From Mahalla, April 9. interesting to note the title of the video says "the fall of mubarak's idol" (they used the word sanam - idol - not soora - picture).
Showing posts with label protests. Show all posts
Showing posts with label protests. Show all posts
Friday, April 11, 2008
mubarak's photo being trampled on
Thursday, April 10, 2008
On and On...
Journalist Amina abd el-Rahman, married with a two year old son, was arrested in front of Mahalla el-Kubra's police station yesterday night while interviewing family of the detainees for el-Tariq newspaper. She was supposed to be arraigned today by the prosecution of Tanta on charges of hindering the authorities from their work and inciting riots.
In other news, an American photographer called James Beck and his interpreter Mohammad Saleh Ahmad Mar`i have remained under police custody in Mahalla as well after interviewing the families of the detainees and the authorities are trying to pressure James to hand over his camera and tapes by threatening his interpreter. Can you imagine how scary it would be to be manhandled by those goons and not understand a word of what they're saying? (Tarboush tip: KABOBfriend Sarah)
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
At Last
...my two friends have walked out of Qasr El-Nil police station. One of them said that she and all the other women were treated well and not harmed physically and that her father was allowed to bring her food. But all the men arrested were beaten up badly.
In other news, both of them really need to take a bath.
This is NOT the end of the story for us. There are still many more people in jail for definite and indefinite periods until their "interrogation" is completed. Please, everyone who is reading, inform your friends in the states, tell them about all the USAID money that goes into the pockets of the Egyptian rulers instead of the Egyptian people, and that is used to buy arms for and fund this brutal repression. This is the best thing that we as Americans can do to try and bring more justice in the Middle East. The corrupt regimes of countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, et al, would be on much shakier ground were it not for our government's material (and moral) support.
A Cairo scholar (yes, the same source as the April Fools camel joke of last week) named Ian had a very cogent and concise point to make, for which I thank him:
"The true nature of the system we call the "capitalist state" -- or otherwise the universal productionist order -- is revealed in moments like this. Such things used to happen in the West, until states there embedded discipline, individualism and consumption more deeply into the social body, at the same time upgrading the police and distancing the population from power by a complex institutional labyrinth that leaders there call democracy. We must remember that the killing of workers, like torture, is a sign of state weakness, and that Egypt's economic position is a function of corrupted elites backed by martial law and an international division of labour established by Western imperialism. It is our moral duty to be in support of the people in their struggle for justice and the means of life."
Monday, April 07, 2008
Another Minor Killed in Mahalla
Confrontation between student and security officer at Helwan University (Photo by Mohamed Hossam Eddin, Al-Masry Al-Youm)
According to another strike blog, at about 10pm, state security forces shot 15 year-old Mohammad Ahmad al-Sayyed in the head as he was watching clashes between them and brick throwing youth. He was martyred instantly. The police are also firing tear gas into homes and apartment buildings. More than one person is saying than scenes in Mahalla eerily resemble pictures from the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Did anyone say occupation?
In other words, the chief kooks of Egypt disagree about the haram-ness or halal-ness of the strike (English translation).
10:30 PM, Apr 8: My friends still haven't been released. The Egyptian bureaucracy rules state that the order for release must be "executed" within 24 hours of its issuing, and it has been over 33 hours now. However, one of the fathers and a cousin and a lawyer is inside the police station and with them and they are doing OK. They are afraid they will go out and start demonstrating immediately, especially given that there are local elections going on which the Muslim Brotherhood has called people to boycott.
Spontaneous Demos, Power Slashes
The anonymous blog for the strike says there is a spontaneous demonstration going on in front of `Abideen courthouse downtown. Also, the electricity in the Delta town of al-Mahalla has been cut. Al-Mahalla has been the scene of intense worker organizing in textile mills in recent months, and where 2 people, plus a small child were killed yesterday.
