No One Is Illegal (Updated)
Awesome protest against Jim Gilchrist and the "Minutemen" yesterday at Columbia University. Some have commented that this protest appears to violate free speech. I would argue that it furthers free speech by giving a voice to all of the immigrants who are suffering because of the hate mongering of the "Minutemen." Notice the right-winger interviewed near the end describes the protesters as "animals." I wonder who exactly he considers "animals." Leftists? Activists? Latinos? People of color?
Congratulations to all the activists who put these bigots in their place!
UPDATE: The activists who took the stage were allegedly violently assaulted and are now being attacked by the administration at Columbia. Please support them by signing their online petition. The students are also soliciting letters of support and solidarity, which can be sent to them at nominutemen@gmail.com.
2 comments:
¡ Si se pudo ! --Mike
*** Please forward everywhere ***
On October 4, the College Republicans at Columbia University hosted Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist. The Minutemen are known for inciting racist violence against immigrants. In an exercise of free speech, students unfurled a banner on the stage reading "No One is Illegal", prompting audience members to join them on the stage with another banner with the message, "No to Racism." These peaceful protesters were violently assaulted. Below is their initial statement published the night of the protest as well as a link to a video showing parts of the event. They are now under attack from the administration and potentially face disciplinary charges. Please support them by signing the online petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/nominute/petition.html . The students are also soliciting letters of support and solidarity, which can be sent to them at nominutemen@gmail.com
Statement of the Student Protestors:
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 Minutemen are not a legitimate voice in the debate on immigration. They are a racist, armed militia who have declared open hunting season on immigrants, causing countless hate crimes and over 3000 deaths on the border. Why should exploitative corporations have free passes between nations, but individual people not? No human being is illegal.
-Those who occupied the stage
Boohoo :-( The racist vigilantes weren't given their turn to speak...
And what of the more than 415 men, women, and children who died last year trying to cross the border???
Where's their free speech???
(The number only reflects deaths on the US side...many more occur on the Mexican side as well). Where is the rancorous belly-aching in the media over their deaths that we've seen shown for this pathetic old cracker who got shut down in NYC. Some guy in a suit at a podium gets told to shut up and the foundations of liberal democracy are suddenly under attack. Hundreds of brown-skinned human beings die in the desert because of the policies this guy in a suit supports and liberal democracy is still going strong, no problems here. What hypocrisy!
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