Tuesday, November 29, 2011

ACLU files motion regarding "Boycott Israel" bus advertisement


"ACLU Files Motion in AATA Bus Ad Lawsuit"

ANN ARBOR CHRONICLE (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
Nov. 29, 2011
At:


"On Nov. 29, 2011, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed with the U.S. District Court (Eastern District of Michigan) a motion for a preliminary injunction or temporary restraining order, to compel the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority to accept an advertisement it had previously rejected. [.pdf of Nov. 29 ACLU motion]


"The previous day, on Nov. 28, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of activist Blaine Coleman, who had sought to purchase an advertisement for the sides of AATA buses. The AATA refused to run the ad. The proposed ad includes the text, “Boycott ‘Israel’ Boycott Apartheid,” and an image depicting a scorpion-like creature with a skull for a head.... [.pdf of image and text of proposed ad] "





Posted by at No comments:

Monday, November 28, 2011

ACLU lawsuit filed, to display “Boycott Israel, Boycott Apartheid” ads on city buses traveling along the University of Michigan campus:



"Political activist sues Ann Arbor Transportation Authority for refusing advertisements"

DETROIT FREE PRESS (Detroit, Michigan)
Nov. 28, 2011




A Washtenaw County political activist sued the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority for refusing to post his ads decrying Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

The ACLU of Michigan filed the suit today in U.S. District Court in Detroit on behalf of Blaine Coleman, who has tried for nearly a year to get his advertisement — “Boycott Israel, Boycott Apartheid” — displayed on city buses traveling along the University of Michigan campus.

The ads feature a skull attached to what appears to be a spider’s body holding other skulls and human bones.

The lawsuit said the transit authority’s board of directors rejected the ad this month saying it violates transit policy because it would defame or likely hold a person or group up to scorn or ridicule.

ACLU lawyer Daniel Korobkin said in the lawsuit that the refusal violates Coleman’s constitutional free speech and due process rights. He wants U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith to declare the policy unconstitutional.

A message for comment was left with the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority.


***************************************

"Ann Arbor bus agency sued over anti-Israel ad:
"ACLU sues bus agency in liberal Ann Arbor after anti-Israel ad is rejected"

On WDIV-TV News
Detroit, Michigan
November 28, 2011



The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against an Ann Arbor bus agency after it refused to allow an ad that says, "Boycott Israel."



The lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Detroit claims the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority is violating the free-speech rights of Blaine Coleman, who wants to put the ad on buses near the University of Michigan.



The lawsuit says the bus agency's board met Nov. 17 and rejected the ad, claiming it violates a policy against ads that ridicule people or groups.



Coleman's ad would say, "Boycott Israel, Boycott Apartheid." He believes the Israeli government treats Palestinians unfairly.



Ann Arbor Transportation Authority Chair Jesse Bernstein said the agency is not commenting because the case is in litigation.



***************************************

"ACLU sues AATA over refusal of anti-Israel bus advertisement"

AnnArbor.com

Nov. 28, 2011



"The American Civil Liberties Union has sued the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority and CEO Michael Ford over the agency’s refusal to accept an advertisement calling for a boycott of Israel from pro-Palestinian activist Blaine Coleman of Ann Arbor.

"The lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Detroit alleges AATA violated Coleman’s First Amendment right to free speech and 14th Amendment right to due process. It argues AATA’s policy is vague and overly broad. It asks the court to order AATA to display the advertisement under the same terms offered to other advertisers and to award Coleman damages, court costs and reasonable attorney fees....

"...The lawsuit alleges that AATA “almost never rejects advertisements for failing to comply with its advertising policy” and offers several examples to support that claim. As evidence, it notes that advertising policy prohibits ads supporting or opposing any candidate for political office or any ballot proposal, but the lawsuit alleges AATA ran political campaign advertisements supporting Joan Lowenstein and Margaret Conners for district court judge in 2008.

"The suit also notes that AATA has accepted ads from religious organizations and run ads with messages such as 'Breastfeeding makes babies smarter,” and “Two-Faced Landlords Can Be Stopped. Housing Discrimination Is Against the Law....' "



***************************************

"Lawsuit Filed Over Rejected AATA Bus Ad"


Nov. 28, 2011

"On Nov. 28, 2011, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed a lawsuit against the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority in U.S. District Court over an advertisement the transit agency refused to accept for the sides of its buses. [.pdf of complaint]
ACLU of Michigan staff attorney Dan Korobkin told The Chronicle by phone that on Nov. 29 a motion will be filed with the court asking for a preliminary injunction, to compel AATA to run the ad.