Update on the 2 AUC-ians that could...
so the bastards havent released them yet. the order to release them was "issued" last night but it hasn't been "carried out" yet! ha!
the state is obviously making everyone wait so to as to teach whoever was arrested a lesson and scare them. both my friends are from well to do families and its not likely that they have been treated very poorly but i will not be sure until i see them. the apathetic and downright pathetic political atmosphere at AUC makes me respect even more what they did, because the situation has a minimal affect on their social class. more than anything i feel terrible for leaving them, although i do not fancy being put in an egyptian male holding cell with a nose ring.
family, friends and lawyers are still at Qasr el-Nil police station in downtown trying to secure their release. i heard from one of them that one of the girl's fathers was allowed to see them and that they are OK, and that there are no signs of any kind of physical harm. remember, these are only 2 of the few hundred rounded up in cairo yesterday.
in other news, my camera and kuffiyeh continue to be missing. you can call it irony, or a sick joke, that AUC campus security is headed by generals in State Security, one of whom i went to see today to try and get my stuff back! this nice, gentle smiling old man is part of the same apparatus as the animals who dragged us away yesterday. He also claimed he would try to "do what he could" regarding my two colleagues. I don't know whether to snicker or to scream.
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Egyptian State Goons Round Up Activists and Me
There was a general strike called today all across Egypt to protest the inflation, corruption and general messedupedness in the country and the government's lack of concern - an Egyptian minister stated the other week that Egyptians can live on one pound and a half (less than 20 cents).
The leftist independent newspaper al-badeel claimed that this was the most widespread demonstration in egypt since the 1919 revolution (the 1952 revolution, whether one supports nasser or not, was executed as a coup). for those who can read Arabic, this blog gives blow by blow updates about the events of today.
As for me, I happened to have the honor of tasting the (desperate and pathetic) gangsterism of the regime today. I was walking past Tahrir Square on my way to AUC to meet up with friends and watch the events unfold, when I saw two other colleagues from AUC - Egyptian girls, standing in the middle of the square, chewing up pieces of `aish (egyptian wheat bread) and spitting the pieces out onto passing cars so as to demonstrate the pathetic nature of the situation with bread (see my previous post on bread in Egypt).
I call them the two Sara's and salute them for their courage in doing what they did. The general level of political awareness amongst spoiled AUC brats is pathetic, which makes the two all the more admirable. I came close to them so as to photograph and before I knew it, a bunch of plainclothes goons had grabbed us and dragged us all the way along the street, against our will into a waiting van (unmarked), while someone snatched my camera and the kuffiyeh I was wearing.
We were forced into a van that already had other people in it (all girls) and as soon as we filled it, they drove off to the outskirts of Cairo, yelling at us and threatening us along the way. I tried to use the American citizen card and one of the state security men told me he would throw me off a bridge. We arrived to Medinat al-Bu`uth in the outskirts of Cairo where there were other state security agents waiting for us and they started taking the information of everyone down.
One of the Egyptian women with us was crying hysterically - most of the people arrested had been onlookers or passers-by, news reports say that a lot of random arrests took place, not including the arrests of activists or demonstrators.
Some of the state security guys standing outside the van tried to provoke us by engaging in political discussion, chiding us for disrupting public order etc etc.
There was another guy playing the good cop who said ma`laysh this is our job, to which I responded being thugs is your job? They then made 4 of the women get down claiming they would drop them off somewhere else and drove back with me, Sara & Sara and 2 other women downtown.
We reached Maidan Abideen when they told me to get off. I had managed, from text messaging, to get the US embassy on the phone and it possibly made them want to get rid of me. The fact that they did not take us straight to a station or confiscate anything from us after loading us into the van seems to suggest that their orders were to drive us around for a while and drop each person off in a separate place. I did not want to leave with my friends at least, but they both told me to get off.
After some hesitation I decided to get off, but not before taking down the number of the van, which drove the ass-wipes wild ("you want to start again?"). I still am not sure whether my friends have been released - their mobile phones are off - which means they could have been released without the phones or be still held. If anyone knows anything about the two Sara's whereabouts, please let me know.
Journalists and activists I spoke to are telling me that they should most likely be released tonight or tomorrow morning early. And please, spread the news that Egypt is boiling under the lid of a pathetic, desperate, molding regime that will do anything, shamelessly, to stay in power. A regime that is scared of two people throwing breadcrumbs truly deserves to be called pathetic, especially given that it gets its breadcrumbs from the scraps of US aid.
