President Irvin Reid has announced his resignation from Wayne State University. Much has been made of his record at the university in the last ten years. He has dramatically increased undergraduate enrollment. He has broken ground on several new buildings. But whatever dubious benefit such changes have brought, the fact remains that Wayne State University under Reid's tenure has unleashed a vicious assault on working people and people of color, especially black folks in the city of Detroit.
To begin, Reid and his partners in crime on the board of governors shut the doors on the College of Lifelong Learning in 2002. CLL was committed to providing educational opportunities to non-traditional students, especially working people with families. More recently, that same board dismantled the College of Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs (CULMA) in 2005. According to Stuart Henry, former head of the Interdisciplinary Studies department at WSU, CULMA was the "only other college explicitly serving adult urban students." By shutting these programs down, WSU has effectively abandoned the urban mission that had been a proud legacy of the rebellious movement for community control of schools during the 1960s.
Just recently, Reid and the Board of Governors voted to dismantle the Interdisciplinary Studies program at the University. This program served non-traditional students from the community, including working people and single parents. Eliminating this program cuts the university off even further from the community it is supposed to serve, as it gets rid of the program's unique open enrollment policy. This policy allowed anyone with a high school diploma access to the university. Although the board of governors hoped to spin this and similar moves as the necessities of budget cuts, others astutely recognized that it was an attack on working people. Ron Aronson, for example, recently noted in the Metrotimes that, "Those who envision a more selective Wayne State University demand the elimination of [Interdisciplinary Studies]."
President Reid's vision for WSU has been demonstrated by his actions. He seeks to transform a largely working class institution into yet another bastion of middle-class professionalism.
As with all career bureaucrats, Reid has no imagination. Thus when it comes to Palestine, he is every bit as reactionary. Last October, in an infamous editorial to the Detroit Free Press, Reid refused to divest from the racist state of Israel. ARA had proposed divestment from apartheid Israel as a unique opportunity for the university to be the first in the nation to take such a step. Doing so would have affirmed the university's commitment to basic human dignity. Reid's refusal to divest, his insistence on supporting apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and the colonial history of Israel, infuriated the surrounding community. The Arab American Forum and Link of October 19 th, 2006, for example, asked the question, "Divestment: It worked in South Africa. Why not in Israel?"
And this was not the first time Reid had made this decision. In 2002, he overturned and ignored the historic resolution by the Student Council to divest from Israel. The students at Wayne State University had the courage to stand against apartheid and white supremacy when they passed their resolution, the first of its kind in the United States. Irvin Reid and the board of governors ignored their decision, demonstrating that all claims to "student representation" or "student power" are rhetorical nonsense. Real power, Reid showed, lies with himself and his board of governors, and they have no interest in commitment of any kind to working people, people of color, or simple principles such as democracy and anti-racism.
To summarize, Irvin Reid has bolstered middle class access to Wayne State University while attacking working people and people of color in the city of Detroit and in the surrounding suburbs. He has also supported white supremacy and imperialism at two different times in his career! ARA says good riddance, and we can only affirm our previous slogan: divestment or unemployment. ARA welcomes the next president of the university with the very same challenge: divest from apartheid, divest from white supremacy and refuse to support imperialism. Otherwise, save yourself time and effort by preparing your goodbyes at the same time that you are preparing your introductory speeches.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
Read a Banned Book with ARA!
Recently, the book Overcoming Zionism by Joel Kovel was added to the illustrious list of banned books alongside George Orwell's 1984, Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five and Joseph Heller's Catch-22. Why has Kovel's book been challenged? It calls for “a single democratic state in Israel/Palestine,” where Jews and Arabs live side by side together. By doing so, Kovel’s book is a threat to all Zionists who equate Judaism with support for the state of Israel, and justify the colonialism of Palestine on racist grounds. Local Zionists have therefore attempted to pressure the University of Michigan Press to cease distribution of Kovel's book. All those that consider themselves anti-racists simply cannot let this happen!
THIS INCIDENT IS AN ATTACK ON ARAB AND MUSLIM PEOPLE AS WELL AS ON BASIC DEMOCRATIC FREEDOMS! It is an extension of Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and elsewhere. It is aimed at denying the self-governing capacities of people of color everywhere.
Similar incidents abound: Norman Finkelstein was recently denied tenure at DePaul University after a lengthy campaign by Zionists; at Barnard College, Zionists seek to reverse the recent decision to grant Nadia Abu El Haj tenure; finally, at Wayne State University just last year, Wadie Said, son of the late Palestinian academic Edward Said, was denied a position at the law school after Zionists once again raised questions about his academic credentials. These cases represent a concerted attack on Arabs, Muslims, anti-Zionist Jews and other Palestine solidarity activists by racist Zionists. Anti-Racist Action stands in solidarity with these academics as well as with people around the world seeking to live free from colonial domination.
