Tag Archives: SFSC Letter

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Seriously Free Speech Committee| Comments Off on

To: Mr. Thomas Mulcair, NDP Leader of the Opposition

We are writing on behalf of the Seriously Free Speech Committee (SFSC) to protest the attempts by B’nai Brith to stifle free speech on the Israel/Palestine issue within the NDP caucus. Headed “Stop anti-Israel bias within NDP Caucus”, the press release is clearly intended to frighten NDP MP’s from responding to the ever increasing support for the implementation of international law in Israel and support for Palestinian Human Rights. Continue reading →

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SFSC: Letter defending academic freedom of UCLA Professor

Posted on May 27, 2012 by Seriously Free Speech Committee| Comments Off on SFSC: Letter defending academic freedom of UCLA Professor

Dear Professor Shorter,

We write on behalf of the Seriously Free Speech Committee (SFSC) to defend your right to academic freedom both in providing educational materials, including website links, for your students, and in supporting the political groups of your choice. You have recently been attacked for both. Continue reading →

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SFSC: Letter to Ha’aretz re Censorship in Israel

Posted on May 26, 2012 by Seriously Free Speech Committee| Comments Off on SFSC: Letter to Ha’aretz re Censorship in Israel

To the editor of Ha’aretz:

We write on behalf of the Seriously Free Speech Committee (SFSC) to express our concern regarding the censorship regime currently in place in Israel. We have in mind the military censorship of all news coverage of the IDF; the Boycott Prohibition Bill of 2011, which has been challenged by legal organizations within Israel and even by the Knesset’s legal advisor; the 2011 laws aimed at suppressing commemoration of the nakba and criminalizing any denial of Israel’s character as a Jewish and democratic state; recent proposals by the Justice Ministry to broadly expand wiretap powers; military monitoring and censorship of the social media of journalists, bloggers and traditional news sites; the Israeli Broadcast Authority’s removal from a popular radio program of short personal-opinion spots; and the particularly obnoxious censorship of school textbooks both in public Palestinian schools in Jerusalem administered by the Jerusalem Educational Administration and in East Jerusalem private schools. Continue reading →

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SFSC: Letter of Support for Gunter Grass

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Seriously Free Speech Committee| Comments Off on SFSC: Letter of Support for Gunter Grass

Dear Gunter Grass,                                      May 6, 2012

On behalf of the Seriously Free Speech Committee in Vancouver, Canada, we wish to extend our appreciation for your poem “What Must Be Said”.

There are many societies, and ours too is one of them, where public discussion of Israeli state policies and practices have been stifled by false accusations of anti-semitism, by media and government denunciations – if not outright exclusion — of critical comment. As a consequence, glaring realities, like Israel’s significant nuclear arsenal, and the German government’s direct contribution to this, never become part of reasoned public dialogue. Continue reading →

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SFSC Letter: Replies to Brent Black letter

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Seriously Free Speech Committee| 1 Comment

Reply from BRENT BLACK

thanks for writing…i dont support terrorism like the plo – clear enough? later dude. looks like i win – you lose. i have freedom of speech and i bow to pressure from no one.

reply from RICH SIEGEL

Mr. Briemberg, This is really great! Thanks for sending. -Rich

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SFSC Letter: To Brent Black re removing review of “The Way to Peace”

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Seriously Free Speech Committee| 3 Comments

Dear Brent Black,

On behalf of the Seriously Free Speech Committee, I write to you concerning the removal from your website of your own review of Rich Siegel’s “The Way to Peace”. Our organization, the Seriously Free Speech Committee, was formed a few years ago to defend freedom of expression specifically on the controversial issue of Palestine/Israel. We do not advocate for any particular interpretation or resolution of this conflict. We do advocate for the necessity that people of varying interpretations and with varying proposals for resolution have the freedom to present them publicly without intimidation or censorship, enabling a wider public to be able independently to consider their validity, and to formulate their own conclusions. You will agree, I am sure, that openness to diversity of opinion is one hallmark of a democratic culture. To intimidate others from expressing their thoughts, to proceed further and censor such expression, cripples democratic culture.

When you wrote your review of “The Way to Peace” you were sharing your thoughts freely and expressing confidence in your readers’ capacities to reflect on them and draw their own conclusions. You were fostering a democratic culture. When almost immediately after publishing your review, you withdrew it and issued the statement of “humble apologies” you were capitulating to censorship and insulting your readers.  Continue reading →

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SFSC Letter: Campus censorship is complicity in the oppression of Palestinians

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Seriously Free Speech Committee| Comments Off on SFSC Letter: Campus censorship is complicity in the oppression of Palestinians

To: William Randolph Woodson, Chancellor, North Carolina State University

Dear Mr. Woodson,                                                                             4/3/2012

The Seriously Free Speech Committee is a Vancouver (B.C., Canada)-based group mandated to defend freedom of speech specifically in relation to issues of Palestinian rights or the criticism of Israeli policies. We write in support of Dr. Terri Ginsberg, whose credentials for a tenure-track position at NCSU were discounted in 2007-8 because of her expressed or implied political views. We are aware that the university’s legal counsel advised offering Dr. Ginsberg a grievance hearing, but that your predecessor  as chancellor, supported by your Board of Governors, denied her this opportunity to seek a remedy.  Continue reading →

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SFSC letter: Shameful firing of Michael Harris by CFRA

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Seriously Free Speech Committee| 4 Comments

Mr. Steve Winogron, Program Manager, CFRA Ottawa

March 22, 2012

Dear Mr. Winogron:

I write to you on behalf of the Seriously Free Speech Committee, an organization founded specifically to defend freedom of speech on matters relating to the Palestine-Israel conflict.

We write to you because we are concerned that CFRA Ottawa has fired Michael Harris, a radio talk-show host at your station. Mr. Harris is an award winning author, and an experienced and highly regarded broadcaster.

It is our understanding that his firing came shortly after complaints about an article Mr. Harris had published on the iPolitics website February 1st, titled “Canada will be on the sidelines in search for Middle East peace”. This article is critical of the federal government’s policies on Israel. It appears therefore that CFRA succumbed to the pressure to silence Mr. Harris’ critical views on an important matter of public policy.  Continue reading →

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SFSC Letter: Support for Israeli Apartheid Week Keynote at the University of Ottawa

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Seriously Free Speech Committee| Comments Off on SFSC Letter: Support for Israeli Apartheid Week Keynote at the University of Ottawa

March 7, 2012

Dear President Rock and Mr. Bergeron,

I recently learned that the University of Ottawa is threatening to prevent the keynote event for Israeli Apartheid Week in Ottawa from taking place, by cancelling the students’ pre-approved room booking. Hiding these silencing tactics behind the cover of bureaucracy is worrying. Israeli Apartheid Week is a week of educational and cultural events that critically engages with the policies undertaken by the Israeli state against the Palestinian people.  Continue reading →

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SFSC Letter: University of Regina Student Union Support

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Seriously Free Speech Committee| Comments Off on SFSC Letter: University of Regina Student Union Support

To:     Kent Peterson, URSU President
cc:     Vianne Timmons, President, University of Regina

Dear Student Union Executive Members

I am writing on behalf of the Seriously Free Speech Committee – Vancouver (SFSC)  to support your right to discuss, debate and implement a program of  Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).   In the current climate taking such a position is a courageous act which must be defended.  While SFSC does not take a position on BDS, we support the right of any organization  seeking to support Palestinian human rights and ending the illegal occupation  to come to their own conclusions regarding appropriate strategies for such support.  Continue reading →

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