Saturday, February 13, 2010
Hopefully this will wake a few more people up to the fifth column reality that is the Council on American Islamic Relations (and the National Lawyers Guild). After what we saw at UC Irvine, this email is both disgusting...and illuminating (emphasis mine):
CAIR, NLG Ask Calif. University, DA to Drop Charges Against 'Irvine 11'
University's action against protesters selectively and disproportionately penalizes students, harms free speech
(ANAHEIM, CA, 2/13/10) The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) and the Los Angeles office of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG-LA) sent a letter Friday to University of California, Irvine (UCI) Chancellor Michael V. Drake urging him to drop charges against 11 students who peacefully protested at a UCI-sponsored event. A letter was also sent today to the Orange County District Attorney's office by CAIR-LA.
Earlier this week, the students spoke out during the speech of the Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren at the event, which was also co-sponsored by the UCI School of Law and by the university's political science department. The students, since dubbed the "Irvine 11," left in a voluntary and peaceful manner and were then detained briefly and cited by UCI police officers.
VIDEO: Protesters Disrupt Israeli Ambassador Speech at UCI
In a letter sent to the university administration, CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush and NLG-LA Executive Director James Lafferty stated in part:
"the right to freely express one's opinions is a most sacred freedom protected by our Constitution, finding college campuses to be its most cultivating venue. Civil protest against government abuses is a time-honored tradition that has led to the end of apartheid and the birth of civil rights."The students voiced political views to shame the representative of a foreign government embroiled in controversy for its outrageous violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. Delivering this message in a loud and shocking manner expressed the gravity of the charges leveled against Israeli policies, and falls within the purview of protected speech."
In the letter to the district attorney's office, Ayloush stated in part:
"The selective application of laws by off-campus law enforcement agencies to students engaged in constitutionally-protected political speech will be viewed by the American Muslim community and those who value free speech as an attempt to repress legitimate student protest and will undermine this important First Amendment Right."
The letters to the university administration and the district attorney's office urged that the "charges and disciplinary actions against the students involved be dropped."
Representatives of CAIR-LA have been in touch with the students, their parents, and many community members who have expressed concerns that the university's actions amount to retribution against and intimidation of students for expressing dissenting political views. CAIR-LA has also been in touch with Chancellor Drake since Monday's incident to share the Muslim community's free speech concerns...
The First Amendment? Legitimate political views? This is dragging the Constitution through the muck. It's also the sort of lawfare typical of CAIR, the NLG and the ACLU. They intend to make it expensive for the university to do anything. Watch that video again and see what's being defended, even glorified.
Update 2/14: Power Line has a similar email from a group called ActLeft. Scott writes:
...The actions of the MSU supporters who disrupted Oren's speech were obviously intended to silence Oren. The ActLeft message cloaks the MSU supporters in the garb of "civil disobedience," but the actions of the MSU are both hateful and tyrannical. The actions are based on the proposition that the defense of Israel in speech is beyond the bounds of civilized discourse just as the defense of Israel in deed is illegitimate because Israel is illegitimate...
...The MSU is a chapter of the Muslim Student Association, which was itself founded by members of the Muslim Brotherhood. They seek the extinction of Israel. Resistance is required. If the spines of campus administrators need to be stiffened, it is not only supporters of the MSU from whom administrators should hear.
Upodate2: At Maggie's Farm, Bruce Kesler comments and links to the description of a presentation given by Oren at UC San Diego a few days later that went far better.
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: CAIR Defends UC Irvine Thugs (Updated).
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You can add the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) to the list of Muslim groups coming out in defense of the group of Muslim UC Irvine students who staged a coordinated interruption of Michael Oren's talk there: MPAC Calls on... Read More
It is what they do.
Maybe Obama needs to appoint an outreach coordinator to CAIR? You know, we need more dialogue with the Muslim world. Explosive dialogue.
Related.
Link:
http://pryce-jones.nationalreview.com/post/?q=N2U4NjMxOWNjOTRiZTE3YWFiZDRhMjZhMTBkNDEyNDk=
Ok then I call for the [removed] of everyone associated with CAIR then. I want a public forum on the matter and I want to say to their faces.
Sharks, I edited your comment. Please don't give these people a quote like that that they can rip out of context. Not a good idea. [I edited this comment, too.]
Such contempt for free speech in a university is intolerable. The university has to defend its principles, and discipline those who have no respect for them. --- NRO article
Heh, that bus left in the 60s, bro. It is what the Left does. There new favorite Revolutionary Vanguard group is just following the well worn path.
My letter to the dean and chancellor:
(deanstu@uci.edu, chancellor@uci.edu)
Sir,
I watched the video of the well-orchestrated disruption of a speech by Ambassador Michael Oren at UC Irvine last week.
I found it frightening. Not so much because of the irrational hatred the students exhibited - that was sad. Nor because of the canards they accepted as truth - that was appalling. but because of the pattern it may set.
Irvine has never, to my knowledge, stopped these or other students form speaking, writing, or demonstrating freely. These young people have responded to the freedom they enjoy by attempting to stifle the right of others to speak and be heard. This frightens me because is a totalitarian tool that contributed to the fall of democracy in Germany in the 1930's.
The Supreme Court has spoken clearly on this subject in Hill v. Colorado.
I urge you to defend freedom of speech on your campus by sanctioning the offending students severely, with expulsion.
Sincerely yours,
Shame on uci for not expelling these students.
Dear Dr. Drake,
As a former academic, I was horrified by a video I saw of Ambassador Oren being repeatedly interrupted and verbaly attacked while giving a speech at your university. Anyone involved in these disruptions has absolutely no knowledge of or respect for the free exchange of ideas that takes place in the university setting.
These students were repeatedly warned that if they continued, they would be arrested. Despite the fact that several were escorted out of the auditorium, they continued their disruptions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w96UR79TBw
It has come to my attention that the Muslim interest groups CAIR and MPAC have been lobbying to have the charges against these students dismissed. The hypocrisy of these attempts is beneath contempt when you look at their purported concern over "hate crimes" and "hate incidents." MPAC wants observers to report all such incidents, which they describe as follows:
"A hate incident is an act directed against a person(s) based on their actual or perceived race, nationality, religion, gender, disability, or sexual orientation. The difference between a hate incident and a hate crime is that a hate incident is a non-criminal act."
They specifically include "making derogatory comments that lack the threat of violence in the classroom" in their description of "hate incidents" yet they are asking that you dismiss action against these disruptive students for far more heinous actions.
http://www.mpac.org/hate-crime-prevention/what-is/
I strongly urge you not to bow to pressure from the Muslim community to ignore the actions of these students. I urge you to expel them, and send the message that UC Irvine is a place where all participants are expected to respect the rights of others or face the consequences.
Respectfully,