Update on York Free Speech...

*York President Lorna Marsden under fire for her abuse of power!*

The highest academic decision-making body at York University, the Sen=
ate,
has just come out in support of demands to have expelled student acti=
vist
and journalist Daniel Freeman-Maloy reinstated!  For updated informat=
ion
about the growing political campaign to challenge President Marsden's=
 abuse
of power, visit http://www.en-camino.org/freespeechyorku and please k=
eep
the letters of protest coming!  We extend sincere thanks to all those=
 in=20
the York University community and elsewhere who are helping to stop t=
his
ominous political precedent from being set.

In Solidarity,

The York Free Speech Committee

---------

York President Lorna Marsden under fire for her abuse of power!

Free Speech York University, May 30 2004

York University President Lorna Marsden is under fire from all direct=
ions
for her decision to banish student activist and journalist Daniel
Freeman-Maloy from campus for three years. Freeman-Maloy's expulsion =
was
meant to send a message: challenge my administration=E2=80=99s author=
ity, and you
will suffer the consequences. Instead, it is demonstrating that crude
repression of student activism will always backlash.

The public justification for the summary expulsion of this third-year
Political Science student was that Freeman-Maloy used an unauthorized
megaphone at two Palestine solidarity demonstrations in York=E2=80=
=99s Vari Hall
Rotunda. In response to the expulsion, some 50 concerned community me=
mbers
took over Vari Hall on Thursday, May 17 for a =E2=80=9CMegaphone Choi=
r.=E2=80=9D The action
was attended by a delegation of rank-and-file union activists from a =
hotel
owned by a York University Foundation member; right before the megaph=
one
choir, the delegation delivered a letter to Marsden's office expressi=
ng
their solidarity with student struggles to organize for social justic=
e. A
coordinated ode to freedom was then staged, drawing lyrics from such =
great
political figures as the Palestinian refugee poet Mahmoud Darwish: =
=E2=80=9CI am
the witness of the massacre, I am the victim of the map, I am the son=
 of=20
clear speech, I saw stones take flight, I saw dewdrops become weapons=
, When=20
they slammed shut the door of my heart, when they threw up barricades=
, When=20
they imposed a curfew inside me, my heart grew into an alley, My ribs=
=20
became hovels, But carnations were budding, carnations were in bud.=
=E2=80=9D

This demonstration was an important stand, taking place in the midst =
of a
major Israeli assault on the community of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Fr=
om May
13-24, Israeli forces killed 56 Palestinians in Rafah, 45 of whom wer=
e
civilians, including 10 children, and injured at least 200 others. Fu=
rther,
220 Rafah houses were completely destroyed and 140 others partially
destroyed, leaving 4847 people (821 families) homeless. (Palestinian =
Centre
for Human Rights, 27 May 2004)

Earlier this year, President Marsden introduced acting Israeli Minist=
er
Natan Sharansky, from the country=E2=80=99s far right wing, as =E2=
=80=9Ca symbol of the
struggle for human rights.=E2=80=9D Given her affinity for the state,=
 perhaps she
wanted to move slowly towards an Israeli mode of treating popular
engagement, drawing her inspiration from the recent use of tanks and
helicopters to attack Palestinian demonstrators in Rafah. But despite=
 her
obvious wishes, York University is not Dr. Marsden's personal politic=
al
fiefdom, and the reaction to her power-trip has been strong.

Quickly following the May 17 takeover of Vari Hall, more than 20 facu=
lty
members from Freeman-Maloy=E2=80=99s own Political Science department=
 co-authored a
letter calling on President Marsden =E2=80=9Cto follow the path of ju=
stice and
prudence by rescinding the expulsion of Dan Freeman Maloy.=E2=80=9D T=
he Executive
of the York University Faculty Association (YUFA) itself chimed in, u=
rging=20
the President =E2=80=9Cto reconsider Mr. Freeman-Maloy's suspension=
=E2=80=9D so that =E2=80=9Cthe=20
wider community [not be given] the impression that our university is =
not a=20
forum for the free exchange of ideas.=E2=80=9D

Then, on Thursday, May 27, she was struck with an even harder politic=
al
blow. The highest academic decision-making body at York, the Senate, =
passed
a motion respectfully requesting, among other things, that President
Marsden =E2=80=9Creconsider and rescind her decision on the suspensio=
n of Daniel
Freeman-Maloy.=E2=80=9D

President Marsden is presently faced with two options: to cut her los=
ses,
and terminate her project of executive harassment of Mr. Freeman-Malo=
y; or
to stand in increasingly isolated opposition to student freedoms of s=
peech,
expression, assembly, and political organization on the one hand, and=
 to
York University=E2=80=99s own procedures and decision-making bodies o=
n the other.

In either case, a message is indeed being sent. Progressive activism =
at
York University will not so easily be stifled.

Please continue to send your letters to [email protected] and cc them=
 to
[email protected]

http://www.en-camino.org/freespeechyorku
--=20
Macdonald Stainsby
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/rad-green
In the contradiction lies the hope
=09=09--Brecht.


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