Letters
November 4th 2010
Re: “Israeli Apartheid Week to come to University of Winnipeg” (Oct. 28, page 7)
This letter is in response to Israeli Apartheid Week to come to University of Winnipeg, published October 28th 2010.
I would like to thank The Uniter for writing about Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) and Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA).
Given that we live in a country that offers massive material and diplomatic support to the Israeli state, it is important that the realities of Israeli Apartheid are discussed openly – especially given the close ties between Manitoba and Israel, including Premier Greg Selinger’s recent trade mission.
However, I would like to make a couple brief corrections. Paul Meyerson stated that SAIA “put up anti-Semitic posters which is a breach of human rights codes.” This is not true – neither SAIA nor the ad-hoc IAW organizing committee have ever put up any posters which could be considered anti-Semitic.
The accusation that SAIA is “turning U of M into a hate-filled campus” is simply absurd. University of Manitoba President David Barnard even said in an official report to the Board of Governors that “the 6th International Israeli Apartheid Week took place on campus without any major incidents” and “the events proceeded as anticipated and were orderly.”
There have been a total of zero complaints against SAIA or the organizers of IAW for breaching human rights codes. It is especially curious that such an accusation comes from people dedicated to shutting down IAW – surely, if IAW or SAIA were in violation of human rights codes, they would be the first to file a complaint.
Of course, that would require them to put their money where their mouth is and actually prove their accusations instead of relying on vicious smears.
Furthermore, differential treatment of our group (such as banning our group or events, which Meyerson is advocating) because of our political beliefs (that Israeli is an apartheid state) and activities actually would be a violation of the Manitoba Human Rights Code.
Finally, a quick search for “Israeli Apartheid” (with quotation marks) on the University of Manitoba’s library system retrieves 83 results from scholarly sources. A search at the University of Winnipeg’s library system retrieves 10 results, including a book written by a former U.S. President.
If people like Paul Meyerson want to keep discussion of Israeli Apartheid out of universities, they’ve already lost that battle.
Yours for peace and justice,
Brian Latour
Students Against Israeli Apartheid, University of Manitoba
This letter appeared in Volume 65, Number 10 of The Uniter, published November 4th 2010.
