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Indybay Feature

Statement in Support of the General Union of Palestine Students, San Francisco State

by anon
The following statement is in response to the various allegations that have been made against the organizers and participants that were involved in the counterdemonstration to protest Israel on May 7th at San Francisco State University
The purpose of this statement is to express solidarity with the General Union of Palesetine Students and to counter the distortions in the letter President Corrigan has written concerning GUPS . All forms of protest and dissent against the policies of the United States and Israel which condemn the Palestinian people to lives of oppression and desperation should continue without reprisal from the university administration. On a campus which consistently prides itself on its diversity and history of progressive activism, the current witchhunt against the General Union of Palestine Students is nothing less than a politically motivated attack aimed at wiping out all forms of dissent at San Francisco State University.

As individuals and members of student organizations, first and foremost, we oppose all forms of racism, prejudice, and bigotry, including those directed against Jews, Arabs, and other members of oppressed groups. Anti-semitism in any and all forms is not only morally reprehensible, but creates huge barrier to building solidarity for the Palestinian cause and will only weaken and eventually destroy any movement that attempts to build resistance to the brutality of the Israeli government.
Standing up in opposition to the brutal, racist policies of the Israeli government is anti-Zionist, not anti-Semitic. Nonetheless, it is important to say that President Corrigan's primary concern is not to oppose anti-Semitism on this campus, but to clamp down on political dissent and civil liberties in all forms. The emerging Palestinian solidarity movement on this campus is his first target in a campaign that he would like to extend to all anti-war, progressive, and radical organizing that takes place AT SFSU. In order to make this school a friendly place for the private sector to set up shop, Corrigan wishes for it to remain as free from political protest as possible. He has taken a cue from the University of California at Berkeley administration in this current campaign against the General Union of Palestine Students and first and foremost wants to see this organization shut down for good.
This goes against the tradition of free speech, diversity, and opposition to injustice that has been part of San Francisco State University's activist history since the acheivement of the first Ethnic Studies program in the nation through a grassroots political campaign. In the face of the current attacks, we will continue this tradition proudly and refuse to be intimidated.

We, as San Francisco State University individuals, organizations, faculty, staff members, and community members support the following demands:
- No disciplinary measures should be taken against the General Union of Palestine Students, both as an organization and individuals within it by the administration. Corrigan's targeting GUPS for misconduct is a politically motivated attack that must be oppossed in all forms. Any complaints arising from the protest which took place on May 7th should be directed to Associated Students, the elected voice of the student body.
-Free speech and protest are a basic right, not a privilege, that all students should be able to express. It's a cruel irony that at a campus where plazas and conference rooms are named after political leaders such as
Rosa Parks and Malcolm X, students following in their tradition of speaking out against injustice such as the General Union of Palestine Students have been made the targets of a witchhunt. This is unjust and free speech should be encouraged, not repressed.
-We support the formation of a campaign calling for divestment of San Francisco State University from the state of Israel and will not be intimidated from that goal by the current attacks.
-We oppose all forms of racism and racist scapegoating, whether it's against Jews, Arabs, or any other oppressed groups.

If you know professors, organizations, prominent community members, people from trade unions, or individuals that would like to sign on, please send all endorsements to leticiaarellano [at] hotmail.com.
Add Your Comments

Comments (Hide Comments)
by Jew
jewrites1.gif
The GUPS say they are not racist, and then put up crap like this poster. Note the use of the term "Jewish Rites." Thi is just a nother crude example of the ancient "Blood Libel" used against Jews fo rhundreds of years.

Well guess what dear members of GUPS? The light is being shone on you, exposed for the Jew Hater syou are it is time to go scurrying back to where you came from. Jew Power? You're Goddamned right.
by curious
That flyer has been posted a few times to this site but I'm curious to know exactly who made it and where it was posted. People showing it are claiming its representative of proPalestinian students at SF State. Since Im guessing many proPalestinian students are Jewish (at least at Berkeley there are many Jewish proPalestinian students), I doubt it was an official poster.

If this whole thing is just a scam and Zionists are posting this to discredit Palestinians, thats would be pretty sad. I doubt too many Jewish Zionists would make a flyer like this so Im guessing it was made by some rightwing Christian student who wanted to discredit Palestinians and defame Jews.
by Ari
Nice try cupcake. Next time, try something more orginial when you attempt 'hasbara.' ( easy flyer to manufacture. Slandering Palestinian students simply won't cut it this time. ( tell that to your rightwing Christian fundamentalist allies, you racist putz.)

