[Marxism] Right-wing (and some lefties) lies about the protest at Columbia

[Lonnie Lopez <redmenace74@xxxxxxxxx>]

Right-wing lies about the protest at Columbia
Confronting the Minutemen   By Ben Davis, David Judd and Jennifer Roesch | 
October 13, 2006 | Page 12   
http://www.socialistworker.org/2006-2/605/605_12_Columbia.shtml     A PROTEST 
against the anti-immigrant Minutemen at Columbia University in New York City 
has gained national attention after an attempt by the mainstream media to 
slander supporters of immigrant rights.      The October 4 forum at Columbia, 
sponsored by the College Republicans, featured Jim Gilchrist, founder of the 
Minutemen, a vigilante group notorious for organizing armed patrols at the 
U.S.-Mexico border.      After 40 minutes of the Minutemen?s program, 
protesters mounted the stage to unfurl a banner reading, ?No one is illegal,? 
in English, Spanish and Arabic. This protest turned violent when Minutemen 
supporters began assaulting the pro-immigrant protesters.   University 
officials and the Minutemen decided to call off the rest of the forum, but 
since then, they--with the help of the New York and
 national media--have shifted the blame onto protesters for ?shutting down free 
speech.? From the New York Times to Fox News, media outlets claimed that ?free 
speech? was ?under attack at Columbia University.?                   For more 
information   Videotape of the protest shot by the Univision television network 
has been posted at the YouTube Web site. The first selection shows part of the 
protest. A second selection clearly shows the Minutemen assaulting nonviolent 
pro-immigrant demonstrators.   A statement by the students who protested on 
stage at Columbia has circulated around the Internet. The Columbia Spectator 
has extensive coverage of the protest. Columbia President Lee Bolinger?s 
statement has also circulated on the Internet.   What you can do   Show your 
support for the Columbia student protests by calling (212-854-9970), faxing 
(212-854-9973) or e-mailing (bollinger@xxxxxxxxxxxx) President Lee Bollinger's 
office and asking that he stop his threats of
 discipline. Copy/send messages of support to the Columbia Protesters' Defense 
Committee at nominutemen@xxxxxxxxxx   You can also sign an online petition in 
support of the protests. 
    
In response, student activists are organizing to get their story of what really 
happened out more widely--and show that they won?t be silenced by the lies and 
slanders.        - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
   
GILCHRIST?S MEETING at Columbia was more than the latest attempt to gain 
legitimacy for anti-immigrant scapegoating. As the Minuteman Web site details, 
the right-wing group is trying to get a foothold on campuses, targeting 
immigrant students and workers as part of their campaign of intimidation.   As 
soon as students found out about the event, planning for a protest began. The 
Chicano Caucus brought together a broad coalition of campus groups, including 
the Black Students Organization, the College Democrats and the International 
Socialist Organization (ISO), to sponsor a protest outside the event.      As 
the October 4 meeting was set to begin, a large and vocal crowd of students and 
community members had gathered on the sidewalk outside Columbia?s Roone Arledge 
Auditorium, chanting loud enough to be heard inside.   Inside, the program of 
speakers was delayed when it became clear that most of the crowd was opposed to 
the Minutemen. Audience members stood and turned their
 backs as the first Minutemen speaker launched into what even the apolitical 
Columbia student publication, the Blue and White, described as a 
?free-associative rant? about uniting church and state.   After 40 minutes, 
Gilchrist was introduced. As he took the stage, two students from the ISO did 
as well, unfurling their ?No one is illegal? banner. The crowd cheered, and 
other members of the audience joined the two pro-immigrant demonstrators on the 
stage, holding other banners.      The protesters remained peaceful, but--as 
captured by Univision TV network cameras at the event--the Minutemen and 
College Republicans turned on the protesters, kicking and punching several 
people, targeting especially Latino students.      Unable to restore order, 
campus security eventually closed the curtains and ushered Gilchrist away. 
Outside the auditorium, protesters gathered to jeer the retreating Minutemen 
and celebrate.      But the story that university officials and the mainstream
 media have told about the protest is very different.      Columbia President 
Lee Bollinger immediately issued a statement denouncing the immigrant rights 
supporters. ?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,? read the statement.      
Administrators have launched an investigation and say they will be scanning 
campus facebook images and profiles to identify the protesters. They are 
threatening harsh disciplinary action--not against the College Republicans who 
attacked peaceful protesters, but against the immigrant rights supporters.      
The media responded with the same torrent of abuse that characterized their 
campaign of the last several years against Columbia faculty who support 
Palestinian rights.      The New York Post published an editorial calling
 for the expulsion of all students involved. Fox News hosts Bill O?Reilly and 
Sean Hannity invited some of the protesters onto their shows--only to harangue 
them about why they were against ?free speech.?      The pro-immigrant rights 
protesters responded to the press hysteria in a statement, that read, ?We 
celebrate free speech: for that reason, we allowed the Minutemen to speak, and 
for that same reason, we peacefully occupied the stage and spoke ourselves. Our 
peaceful protest was violently attacked by members of the College Republicans 
and their supporters, who are the very same people who invited the Minutemen to 
our campus in the first place.?      The denunciations extended to New York 
politicians--even Mayor Michael Bloomberg stepped in, urging Bollinger to 
ensure a ?safe space? for debate on campus. Unfortunately, some liberal groups 
have bought the Minutemen?s complaints about being silenced, and joined the 
condemnation.      Unsurprisingly, protesters have gotten
 hate mail and death threats. As the Chicano Caucus said in a statement, ?We 
have received numerous messages filled with racist and violent threats due to 
the misrepresentation in the national media of the Chicano Caucus' involvement. 
This racist backlash exemplifies the nature of the organization that was 
brought to our campus, and only validates our initial decision to protest the 
anti-immigrant Minuteman Project.?      However, the students have also 
received support for challenging the Minutemen?s racism. ?I salute the students 
who protested the hate speech and join them in opposing any organization or 
venue that accords hate groups like the Minuteman Project a place to spread 
their venomous message,? Nativo Lopez, president of the Mexican American 
Political Association, said in a statement.      At a protest last weekend 
against anti-immigrant groups rallying at the Mexican consulate in New York, 
immigrant rights supporters jeered ?Columbia, Columbia? at the racists.  
      - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
   
  STUDENTS ARE organizing to tell the true facts about what happened, build 
support and expose the racist violence of the Minutemen. The newly formed 
Student Protesters? Defense Committee has organized an online petition and put 
out a fact sheet that refutes the Minutemen?s lies. It organized a packed press 
conference Monday and is building for a town hall meeting on campus. 
   
  ?The Minutemen?s violence is in response to a mass movement of immigrants for 
justice, a movement that exploded on the streets last spring,? Monique Dols, 
one of the people who protested Gilchrist onstage, told the press conference. 
?The Minutemen are trying to silence that movement through fear, intimidation, 
a whipping up of racist hysteria and outright violence.?      ?But,? Dols 
concluded, ?immigrant workers have worked too hard and waited too long for 
equal rights and dignity. Our movement will not be silenced.?

                
---------------------------------
Stay in the know. Pulse on the new Yahoo.com.  Check it out. 
________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism