Ward Churchill Solidarity Network

Here come the thought police

By Ralph E. Shaffer and R. William Robinson

With overwhelming bipartisan support, Rep. Jane Harman’s “Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act” passed the House 404-6 late last month and now rests in Sen. Joe Lieberman’s Homeland Security Committee. Swift Senate passage appears certain.

Not since the “Patriot Act” of 2001 has any bill so threatened our constitutionally guaranteed rights.

The historian Henry Steele Commager, denouncing President John Adams’ suppression of free speech in the 1790s, argued that the Bill of Rights was not written to protect government from dissenters but to provide a legal means for citizens to oppose a government they didn’t trust. Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence not only proclaimed the right to dissent but declared it a people’s duty, under certain conditions, to alter or abolish their government.

In that vein, diverse groups vigorously oppose Ms. Harman’s effort to stifle dissent. Unfortunately, the mainstream press and leading presidential candidates remain silent … keep reading.

“I Will Not Sit Quietly By While State Forces Terrorise My People.”

On November 8, 2007, Hone Harawira, Mâori Minister of Parliament, denounced recent attacks by the New Zealand “security” forces on Indigenous activists, revealing the systemic nature of the silencing of dissent around the world:

I will not sit quietly by, while State forces terrorize my people. . . . .

So let’s look at what this whole Terrorism thing means. What exactly is terrorism and who are we talking about when we call people terrorists? . . . .

Mr Speaker, when a member of this House characterizes terrorism as the importation of deadly diseases, the murder of innocent civilians, and the wholesale theft of a people’s lands and territories, is he referring to the terrorism of the colonial invasion of Aotearoa, because you’d have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to see those very terrorist activities in our own history? . . . .

The Mâori Party is no apologist for the regimes of either the Taliban or Saddam Hussein Mr Speaker, but neither are we so blind as to vote for a Bill clearly designed to punish those who would challenge injustice in Aotearoa. . . . .

This country is faced by the terror of silence; those who would silence the voice of radical protest, of vocal dissent and of genuine opposition; those who would tell us “wait, just wait, the police know what they’re doing.”. . .

Do you really think it’s acceptable behaviour for the state to use armed and masked gunmen to blockade communities, smash into people’s homes, hold innocent people at gun point, frighten children with guns, arrest and hold people without bail, and suppress all information on those cases? . . . .

We are not dumb; we are not blind; we are not deaf; and we will not be silenced. . . . .

The Mâori Party will oppose terrorism in all its forms, be it international terrorism or state terrorism, and we will stand alongside our people whenever our lands, our communities, and our people are threatened.

Click here to read entire statement.

Ward Churchill speaks to CU Journalism Class

I like Ward Churchill.

When he walked into my journalism class on Wednesday I could smell fire from a mile away.

Churchill’s crisp white shirt matched the white stripes in his hair, just as everything I knew about him up until meeting him was perfectly matched by his swagger.

Ward came to talk about his rather abusive relationship with the media throughout the past three years. Needless to say, he had a lot to articulate.

Enhanced by his mischievous smile and the witty banter to back it up, listening to Churchill talk was like taking part in a duel, except you forgot your arsenal. Every word from his clearly well equipped artillery is sharpened like a knife.

My mother would call him a smartass–a tall, highly publicized and irrefutable smartass. But isn’t that why we love him? That’s certainly part of it.

Ward Churchill is a man who, if nothing else, has seized our attention and caused us to think . . . the rest.

DePaul: Tenure Process Violated Professor Mehrene Larudee’s Rights

In addition to denying tenure to Professor Norman Finkelstein (a case that was recently settled), DePaul University also denied tenure to Professor Mehrene Larudee. According to a Review Board decision issued October 26, her rights were violated by DePaul during her tenure process.Unanimously approved for tenure by her department, the International Studies Program, as well as the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LA&S), Prof. Larudee was turned down by the University Board on Promotion and Tenure (UBPT) in May, and the president denied her tenure in June. It is widely thought that she was denied for supporting Prof. Norman Finkelstein during his controversial tenure case last spring.