As usual, Zionists of all stripes consider an attack on their racist ideology an attack on Jewish people, although Judaism and Zionism have nothing in common! The reason Zionists have such a problem with Kovel's book is because it refuses to equate Jewish identity with support for Israel. Doing so calls into question and in fact completely undermines the Zionist project. To challenge Zionism as the only Jewish identity is to strike at the very foundations of Zionism.
But not only is the book a challenge to Zionism. Because Zionists seek to ban it, it is a challenge to those of us fighting for Palestine in the United States. Are we going to continue to let Zionists ban our books, discredit our scholars, disrupt our events, spy on us at work, at school, and at home, and intimidate us into silence? We cannot, for our fight for freedom for Palestine is just as much a fight for our own freedom. Our freedom to worship, our freedom to live, our freedom to challenge colonialism, imperialism, and apartheid!
Why do Zionists have a problem with that? The answer is obvious. They are racists. They are against democracy. They want to maintain Israel's colonial domination over the Palestinian people. They want Palestinian land, Palestinian resources, Palestinian villages. They want Palestinian people under their control, without control over their lives, their fates, or even when they can cook, eat, turn on a light or flush the toilet. It is this vision Zionists defend and Joel Kovel attacks. For this reason, Anti-Racist Action stands in solidarity with Joel Kovel and the fight for the distribution of his book.
Overcoming Zionism is an important book with an explosive message. Anti-Racist Action proposes an equally explosive plan of action: Let us read this important book. Let us then discuss how we can begin to achieve freedom for ourselves and freedom for Palestine.
JOIN ARA EVERY THURSDAY THROUGHOUT THE SEMESTER AT 3 P.M. IN THE STUDENT CENTER BUILDING IN FRONT OF McDONALDS TO BEGIN THIS IMPORTANT PROJECT!
(Thanks to an anonymous Palestine solidarity advocate who saw an earlier draft of this post for pointing out that Starbucks is owned by a major Zionist businessperson who donates tons of money to Israel, otherwise we'd be meeting there!)
THIS INCIDENT IS AN ATTACK ON ARAB AND MUSLIM PEOPLE AS WELL AS ON BASIC DEMOCRATIC FREEDOMS! It is an extension of Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and elsewhere. It is aimed at denying the self-governing capacities of people of color everywhere.
Similar incidents abound: Norman Finkelstein was recently denied tenure at DePaul University after a lengthy campaign by Zionists; at Barnard College, Zionists seek to reverse the recent decision to grant Nadia Abu El Haj tenure; finally, at Wayne State University just last year, Wadie Said, son of the late Palestinian academic Edward Said, was denied a position at the law school after Zionists once again raised questions about his academic credentials. These cases represent a concerted attack on Arabs, Muslims, anti-Zionist Jews and other Palestine solidarity activists by racist Zionists. Anti-Racist Action stands in solidarity with these academics as well as with people around the world seeking to live free from colonial domination.
As usual, Zionists of all stripes consider an attack on their racist ideology an attack on Jewish people, although Judaism and Zionism have nothing in common! The reason Zionists have such a problem with Kovel's book is because it refuses to equate Jewish identity with support for Israel. Doing so calls into question and in fact completely undermines the Zionist project. To challenge Zionism as the only Jewish identity is to strike at the very foundations of Zionism.
But not only is the book a challenge to Zionism. Because Zionists seek to ban it, it is a challenge to those of us fighting for Palestine in the United States. Are we going to continue to let Zionists ban our books, discredit our scholars, disrupt our events, spy on us at work, at school, and at home, and intimidate us into silence? We cannot, for our fight for freedom for Palestine is just as much a fight for our own freedom. Our freedom to worship, our freedom to live, our freedom to challenge colonialism, imperialism, and apartheid!
Why do Zionists have a problem with that? The answer is obvious. They are racists. They are against democracy. They want to maintain Israel's colonial domination over the Palestinian people. They want Palestinian land, Palestinian resources, Palestinian villages. They want Palestinian people under their control, without control over their lives, their fates, or even when they can cook, eat, turn on a light or flush the toilet. It is this vision Zionists defend and Joel Kovel attacks. For this reason, Anti-Racist Action stands in solidarity with Joel Kovel and the fight for the distribution of his book.
Overcoming Zionism is an important book with an explosive message. Anti-Racist Action proposes an equally explosive plan of action: Let us read this important book. Let us then discuss how we can begin to achieve freedom for ourselves and freedom for Palestine.
JOIN ARA EVERY THURSDAY THROUGHOUT THE SEMESTER AT 3 P.M. IN THE STUDENT CENTER BUILDING IN FRONT OF McDONALDS TO BEGIN THIS IMPORTANT PROJECT!