"The ad features the text 'Boycott Israel' and 'Boycott Apartheid,' with an image depicting a scorpion-like creature with a skull for a head. At its Nov. 17 meeting, the AATA board voted to affirm the rejection of the ad, inviting Blaine Coleman – whom the ACLU is representing in the case – and the ACLU to discuss the advertising policy. The board’s vote had come in response to a letter the board had received in August 2011 asking the AATA to reverse the decision to reject the ad. [Chronicle coverage of the board's decision, the legal issues and some other similar cases are included in a report of that meeting: "Bus Ad Rejection Affirmed"]...."


***************************************

"ACLU files lawsuit against AATA over rejection of ad"

MICHIGAN DAILY (University of Michigan at Ann Arbor campus)

Nov. 29, 2011

At:


"The Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority concerning the company’s refusal to sell advertising space to an Ann Arbor activist who promotes boycotting Israel.

"Following AATA’s refusal of activist Blaine Coleman’s ad, which was intended to read “Boycott Israel, Boycott Apartheid,” the ACLU lawsuit claims AATA’s advertising policy, which requires all ads to be “in good taste” and bans advertising that is “likely to hold up to scorn or ridicule a person or group of persons,” is in violation of the First Amendment due to its “vague” nature. The ACLU is calling for a judge to rule the policy unconstitutional.

"The lawsuit also states that Coleman’s ad should not be discriminated against because of its controversial nature. Dan Korobkin, staff attorney of the Michigan chapter of the ACLU, wrote in a press release yesterday that the case is pursuing the protection of free speech...

"...In the release, Coleman wrote that he chose to create the advertisement to “empower” Palestinians and increase awareness regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict...."


***************************************

"Ann Arbor bus agency sued over anti-Israel ad"

CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Associated Press
2:25 p.m. CST, November 28, 2011



ANN ARBOR, Mich.— The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against an Ann Arbor bus agency after it refused to allow an ad that says, "Boycott Israel."

The lawsuit filed Monday in federal court in Detroit claims the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority is violating the free-speech rights of Blaine Coleman, who wants to put the ad on buses near the University of Michigan.

The lawsuit says the bus agency's board met Nov. 17 and rejected the ad, claiming it violates a policy against ads that ridicule people or groups.

Coleman's ad would say, "Boycott Israel, Boycott Apartheid." He believes the Israeli government treats Palestinians unfairly. A message seeking comment was left with the chairwoman of the bus agency.


***************************************

"Ann Arbor bus agency sued over anti-Israel ad"

November 28, 2011

Same AP article in the Columbus, Indiana Republic, at:



***************************************

"Ann Arbor bus agency sued over anti-Israel ad"

November 28, 2011

Same article in New England Cable News (NECN), in Newton, Massachusetts, at:



***************************************

"Ann Arbor bus agency sued over anti-Israel ad"

Same AP article in MLive.com (Michigan news)
November 28, 2011



***************************************

"Ann Arbor bus agency sued over anti-Israel ad"

November 28, 2011

Same AP article in WNEM-TV News
(Saginaw, Michigan)



***************************************

"Ann Arbor bus agency sued over anti-Israel ad"

Same AP article on CBS Detroit . com (WWJ TV News)

November 28, 2011
(Detroit, Michigan)

at:



***************************************

"Ann Arbor bus agency sued over anti-Israel ad"

Same AP article on WNDU-TV
South Bend, Indiana

Nov. 28, 2011




***************************************


"Ann Arbor bus agency sued over anti-Israel ad"

Same AP article on WLNS-TV
Lansing, Michigan

Nov. 28. 2011




***************************************

Posted by at No comments:

"Boycott Israel" advertisement rejected by Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA)

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed a federal lawsuit on November 28, 2011 against the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA) for violating the First Amendment by refusing to allow a local activist to purchase a controversial bus advertisement that advocates for the boycott of Israel.

See the ACLU press release at:


Here is the "Boycott Israel" advertisement which was officially rejected by Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA) in Michigan:

(Click on the image to enlarge it)


*********************************

Posted by at No comments:

Sunday, November 27, 2011

" 'Boycott Israeli Apartheid' ad rejection confirmed by Ann Arbor board"

"Boycott Israeli Apartheid" ad rejection confirmed by Ann Arbor board

Published in the Arab American News (Dearborn, Michigan)

November 26-December 2, 2011
page 15:


(Click on the article to enlarge it)

Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

"The university has faced intense pressure from an organized and momentous Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign..."

Above: Anti-Apartheid activists rally in Carleton Atrium. Photo courtesy of CUPE 4600


Above: Tree representing depopulated Palestinian Village left outside Carleton University President's office. (Photo by Derek Atkinson)

-------------------------------------------------

"Campus Rally Against Racism:

"Students Protest Carleton University’s Sponsorship of JNF Fundraiser"

by ANDY CROSBY
OTTAWA WORKING GROUP OF THE MEDIA CO-OP

Nov. 7, 2011



In the lead-up to the Jewish National Fund’s (JNF) fundraising gala in Ottawa, students rallied on Nov. 7 in opposition to Carleton University’s sponsorship of the annual event.

