Category Archives: Media

Mondoweiss: How Salaita’s critics have distorted the Salaita report


By Phan Nguyen, Jan 5 2015, Mondoweiss

Following the controversial termination of Steven Salaita’s hiring at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), the university’s Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure (CAFT) initiated an investigation into whether the termination violated the university’s statutes and bylaws and academic freedom.

The CAFT issued its findings and recommendations in a report on December 23, accusing the administration and board of trustees of violating shared governance and academic freedom, and calling on the university to reconsider Salaita’s application and financially compensate him for his unjust termination.

This is the first of two articles exploring elements of the CAFT report. In this first article, I demonstrate how Salaita’s critics—the same ones who misrepresented Salaita’s tweets—are now misrepresenting the CAFT report.

In particular, I focus on the claims made by two prominent critics of Salaita: William Jacobson, who is the editor of the Tea Party Zionist blog Legal Insurrection, and Liel Leibovitz, senior writer for Tablet magazine. Continue reading

UVic: Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation: The BC Experience

By Michaelin Scott and Chris Tollefson

University of Victoria Academic Paper on SLAPP suits published in 2010

Summary: In 2001, the province of British Columbia (BC) became the first Canadian jurisdiction to enact anti-SLAPP legislation. While this legislation proved to be short lived, the BC experience around the issue of SLAPPs is instructive for law reformers both in Canada and beyond. In this article, the authors describe the legal and political processes that set the stage for the passage of the 2001 law, and its subsequent repeal. They also provide a detailed analysis and critique of key aspects of the debate surrounding the design of the law, and consider its efficacy in identifying, dismissing and deterring SLAPP lawsuits. They conclude with some observations with respect to the current status of the SLAPP issue in BC.

Read full article here.

Vancouver Sun: When Big Oil acts like a big bully

Kinder Morgan’s lawsuit against pipeline protesters is an affront to free speech and idealism

Pete McMartin, VANCOUVER SUN, NOVEMBER 4, 2014

You would think that, in the name of public relations, somebody at Kinder Morgan might take a clue from the company’s name to work on its image.

It could do with some “kinder.”

But no. Quite the opposite. In its clumsy handling of its proposed pipeline expansion to bring diluted Alberta bitumen to Vancouver, Kinder Morgan — through its pipeline subsidiary Trans Mountain Pipeline — has alienated the city of Burnaby, the city of Vancouver and, well, me, for one. As part of its survey work, it took down trees in a public park.

When the city of Burnaby tried to stop the work in the park, the company turned to the National Energy Board, which — no surprise this — overrode the city’s objections, which, Burnaby insists, the NEB did not have the jurisdictional power to do so. (The city is now appealing that decision.)

When protesters confronted Trans Mountain survey crews within the park, the company filed for an injunction against them and then, piling on, filed suit for damages against four individual protesters and a citizen’s group.

Even for Big Oil, the lawsuit seemed excessive. It’s one thing to protect one’s business interests; it’s altogether another thing to act like a bully. Continue reading

Discredited definition of anti-Semitism no longer in use, says BBC

by Ben White, Electronic Intifada, 10/30/2013

The reputation of a discredited definition of anti-Semitism has suffered a further blow with the news that the BBC’s governing body amended a ruling to reflect the abandonment of the text by a European Union body.

A 2005 “discussion paper” definition of anti-Semitism was drafted on the initiative of the European Union’s Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (which has subsequently been renamed the Fundamental Rights Agency — FRA). It claimed that describing Israel’s establishment as a “racist endeavor” is an example of “anti-Semitism.”

The definition has been pushed by Israel advocates since its publication, and used in efforts to undermine Palestine solidarity work (see The Electronic Intifada report “Israel lobby uses discredited anti-Semitism definition to muzzle debate”).

In a BBC Trust ruling earlier this year, a complaint relating to the broadcaster’s coverage on comments about Israel by a British member of Parliament, David Ward, was partially upheld. The complaint had cited the EU agency’s “working definition.”

However, in correspondence with blogger Mark Elf of Jews sans frontieres, the BBC Trust first investigated, then changed its ruling (available online) to note that the definition has now “been removed” from the FRA’s website. Continue reading

StopFBI: Solidarity with Palestinian American Activist Rasmea Odeh


Committee to Stop FBI Repression, Oct 22, 2013

A Palestinian woman, Rasmieh Odeh, was arrested at her home this morning, Oct. 22, by agents of the Department of Homeland Security.

She is charged with immigration fraud. Allegedly, in her application for citizenship, she didn’t mention that she was arrested in Palestine 45 years ago by an Israeli military court that detains Palestinians without charge – a court that has over 200 children in prison today and does not recognize the rights of Palestinians to due process.

The arrest today appears to be related to the case of the 23 anti-war activists subpoenaed to a grand jury in 2010. Well-known labor, community and international solidarity activists around the Midwest had their homes raided by the FBI when the U.S. attorney alleged that they had provided material support to foreign terrorist organizations in Palestine and Colombia. Continue reading

Toronto Star: TTC rejects controversial Middle East ad campaign

Jewish group B’nai Brith praises the TTC’s decision not to run ads showing shrinking Palestinian territory

By Tess Kalinowski Transportation reporter, Toronto Star, Oct. 21, 2013

A Montreal-based group plans to appeal the TTC’s refusal to run its advertising, which depicts shrinking Palestinian territory in the Middle East.

The TTC says the ad violates its policies because it contains statements that could incite discrimination, in this case against Jewish or Israeli people.

The ad, submitted by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, is similar to a campaign that ran on Vancouver transit by the Palestine Awareness Coalition.

Although the TTC ads look different, “the centrepiece” is similar, a series of maps showing how Palestinian territories have shrunk over time, said Thomas Woodley, president of Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East, who would not release a copy of the ad on Monday. Continue reading

MondoWeiss: ‘Disappearing Palestine’ ads in Vancouver provoke vicious and hysterical response

Marty Roth, MondoWeiss, October 16, 2013

In October, 2013, ten ads went up in Vancouver transit stations depicting loss of Jewish land in the middle east since 1000 BCE. It turns out that in that time Jewish land had shrunk by a factor of five or so. These advertisements were responding to ads put up in transit stations and on sides of buses over a month before by the Palestine Awareness Coalition. PAC had the more modest aim of showing Palestinian loss of land only since 1946, which ended in a small continuous patch called Gaza and specks of discontinuous territory in the West Bank.

The response ads were put up by a group called StandWithUs which bills itself as “supporting Israel around the world.” The organization had previously countered pro-Palestinian advertising in Denver, Houston, Helena, Missoula and elsewhere. “A combination of anti-Israel groups pretend to be pro-Palestinian,” StandWithUs CEO Roz Rothstein said. “The bottom line is they don’t want an Israel. They want Israel to be gone.” Continue reading

SFSC Letter: Re: Professor David Klein hosting BDS website

Dear Professor Klein,

I write on behalf of the Seriously Free Speech Committee-Vancouver (SFSC) to support your work in defense of Palestinian human and political rights. We are cheered to see that you have won every challenge from the ultra-zionists so far, and congratulate you on having been so well supported and well defended.
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SFSC/Palestine Awareness Coalition: Targeted For A Third Time: “Disappearing Palestine” Ad Disappears Again

Marty Roth, Palestine Awareness Coalition

VANCOUVER, October 10, 2013 – The “Disappearing Palestine” wall mural displayed at a Canada Line SkyTrain station was stolen by vandals for the third time overnight on October 9, shortly after it was replaced following two earlier thefts. The ad, part of a campaign by the Palestine Awareness Coalition, has been running since August 27.

The Skytrain ad was vandalized previously on the weekends of September 21 and October 5, when it was also stolen from the station by unknown vandals who appear to have scraped the ad from the walls.

The ad has been re-posted again. The Coalition is not aware of any suspects being identified in the repeated thefts.

“The repeat vandalism of the Skytrain poster cannot hide the realities exposed in the maps: shrinking Palestinian land and dispossessed Palestinian people,” said Marty Roth of the Palestine Awareness Coalition. “We placed these ads to educate and inform the public. Clearly, some would like to silence Palestinian history and present reality – and are not succeeding, Someone must really not want this information to reach the Canadian public,” Roth said. Continue reading

Electronic Intifada: Zionist group renews attacks on California professor David Klein

Electronic Intifada, Sept 27, 2013
A Zionist group based in California has renewed its vicious campaign against a mathematics professor at the California State University at Northridge (CSUN), claiming that he is violating the law by using university resources to express his personal and political views.

The professor, David Klein, an outspoken and unapologetic supporter of the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement, has told The Electronic Intifada that the renewed “harassment” has been disruptive.

But Klein says he is heartened by the broad and solid support he has received for his exercise of his free speech rights.
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