Another Jew against the Occupation.
by Jew
The flyer was put up by the GUPS at SF State. It was paid for with student govt. funds, because it included a blurb at the bottom. I'm not sure why the pro-Palestinian folks here choose to believe a flyer like this is some sort of forgery when dozens of these were put up on the SF State campus.
by sfsu student in da house
i never saw this flyer anywhere on campus, and i'm there at least a few days a week for the entire day, and this is the first time i see it. It also made the frontpage of the Jerusalem Post, but they conveniently chose to cut the bottom part out.

but yea, there's been hella anti-semitism going around, and the above letter does nothing to apologize for it, or even acknowledge of the mistake.

but it's from an ISO person, so don't expect any apologies.

still waiting on GUPS to say something about all this. too bad they're so ISO and IAC infiltrated :(

-a concerned sfsu student
by Berkeley
Ok, if that flyer is a fake, there is a pretty creepy well-organized disinformation campaign going on that we really need to deal with. If a few students from SF State who know that those flyers were fake could get a detailed article out to the mainstream press (and Indymedia), hopefully the PR effects from this can be neutralized. If we can show who organized this campaign and publicize THAT, perhaps it will be harder for this to happen in the future.

Also, aside from calling the anti-Semitic flyer fake, the last post mentioned problems with anti-Semitism on the SF State campus. I'm in Berkeley and I'm Jewish and haven’t felt any anti-Semitism from the SJP. In fact many demonstrations around here are even organized by A Jewish Voice For Peace and other Jewish groups.

Can you be specific about what problems exist at SF State and how those problems could be best dealt with without hurting the Palestinian cause?
by MARY
4-boy.jpg
FACE IT SHARON IS A BUTCHER TE FLIER POINT THIS FACT OUT...
ITS AREAL PICTURE OF A PALESTINIAN CHILD SLUGHTERED BY THE ZIONAZIS!!!!!
by MARY
nurse.jpg
FACE IT SHARON IS A BUTCHER TE FLIER POINT THIS FACT OUT...
ITS AREAL PICTURE OF A PALESTINIAN CHILD SLUGHTERED BY THE ZIONAZIS!!!!!
by Evan R
I'm from out of town...been seeing a lot of rumors about this on the web. Even more than the flyer, there's a claim a "anti-Jewish pogrom" happened at SFSU. That's based, apparently, on some shouting matches that happened after a pro-Israel demonstration.

Came here looking for more info, haven't found a lot.
Here's what the university administration says happened - not the prez' letter, that doesn't say much.

http://www.sfsu.edu/~news/response/summary.htm

Most people on the web seem to be showing little capacity for critical thought or skepticism, and in the absence of any other information, are believing the most exagerrated claims of bigotry by pro-Palestinian students....

From the administration's accounts, the posters were real - the image shown appeared in one corner. The MSU and GUPS apologized for them but I haven't found the text of their letter yet....
by JILL
4-boy.jpgt34125.jpg
SHARON IS A WAR CRIMINAL!!!
CHILD KILLER!!!
FUCK OFF ZIONNAZIS!!!
by FRRRRRA
SHARON IS A WAR CRIMINAL!!!
CHILD KILLER!!!
FUCK OFF ZIONNAZIS!!!
by JILL
SHARON IS A WAR CRIMINAL!!!
CHILD KILLER!!!
FUCK OFF ZIONNAZIS!!!
by berkeley
That link answers a few questions but even if the event was endorsed by several groups, the flyer for the event could have ben made by one individual so unless the group signed off on it (which doesnt always happen) it really shouldnt be taken as a statement about the whole group. It also sounds like the two groups involved apologized, blacked out that section of the flyer and now will be more careful about statements like that in the future.

"On April 4, 2002, a poster was circulated to increase attendance at a rally, "Genocide of the 21 Century," hosted by the Muslim Student Association (MSA) on April 8 at San Francisco State University. In the upper right-hand corner of the poster, a picture of a baby with the caption, "Palestinian Children Meat --Slaughtered According to Jewish Rites Under American License," was depicted. Both the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) and MSA hosted the event. Associated Students (AS) was listed as a sponsor. All student organizations receive funding from student fees via Associated Students.
...
MSA & GUPS students attempted to black out the image on the flier on April 5, 2002.
Fliers were taken down after the rally on April 9, 2002 by the sponsoring organizations. The flier has not been reprinted or redistributed since then.
"

Hopefully the debate can be quickly moved back to US aid for Israel since alot of this is taking time and energy away from the real struggle. If that flyer happened to be a plant, people should watch out for that in the future so the PR effects wont be as bad. If it was real, there should be some dialog among the groups that put that flyer out on why that type of message is not just morally wrong but also hurts the Palestinian cause by taking media coverage away from the real struggle.
by FRRRRRA
SHARON IS A WAR CRIMINAL!!!
CHILD KILLER!!!
FUCK OFF ZIONNAZIS!!!
by sfsu student
berkeley,

Read Zoloth's letter (biased, but there is truth in it):
http://www.indybay.org/news/2002/05/127642_comment.php#127673

Read Corrigan's letters (included in the sfsu link you've visited) as well.

