Black student leaders slam 'apartheid' characterization

[shira]

Black student leaders slam 'apartheid' characterization
By JORDANA HORN, JPOST CORRESPONDENT
04/09/2011 10:09

Letter says "decency, justice and hope compel us to demand immediate cessation to deliberate misappropriation of words."


NEW YORK - African-American student leaders from a variety of historically black colleges and universities took out full page ads in numerous American college newspapers Thursday, displaying an “Open Letter to Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP),” to convey that they were offended by SJP’s use of the term “apartheid” at recent Israel Apartheid Week events at campuses across the country.

The 16 signatories to the letter are students and alumni from historically black colleges and universities who are members of the Vanguard Leadership Group, a leadership development academy and honor society for top students. The letter ran or is slated to run in student newspapers at Brown University, University of California- Los Angeles, University of Maryland and Columbia University over the next few days.

“The Students for Justice in Palestine’s labeling of Israel, an extremely diverse and vibrant country, as an apartheid state is not only false, but offensive,” Vanguard President Michael Hayes told The Jerusalem Post. “Additionally, this rhetoric does absolutely nothing to help Israel-Palestine negotiations or relations. We feel this type of action serves to hinder the peace process domestically and abroad, and have made it our priority to take a stand to shift the tide of understanding.”

In a statement released by the Vanguard Leadership Group as to why they authored the open letter to SJP, Vanguard described itself as “proudly involved in the pro-Israel movement in America.

more...
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=215811

[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. College students speaking truth to politics

What will they think of next?

[oberliner]

2. They have a "relationship" with AIPAC

Just putting that out there.

[azurnoir]

3. do they? what I found on their site was Citigroup, Humana,

Wachovia which is now part of Wells Fargo (guess they didn't update that) Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, and they apparently got members into Harvard Medical School, and MIT

an interesting little group I wonder what MLK (mentioned because his picture looms large on their home page) would say about their recent statement?

http://vanguardleadershipgroup.com/

eta it does say though that they are looking to expand their 'influence'

[azurnoir]

4. the group being slammed is another Black Student group or coalition of groups

http://ccc.ucsd.edu/Affiliates.asp

interesting indeed for some reason Spike Lee's movie 'School Daze' comes to mind

[Douglas Carpenter]

5. Desmond Tutu Likens Israeli Actions to Apartheid

Desmond Tutu Likens Israeli Actions to Apartheid

BOSTON - South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu compared conditions in Palestine to those of South Africa under apartheid, and called on Israelis to try and change them, while speaking in Boston Saturday at historic Old South Church."We hope the occupation of the Palestinian territory by Israel will end," Tutu said.

snip:

Tutu was an inspirational leader in the South African fight against apartheid, which officially ended 13 years ago. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 and today continues to speak around the globe for peace and justice, and to call for Palestinian rights.
.

"Because of what I experienced in South Africa, I harbour hope for Israel and the Palestinian territories," said Tutu, who invoked passages from the Christian bible throughout his talk.

Tutu drew parallels between the apartheid of South Africa and occupied Palestine of today, including demolitions of Palestinian homes by the Israeli government and the inability of Palestinians to travel freely within and out of Palestine.

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/10/29/4872

[shira]

6. Desmond Tutu quotes WRT Jews...

He has called the Jews "a peculiar people" and has accused "the Jews" of causing many of the world's problems. He has railed against "the Jewish Lobby," comparing its power to that of Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin.

He has said that "the Jews thought they had a monopoly of God: Jesus was angry that they could shut out other human beings." He has said that Jews have been "fighting against" and being "opposed to" his God. He has "compared the features of the ancient Holy Temple in Jerusalem to the features of the apartheid system in South Africa." He has complained that "the Jewish people with their traditions, religion and long history of persecution sometimes appear to have caused a refugee problem among others." Tutu has minimized the suffering of those murdered in the Holocaust by asserting that "the gas chambers" made for "a neater death" than did Apartheid. He has complained of "the Jewish Monopoly of the Holocaust," and has demanded that its victims must "forgive the Nazis for the Holocaust," while refusing to forgive the "Jewish people" for "persecuting others."

He has complained that Americans "are scared…to say wrong is wrong because the Jewish lobby is powerful—very powerful." He has accused Jews—not Israelis—of exhibiting "an arrogance—the arrogance of power because Jews are a powerful lobby in this land and all kinds of people woo their support."

Tutu has acknowledged having been frequently accused of being anti-Semitic," to which he has offered two responses: "Tough luck;" and "my dentist's name is Dr. Cohen."

http://www.hudson-ny.org/1935/public-figures-against-jews

[azurnoir]

7. yet more from Alan Dershowitz thanks n/t

[shira]

8. If you find any misquotes in there about Tutu, I'm sure you'll let us know - thanks! n/t

[azurnoir]

9. why did you truncate the first paragraph?