Update: I just received word that my two friends are still being held, but doing OK.
Update at 2:39 AM: According to above-mentioned blog, both Sara's have been released. If anyone has any other information about other detainees please call the hotline of the blog: +20-118361000 or email 6april08@gmail.com.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
In Commemoration of Land Day
Sunday is Yom al Ard, or Land Day, in Palestine and Israel. The activities held on the 30th of March each year mark the anniversary of protests in 1976 against the theft of Palestinian-owned land inside of Israel by the state. Six people were killed in the Galilee, and hundreds injured.
To my knowledge, not even the anniversary of the Nakba is recognized as popularly throughout the West Bank, Gaza and Israel as Land Day. The Nakba happened in 1948. Land Day is used to address the ongoing arbitrary confiscations of Palestinian property since that time, whether in Israel, the West Bank, or Gaza.
For Land Day, demonstrations are organized in cities, towns, villages, and refugee camps throughout all of historic Palestine. They are especially pertinent in areas where new confiscations are taking place. This year, the focus is on Jaffa, where 500 families have been issued eviction notices before the neighborhood is razed to make way for Jewish development. (Notice the grounds for eviction: that the residents "invaded the properties." Many Jaffa residents are internally displaced persons who have been deprived once of their property, and were forced to take up residence in the homes of Palestinians who fled before them.)
Check out this interview with Father Shehadeh Shehadeh, an organizer of the original Land Day protest in 1976.
Unrelated to Land Day, I would also like to bring your attention to this article on the assassination of the four men in Bethlehem a few weeks ago. I am sorry that I did not take a picture of their martyr poster when I had the chance. It shows the four, who are from different political factions, all standing together with weapons raised. I find it ironic, considering the way that they died: unarmed, sitting in a car waiting for their food order. As if the poster, like so many others, is an attempt to bestow some meaning on their deaths, which are no more than cold-blooded murders for which no investigation will ever take place and no justice will ever be served.They did not even have the chance to move. Their bullet-ridden bodies were still sitting upright when passersby pulled them from the car.
It was the moral equivalent of a team of Palestinians, disguised as Israelis, driving an Israeli car into Tel Aviv and gunning down four off-duty Israeli soldiers.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Israel is a bully
Israel is a brave country. Barely the size of New Jersey, and surrounded by dozens of murderous anti-Semitic Arabian Muslim women-beating states, it faces a constant battle for survival. For the security of its own citizens, (well, the Jewish ones anyway), Israel is constantly forced to crush those Palestinian bastards who just won’t give up.
If they dare to fight against their occupier, oppressor, the entity that stole their land, imprisoned thousands of their men, women and children, starves 1.5 million of them in a besieged enclave, denies them necessary medical care and continues to colonize the remaining tracts of land under their control, the Palestinians must face the consequences of their audacity. Shoah Time!
Of course, after 60 years, most people would’ve figured out that violence is not going to get anywhere. Why can’t they be pacifists, the dumbasses?
Well, because Israel is determined to not let that work either. See, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict didn’t start with the first Palestinian suicide bombing all the way back in, um, 1994. Instead, it began six decades ago when Israel expelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes and banned them from returning. Since then, Palestinians have engaged in constant methods of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience, such as marching on checkpoints and refusing to pay taxes to the occupation.
For the past several years, the village of Bilin in the West Bank has conducted a weekly nonviolent protest every Friday against the confiscation of huge tracts of its land to build an illegal Israeli settlement and for the construction of the wall. The protest attracts ordinary Palestinians, international supporters and Israeli peace activists as well as the village residents themselves. It is well covered by the media too, so the abuses of the Israeli military are on display week after week.
Today’s protest wasn’t atypical. The Occupation Forces fired rubber-coated steel bullets and tear gas at the protestors, injuring 17, including 7 journalists.
So to recap: Israel expels Palestinians from their homes, bans them from returning. Not happy with that, the greedy bastard goes after the Palestinian it has yet to expel, stealing their land for its settlements. It then shoots at Palestinians who stage nonviolent protests against this theft.