Anti-semitic problems include the propaganda being distributed, such as the above poster, which GUPS hasn't said a thing about, and the aweful counter-demonstration tactics (described by Corrigan, Zoloft, and numerous others).

Don't tell me berkeley hasn't had problems. I'm pro-Palestine, but I've heard most of these May 7 pro-Israel rally and counterdemo fools are the usual suspects of the Berkeley rallies, which from what I've heard haven't been always peaceful or "civilized" on their own turf.

The problems at SF St. can be best dealt with if GUPS comes out and apoligizes for the above poster, or at the very least do a PR on their mistakes (or at least clarify fact from myth) during the counterdemo. They haven't denied nor admitted anything. Apart from the flyers, posters, propaganda, etc, etc their rallies and some of their speakers have been doing an aweful job separataing Racism/Zionism from anti-semetic/anti-Jewish sentiment, and there are plenty arrogant pro-Israel Jews on campus to agree. And the lack of faculty support shows how bad, and how ISO and IAC infiltrated, their analysis has been. Same goes for Berkeley, if not worse. SJP occupied Wheeler Hall and demanded that the whole world be fixed, how convenient, no wonder there hasn't been much sympathy, and they're struggling just to stay around. Isn't that ISO moron of Snehal involved in all that? whatever.




by Jewish-American
I am a Jewish-American liberal thinker. I am a Zionist. That is, I believe strongly in the need for a Jewish homeland in the historical homeland of the Jewish peoples. (To understand this need, please review European history in the first part of the 20th Century). I am also a supporter of the peace movement and I am anti-settlement. I support a demilitarized Palestinian State living next to Israel.

I strongly resent the constant accusations that Zionism is the equivalent of Nazism. If you knew anything about Zionism you'd know that there is a wide range of beliefs about it, and just as you can't say that America is bad - since there are many different positions within America, you cannot say that Zionism is bad. Do some critical thinking. You oppose the right wing extremists in the Likud party. Be more precise and maybe your voices will be heard. When you make blanket statements about Zionists or Jews you DO SOUND LIKE AN ANTI-SEMITE. Deal with it.
by Jesus Christ (Original Semite Gangsta)
All You Ever Wanted to Know About Zionism, But Your School and Synagogue Didn't Like to Teach!!

=======================
ZIONISM, FACT FROM MYTH
=======================

A. Zionism and Colonialism
Zionism was born through the writings of Theodore Herzl, in Germany in the late 1880’s. As outlined by Herzl, Zionism was a secular political project that defined “the Jews” as a people, a nation and a race, rather than a religious group. In the context of the fervent European anti-Jewish discrimination of the time, Herzl argued for the need to create an independent Jewish state for “the Jewish people” who, he argued, could never possibly assimilate in the countries they inhabited (Beit-Hallahmi 1993; Garaudy 1983; Segev 1986). Although multiple locations were suggested, the Zionist movement
proposed Palestine as the site for a Jewish state, in a strategic move that would allow them to use the religious history of Palestine to justify their purely political goal of colonization (Garaudy 1983). The racist nature of the Zionist movement originates in its idea of an exclusive Jewish state for Jewish people only, exclusive of the indigenous inhabitants of Palestine. Moreover, at every point of its genesis, the Zionist movement was informed and reinforced by nineteenth century European colonialism and its white supremacist ideology.

In the context of rampant British colonization throughout the “third world” at the time, Britain recognized the potential of the Zionist project in Palestine to further its own economic and political goals. Britain assisted the Zionists in exporting 610,000 Jews from various parts of the world to Palestine to make way for the eventual establishment
of Israel on indigenous Palestinian land. In 1917, the Balfour Declaration of Britain legitimized the establishment of “a national homeland for Jews in Palestine” (Laquer and Rubin 1984). The genocide of World War II created a new impetus for immigration; in 1947, further mass immigration projects ensued. After they were refused entry to countries such as Britain and the United States, Jews from all over the world were sent to settle a land where they had no prior territorial affiliation--Palestine. When the Zionists
ultimately occupied Palestine by force, in 1948, they took over nearly three fourths of Palestine and uprooted over 750,000 native Palestinians from their homes. In 1967, Israel took over the remainder of Palestine, uprooting even more native Palestinians.

While Palestine fits the standards of colonization, it is also a special case because its colonizer, Israel, is a Jewish-only nation-state imposed on Arab Palestinian land.2 Israel was not constructed to colonize the natives per se, but to remove them entirely from their land and to construct Israeli Jews as the authentic people of the land.

Since its inception over a century ago, Zionist ideology and practice has sought to ethnically cleanse and “purify” Palestine and the surrounding Arab states of its indigenous inhabitants. Several historical state documents illustrate the centrality of ethnic cleansing to the Zionist project. In Herzl’s diaries, for example, he writes, “We shall try to spirit the penniless population across the border by procuring employment for it in the transit countries, while denying it any employment in our own country… expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly” (Swirski 1993: 285). Though the contemporary Zionist consensus argues that Israel is not a colonial state, Herzl, in fact, argued to the contrary: “To go further than any colonialist has gone in Africa…where involuntary expropriation of land will temporarily alienate civilized opinion. By the time the reshaping of world opinion in our favor has been completed, we shall be firmly established in our country, no longer fearing the influx of foreigners, and receiving our visitors with aristocratic benevolence (Hertzberg 1997).”