“We are here to protest our university’s proud support of the Jewish National Fund’s annual gala and to challenge President Runte’s position as honorary co-chair of this event,” Dax D’Orazio, spokesperson for Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA), told the Media Co-op.


A flyer circulated before the event accused the JNF of being an “openly racist organization…complicit in ethnic cleansing, colonization and dispossession in Palestine since 1901.” The historic mandate of the JNF was to remove all Palestinians from their land.


Recently, Israel has engaged in a campaign of demolishing Bedouin villages and displacing the indigenous population in the Negev Desert region. The JNF has been accused of stationing bulldozers on the land under police protection in order to clear the land for tree planting and prevent the Bedouins from moving back into the area.


Carleton students and supporters gathered in the Unicentre Atrium for a boisterous rally and then proceeded to President Roseann Runte’s office, who will participate as an honorary co-chair of the fundraiser scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 8.


“Our goals are very clear,” said D’Orazio. “We want Runte to step down as honorary co-chair. We want the institution to distance itself from the JNF, and more broadly we want the university and the administration to explain how and why this decision was made to throw their weight behind the JNF.”


The demonstrators were prevented from entering the President’s office as doors were locked and guarded by campus security.


Protestors left three dead trees outside President Runte’s office to symbolize the depopulation of three Palestinian villages – Dayr Ayyub, Yalu, and Imwas – which were cleared so that the JNF could build Canada Park.


A few minutes before the rally commenced, an email was sent from the President’s office to the Carleton community. The email stated that, “Carleton is a part of the Ottawa community and the JNF’s Negev dinner is an event that honours community builders and leaders and I am pleased that we have been invited to participate.”


In the weeks leading up to the fundraiser, SAIA helped collect and deliver upwards of 800 letters to the university administration and organized students, faculty, and alumni to flood the President’s office with hundreds of phone calls.


The university has faced intense pressure from an organized and momentous Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign demanding that Carleton divest from companies complicit in Israeli apartheid. After a disruptive rally this past spring, which effectively shut down a Board of Governors meeting at Carleton, the university administration threatened students with non-academic penalties if they participated in similar actions in the future.


In particular, students have called out President Runte on the claim that Carleton and its officials do not wish to “take sides”. In the 2008-2009 Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, which killed over 1,400 Palestinians, students asked Runte to condemn the deliberate bombing of the Islamic University in Gaza. The university's response pleaded neutrality, “…if the president has a personal opinion, he or she should not use the position of president to give it expression and weight. By so doing, it could be implied that this position was one adopted by the institution as a whole.”


As a result of this statement and the university’s inaction surrounding the BDS campaign, students are accusing the President of outright hypocrisy for sponsoring and participating in the JNF event.


Threats from the administration have not deterred Carleton students and faculty from launching effective campaigns and holding large demonstrations on campus.


According to D’Orazio, these threats have “had the effect of bolstering more support on campus and even emboldening student activists.”


SAIA plans to organize another rally to confront the Board of Governors at their meeting at the end of November.



Posted by at No comments:

U.S. military shoots 1.8 billion bullets per year.

They are forced to import bullets from Israel.

"US forced to import bullets from Israel as troops use 250,000 for every rebel killed"

By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
THE INDEPENDENT (U.K.)
Sunday, 25 September 2005





US forces have fired so many bullets in Iraq and Afghanistan - an estimated 250,000 for every insurgent killed - that American ammunition-makers cannot keep up with demand. As a result the US is having to import supplies from Israel.


A government report says that US forces are now using 1.8 billion rounds of small-arms ammunition a year. The total has more than doubled in five years, largely as a result of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as changes in military doctrine.


"The Department of Defense's increased requirements for small- and medium-calibre ammunitions have largely been driven by increased weapons training requirements, dictated by the army's transformation to a more self-sustaining and lethal force - which was accelerated after the attacks of 11 September, 2001 - and by the deployment of forces to conduct recent US military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq," said the report by the General Accounting Office (GAO).


Estimating how many bullets US forces have expended for every insurgent killed is not a simple or precisely scientific matter. The former head of US forces in Iraq, General Tommy Franks, famously claimed that his forces "don't do body counts".


But senior officers have recently claimed "great successes" in Iraq, based on counting the bodies of insurgents killed. Maj-Gen Rick Lynch, the top US military spokesman in Iraq, said 1,534 insurgents had been seized or killed in a recent operation in the west of Baghdad. Other estimates from military officials suggest that at least 20,000 insurgents have been killed in President George Bush's "war on terror".


John Pike, director of the Washington military research group GlobalSecurity.org, said that, based on the GAO's figures, US forces had expended around six billion bullets between 2002 and 2005. "How many evil-doers have we sent to their maker using bullets rather than bombs? I don't know," he said.


