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Pro-Israel Intimidation of UC Student Senate
The $6 billion a year the US Congress gives to Israel to make war would easily solve UC's budget problems. The student senate at UC Berkeley has voted in an historic milestone to divest from Israel, 16 to 4, had their vote vetoed by the student president, and was set to override the veto on 4/14/10. The level of intimidation, including one senator having a drink poured over her at a party, demonstrates the horror of the US military base called Israel.
Here is a report with a 10 p.m. deadline, 4/14/10.
From:
http://www.dailycal.org/article/109064/divestment_vote_attracts_hundreds_of_spectators
Divestment Vote Attracts Hundreds of Spectators
Ryan Ballard/Photo
Supporters of the controversial ASUC bill urging the UC to divest from companies that have supplied Israel with materials used in alleged war crimes gathered on Sproul Plaza Wednesday.
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Photos »
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Related Articles »
Diverse ASUC Election Results Build Hopes for Bipartisanship - 3 hours ago
International Attention Focused on ASUC Divestment Vote - Wed, Apr 14, 2010
Alumnus Now Has a Changed Perception of UC Berkeley - Tue, Apr 13, 2010
By Allie Bidwell and Nick Myers
Contributing Writers
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Category: News > University > ASUC Printer Friendly
Comments (9)
Email/Share
The ASUC Senate was expected to vote on overriding President Will Smelko's March 24 veto of a controversial bill urging the student government and University of California to divest from United Technologies and General Electric.
The bill urges such a move because the companies have supplied the Israeli military with materials used in alleged war crimes.
A two-thirds majority vote of the senate is needed in order to override a veto. The original bill passed the senate by a 16 to 4 margin. A final vote on overriding the veto was not available as of 10 p.m.
International attention has focused on the 20 ASUC senators following the veto.
"People have definitely been trying to sway all the senators-we've received thousands and thousands of e-mails from all over the world," said Noah Stern, a Student Action senator and ASUC president-elect. "The senate is more than just about the votes. I think it's also an opportunity for students to express their own voices."
Prominent figures including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, activist Naomi Klein and leftist MIT professor Noam Chomsky have spoken in support of overriding ASUC President Will Smelko's March 24 veto of the bill. Local and national pro-Israel groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)-an influential Washington, D.C. lobby organization-Berkeley Hillel and the Anti-Defamation League have each stated the bill is divisive and unfairly targets Israel.
SQUELCH! party Senator Emily Carlton and Independent Senator Jonathan Gaurano, co-sponsors of the bill, said they and other senators were invited to a Berkeley Hillel-sponsored forum for elected officials at which professors, Hillel employees and rabbis gave a presentation on the history of Israel and what damage the passage of the bill could mean for that nation.
"UC should divest from war crimes," Gaurano said. "I would tell people to come tonight, listen, have clear dialog and make up your own opinions."
Due to the turnout of passionate supporters trying to have their voices heard before the decision could be made, the time and place of the discussion on divestment had to be changed several times throughout the night.
Originally scheduled to be held at 8:00 p.m. in the Eshleman Library after the senate had concluded all other business in the senate chambers, the event moved to the Multicultural Center in Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union. When that space proved insufficient to accommodate a crowd of more than 400 that poured into the lobby and out the door, the senate voted to move the discussion to Pauley Ballroom where it commenced at about 10:30 p.m.
In addition to the move, the senators decided to give preference to students who wanted to attend over alumni and community members.
CalSERVE Senator Lean Deleon-who said he would vote to override the veto-said he hoped that his fellow senators would take the time to consider all sides of the issue and decide whether to support the bill by the time a vote would be taken.
"I am going to keep my vote but I'm also very open to hearing presentations from both sides and being open to dialogue," he said before the meeting.
Carlton said that she has been pressured because of her support of the bill.
"Some of my closest friends have met with me and tried to convince me (to change my vote)," she said. "Some of them have stopped talking to me altogether."
She added that she has been confronted several times while at parties and had a drink purposefully poured on her.
Other senators said they had already made up their mind.
"When I made my initial vote I was very steadfast in my beliefs," Stern said. "I still feel firm in my belief and how I voted in the initial vote."
Amendments to the bill included a provision that the student government take action against human rights abuses elsewhere such as Morocco.
Student Action Senator Sandra Cohen said she felt that the amendments made to the bill were not
sufficient to balance what she saw as an unfair targeting of Israel and that she would still vote against overriding the veto.
Nhu Nhu Nguyen, another Student Action senator, declined to comment on the bill. Nguyen previously voted for the bill.