The Zionist project was a by-product of nineteenth century European colonization, and Britain, specifically, furthered its own early twentieth century political goals in the Middle East through colonial Zionism and the establishment of Israel. By the second half of the twentieth century, however, primary financial and military support for the Zionist project was transferred from the hands of Britain to the hands of the U.S. government. Since the 1967 completion of the Zionist takeover of Palestine, no country has received more U.S. foreign aid than Israel.

There is more to the Zionist project than consolidating Israel as a Jewish-only state; it was not the cause of fighting anti-Jewish oppression that inspired the forces of Western imperialism to ally with the Zionist project of Israel (Segev 1993). The U.S., like Britain, has supported Israel as a means to maintain Israel’s position as a Western ally within the Arab region (O’Brien 1986: 154). By exploiting the economic and
political resources of the Arab world, Israel has become a conduit of globalization, militarization and imperialism.3

Britain and the U.S. have provided Israel with the military machinery, strategy and funding necessary to illegally move over four million Jews to Palestine, uprooting Palestinians from their native homeland (Swirski 1993). Since the inception of the Zionist state, thousands of Palestinians have been killed and five million Palestinians have been displaced from their homes (Abu-Sitta 1998; Morris 1987); towards the end of furthering their own political goals of dominance in the region, Britain and the U.S. have collaborated in dispossessing Palestinians.4

Central to the Zionist vision is territorial expansion into neighboring states, such as Jordan, Egypt, Syria, and Iraq. This vision of expansion has already been illustrated by the thirty-year Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon. Though this occupation has formally ended, its long-term impact continues in ongoing military and economic aggression. U.S. foreign policy is most powerfully used against those countries that refuse to recognize Israel, such as Iraq, Syria, Iran and Sudan. Each of these countries suffer from the collective punishment of U.S.-imposed sanctions while, based on their anti-Zionist position, they are also marked as state sponsors of terrorism. It is the convergence of U.S. national interests with Israel’s position in the center of the Arab region that accounts for the success of the Zionist movement in the U.S.

B. Zionism in the U.S.
Though Israel consistently defies international law and hundreds of United Nations human rights resolutions in its occupation of Palestine, the U.S. government continues to funnel six billion tax dollars per year to the state of Israel. In nearly every sector of U.S. politics, this contradiction remains unchallenged. Contributing to this profound silence are the strategies of the Zionist movement. In the U.S., Zionism is highly influential in the shaping of public opinion (Findley 1985; O’Brien 1986). Many self-identified Zionists, including Jews and non Jews, belong to the organized body referred to as the World Zionist Organization. Other Zionist organizations in the United States include American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the American Jewish Congress, Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Jewish Community Relations Council, Hillel, and the Jewish Student Committee. Whether it is in labor, education, media or politics, the Zionist movement’s strategy is to maintain a unified pro-Israel position, silencing criticism of Israeli policy and demonizing its critics. Since it would be ludicrous to market Israel’s history of displacing indigenous people from their land, the most prevalent myth that Zionists propagate is that criticisms of Israel and/or Zionism are anti-Semitic (O’Brien 1986: 97).

We focus specifically on the ADL as an example of institutionalized Zionism because it is one of the most powerful pressure groups in the United States. As Noam Chomsky puts it, “The ADL’s primary commitment [is] to use any technique however dishonest and disgraceful in order to defame and silence and destroy anybody who dares to criticize the holy state (Israel)” (Marshall 1993).

Prior to the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993, particularly during the height of their political uprising in the late eighties and early nineties, Palestinians were increasingly successful in articulating to the U.S. public a persuasive case with respect to their struggle for human rights. To combat the increasing sympathetic portrayal of the Palestinian liberation struggle, major pro-Israeli, anti-Palestinian organizations established espionage rings and published books and kits to help their members discredit Palestinian justice struggles and revive the deteriorating public image of Israel (Rashmawi 1992). The San Francisco spy scandal that broke out in the early 1990’s (Marshall 1993; Isaacs 2000), just as the Oslo agreements were being orchestrated, revealed that the ADL was engaged in spying on the Arab-American community, as well as numerous peace and anti-apartheid activists and organizations. The ADL operation used paid informers, police officers, student recruits, and a full-time staff to meet its goal of discrediting Palestinian and other liberation struggles. Revelation of the spy ring ultimately exposed the ADL as one of many examples where devoutly anti-Palestinian sentiment and covert Israeli intelligence activity are hidden behind a seemingly benign civil rights organization (Rashmawi 1992).5

