crowd. In an interview, Robinson called the injunction "an outrageous assault on freedom of speech." He suggested the university was afraid of losing money in donations from pro-Israel corporations. Human-rights activist Judy Rebick, a Jew, said Jewish groups who accuse Robinson and all other Palestinian supporters of anti-Semitism are not speaking for all Jews. She said there are "hundreds of thousands of Jews in Israel, and around the world, who believe the policies of (Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon are not just causing terrible suffering to the Palestinian people but are a catastrophe for the Jewish people of Israel." University spokesperson Dennis Murphy said yesterday the 10-day injunction against the MPs also prohibits any public meetings discussing the Mideast issue. But the students' union is set to sponsor a speech tomorrow by Fisk, a Middle East correspondent for London's The Independent newspaper. In a column last month, Fisk wrote: "In much of the Western world, a vicious campaign of slander is being waged against any journalist or activist who dares to criticize Israeli policies or those that shape them. The all-purpose slander of `anti-Semitism' is now used with ever-increasing promiscuity against anyone ... in an attempt to shut them up." The Beirut-based journalist is scheduled to speak on Afghanistan and Iraq. "He's a left-wing journalist on the Middle East. He supports Palestinian self-determination," said students' union vice-president Kealia Curtis yesterday. "I'm sure he'll bring the Palestinian question into it." Murphy warned yesterday: "If Mr. Fisk discusses this in contravention of the injunction it will be followed up with contempt of court provisions." After consulting the university's lawyer, he said the students' union, not Fisk, will face the consequences. Fisk could not be reached for comment yesterday. Murphy said the injunction is to ensure freedom of speech by stopping intimidation. "It has a lot to do with the right of people to feel secure," he said.
