A press release (of sorts) making the rounds today.
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Dear Friend
Prof David Noble has lodged a grievance against York University for trying to defame him because he published information showing how the Zionist members of the University’s Board of Directors strive to silence any campus activity critical of Israel.
An arbitrator has been assigned to hear the grievance and two meetings have been held so far. At those two meetings the arbitrator, in contravention of freedom of speech, placed a gag order on those attending the hearing not to discuss what transpired at those hearings outside the hearing room.
The arbitrator has scheduled two more hearings on December 14 and December 20. At the December 20 hearing, Prof. Noam Chomsky will be testifying in support of Prof. Noble on the use of anti-Semitism as a weapon to defame and silence people.
Prof David Noble needs your help to do the following:
1) Contact the arbitrator Russel Goodfellow and tell him that he should remove the gag order that he has placed on the proceedings. You may telephone the arbitrator at 905-337-0033, fax him at 905-337-0034, or E-mail him at rgoodfellow@cogeco.ca
2) Telephone the York University Faculty Association (YUFA) at 416-736-5236 or e-mail them at yufa@yorku.ca and tell them that you are happy to hear that Prof Chomsky will be testifying on December 20 at the arbitration grievance of Prof Noble against York University.
3) Telephone the Office of the President of York University (Ms. Lorna Marsden) at 416-736-5200 or E-mail her at presidnt@yorku.ca and tell them that you are happy to hear that Prof Chomsky will be testifying on December 20 at the arbitration grievance of Prof Noble against York University.
4) Attend the arbitration hearings of December 14 and December 20 which are being held at 10:00 am at the following address:
Arbitration Centre
390 Bay Street, Suite 400
(get off at Queen Subway)
Toronto, Ontario
5) Notify your friends and any of your media contacts about the upcoming hearings and urge them to attend, especially for the hearing of December 20 when Prof Chomsky will be testifying.
Khaled Mouammar
905-508-0562
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Background information (not included in release):
Biography (Wikipedia)
York University Faculty Association (grievance notice)
York University Press Release (the "offensive materials" refers to a pamphlet distributed Noble highlighting relations between the members of the Board of Governors at York and their community/political/business activities outside the university)
The Toronto Star (the articles that led to the grievance)
The Excalibur (Undergraduate student newspaper)
Frontpagemag (note: dozens of factual errors!)
Canadian Dimension
3 Comments
Yeah, isn’t the use of “Zionist” in the first sentence a giveaway? I figure anyone using “Zionist” to describe a Jewish person is only a few steps away from telling me the truth of the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion or about how the holocaust was a lie.
While Noble appears to be a crank — and one who loves to be in the media and has a penchant for being fired or nearly-fired despite tenure protection. (As if his reputation is worth $10 million.) There’s is still the fact that Lorna Marsden’s regime has, indeed, gone out of its way to shut down a number of venues for political expression, especially those used by particular groups; i.e., “the left”, broadly construed.
Keep in mind that York is the place where we had the Daniel Pipes incident, where cops beat up students in plain sight during a rally, where helicopters, riot police and more police on horses “protected” the U.S. Ambassador from contrary opinions, where a student has been expelled only to have it overturned by the Ontario Superior Court, and where Marsden sends “plainclothes” security guards to take pictures and notes at seminars and lectures identified as “left wing”.
I’m surprised that Marsden hasn’t proposed that idiotic “Academic Bill of Rights” for York.
While Noble’s manner of speaking and presenting his politics is offensive (at best), the fact remains that is happened in the context of increased repression and overt attempts to silence particular groups. (The comparison would be having the police beat up James Pratt for yelling in Robertson Hall at Rick van Loon.)
“isn’t the use of “Zionist” in the first sentence a giveaway? I figure anyone using “Zionist” to describe a Jewish person is only a few steps away from telling me the truth of the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion or about how the holocaust was a lie.”
Well, thast’s pretty ignorant of you. Both Noble and Chomsky are of Jewish descent. Neither of them, nor anybody I know, uses the term ZIonism to describe a “Jewish person.” Rather, they utilize the term to desribe an ideology— hence, it is ZionISM. I think you should definitely pay attention to how they use the term,…maybe pick-up David Finklestein’s book— yet another Jew— on the use and ABUSE of anti-semtiism for ideological purposes (for instance, how you yourself have misused the term for ideological reasons). Moreover, in no way do Noble or CHomsky advocate holocaust denial. Chomsky himself is from a family of survivors, and the more ignorant speculators and vulgar propagandists like you insist on defending Zionism by exploiting ideas about anti-semitism, the more you prove to any sensible person, your own prejudices.
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