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LC4PJ Resolution Supporting UC Students and Their Community Supporters

by chuckE (fwscucb [at] yahoo.com)
Labor Committee for Peace and Justice Resolution Defending Students for Justice in Palestine, and their supporters' free speech rights
At its Sunday, May 5th meeting, the Labor Committee for Peace & Justice adopted the following resolution . I was also directed to incorporate the substance of the resolution into a letter that can be circulated to coworkers for signatures so that they can register their personal protest to the actions taken or contemplated by UC and local and state governmental authorities against 41 students, 38 community supporters, and one campus student organization. That letter follows the resolution.

Announcement of an action in Berkeley on Monday, May 6th related to this follows the letter.

Michael Eisenscher
Co-Coordinator
LC4PJ
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


DEFEND FREE SPEECH AND THE RIGHT TO PROTEST AT UC-BERKELEY


WHEREAS 1100 students, faculty, and community members exercised their First Amendment right of free speech and academic freedom to protest at UC-Berkeley on April 9th by conducting a rally and symbolic occupation of Wheeler Hall to protest Israeli occupation and military action in Palestine, and to demand that UC divest its estimated $6 Billion in investments in Israel, and

WHEREAS the UC administration has suspended Students for Justice in Palestine as a campus organization and has threatened year-long suspensions and other disciplinary action for 41 students who engaged in the peaceful sit-in, and

WHEREAS 79 students and their community supporters have been charged with crimes by the state government for actions on campus, namely: 1) obstructing or intimidating employees of public agencies; 2) disturbing the peace by loud noises; and 3) resisting arrest, including one student who was charged with an alleged assault on a police officer, and

WHEREAS the exercise of free speech and the right to protest is fundamental to the existence of democracy and essential as a counter-balance to powerful corporate military-industrial interests and the privileged, elite, wealthy and well-connected individuals who shape U.S. foreign and domestic policy, and

WHEREAS one does not have to agree with the objectives of a demonstration to understand the necessity for defending the right to demonstrate as essential to the preservation of democracy and citizen influence over government policy, and whereas these Constitutionally protected activities are also officially recognized by the City of Berkeley in its Human Rights Ordinance, and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Labor Committee for Peace and Justice strongly condemns the anti-democratic actions taken by the UC administration against any organization or individual engaged in peaceful exercise of their First Amendment rights and academic freedom and demands that the rights of the suspended organization be reinstated, and that punitive disciplinary action taken or contemplated against participating students be withdrawn, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Labor Committee for Peace and Justice calls upon the state and local governmental authorities and the UC administration to immediately drop all charges filed against these demonstrators arising out of their participation in the April 9th protest, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Labor Committee for Peace and Justice communicate its position to local unions, labor councils and other organizations with which it has relations and encourages them to express their objections regarding these anti-democratic actions to the administration of UC, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Committee encourage its members and all other social justice activists to support the students in their effort to defend themselves against these unjust actions and communicate its position to Students for Justice in Palestine and other concerned organizations.

Copy of this resolution, adopted on May 5, 2002, will be sent to --
Students for Justice in Palestine
Chancellor Robert Berdahl, UC-Berkeley
UC Board of Regents
Berkeley City Attorney
Alameda County District Attorney
Berkeley City Council
Berkeley Commission on Peace & Justice
Attorney General Bill Lockyer
American Association of University Professors UC-Berkeley Chapter
Bay Area Labor Councils
United Nations High Commission for Human Rights
************************************************************

DEFEND FREE SPEECH AND THE RIGHT TO PROTEST AT UC-BERKELEY


We, the undersigned union members, members of other social justice organizations, and community members are deeply disturbed that students, faculty, and community members who exercised their First Amendment right of free speech and academic freedom on April 9th by conducting a rally and symbolic occupation of Wheeler Hall at UC-Berkeley to protest Israeli occupation and military action in Palestine and to call upon UC to divest its estimated $6 Billion in investments in Israel have been targeted for punitive action and criminal charges.

Following the protest, the UC administration suspended Students for Justice in Palestine as a campus organization and has threatened year-long suspensions and other disciplinary action for 41 students who engaged in the peaceful sit-in. Seventy-nine students and their community supporters have been charged with crimes by the state government for actions on campus, namely: 1) obstructing or intimidating employees of public agencies; 2) disturbing the peace by loud noises; and 3) resisting arrest, including one student who was charged with an alleged assault on a police officer,

The exercise of free speech and the right to protest is fundamental to the existence of democracy and essential as a counter-balance to powerful corporate military-industrial interests and the privileged, elite, wealthy and well-connected individuals who shape U.S. foreign and domestic policy. One does not have to agree with the objectives of a demonstration to understand the necessity for defending the right to demonstrate as essential to the preservation of democracy and citizen influence over government policy. (These Constitutionally protected activities are also officially recognized by the City of Berkeley in its Human Rights Ordinance.)

We strongly condemn the anti-democratic actions taken by the UC administration against any organization or individual engaged in peaceful exercise of their First Amendment rights and academic freedom. We demand that the rights of the suspended organization be reinstated, and that punitive disciplinary action taken or contemplated against participating students be withdrawn. We call upon the state and local governmental authorities and the UC administration to immediately drop all charges filed against these demonstrators arising out of their participation in the April 9th protest.

We encourage all social justice activists to support the students in their effort to defend themselves against these unjust actions, and to communicate their views to local unions, labor councils and other social justice organizations and to the administration of UC and local and state authorities.

NAME (print) SIGNATURE ORGANIZATION Phone# and/or Email Address
(for identification only)






Return signed letter to: Labor Committee for Peace & Justice, P.O. Box 14156, Berkeley, CA 94712-5156.
For more information, write to LC4PJ via email at <labor-for-peace-and-justice [at] igc.org> or call (510) 649-8626.
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