Brave country.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Easter Cancelled in Palestine: Jesus Fatally Shot Shortly After Resurrection
In keeping with tradition, Easter has yet again been cancelled in Palestine. Jesus of Nazareth somehow secured a permit to enter Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, provided he enter on a donkey.
Jesus applied in June of 2007 for a permit to enter Jerusalem on Palm Sunday 2008. The past two years of cancellations had made him determined to be prepared this year. Due to his inability to provide proof of his Jewish heritage, he was thus banned from entering Jerusalem for the past two years. And so it seemed as though this year would be different; Good Friday processions and the Sunday resurrection occurred as planned.
However, hours after the resurrection at dawn on Sunday, Jesus was fatally shot as he walked with his disciples toward a military checkpoint dividing Bethlehem from Jerusalem.
Chaim Sugarman reports from the ground that a new military order authorizing IDF troops to use lethal force against unarmed protesters was announced last week.
The IDF is prevented from using lethal force against groups of protesters that include Israelis and internationals. Unfortunately, as Jesus had been down in Hell since Friday, he was unaware of the new requirement to have a non-indigenous escort when approaching the Apartheid Wall if you want to stay alive.
Sugarman further reported that at a post resurrection/shooting Easter brunch to which he was privy, the disciples mentioned a plan in the works to move the Easter celebration altogether out of Palestine. "There are hardly any Christians left in Palestine. The only Christians able to celebrate in Jerusalem are from the US and Europe now- why keep making them come here?"
The disciples were referring to the mass exodus of Christians from Palestine. According to Dr. Bernard Sabella of Bethlehem University, 37% of Christian Palestinians fled in 1948 with the original refugees, and 20% of the remaining population emigrated between 1967-1994. Now, due to the hardship imposed by the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and especially the imposition of the Wall around Bethlehem, many more left between 2000 and 2004.
For more on Christians in Palestine.
For equally serious, more personal sidenotes from the past holy week:
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Strategic Media Usage: Saudi Women 1, Jordan Times 0
Some women in Saudi Arabia made a video of themselves driving on a main highway in the Kingdom. They then posted it on Youtube- 13 hours ago. CNN and BBC are mad Youtube savvy!
Across the desert (uh, literally, unless you rented a boat at the red sea and drifted north), a French national has been sentenced to three months in jail in Jordan for verbally insulting King Abdullah. I read about it here in the BBC.
In search of a more in depth story, I went to the Jordan Times homepage. Nothing! I even searched for French both today and last week. Not one word. Not a peep.
The Saudi women have done something pretty cool as far as using media strategically as a tool for social change. The Jordan Times, well, you can read more about my frustration with the Jordan Times here.
I mentioned also in my previous posts slamming the Jordan Times that I expect better from them than to ignore abuses of fundamental human rights. The reason is this: the Jordan Times has actually done plenty in the past to bring about social change in Jordan precisely through its reporting. The Jordan Times was the first newspaper in Jordan to begin covering the trials of honor crimes perpetrators. Rana Husseini attended trial after trial to simply report in the newspaper about how crimes against women (mostly, sometimes men) go unpunished and are thus allowed to continue. Due almost entirely to her reporting, Jordanian society became appalled with the way the legal system was dealing with honor crimes (because really it isn't something that normal people can accept, no matter what you've heard about scary Arab men- honor killings also happen in Brazil, Italy, and in diverse societies all over the world), and things are actually changing. I have utmost respect for Rana Husseini and the Jordan Times for printing her work.
So, this is why the lack of reporting on abuses of Filipina workers in Jordan, and on this poor bastard who's gonna sit in jail for the next three months because of some words he spoke, frustrates me to no end.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
(Some) Anger in Cairo
More than 100 Egyptian parliamentarians spent the night day before yesterday in the Parliament in protest of Israel's (latest) assault on Gaza. Yesterday morning, they tried to deliver a petition to the Presidential Palace in Abdeen (to which the President never goes) demanding that Egypt aid the Palestinians in any way possible. But State Security prevented them from leaving the Parliament. They're too afraid of damage to Mubarak's face, still too wet with Condi's kisses.
