Defend the Rights of Student Organizers! Our Movement Will Not Be Silenced!

CAIA Statement on Campus Repression at McMaster University

The Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA) calls on all supporters of Palestinian rights to defend the right to organize at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. Last week, the McMaster Provost office, second in authority to that of the President's office, announced that student clubs were banned from using the term “Israeli Apartheid”. This is an unprecedented attack on the right to free speech, academic freedom, and the right to organize.

This shocking decision came as students were attempting to organize events as part of Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) and was accepted by McMaster Human Rights & Equity Services (HRES) and, in turn, the McMaster Student Union. This information was communicated to Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) and McMaster Muslims for Peace & Justice (MMPJ) by the MSU and HRES. Due to this decision, these MSU approved clubs have not been able to get approval for various initiatives related to campaigns against Israeli Apartheid.

Across the globe, the movement against Israeli apartheid and in support of a comprehensive campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions has been endorsed by hundreds of universities, unions, religious groups and social justice organizations. This campaign is proudly anti-racist, and founded on the principles of opposition to all forms of racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. It draws its inspiration from the global campaign to isolate South African apartheid and is led by many of the same individuals who were at the forefront of that earlier struggle.

According to the U.N definition, the crime of Apartheid is defined as the “…institutionalised regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups” and includes crimes such as “… murder, extermination, deportation or forcible transfer of population, imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty, torture, enforced disappearance of persons, persecution against any identifiable group or collectively on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural or other grounds."

Prominent South African individuals and organizations including the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and John Duggard, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, have described Israeli practices as a form of Apartheid. Former US President Jimmy Carter, certainly no friend of the Palestinians or people of the Global South, has called Israel an apartheid state. Even Israelis, such as Haaretz journalist Danny Rubinstein, have used this term. Would McMaster University prevent these people and organizations from speaking on campus?

The movement against Israeli apartheid is rapidly growing on campuses across the world. Two days ago, the student union at the London School of Economics voted in favour of divestment from Israel. This year, Israeli Apartheid Week occurred globally in 25 locations and was launched by exiled Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset, Azmi Bishara, in Soweto, South Africa (see apartheidweek.org). Over 2000 students and community members attended IAW events in Toronto, which included a conference launching the new group, High Schools Against Israeli Apartheid (HAIA).

It is in response to this success that the Zionist movement and their supporters are launching a campaign of intimidation, repression and bureaucratic maneuverings. During IAW, pro-Israeli apartheid organizations attacked the week in paid full-page advertisements in national newspapers. The Israeli ambassador organized a public forum in Ottawa to speak against IAW. Zionist groups attempted to organize counter-events on campuses but these were poorly attended and by their own admission failed miserably. A pro-apartheid demonstration organized by the far-right Jewish Defense League on the first night of Israeli Apartheid week at Ryerson University attracted a meager 25 individuals, while, at the same time, over 350 people attended the IAW lecture that night.

CAIA firmly believes that this attempt to repress student organizing will ultimately fail. The McMaster University administration should understand this message very clearly: We refuse to be silenced and we will fight back.

We call on student organizations, social justice groups and concerned individuals from around the world to support students at McMaster and the broader rights of Palestine organizers. Please take the following actions:

* If you live in the Ontario region, please plan to attend the forum on free speech and Israeli apartheid planned at McMaster University on Friday 29 February. Free buses will be leaving to McMaster from University of Toronto, Ryerson University and York University to attend this important meeting. The forum will begin at 10am with a rally immediately afterwards, and buses will return to Toronto around 2pm. All are welcome (you don’t need to be a university student) and transportation is free. Please RSVP as below.

BUS DETAILS

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UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
Two buses courtesy of CUPE 3903 and OPIRG UofT
Buses Leaving: 8:30am
Place: Hart House, 7 Hart House Circle University of Toronto
See: http://www.harthouse.utoronto.ca/ for directions
RSVP: macbuses@gmail.com
>>>>

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YORK UNIVERSITY
Bus courtesy of York Federation of Students
Buses Leaving: 8:30am
Place: Meet at Vari Hall
RSVP: vpequity@yfs.ca
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RYERSON UNIVERSITY
Bus courtesy of Ryerson Student Union,
Local 24 Canadian Federation of Students
Buses Leaving: 8:30am sharp
Place: Student Centre, 55 Gould street
RSVP: macbuses@gmail.com
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* Email the following persons asking why they have permitted this infringement of basic democratic principles and requesting that he immediately restore the Charter rights of McMaster students.