According to the ADL, any criticism of Israel is racism towards Jews. The ADL further contends that the interests of the United States are so identical to those of Israel that any disagreement with the Israeli government and its policies are a betrayal of the United States. The ADL hits the American public hard and repeatedly with such suppositions, combined with the idea that Arabs in general and Palestinians in particular are vulgar terrorists who are really a menace to society (Rashmawi 1992). The organization lumps together everyone from the Nazis to peace organizations as enemies of both the U.S. and Israel, deserving to be spied upon and mercilessly investigated. The ADL and its affiliate organizations, such as Hillel and AIPAC, have utilized highly unsavory means, including intimidation, scare tactics, the infiltration of organizations, the violation of civil rights and sabotage to achieve their goals (Marshall 1993; Rashmawi 1992).

This systematic attempt to silence and exclude Arabs and Arab Americans from the political process is one example of what Helen Samhan refers to as political racism. According to Samhan, anti-Arab attitudes and behaviors have their roots “not in the traditional motives of structurally excluding a group perceived as inferior, but in politics” (Samhan 1987:11). While Zionism is a politically organized racial project that directly and systematically targets Arabs and Arab Americans,6 the terrain of Zionism is much broader than the practices of particular organizations. In the U.S. context, Zionism has become “common sense”–“a way of comprehending, explaining, and acting in the world”7 that goes completely unquestioned and unchallenged.


"Don't tell me berkeley hasn't had problems."

It really hasn’t. I’ve heard of a few people being harassed off campus but that’s unrelated.

On the other hand, Middle Eastern students have being harassed since 9/11 and some people I know have received death threats.

Occupying Wheeler is so innocent for a protest, it really disturbs me to think that anyone cares. No students were blocked from getting to or from class and the noise problem was no worse than construction work that the University frequently has done right outside of some of my classroom windows. The only anti-Semitism I've ever felt at Berkeley is having roommates be offended that I don't celebrate Christmas (since I wouldn’t give them a gift).

Growing up I always went to protests and my impression is that the level of political activism and radicalism at UC Berkeley is pretty low right now. Its AMAZINGLY DEPRESSING to think that people are actually discouraging things like the Wheeler occupation considering Berkeley's rich history of student radicalism. I get the scary feeling that mainstream liberals will be scolding the left for "chanting in public" or "gathering outside in a group of more than ten people" in a few years. Mainstream tolerance for dissent is getting less and less, it kinda feels like a slow move towards Fascism.
by SFSU in da House!!
berkeley,

"It really hasn’t. I’ve heard of a few people being harassed off campus but that’s unrelated."

Well, i've heard more, but it's unrelated to much of this thread. Plus i don't feel like going through my e-mails for exact details of what know.

About the Wheeler Hall "occupation", i prefer to call it a sit-in, but whatever. None of us actually give a shit about disturbing classes or campus "peace" or any of that crap that the administration based their arguments on for their actions against SJP. The problem is that it was just another Berkeley sit-in, with little or no impact whatsoever. The point is that it failed to be accountable to any social change. As it's been stated by others on this site, that action did not create any change for Palestine or the Berkeley community, but instead demanded that the whole Arab World and Berkeley be fixed according to their Liberal standards. Such demands for a sit-in at a class building? Step out of Berkeley SJP, get REAL!! And then they cry foul when the administration, which SJP had agreed with not to do a sit-in, takes disciplinary/academic action on them?

Read a book on organizing and social change, this was a big mistake, but typical of Berkeley. Unfortunately, UCB isn't promoting the great old student activist organizing from the 50's and 60's, but instead just the most liberal and hippie campus around for hippie and liberal students.

Nothing personal, no disrespect, but it's how UCB is viewed in SF, SFSU, and other activist campuses around the country these days.

I mean, if there was nothing wrong with the "occupation", then what was the sit-in all about? To demand their 7 point thing? Quite simply, it was a ridiculous tactic which achieved nothing. Don't expect SJP or the typical UCB activist to admit to that, even though they should. They've a serious activist image problem.

--sfsu student all for Palestine
"As it's been stated by others on this site, that action did not create any change for Palestine or the Berkeley community, but instead demanded that the whole Arab World and Berkeley be fixed according to their Liberal standards."

The protests were not some fuzzyheaded thing with vague goals. The immediate demand was for the administration of the UC system to discuss divestment. Even that may seem too large a goal for you but it was part of a larger movement of many schools with this same aim (and at a small liberal arts school such a demand would have a chance).

There are always problems with protests and everyone always attacks them for not being exactly right or as effective as they could have been. Some of this discussion is good, since it can help the next protests become more effective. But simply attacking protests as ineffective without suggesting alternatives tends to be destructive. My take on the situation at Berkeley is that the SJP did something that is pretty normal for most protest movements and the University's response was rather harsh. Even worse, the Lefts response was less than could be expected. When young people protest, it helps to encourage them even if the protests are not that great. Part of the good of protests is just getting people involved in active politics.