"It will be a very long meeting," said Independent Senator Christopher Franco. "I hope that folks will be able to get their voices heard."
From:
http://www.dailycal.org/article/109064/divestment_vote_attracts_hundreds_of_spectators
Divestment Vote Attracts Hundreds of Spectators
Ryan Ballard/Photo
Supporters of the controversial ASUC bill urging the UC to divest from companies that have supplied Israel with materials used in alleged war crimes gathered on Sproul Plaza Wednesday.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Photos »
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Related Articles »
Diverse ASUC Election Results Build Hopes for Bipartisanship - 3 hours ago
International Attention Focused on ASUC Divestment Vote - Wed, Apr 14, 2010
Alumnus Now Has a Changed Perception of UC Berkeley - Tue, Apr 13, 2010
By Allie Bidwell and Nick Myers
Contributing Writers
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Category: News > University > ASUC Printer Friendly
Comments (9)
Email/Share
The ASUC Senate was expected to vote on overriding President Will Smelko's March 24 veto of a controversial bill urging the student government and University of California to divest from United Technologies and General Electric.
The bill urges such a move because the companies have supplied the Israeli military with materials used in alleged war crimes.
A two-thirds majority vote of the senate is needed in order to override a veto. The original bill passed the senate by a 16 to 4 margin. A final vote on overriding the veto was not available as of 10 p.m.
International attention has focused on the 20 ASUC senators following the veto.
"People have definitely been trying to sway all the senators-we've received thousands and thousands of e-mails from all over the world," said Noah Stern, a Student Action senator and ASUC president-elect. "The senate is more than just about the votes. I think it's also an opportunity for students to express their own voices."
Prominent figures including South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, activist Naomi Klein and leftist MIT professor Noam Chomsky have spoken in support of overriding ASUC President Will Smelko's March 24 veto of the bill. Local and national pro-Israel groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)-an influential Washington, D.C. lobby organization-Berkeley Hillel and the Anti-Defamation League have each stated the bill is divisive and unfairly targets Israel.
SQUELCH! party Senator Emily Carlton and Independent Senator Jonathan Gaurano, co-sponsors of the bill, said they and other senators were invited to a Berkeley Hillel-sponsored forum for elected officials at which professors, Hillel employees and rabbis gave a presentation on the history of Israel and what damage the passage of the bill could mean for that nation.
"UC should divest from war crimes," Gaurano said. "I would tell people to come tonight, listen, have clear dialog and make up your own opinions."
Due to the turnout of passionate supporters trying to have their voices heard before the decision could be made, the time and place of the discussion on divestment had to be changed several times throughout the night.
Originally scheduled to be held at 8:00 p.m. in the Eshleman Library after the senate had concluded all other business in the senate chambers, the event moved to the Multicultural Center in Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union. When that space proved insufficient to accommodate a crowd of more than 400 that poured into the lobby and out the door, the senate voted to move the discussion to Pauley Ballroom where it commenced at about 10:30 p.m.
In addition to the move, the senators decided to give preference to students who wanted to attend over alumni and community members.
CalSERVE Senator Lean Deleon-who said he would vote to override the veto-said he hoped that his fellow senators would take the time to consider all sides of the issue and decide whether to support the bill by the time a vote would be taken.
"I am going to keep my vote but I'm also very open to hearing presentations from both sides and being open to dialogue," he said before the meeting.
Carlton said that she has been pressured because of her support of the bill.
"Some of my closest friends have met with me and tried to convince me (to change my vote)," she said. "Some of them have stopped talking to me altogether."
She added that she has been confronted several times while at parties and had a drink purposefully poured on her.
Other senators said they had already made up their mind.
"When I made my initial vote I was very steadfast in my beliefs," Stern said. "I still feel firm in my belief and how I voted in the initial vote."
Amendments to the bill included a provision that the student government take action against human rights abuses elsewhere such as Morocco.
Student Action Senator Sandra Cohen said she felt that the amendments made to the bill were not
sufficient to balance what she saw as an unfair targeting of Israel and that she would still vote against overriding the veto.
Nhu Nhu Nguyen, another Student Action senator, declined to comment on the bill. Nguyen previously voted for the bill.
"It will be a very long meeting," said Independent Senator Christopher Franco. "I hope that folks will be able to get their voices heard."
For more information:
http://www.dailycal.org/article/109064/div...