There were also large protests in all the major universities of Cairo, and some of the provinces. The report made two good points: Egypt continues to sell gas to Israel, and the silence and inaction of the Arab governments is indirectly participating in killing Palestinians. Also, the point was made that even if Egypt can't fight Israel right now, at least it can try to stop doing business with it and freeze its relations. I am told apparently these are standard demands and are met with yawns, but do they stop being reasonable? What is the only Egyptian official response other than some blathering? To cancel the visit of their chief of intelligence, Omar Suleiman, to Tel Aviv. Oh, thank you!
Post-script: To the people burning Israeli flags in the demonstrations - you guys are so yesterday. You just look silly, make people cough and give Fox News an excuse to take your picture and draw all sorts of false conclusions. Can you find something more original and effective to do?
Post-post-script: I live in downtown Cairo, not too far from the demonstrations, but they never got big enough so as to spread beyond their immediate vicinity. Life went on as normal - it shows that the current appeal of the Palestinian cause here is rather weak and confined.
Tarboush tip: al-jazeera
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
More on the Good Occupier in Gaza
- Women face water cannons and army batons at one Gaza border, electric fence being the option on the other three sides, which is alternate to starvation and hand-pumping medical machines such as ventilators on the inside.
- Israel is portrayed as The Good Occupier in the NYT and BBC when headlines become Israel Allows Some Supplies into Gaza and Israel Eases Restrictions on Gaza. My favorite quote:
Arye Mekel, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said, “What we are seeing now is a staged production by Hamas.”
- The United Nations issues a somewhat covert statement after the US prevents the United Nations from issuing a resolution condemning the Israeli blockade of Gaza. The statement will be 'discussed' sometime at a future meeting. Way to protect vulnerable populations!
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Bush is coming to town!
George Bush is coming to town! People really are making a much bigger deal of this than they should, but I guess we have to feel something big is happening when the man who is responsible for so much suffering in this part of the world arrives. Security in Ramallah has been extra tight this week, with US security personnel pretty much out in the open. There will be a day-time curfew imposed on Irsal Street, Jerusalem Street and Nablus Street, the three largest arteries in Ramallah and Elbireh. Apparently, since I live near Abbashole’s Center of Collaboration (The Muqata, what?) I am liable to get popped in the skull by a Secret Service sniper if I dare stick my head out of the window. This shit all seems a bit much-Bush ain’t the first head of state to visit Ramallah, and we’ve always been nice to the others. Even Condi can have the Palestinian security services arrest and/or beat the Holy Living Shit out of anybody who dares protest against her. But this is Bush, and he can’t go anywhere without pissing the locals off in an unprecedented fashion. Unless they’re Israelis. They like him.
I caught his press conference with Olmert, and it’s sad that they don’t even try to hide their ulterior motives anymore. Praising Olmert continuously for his ‘efforts’ towards peace, Bush ignored the huge settlement projects announced by Israel since Annapolis, insisting that the biggest obstacle to peace is not occupation, oppression, land-theft, the denial of human rights, collective punishment, deportations, political prisoners, border closures, military operations and settlements, but that always convenient pain in the ass: terror. Olmert used the opportunity to announce to Abbashole that he would not tolerate Palestinian attacks on Israel, even from territories that his BFF doesn’t control. Then, without being prompted, they laid into Iran, Bush meekly assuring the Israelis that even though his own intelligence agencies tell him Iran’s threat to world security is considerably exaggerated, he trusts the Mossad more.
Oh, and he told the Arab countries to recognize Israel’s contributions to peace. I’m sure the Lebanese and Palestinians will vouch for it.
There really is a strong undercurrent of anger brewing here, at Bush and the Israelis naturally, but also at the Palestinian Authority, which is going out of its way to restrict freedom of speech. If people were allowed to, there would be thousands and thousands protesting in Ramallah tomorrow-but Salam Fayyad’s thugs don’t like people protesting.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Protester with blood-colored hands confronts Rice
Code Pink protestor Desiree Farooz confronted Condoleeza Rice with "blood-stained" hands as Rice was preparing to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday. Farooz called the Secretary of State a "war criminal" who should be tried at the Hague. She was immediately detained by police, but not before Charles Dharapak of the Associated Press was able to snap this pic.