When activists come in after the fact and attack people on the left who are at least trying to do something good that can only hurt our cause. We need to stand up for each other even when we don’t agree 100% on whether something is exactly correct politically or as effective as it could be.

As for all the anti-Semitic stuff, there is a chance I missed something. All the noise from the ADL and other groups accusing everyone (from KPFA to NPR) of being anti-Semitic just makes any talk of anti-Semitism seem like crying wolf. I'm usually really sensitize to anti-Semitic remarks since I am Jewish. If did hear any Palestinian group say something anti-Semitic I think I might not even care anymore since I am starting to feel like the root cause of any new anti-Semitism would be groups going around claiming being Jewish and being a Zionist are the same thing. If anyone should apologize for anti-Semitism its the ADL and Israeli Action Committee.
by sfsu alum
Despite the hysterical tone in this petition, I do not feel the administration's actions represent, "a politically motivated attack aimed at wiping out all forms of dissent at San Francisco State University." The administration is only targeting specific individuals who have violated campus policy or the law. They are not preventing future demonstrations, are they? To assert that "All forms of protest and dissent against the policies of the United States and Israel...should
continue without reprisal from the university administration" is naive. If people break the rules on campus, it's fairly obvious that the administration will respond.

I was not at the demonstration. I heard the incident reported on NPR, read some of the posts here at indymedia, the "Summary of Recent Events(http://www.sfsu.edu/~news/response/summary.htm) and talked to current students.

Apparently counter-demonstrators were shouting "Go back to Russia!" and racial epithets including calls to "kill Jews." As a Jew--and someone who supports the right of return and an independent Palestinian state--I was deeply disturbed.

If a group of white students shouted "Death to towel-heads!" in reference to Muslims or told African Americans to "go back to Africa," people would be appalled, and rightfully so. I believe in free speech but as soon as you advocate violence against ethnic, religious, or other groups, you loose that right on a college campus.

Corrigan agrees (http://www.sfsu.edu/~news/response/values.htm),

[S]trong, even provocative, speech is not the problem, nor are strongly held opinions on highly-charged topics. Rather, it was the lack of civility and decency on the part of a very few demonstrators at points during the rally, and much more markedly after it, when rhetoric and behavior escalated beyond what this campus will tolerate.

I was also disturbed by the so-called "blood-libel" flyer (pictured above) distributed by the General Union of Palestinian Students and Muslim Student Association (MSA). I am very critical of Israeli policy in the occupied territories but wonder how many people a flyer with a picture of a baby with the caption, "Palestinian Children Meat --Slaughtered According to Jewish Rites Under American License," will convince. It reminds me of the posters pro-life protesters parade in front of women's clinics. Good to drum up anger and hatred and not much else.

I couldn't help but notice the "subtle" anti-Semitism implicit in the use of the words "Jewish Rites." Can you imagine the outrage on campus if a flyer showing Israeli victims of Palestinian suicide bombers was headed with the caption "Slaughtered According to Muslim Rites?" How about if Muslims were implicated in the ritual slaughter of babies?

So far the GUPS has said and done nothing to distance itself from the flyer. I honestly do not understand how some people think it’s a forgery. Then again, Indymedia is frequented by a large contingent of wackos who are quick to see a conspiracy in just about anything.


by berkeley
"If a group of white students shouted "Death to towel-heads!" in reference to Muslims or told African Americans to "go back to Africa," people would be appalled, and rightfully so. I believe in free speech but as soon as you advocate violence against ethnic, religious, or other groups, you loose that right on a college campus. "

At many of the antiwar protests and some of the proIsrael protests at Berkley people openly say stuff like that. Not only does the univeristy not respond but nobody makes much of a point about it since its become so common.

The idea that that flyer wasnt offically agreed on isnt a conspiracy. Its harder for me to believe a proPalestinian group would put out a flyer that would result in such bad PR (Im sure its possible though). I would likewise doubt that the "death to arabs" grafitti that someone put in large letters on the side of the women's building in SF was done by the ADL or Hillel (it was probably some lone crazed wacko).
by sfsu student
to berkeley

>The protests were not some fuzzyheaded thing with
>vague goals. The immediate demand was for the
>administration of the UC system to discuss
>divestment. Even that may seem too large a goal for
>you but it was part of a larger movement of many
>schools with this same aim (and at a small liberal
>arts school such a demand would have a chance).