McMaster University Provost, Dr. Ilene Busch-Vishniac: provost@mcmaster.ca

McMaster University President, Dr. Peter George: preswww@mcmaster.ca

McMaster Student Union President, Ryan Moran: msupres@msu.mcmaster.ca

Human Rights and Equity Services: hres@mcmaster.ca

* Send a message of support to the McMaster students organizing against this decision at unitedforstudentrights@gmail.com

* Contact your local media and request that they write a story on student organizing and repression at McMaster University.

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UNITED FOR STUDENT RIGHTS (U4SR) PRESENTS A Public Forum:

Rights & Responsibilities in Political Discussion on Campus: Who Speaks for McMaster?

Thursday, February 28, 2008 at 12:00pm

Details to be determined

United for Studnt Rights (U4SR) is holding a Public Forum to discuss the recent shocking decision by McMaster Student Union (MSU) and administration to unequivocally ban on campus the usage of the phrase "Israeli Apartheid". This decision was first passed by the McMaster Provost office, which is second in authority only to that of the President's office. It has been

accepted by McMaster Human Rights & Equity Services (HRES) and, in turn, the MSU. This information was communicated to Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) and McMaster Muslims for Peace & Justice (MMPJ) early in February 2008 by the MSU and HRES. Due to this decision, these MSU approved clubs have not been able to get approval for various initiatives related to Israeli Apartheid. It is the MSU that is directly enforcing this decision, as it is the only campus body with jurisdiction over student clubs. MSU President, Ryan Moran, explained that though the MSU is not bound by this decision, it has chosen to implement it none the less. U4SR is calling on the MSU to rescind this decision immediately as part of opening up the discussion for all to decide.

Statement of Human Rights & Equity Services: "The university has taken the position that literature which refers to "Israeli apartheid" and activities promoted under the banner, "Israeli Apartheid Week" are unacceptable. The university takes the position that this phrase is in violation of the university's efforts to ensure that all people will be treated with dignity and tolerance."

According to the statement of HRES, banning Israeli Apartheid organizing is a matter of dignity and tolerance. In the view of those who use the term, opposing Israeli Apartheid is a matter of dignity and tolerance for the peoples of the Middle East and world over who are fighting for justice and for human rights. Clearly, there is a contradiction of a political nature between these two views.

U4SR considers this decision unacceptable especially given that the recent decision of the Provost is in keeping with consistent efforts by the McMaster administration, MSU and even Hamilton Police to repress Palestinian solidarity work over the last six years. At every point, Palestinian solidarity views have been presented as anti-Semitic and a matter of hate crimes. The most recent decision by the Provost is a ramping up of longstanding attempts to criminalize the views of students who oppose
Zionist violations of the human and national rights of Palestinians. Such efforts overlook the importance of political engagement and discussion on university campuses, while making political issues a matter of policy and decisions taken behind closed doors by various offices of the university. This history provides an important context for understanding that the banning of terms diverts from the violation of the political and human rights of students attempting to defend a just peace for Palestine.

These are not simple matters to be decided arbitrarily and in private. They are related to profound questions of rights and responsibilities on campus and in society at large. It is unjust to require that the students most affected should submit to this decision or simply engage in an unequal private dialogue with the administration.

A Matter for All to Decide

It is important to note that the administration has an obligation to society to respect the basic legal and moral rights of the university community. Despite all its efforts to claim that the university can act like a private corporation, McMaster is a public institution that plays a central role in the development of youth and intellectual thought. In turn, Human Rights & Equity Services is mandated to defend and elaborate issues of human rights on campus, and this function has ramifications for all of society. Similarly, the MSU plays an important role in supporting and intervening in society, as the organized front of students. In sum, the functioning of all these parts of the McMaster University and their recent decision are a matter that concerns all students, faculty, and the general Hamilton and Canadian society.

For this reason, U4SR is holding a public forum so that everyone's views can be heard. We are inviting the administration and MSU to be part of this discussion and no longer use their positions of power to impose their views on the conscience of students. We are also calling on all students, faculty, staff and members of the Hamilton community to join the discussion. Organisers will ensure that everyone's participation and comments are respected.

We, as Canadian students, are taking up our responsibility to society. We are working to end the marginalization of the McMaster community and Canadian polity at large from the decision-making processes that affect their lives and the political orientation of our society. This struggle at one university campus is a converging point for all those who believe that Canadian society should decide political matters in a public and transparent way. Join us!

United for Student Rights is an ad-hoc committee of McMaster University and Hamilton community members that was formed to facilitate public involvement in this issue. For information please contact: unitedforstudentrights@gmail.com