Watch the video:
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
When "Non-Lethal" Weapons Kill
The savages running an Israeli desert prison, where so many Palestinians have been held, killed a Palestinian prisoner, identified as Islamic Jihad member, Mohammed al-Ashkar. He was serving a two-year sentence, which meant he, like so many others, was in prison for being Palestinian.
The prison said he died after being hit with a "non-lethal weapon." Most likely, they used "rubber bullets," a misnomer for bullets with a small layer of rubber on them.
As one study by Israeli doctors showed, "a retrospective study of 595 casualties admitted to hospitals in Israel during demonstrations by Israeli Arabs in October 2002 showed that rubber bullets result in severe injury and death in 'a substantial number of people.'"
An Al-Jazeera, English report quoted B'tselem, the Israeli human rights group: "at least 60 Palestinians were killed by rubber bullets in the first Palestinian uprising between 1987 and 1992. Fifteen were killed between 2000 and 2005."
How many people have to die before it's considered a "lethal weapon"?
Israel claimed to have switched to a different type of rubber bullet in August, 2005. If they used that one on the prisoners, then they still kill.
Israel detains 11,000 Palestinians for "security" reasons. Given that Israel's security situation is the the direct manifestation of its policies -- displacement, occupation, the construct of a Jewish state on a country that was religiously diverse -- these are actually politically prisoners.
Occupation itself is a crime. In this case, criminals are imprisoning "criminals" in order to secure the fruits of their crimes.
As the AP reported, Palestinians have been protesting the imprisonment of so many. In Bethlehem, about 500 people rallied to protest al-Ashkar's death. 500 in Nablus. 200 in Ramallah, and 300 in Gaza City.
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Columbia Students React to Hate Crime
In the face of rain pelting from the sky
and lights from cameras flashes in their eyes,
students protested on the steps of Teacher's College:
The spontaneous protest, replete with "Not On Our Campus" chants, fists in the air, mics in hands, and parked news vans, directly followed an impromptu emergency meeting organized by student activists to discuss the noose-hanging incident and propose solutions to what has become a campus climate of racist expressions.
Both long-term and short-term solutions were discussed. But because I didn't properly document or commit to memory the long-term solutions, listed below are only the immediate solutions discussed:
IMMEDIATE
1. Bombarding the Columbia's president Lee Bollinger with emails-for those of you interested, it's: bollinger@columbia.edu
2. Hanging fliers all over campus informing students about the incident
That walkout has been scheduled to start at 2pm in front of Low Plaza, and end up in front of the main entrance to Teachers College's on 120th between Amsterdam and Broadway.
The walkout is timed to precede a Town Hall meeting scheduled at 3:30pm to discuss the hate crime.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Sign-O-Rama
The best part of controversial events on university campuses?
The cornucopia of laughably absurd signs and posters!
"Did you know that IRAN was one of the 1st who condemned the SEP. 11th attacks."
"60% of University Students in Iran are Women" 
"AHMEDINEJAD=BAD
BUSH=WORSE
NO WAR
ON IRAN
Protest Bush at the UN on Tuesday"
"Children in Iran on Death Row" 
"Save A Tree, Print Less Flyers"
"Invite Me To Your Protest"
Speaking At A College: A Security Concern
Here is a statement sent out by Columbia's Associate Vice President of Public Safety to the Columbia community about the heightened security (including an application of the university's "amplified sound policy" on rallying student groups) for today's sold-out event:
Dear members of the Columbia community:
On Monday, September 24th, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is scheduled to appear as a speaker on our Morningside campus.
The Department of Public Safety is working closely with both the New York Police Department and the Secret Service - as we do for all major events on campus - to ensure the safety and security of all members of the University community during this high profile event. Please take note of the following procedures we are putting in place to maintain a safe and secure campus environment on Monday:
UNIVERSITY ID CARD NEEDED TO ACCESS CAMPUS
Access to campus will be limited on Monday, at various hours, to Columbia affiliates with a valid University ID card only. All faculty, staff and students must show a University ID to enter the campus.