(Thanks to an anonymous Palestine solidarity advocate who saw an earlier draft of this post for pointing out that Starbucks is owned by a major Zionist businessperson who donates tons of money to Israel, otherwise we'd be meeting there!)
Labels:
"anti-racist action",
anti-racism,
Banned Books,
democracy,
Joel Kovel,
Palestine,
Zionism
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Free Palestine! Contribute to the hottest topic on campus!
Last year, a vigorous debate arose on campus over the struggle for Palestine and what we can do in the US to support it. This year will be no different. Anti-Racist Action invites you to join the debate about this, the most pressing issue of our time.
Last year, ARA demanded that the university divest all holdings from companies doing business with the state of Israel. We provided the university a unique and powerful opportunity to become the first institution of its kind in the United States to take such a stand. The university unfortunately refused.
In order to promote dialogue regarding this crucial current event, ARA is once again raising the issue of divestment from Israel. Palestine must be free! Our case is simple and includes the following points.
1) What is Zionism? Who are Zionists?
Zionism is support for the creation and continued existence of the state of Israel. Its basic premises were spelled out by Theodor Herzl in his 1896 pamphlet, "The Jewish State." Zionism was both a reaction to anti-Semitism throughout Europe (though by no means the only reaction) as well as a justification for the colonization of Palestine and the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people from the land. In this it is no different from the white supremacist argument about the "superiority" of European culture that justified the colonization and destruction of indigenous populations in North, Central and South America, or the colonization, enslavement and genocide of Africans since the discovery of the "dark continent." Make no mistake about it: Zionism is White Supremacy.
A Zionist is anyone who supports the state of Israel. Anyone can be a Zionist. Not all Jews are Zionists, just as not all Zionists are Jews. There are many instances of anti-Zionist Jews, and there are likewise many instances of non-Jewish Zionists. Jerry Falwell is a Christian Zionist. So is Glenn Plummer, a Detroit-area preacher who pimps the state of Israel's agenda around town. In the past, perhaps the most notable anti-Zionist Jews were members of the Bund, an all-Jewish labor union, in Russia and Poland around the turn of the twentieth century. Recently the Israeli Socialist Organization, better known as Matzpen, carried on the anti-Zionist Jewish tradition from within Israel itself! Today, anti-Zionist Jews include those that call themselves the True Torah Jews, as well as many others.
2) Why oppose Israel?
Far from an "outpost of civilization against barbarism" as Zionist ideologue Theodor Herzl once called it, Israel is an outpost of colonialism, an outmoded form of European barbarism, at a time when all other colonial regimes have been overthrown. In 1947, Israel was founded by UN decree, and historic Palestine was partitioned into an Arab territory and Israeli state. The next year, Zionists began to, "abolish partition and expand to the whole of Palestine," as first Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion once declared. When this expansion, popularly known as “the catastrophe” among Palestinians,was over, around 700,000 Palestinians had been driven from historic Palestine. The origins of Israel show: Israel is a colonial-settler state.
3) Israel's Relationship with Imperialism
Israel has throughout its existence sought alliances with any imperialist it could persuade to support it. Around the turn of the century and following World War I, Great Britain was Israel's chief imperialist supporter. Great Britain supported Israel in order to check rising nationalist sentiments in Egypt. These sentiments threatened Britain's hold on the Suez Canal, an important trade route to India, which was itself firmly in the grips of the British Empire. At the end of World War II, British power waned, and the US replaced Britain as supporter of Israel in the Middle East. This relationship proved crucial during the Cold War, as Israel and the US developed an important mutual relationship, both assisting each other in opposing nationalist movements, Communist-inspired and otherwise. Last summer's war on Lebanon was an extension of this policy: its aim was to destroy the militant anti-colonial Hezbollah movement, which threatened both Israeli and US interests in the Middle East.
In addition, Zionism claims that it is a national liberation movement of the Jewish people. However, unlike nationalist movements throughout the world, which have fought colonialism and imperialism to achieve self-government, Israel has allied itself with imperialism at every turn in order to suppress and destroy nationalist movements throughout the Middle East. Zionist claims about "national liberation" would be laughable if the consequences were not so dire.
4) Israel is an apartheid state
From its inception, Israel has ruled by military checkpoints, racial segregation (Jewish-only neighborhoods), environmental racism (denying Palestinians access to water resources and proper sewage facilities), expropriation of land, and ethnic cleansing. These practices are not simply responses to suicide bombings in recent years, but have been a consistent set of tactics used to manage the lives of everyday Palestinians.
Although Palestinians can vote and even hold office within Israel, they are considered second-class citizens in the “Jewish state.” They are barred from jobs, they are kept out of Jewish-only neighborhoods, and if they demand that Israel be a nation of all its people, they are exiled.