If the immediate demand INDEED was for the UC system to discuss divestment, NOT only did SJP certainly NOT make that clear, but the sit-in at Wheeler Hall, AGAIN, after telling the administration you wouldn't do a sit-in, was a horrible tactic to achieve such demand. SJP played right into the Chacellor's hands. I don't need to read an activist handbook to realize this. So far I haven't heard of any other school, even less a small liberal arts one, with a serious Israel divestment campaign. Even from Berkeley I don't hear specifics on what they want to divest and how, unless I download their divestment manifesto!! And if SJP really just wanted discussion to start, then do a sit-in at the trustee's office or the regent or chancellor (read: campus activism). As soon as the police said get the hell out of Wheeler Hall, SJP should have. They weren't going to achieve their non "vague goals" sitting-in in a class building that day.

>There are always problems with protests and
>everyone always attacks them for not being exactly
>right or as effective as they could have been.

Organizing is an artful science, not an ideology. There will be criticism.

>But simply attacking protests as ineffective without
>suggesting alternatives tends to be destructive.

HAHA, you try telling SJP about alternatives. Try telling that ISO fool of Snehal about alternatives!!

>My take on the situation at Berkeley is that the SJP
>did something that is pretty normal for most protest
>movements and the University's response was
>rather harsh.

correction: most protest movements at UCB. do a sit-in outside of campus, see how far you get in achieving your goals.

>the Lefts response was less than could be expected

Hmm... maybe it's a message from the left: you're not doing it right SJP. Over in the city, we don't have much sympathy.

>When activists come in after the fact and attack
>people on the left who are at least trying to do
>something good that can only hurt our cause.

Sorry, there must be some accountability for those on the "left" fucking up, rather than more support towards horrible tactics. I hope you realize, after April 9, this is how things work in activism.

>We need to stand up for each other even when we
>don’t agree 100% on whether something is exactly
>correct politically or as effective as it could be.

Wow, Leftist Fascism. When UCB/SJP gets its head out of its activist-wannabe ass, then I and many others will gladly support. The first step towards overcoming an organizing problem, is admitting you have one. We wouldn't want to hand a 40 to an alcoholic, would we? UCB better check themselves, be accountable, and not depend on being victimized for support.

>I am starting to feel like the root cause of any new
>anti-Semitism would be groups going around
>claiming being Jewish and being a Zionist are the
>same thing.

Indeed, that is how Zionism works. The more Jews stand up to that, the more non-Jews won't get blasted falsely by the mainstream as anti-semitic.

peace!
by berkeley
You once again went off about how bad thing at Berkeley are without giving alternatives. What exactly is this "activist handbook" you keep talking about. Ive read many books on activism but none seem to give that great direction. If there was some great "activist handbook " that told us exacly what to do, I doubt the left would be in as sorry of a state as it currently is.
by anon
">We need to stand up for each other even when we
>don’t agree 100% on whether something is exactly
>correct politically or as effective as it could be.
Wow, Leftist Fascism"

Telling people that we should stand togther isn't fascist. Supporting our comrades during a time of war doesnt mean giving up our ideals.

I dont cross picket lines even when I'm unsure of the issues behind the strike because my parents raised me with those values. If I see a cop beating up someone, I dont bother asking what that person did (I will support the victim of police brutality).

I dislike the politics of the IAC, ISO and other Trotsyist groups, but I will go to their protests and defend their members if they come under attack.

Right now all Palestinian groups fighting for Palestine need as much support as we can give.
by Divestment
A better more effective divestment campaign sounds like a good idea. Aside from the email list that came out of the SJP conference a few months ago, are there any other groups working on this?
by sfsu student activist
try Randy Shaw's "the Activist's Handbook", and the Midwest Academy's "Organizing for Social Change: Manual for Activists"

there is no such handbook that will tell you what to do in Berkeley, unless it's the ISO's, that you gotta figure out, and to ask me to offer alternatives for a campaign/activism on a campus i hardly have any connection to (beyond contacts and friends) would be to take away your responsability to find out such alternatives. you're there, you come up with the answers, you get out on your community (campus or off-campus) and see how/what the issues should be in your activism and how to go about them with ACCOUNTABILITY for who and what you're trying to create social change for. there are also plenty books and journals i'm sure about Berkeley activism, specific to previous divestment campaigns going as far back as the 50's. shit, it's berkeley, there's gotta be ethnic studies classes that actually go over campus activism and organizing, successful and not. we got them at sfsu :)

you got the privilege as a student, ESPECIALLY at UCB. activism may not be as romantic as you (and certainly SJP) may want it to be if you're serious about social change. SJP's divestment campaign, REALISTICALLY, will not look like a big sit-in with thousands of masses on Sproul Plaza (like Tiananmenn) while CNN broadcasts it live any time soon. The quicker SJP comes to that, the quicker they can realize just what is achieveable, and at what pace, in their divestment campaign.

and if berkeley would certainly open up more, especially to a broader national movement, instead of always trying to build original berkeley-style activist groups, AND working with and following lead of other/better student organizers, then we'd all certainly have more alternatives about what/how UCB/SJP can better its campaign on its own campus and offer help and support.

my two cents.
best of luck!

by sfsu student activist
anon...

