-Caveat Lector- ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2001 03:04:27 EDT From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [AL-AWDA] B'nai Brith Advocates Racism
The "human rights organization" B'nai Brith Advocates racism against Moslems, Arabs and Palestinians. Hanna *PLEASE FORWARD* 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" (i.e.. 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 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (but please also cc the Concordia Student Union at [EMAIL PROTECTED]) (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 didn't 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 Concordia's 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. 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