If we do not act now to free Palestine, the Palestinian people will be entirely ethnically cleansed from their land or reduced to the same fate as Native Americans in the United States in our lifetimes! We cannot allow this to happen. Palestine must be free!
Last year, ARA demanded that the university divest all holdings from companies doing business with the state of Israel. We provided the university a unique and powerful opportunity to become the first institution of its kind in the United States to take such a stand. The university unfortunately refused.
In order to promote dialogue regarding this crucial current event, ARA is once again raising the issue of divestment from Israel. Palestine must be free! Our case is simple and includes the following points.
1) What is Zionism? Who are Zionists?
Zionism is support for the creation and continued existence of the state of Israel. Its basic premises were spelled out by Theodor Herzl in his 1896 pamphlet, "The Jewish State." Zionism was both a reaction to anti-Semitism throughout Europe (though by no means the only reaction) as well as a justification for the colonization of Palestine and the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people from the land. In this it is no different from the white supremacist argument about the "superiority" of European culture that justified the colonization and destruction of indigenous populations in North, Central and South America, or the colonization, enslavement and genocide of Africans since the discovery of the "dark continent." Make no mistake about it: Zionism is White Supremacy.
A Zionist is anyone who supports the state of Israel. Anyone can be a Zionist. Not all Jews are Zionists, just as not all Zionists are Jews. There are many instances of anti-Zionist Jews, and there are likewise many instances of non-Jewish Zionists. Jerry Falwell is a Christian Zionist. So is Glenn Plummer, a Detroit-area preacher who pimps the state of Israel's agenda around town. In the past, perhaps the most notable anti-Zionist Jews were members of the Bund, an all-Jewish labor union, in Russia and Poland around the turn of the twentieth century. Recently the Israeli Socialist Organization, better known as Matzpen, carried on the anti-Zionist Jewish tradition from within Israel itself! Today, anti-Zionist Jews include those that call themselves the True Torah Jews, as well as many others.
2) Why oppose Israel?
Far from an "outpost of civilization against barbarism" as Zionist ideologue Theodor Herzl once called it, Israel is an outpost of colonialism, an outmoded form of European barbarism, at a time when all other colonial regimes have been overthrown. In 1947, Israel was founded by UN decree, and historic Palestine was partitioned into an Arab territory and Israeli state. The next year, Zionists began to, "abolish partition and expand to the whole of Palestine," as first Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion once declared. When this expansion, popularly known as “the catastrophe” among Palestinians,was over, around 700,000 Palestinians had been driven from historic Palestine. The origins of Israel show: Israel is a colonial-settler state.
3) Israel's Relationship with Imperialism
Israel has throughout its existence sought alliances with any imperialist it could persuade to support it. Around the turn of the century and following World War I, Great Britain was Israel's chief imperialist supporter. Great Britain supported Israel in order to check rising nationalist sentiments in Egypt. These sentiments threatened Britain's hold on the Suez Canal, an important trade route to India, which was itself firmly in the grips of the British Empire. At the end of World War II, British power waned, and the US replaced Britain as supporter of Israel in the Middle East. This relationship proved crucial during the Cold War, as Israel and the US developed an important mutual relationship, both assisting each other in opposing nationalist movements, Communist-inspired and otherwise. Last summer's war on Lebanon was an extension of this policy: its aim was to destroy the militant anti-colonial Hezbollah movement, which threatened both Israeli and US interests in the Middle East.
In addition, Zionism claims that it is a national liberation movement of the Jewish people. However, unlike nationalist movements throughout the world, which have fought colonialism and imperialism to achieve self-government, Israel has allied itself with imperialism at every turn in order to suppress and destroy nationalist movements throughout the Middle East. Zionist claims about "national liberation" would be laughable if the consequences were not so dire.
4) Israel is an apartheid state
From its inception, Israel has ruled by military checkpoints, racial segregation (Jewish-only neighborhoods), environmental racism (denying Palestinians access to water resources and proper sewage facilities), expropriation of land, and ethnic cleansing. These practices are not simply responses to suicide bombings in recent years, but have been a consistent set of tactics used to manage the lives of everyday Palestinians.
Although Palestinians can vote and even hold office within Israel, they are considered second-class citizens in the “Jewish state.” They are barred from jobs, they are kept out of Jewish-only neighborhoods, and if they demand that Israel be a nation of all its people, they are exiled.
If we do not act now to free Palestine, the Palestinian people will be entirely ethnically cleansed from their land or reduced to the same fate as Native Americans in the United States in our lifetimes! We cannot allow this to happen. Palestine must be free!
Labels:
"white supremacy",
anti-Zionism,
Israel,
Palestine
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