>Telling people that we should stand togther isn't
>fascist. Supporting our comrades during a time of
>war doesnt mean giving up our ideals.
--George War Bush (?)
United We Stand!

>If I see a cop beating up someone, I dont bother
>asking what that person did (I will support the victim
>of police brutality).

i support in that case too, you're going beyond my point and assuming something i never said or stated.

>I dislike the politics of the IAC, ISO and other
>Trotsyist groups, but I will go to their protests and
>defend their members if they come under attack.

Isn't this how Stalin came to power. Oh boy, my dear bolsheviks :( I support the IAC's and the ISO's when they're unjustly under attack, not when they're under attack for the Stalinist anti-semitic pigs that they show themselves to be constantly, especially amongst other activists and organizers.

>Right now all Palestinian groups fighting for >Palestine need as much support as we can give.

Indeed. But I will not play into the hands of the pro-Israel organizing, I will not support what I know is bait, or even worse, perpetuating fucked up childish behavior and actions.

in solidarity with Palestine,
sfsu student
by Concerned Student
There is an orgy of hate going on right now towards Israel. We didn't see near this level of hate towards the Indonesians when they were actively commiting ethnic cleansing, raping women, and killing men in East Timor. We didn't see the same outrage for the murders in Nepal. There is a HUGE double standard used against Israel.

Is it any wonder Israel doesn't trust that we Americans and Europeans will insure their safety?

If the SFSU students ever looked at African or Arab nations and held them to the same standards as they do Israel, they'd be protesting all day.

by MMM
Israel receives billions every year from the U.S. That's why there is so much protest against them.
by o__n
"Israel receives billions every year from the U.S. That's why there is so much protest against them. "

1. So does Egypt where amongst other atrocities, homosexuality is illigal, and homosexuals face long rison terms. By the way, Egypt has killed 10 times more palestinians than Israel ever had, in it's entire existance.
2. Israel puts this money to good use, as being one of the worlds leading science and technology superpower. There's little chance, for example, that the cure for Alzhaimer, Cancer or Aids will come out of Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Nepal or Indonezia, but from Israel.
by JACK
ZIONAZIS ONLY CAUSE PROBLEMS WHERE EVER THEY GO
zionazis are the scum of the earth zionazis are thieving lieing murderous bastards all they know how to do is steal things from other people and then lie about it and say it was always theirs zionazis nnnever did any good for anyone zionazis have always lived off of the people arounnd them like PARASITES!! and and cheating people out of things basicly their are worthless shit, sons of bitches
by Observer
Jack's response is consistent with what many of the so-called Palestinian activists utter everyday. And then the psuedo-leftists with their heads shoved so far up their asses they are navel gazing from the inside out have the gall to claim that this isn't going on.
It's similar to all those whities who claimed in the 1970s that there was no racism.
Nothing like being told everyday that "you are worthless nigger" and "go back to Africa" and then being told by some college student that there is no racism.
Nothing like being told by some friendly neighborhood Palestinian activist that "Hitler didn't finish the job" and "Go back to Europe" and then being told by some snot nosed college student that there is no anti-semitism.
by jack
come on admit it you stinking zionazi bastard
come out and admit you are a thief murderous son of a bitch!!!
admit you enjoy killing children for sport
you stinking bastard
by jk
The Zionazis are watching this board. They are watching you. And they know where you live. But don't worry: you don't merit any more of their time or effort.. Plus, they already control what you do, say, and think, so they're not the least bit bothered by your foul, racist rhetoric.
by dony
Ah yes...Israel the beacon for humanity. Lets examine what it has provided mankind since its birth in 1948:

In no particular order (forgive me if i've missed alot).

1. genocide of thousands of palestinians in 1948, with the systematic destruction of 400 palestinian villages.

2. the establishment of concentration camps to use palestinians as slave labour to build the new jewish only towns.

3. death and destruction to the neighbouring arabs in 1967, seizing more land from Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. (lebensraum for the chosen race ofcourse).

4. development of hundreds of nuclear bombs in order to destroy the whole world incase people wake up and unite against its fascist ideology.

5. establishment of secret service known as "mossad" who have assasinated and killed hundreds of palestinians and other arabs around the world.

6. attack and destruction of uss liberty ship in 1967, killing 36 american navymen.

7. attack on UN refugee camp in Qana, Lebanon killing hundreds of lebanese civilians and 4 UN peace troops.

8. first country to use F16's against civilian populations.

9. Developer of the UZI machine gun, used to kill and maim people.

10. only country that controls america and dictates to the us president what he should say and do.
by X
I'm so sorry that GUPS is being held to the same standard everyone else is. Boo hoo. I like the idea that the
person on the first post had- that while everyone else is punished for hate speech when it is done by GUPS, or any lefty for that matter, it should instead be referred to as a bold, daring attempt to exercise free speech. And they should be praised for their hypocrasy by instead labelling it "creatively persecuting"
by Jean
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