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9 October 2006
Two emails on the Columbia anti-Minutemen protest: the first from the protest
supporters, the second from Columbia University.
Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2006 10:49:14 -0500 (CDT)
From: "A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition"
<ANSWER[at]InternationalANSWER.org>
To: jya[at]pipeline.com
Subject: Urgent, take action to defend the Columbia anti-Minutemen
protesters
Subscribe
*Please circulate widely*
www.answercoalition.org
Take action to defend Columbia University protesters!
Write to Columbia University, demand: no reprisals!
Dear ANSWER friend,
On Wednesday night, October 4, progressive students at Columbia University
protested the racist Minuteman Project inside and outside the auditorium
where they were speaking. Although the students were subject to vicious
and violent attacks by Minutemen stormtroopers, they held their ground and
Jim Gilchrist, the Minutemen founder, terminated his speech. Now the
university is threatening to punish the anti-racist students. It is urgent
that you
take
action now to show your support.
The ANSWER Coalition has set up an easy-to-use mechanism to
send
a letter to Columbia University President Lee Bollinger in
support of student protesters who are being threatened with reprisals following
their protest against Jim Gilchrist, founder of the racist anti-immigrant
vigilante organization, the Minuteman Project. The protesters went on stage
with banners that said, "No One is Illegal" and "Say No to Racism."
The protesters were physically assaulted by Minutemen and their supporters.
When they spoke out against fascism and racism, they spoke for all of us.
Yet, there has been a coordinated campaign seeking reprisals against the
students, initiated by FoxNews, the Minutemen, New York
City's Republican Mayor Mike Bloomberg, the New York Times, and other
media.
It is important to understand that the Minuteman Project is at its core,
the same as the Nazis and the KKK. This fact has been confused by the legitimacy
granted to the Minutemen by Lou Dobbs on CNN, FoxNews, and other so-called
mainstream media, including NPR. David Duke, the white supremacist leader
of the KKK, achieved some of the same "legitimacy" from the mainstream media
when he ran for Governor in Louisiana. Taking the hood off a Klansman, or
the swastika off the arm of a Nazi, doesn't change their fascist essence.
Click
here to send a letter to Bollinger expressing your support for
the protesters, and to demand that the students suffer no reprisals.
For the initial report from the protest,
click
here. To see the statement of the protesters, explaining their decision
to go on stage, see below.
Racist and fascist groups are not welcome!
Statement of Columbia anti-Minutemen protesters
who took the stage against Jim Gilchrist on October 4
October 6, 2006
In the aftermath of the protest on the night of October 4 against Jim Gilchrist
and the racist Minutemen at Roone Arledge auditorium, we want to state clearly:
We are proud to send the message to the country that racist and fascist groups
are not welcome at Columbia or in New York City.
As Chicanos and Latinos, alongside African Americans and progressive people
of other nationalities, we took it as our responsibility to give voice to
the undocumented immigrant families who live in fear at terrorist vigilante
groups like the Minutemen. Armed patrols by these groups force more and more
people desperate for work to find even more hazardous ways into the United
States. Over 3,000 people including hundreds of children have died in the
desert. Their blood is on the hands of Gilchrist and his thugs.
Fascist scapegoating is not up for academic discussion. Like Hitler in pre-Nazi
Germany, Gilchrist and the Minutemen attempt to demonize foreign-born poor
people, blaming illegals for society s problems. His group doesn t present
reasoned debate. It spouts racism and hatred, aiming to divide people against
one another.
Regardless of how Gilchrist tries to sanitize his message for national audiences,
more candid moments tell the real story. Gilchrist is a member of the California
Coalition for Immigration Reform, which is now notorious for referring to
Mexicans as savages. Speaking about Mexicans and Central American immigrants,
Minuteman co-founder Chris Simcox once said, "They have no problem slitting
your throat and taking your money or selling drugs to your kids or raping
your daughter and they are evil people."
This vile racism translates directly into violence on the ground. It should
be legal to kill illegals, said one Minutemen volunteer. Just shoot 'em on
sight. That's my immigration policy recommendation. It is no wonder that
neo-Nazi organizations like the National Alliance praise the Minuteman Project
in their publications, and have members signing up for Minutemen militias.
We are sure that if the Nazi party held a public meeting on campus, Jewish
groups would be there to challenge them so would we. We are sure that if
the Ku Klux Klan held a public meeting on campus, African American groups
would be there to challenge them so would we. The Minutemen are no different.
We are pleased that an overwhelming number of people answered our call to
demonstrate against the racist, fascist Minutemen the night of October 4.