There is a second, a far more troubling answer to "Why the Jews?" Prominent public figures have blurred another line as well—the line between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, between attacking the Jewish state and attacking the Jewish people. Consider widely publicized remarks made by Bishop Desmond Tutu, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and the American Model of Freedom, and a man openly admired and praised by President Obama. He has called the Jews "a peculiar people" and has accused "the Jews" of causing many of the world's problems. He has railed against "the Jewish Lobby," comparing its power to that of Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin.

guess that underhanded slur directed at Obama wasn't 'painting the right picture'?

as to the rest they appear to be partial quotes pulled from here and there and need greater context to be fully judged

[shira]

10. LOL....now they're probably partial quotes, jury is still out - maybe he's not Helen Thomas II? n/t

[azurnoir]

11. I was waiting for HT to get thrown in she seemed missing from Dershowitz's other comparisons

such as Farrakhan and Charlie Sheen but you forgot the fav-o-rite David Duke but that would be just too obvious huh?

[azurnoir]

12. still didn't explain why you truncated the slur directed at Obama n/t

[shira]

13. Irrelevant, and it's not a slur. n/t

[azurnoir]

14. it's irrelevent not a slur to point out Obama is an admirer of one being painted as an anti-semite?

ya if you say so

[shira]

15. Helen Thomas and Desmond Tutu are admired by leaders throughout the world, so...? n/t

[azurnoir]

17. Oookay alrighty jury is in n/t

[azurnoir]

20. NO not now the supposed quotes in Dershes article are unsourced and incomplete

cherry picked and mostly impartial sentences

[Douglas Carpenter]

16. Banning Bishop Tutu

Banning Bishop Tutu

By Matt Snyders Wednesday, Oct 3 2007

snip:


During that speech, titled "Occupation Is Oppression," ( in Boston in 2002 )Tutu lambasted the Israeli government for its treatment of Palestinians in occupied territories. While a transcription clearly suggests his criticism was aimed at the Israeli government ("We don't criticize the Jewish people," he said during the speech. "We criticize, we will criticize when they need to be criticized, the government of Israel"), pro-Israeli organizations such as the Zionist Organization of America went on the offensive and protested campus appearances by Tutu, accusing him of anti-Semitism.

snip: That was news to Marv Davidov, an adjunct professor within the Justice and Peace Studies program.

"As a Jew who experienced real anti-Semitism as a child, I'm deeply disturbed that a man like Tutu could be labeled anti-Semitic and silenced like this," he says. "I deeply resent the Israeli lobby trying to silence any criticism of its policy. It does a great disservice to Israel and to all Jews."

snip: "This is pure bullshit," says Davidov. "As far as fighting for civil rights, I consider Tutu to be my brother. And I consider Cris Toffolo to be my sister. They're messing with my family here. If Columbia permits a Holocaust denier to speak at their university, why are St. Thomas officials refusing to let Tutu, an apostle of nonviolence, speak at ours?"

Davidov and other professors maintain that the situation at St. Thomas is emblematic of a larger issue.

"What happened at the University of St. Thomas is not an isolated event," says Toffolo. "Until we have an honest debate about U.S. policy related to Israel, and about Israeli policy in the Occupied Territories, the spiral of violence will continue."

http://www.citypages.com/2007-10-03/news/banning-desmond-tutu/

.

[shira]

18. Those quotes prove Tutu is an antisemite. There's no point trying to deny or minimize it...

...as people do routinely WRT the PLO's antisemitism or Helen Thomas.

FFS, rather than defend antisemites why not just find better advocates for your political positions?!?!

[Douglas Carpenter]

19. Dershowitz makes a list of mostly un-sourced and unsubstantiated quotes.

I do not consider Alan Dershowitz an honorable man.

Although the Archbishop and Nobel Laureate may very well have used some over-the-top language in regards to the actions of Israel.

One cannot prove that someone did not say something. One can say Dershowitz calls for the extermination of the Palestinian people and no one can prove that he did not say it.

The simple fact is - ANYONE - absolutely anyone who speaks up for the Palestinians is going be called an anti-Semite and there will be a whole host of websites with all kinds of information to prove it. That is the sad reality of the American body politic.

It is dangerous to call everyone who opposes Israel's policies an anti-Semite. Because there really are anti-Semites in this world. Yes, there really are. Someday, it could just happen that real live anti-Semites could start gaining traction. And I am sure that we have all heard of Aesop's parable about the boy who cried wolf.

Words cannot possibly describe how much I resent your comment about defending anti-Semites. I have spent a great deal of my life speaking against anti-Semitism. As you know I have spent approximately half my life in the Middle East. I have ceaselessly taken every opportunity to try to open peoples minds about the possibility and hope of Jews and Arabs living together in peace and reconciliation in a world where both can benefit from the positive aspects of each others cultures.

[King_David]

21. ' some over-the-top language '

I would not give anybody a break over bigotry.