114TH STREET GATES CLOSED
In addition to the above restrictions, the gates to access campus on 114th Street, at both Carman and John Jay Halls, will be closed during the day. In order to facilitate access to the South Field residence halls, we will open the Taint Gate at 115th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. Entry to campus through this gate will also be limited to Columbia affiliates with a valid University ID only.
NOISE POLICY EXTENDED
We also ask for your patience as we extend the University's amplified sound policy for student groups holding a rally on campus between 11:30am and 6:00pm on Monday.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation as we continue the work of keeping our campus safe for the many activities of our university community.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Here Comes The President...To Columbia University Tomorrow
The big day is upon us.
This event has gotten the kind of public fanfare, media coverage, sidewalk chatter, waiting line gossip, and impassioned outrage one would expect of a celebrity wedding.
I am of course talking about Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov and Bingu wa Mutharika's highly anticipated speeches at Columbia University tomorrow.
Actually, even though the Presidents of Turkmenistan and The Republic of Malawi will be gracing the lecture halls of one of the nation's most presitigious institutions of higher learning, media blitz is likely to be focused on another President with a name Americans will have trouble pronouncing: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic State of Iran.
Despite the news vans, cadre of national and international reporters, protesters expected to hit the streets and cobble-stoned walking paths of Morningside Heights tomorrow, you can expect one person not to step foot on 114th and Broadway, the Mayor of City of New York. "New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg," according to a Reuters story carried by Haartz, " said Friday that the city's Columbia University was free to invite Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak, but "personally, I wouldn't go to listen to him - I don't care about what he says."
But public expressions of anti-Ahmadinejad-ness (the funniest dash-created word in the English language to say. Go ahead-try it!) are not confined to the realm of politics.
The headline on the front cover of the New York daily newspaper publication The Daily News lividly threatened Mr. Ahmadinejad, "If you even think of setting one foot in Ground Zero, you can...Go To Hell," and going as far to assert that "All of Manhattan south of Canal St. must be forbidden to him by the NYPD."
I love the reckless conflation that seeks to confound any of the necessary distinctions between Al Qaeda hijackers and the state of Iran. Are they really going to try to relate the two?
Then again, the majority of Americans still seemed to believe the specious connection between the B'ath-run secular state of Iraq and Afghanistan-based, American-trained, Saudi Muslims.
Surprisingly, Columbia stands resolute against public pressure and harassment to cancel the event. In a twist of irony, the Ivy League, embroiled in a Khaleeji summer hot debate over Barnard faculty member Nadia Abu El-Hajj's tenure bid, one under rigorous contestion for the scholar's writing of a book critical of Israel's archeological to exist, defended it's decision to allow the President of Iran to speak citing the school's commitment to promoting "free speech."
SIPA's (Columbia University's graduate School of International and Public Affairs) Dean, , the ones responsible for sponsoring the sold-out event.
The mission of the University is to educate citizens, train professionals, and foster research of the highest quality. This mission can only be served by providing students and faculty with untrammeled access to a diversity of views and opinions in an environment where every statement can be challenged
and debated freely.
The following is a statement posted on Columbia's webiste explaining the reason for endorsing the SIPA-sponsored event:
Statement Regarding Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Talk at Columbia University’s World Leaders Forum
On Monday, September 24th, 2007 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will speak and participate in a question and answer session with university faculty and students at Columbia University’s World Leaders Forum. His appearance is sponsored by Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, which is initiating a year-long series of lectures and events on thirty years of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The SIPA lecture series will include academic experts as well as former officials and critics of the Islamic Republic.
This opportunity for faculty and students to engage the President of Iran came about after Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee at the Iranian Mission to the United Nations initiated contact with Columbia through a member of the faculty, Richard Bulliet, who is a specialist on Iran. The event will be open only to university students, faculty and staff with Columbia University identification and invited guests.
President Bollinger emphasized that such World Leaders Forum events must allow ample time for students and faculty to pose questions that challenge the views expressed by the speakers. John H. Coatsworth, Dean of the School of International and Public Affairs, confirmed that the Iranian president had agreed to this format. Dean Coatsworth will moderate the question and answer period following Ahmadinejad’s speech.
President Bollinger will in