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Comments
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Hopefully, this student senate will have the good sense to end their meetings in 2 hours; 12 hour sessions at night are ridiculous and for most of us, impossible. I do not know how anyone could sit up after 2 hours, much less say anything intelligent throughout the night. they did not start the discussion on the Zionist swine until 3 hours into the meeting, after 10 p.m. The students (very new at all of this by definition) changed their vote to 12-7-1 to sustain the reactionary veto, and then tabled the motion to overturn the veto until next week's meeting. They could have and should have tabeled the motion after 2 hours. See the Daily Cal at
http://www.dailycal.org/article/109108/asuc_fails_to_override_divestment_bill_veto
Those of us from Holocaust families who view Israel not only as an American military base to protect US oil profits in the Middle East and formerly to threaten the Soviet Union with nuclear terror (see John Steinbach's article on Israel's nuclear warheads at http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/issues/policy/israeli-nuclear-policy/steinbach_israeli_program.pdf) but also as a death trap for Jews and Arabs, are horrified to hear that there is a warmongering gang of 500 students at UC Berkeley out of a total student population of 35,000 who are proudly pushing the US-Israel war machine. See Tikvah Talking Points on Divestment -- WHY ALL OUR SPEECHES SOUND THE SAME! at
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/04/15/18644754.php
It is also noteworthy that only 400 people, many not students, who attended this ridiculous marathon session, out of a student body of 35,000. A lot more connection between the increase of student fees and giving Israel $6 billion a year to terrrorize the world and maximize US oil profits needs to be made. If that does not resonate, then I suspect most students are UC Berkeley are very wealthy, not surprising.
Speakers for divestment should make much of the fact that Israel is a military base, which children are indoctrinated into the military and the use of child labor. And the entire Israeli military exists courtesy the US taxpayers while we witness the destruction of our school system and everything else we need. See
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/04/indoctrinating-israeli-youths-to-be.html
The student senate should also be told there is no division between church and state and that the Bible is taught in grade school and knowledge of this fiction is required to pass the high school exit exam. See
Walled: Israeli Society at an Impasse by Sylvain Cypel m (2005, 2006) Other Press, ISBN 13:978-1-5905 1-210-4 p. 177
and
An Israeli in Palestine by Jeff Halper (2008) Pluto Press, ISBN 978-0-7453-2226-1 “There is not even a civil mechanism by which Jewish, Christian, and Muslim citizens of Israel can marry each other since personal status, citizenship, marriage, death, inheritance, is regulated by religious and not civil law.” p. 76
A secular public school like the University of California has no business investing in a theocracy or a military base.
http://www.dailycal.org/article/109108/asuc_fails_to_override_divestment_bill_veto
Those of us from Holocaust families who view Israel not only as an American military base to protect US oil profits in the Middle East and formerly to threaten the Soviet Union with nuclear terror (see John Steinbach's article on Israel's nuclear warheads at http://www.nuclearfiles.org/menu/key-issues/nuclear-weapons/issues/policy/israeli-nuclear-policy/steinbach_israeli_program.pdf) but also as a death trap for Jews and Arabs, are horrified to hear that there is a warmongering gang of 500 students at UC Berkeley out of a total student population of 35,000 who are proudly pushing the US-Israel war machine. See Tikvah Talking Points on Divestment -- WHY ALL OUR SPEECHES SOUND THE SAME! at
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/04/15/18644754.php
It is also noteworthy that only 400 people, many not students, who attended this ridiculous marathon session, out of a student body of 35,000. A lot more connection between the increase of student fees and giving Israel $6 billion a year to terrrorize the world and maximize US oil profits needs to be made. If that does not resonate, then I suspect most students are UC Berkeley are very wealthy, not surprising.
Speakers for divestment should make much of the fact that Israel is a military base, which children are indoctrinated into the military and the use of child labor. And the entire Israeli military exists courtesy the US taxpayers while we witness the destruction of our school system and everything else we need. See
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/04/indoctrinating-israeli-youths-to-be.html
The student senate should also be told there is no division between church and state and that the Bible is taught in grade school and knowledge of this fiction is required to pass the high school exit exam. See
Walled: Israeli Society at an Impasse by Sylvain Cypel m (2005, 2006) Other Press, ISBN 13:978-1-5905 1-210-4 p. 177
and
An Israeli in Palestine by Jeff Halper (2008) Pluto Press, ISBN 978-0-7453-2226-1 “There is not even a civil mechanism by which Jewish, Christian, and Muslim citizens of Israel can marry each other since personal status, citizenship, marriage, death, inheritance, is regulated by religious and not civil law.” p. 76
A secular public school like the University of California has no business investing in a theocracy or a military base.
For more information:
http://www.dailycal.org/article/109108/asu...
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