"If they don't do body counts, how can I? But using these figures it works out at around 300,000 bullets per insurgent. Let's round that down to 250,000 so that we are underestimating."


Pointing out that officials say many of these bullets have been used for training purposes, he said: "What are you training for? To kill insurgents."


Kathy Kelly, a spokeswoman for the peace group Voices in the Wilderness, said Mr Bush believed security for the American people could come only from the use of force. Truer security would be achieved if the US developed fairer relations with other countries and was not involved in the occupation of Iraq. The President, said Ms Kelly, should learn from Israel's experience of "occupying the Palestinians" rather than buying its ammunition.


The GAO report notes that the three government-owned, contractor-operated plants that produce small- and medium-calibre ammunition were built in 1941.


Though millions of dollars have been spent on upgrading the facilities, they remain unable to meet current munitions needs in their current state. "The government-owned plant producing small-calibre ammunition cannot meet the increased requirements, even with modernisation efforts," said the report.


"Also, commercial producers within the national technology and industrial base have not had the capacity to meet these requirements. As a result, the Department of Defense had to rely at least in part on foreign commercial producers to meet its small-calibre ammunition needs."


A report in Manufacturing & Technology News said that the Pentagon eventually found two producers capable of meeting its requirements. One of these was the US firm Olin-Winchester.


The other was Israel Military Industries, an Israeli ammunition manufacturer linked to the Israeli government, which produces the bulk of weapons and ordnance for the Israeli Defence Force.


The Pentagon reportedly bought 313 million rounds of 5.56mm, 7.62mm and 50-calibre ammunition last year and paid $10m (about £5.5m) more than it would have cost for it to produce the ammunition at its own facilities.


*************************************


Posted by at No comments:

Monday, November 7, 2011

"University of Michigan students walk out in protest of Israeli diplomat"-- Ann Arbor, Michigan campus

Published in the Arab American News
October 30, 2011

On the Web at:




ANN ARBOR — Last year, the a coalition of University of Michigan student organizations set off a national college trend with their walk-out on a pair of Israeli soldiers at a speaking tour on campus that many deemed a PR campaign to "whitewash" UN war crimes accusations.

On Monday, October 24, many of the same students along with new supporters continued their trend as more than 60 students staged a silent, peaceful walkout of Israeli deputy consul Ishmael Khaldi.

"History has proven that there's no use having a dialogue with an occupying power," Students Allied for Freedom and Equality Education Chair Abbas Alawieh said about the decision to walk out on Khaldi, leaving only about 15 audience members in the Kalamazoo Room of the Michigan League building for his speech.

"Our position on this issue is, end the occupation and that will be the end of the problems (in the region)."

SAFE was joined by members of the Arab Students Association and the Muslim Students Association on campus in their efforts.

The group's co-chair Bilal Baydoun was pleased with how the protest turned out.

"The walkout exceeded our expectations," he said. "We succeeded in rattling the speaker and making him nervous; we sent the message that this campus doesn't welcome him.

"But ultimately, our goal is to prevent someone like this from even arriving on campus in the first place and we feel confident that we will be able to accomplish this as we continue to spread awareness.

Khaldi, who says he's a former Bedouin (wanderer), was invited to speak about what he says are better opportunities presented by Israel to achieve a better life as an Arab in the region.

As the dozens of students walked out on him, he told them that their actions were an example of why the region is struggling to achieve peace.

Alawieh, speaking in the University's Diag courtyard and campus center after the event, strongly disagreed with Khaldi's assertion.

"What Israel and its supporters see as dialogue, the majority of the world sees as a farce of a 'peace process,'" he said, "that has only resulted in the loss of more Palestinian land, the bulldozing of more houses, construction of more internationally illegal settlements, more deaths, and the continued dehumanization of the Palestinians."

He also took issue with Khaldi using his position in Israel as an example of equality, noting that demonstrators held signs noting that Arabs still do not have equal rights in Israel.

"It's almost like saying that racism is gone against African Americans because Barack Obama is president now," Alawieh said.

Alawieh said that the organization wanted to draw attention to the continued occupation of Palestinian land, the reality that Arabs still are far from equals in Israel, and also that Khaldi's boss, Avigdor Lieberman, is on record as having made racist remarks about Arabs.

SAFE member Mike McHenry said he grew up in a pro-Israeli household but changed his viewpoint after becoming a member and attending events like a speech from anti-Israeli apartheid Jewish author Norman Finkelstein last year.

"Learning about the Palestinian issue has changed my viewpoint of human rights issues in general around the world," he said. "What I feel about the speaker is that he seems to have sold out for a better position and benefits for himself within Israel at the expense of his own people."


**********************************************

Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)