Ward Churchill Solidarity Network

And the struggles continue…

The attempt to silence Ward Churchill has failed, but the unremitting attacks on him by the University of Colorado, local and national politicians, and the media have had a very predictable chilling effect on those who would question the status quo.

Despite the smokescreen of “research misconduct” charges, most people understand that CU was under tremendous political and financial pressure to get rid of Professor Churchill, and simply had to find some pretext. Ward Churchill has filed suit, charging the University with firing him in retaliation for his First Amendment-protected speech. He continues with a full schedule of speaking engagements around the country, and has several new books in the works.

We are grateful to the many people who have sent contributions to the legal fund. Even with David Lane contributing his time, depositions, transcripts, filing fees and expenses associated with bringing in witnesses, require us to raise tens of thousands of dollars. The University, apparently, is happy to spend its tuition or tax dollars on this; we have to rely on regular folks around the country. So, we hope you’ll join our campaign to raise $25 from 1,000 people…

At the same time, we need to remember that this case isn’t about a statement Ward Churchill posted on an obscure website on September 12, 2001, much less about a handful of footnotes or attributions in his prolific body of scholarship. It’s about sending a message (i.e., “shut up”) to all who would question the legitimacy of the U.S. government’s actions, both today and in the past.

It’s about our collective right to constitutional protections regardless of the “popularity” of the underlying issues, about the ability of people of color and Indigenous peoples to bring our histories and perspectives into the academic mainstream, and about the elimination of all avenues of effective social change that are supposed to characterize a democracy.

In the past few weeks, we’ve seen DePaul’s Prof. Norman Finkelstein denied tenure as a result of vicious attacks by Alan Dershowitz (known for arguing in favor of “regulated” torture); an (unsuccessful) attempt to prevent eminent constitutional law scholar Erwin Chemerinsky from becoming dean of UC-Irvine’s new law school; the mobilization of state power against Indigenous peoples from the Diné (Navajo) to the Mohawk Nation; who are attempting to protect their lands.

The government continues to prosecute the “San Francisco 8” as part of a larger effort to discredit community-based liberation movements of the 1960s and ‘70s; to target contemporary eco-activists and anti-war protesters as “domestic terrorists”; and to undermine the rule of law with attacks on lawyers such as Lynne Stewart, or those representing Guantánamo detainees. The genocidal legacy of Columbus will soon be celebrated around the country….

We appreciate the outpouring of national, even international, support for Ward Churchill which, we believe, reflects a broad understanding of how these issues are all connected. Over the next few weeks we’ll be reorganizing this website and updating it to include links to many of these struggles. Please contact us if you’d like to sponsor a talk by Ward Churchill, or have a link to a related struggle.