The hundreds of people outside Roone Arledge chanting, Minutemen, Nazis,
KKK, racists, fascists, go away! represented students and community people
from all walks of life. Inside the auditorium, perhaps as much as 80 percent
of the crowd was repelled by the Minutemen s message of hate.
When we walked on stage on the night of October 4, with anti-racist banners
for immigrant rights, we were met with violent attack by Gilchrist s goons.
We were the ones who were punched and kicked. We are proud that despite these
attacks, we held our ground. When Gilchrist walked off stage, it was because
he and his Minutemen outfit were isolated.
This is not an issue of free speech. The Minutemen were able to reserve a
hall at our university and had the protection of campus security and the
NYPD all to espouse their hate speech. We along with hundreds of others expressed
our right to speak and protest.
Over the last 50 years, throughout the Civil Rights movement and the women
s rights movement, ultra-right wing groups have routinely used violence,
lynchings, armed assaults and bombings against oppressed people. Yet when
we organize to oppose them to express our contempt for their violence, we
are criticized for inhibiting the free speech of the ones who perpetrate
violence.
We thank everyone who joined our protest inside and outside of the
auditorium.
Shame on the Columbia University administration for launching an investigation
of peaceful protesters, and failing to condemn the perpetrators of violence.
Shame on the College Republicans for inviting this fascist thug and provoking
such outrage on our campus.
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here to unsubscribe from the ANSWER e-mail list.
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From: Eric J. Furda- Vice President for Alumni Relations
<alumni-link[at]columbia.edu>
To: Columbia University Alumni <jya[at]pipeline.com>
Subject: Columbia Responds to Disruption at Student Event
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2006 16:06:35 -0400 (EDT)
This message is being sent to you because of your affiliation with Columbia
University at URL
http://alumni.columbia.edu.
Dear Columbian,
As you may have heard, last Wednesday night, disruption by student protestors
resulted in the termination of an event organized by the Columbia College
Republicans in Lerner Hall. The incident quickly received broad media attention.
In order to keep you and other University alumni informed, I have included
below a letter President Bollinger sent to the campus community on October
6, 2006. As the letter notes, the administration is investigating the incident
and those found responsible for any violations of campus norms of conduct
will be held fully accountable. Most importantly, President Bollinger
affirms an unwavering commitment to free speech across the political spectrum
as one of our core values as a community.
We will be posting updated information as it becomes available at
alumni.columbia.edu.
Regards,
Eric J. Furda
Vice President for Alumni Relations
PRESIDENT BOLLINGER'S LETTER:
Dear fellow members of the Columbia community,
Columbia University has always been, and will always be, a place where students
and faculty engage directly with important public issues. We are justifiably
proud of the traditions here of intellectual inquiry and vigorous debate.
The disruption on Wednesday night that resulted in the termination of an
event organized by the Columbia College Republicans in Lerner Hall represents,
in my judgment, one of the most serious breaches of academic faith that can
occur in a university such as ours.
Of course, the University is thoroughly investigating the incident, and it
is critically important not to prejudge the outcome of that inquiry with
respect to individuals. But, as we made clear in our University statements
on both Wednesday night and Thursday, we must speak out to deplore a disruption
that threatens the central principle to which we are institutionally dedicated,
namely to respect the rights of others to express their views.
This is not complicated: Students and faculty have rights to invite speakers
to the campus. Others have rights to hear them. Those who wish to protest
have rights to do so. No one, however, shall have the right or the power
to use the cover of protest to silence speakers. This is a sacrosanct and
inviolable principle.
It is unacceptable to seek to deprive another person of his or her right
of expression through actions such as taking a stage and interrupting a speech.
We rightly have a visceral rejection of this behavior, because we all sense
how easy it is to slide from our collective commitment to the hard work of
intellectual confrontation to the easy path of physical brutishness. When
the latter happens, we know instinctively we are all threatened.
We have extensive University policies governing the actions of members of
this community with respect to free speech and the conduct of campus events.
Administrators began identifying those involved in the incident as it transpired
and continue to investigate specific violations of University policies to
ensure full accountability by those found to be responsible.
University personnel are also evaluating event management practices that
are specifically intended to help event organizers, participants, and protestors
maintain a safe environment in which to engage in meaningful and sometimes
contentious debate across the spectrum of academic and political issues.
These are some of the many steps we intend to take in the weeks ahead to
address this matter in our community.
Let me reaffirm: In a society committed to free speech, there will inevitably
be times when speakers use words that anger, provoke, and even cause pain.
Then, more than ever, we are called on to maintain our courage to confront
bad words with better words. That is the hallmark of a university and of
our democratic society. It is also one of our central safeguards against
the impulses of intolerance that always threaten to engulf our commitment
to proper respect for every person.
Sincerely,
Lee C. Bollinger
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