Support Jennifer Peto and Academic Freedom

– December 12, 2010

* Please circulate widely *

Dear friends and allies,
See below for Faculty 4 Palestine’s statement condemning recent MPPs attacks on the Masters thesis of an Ontario graduate student. The attacks are receiving national attention and are a concern for all Canadian universities.

For a sample of these attacks, see two articles from today’s National Post:
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/12/08/jonathan-kay-on-jennifer-peto-and-the-new-breed-of-self-hating-jews/

http://www.nationalpost.com/related/topics/Thesis+Jewish+privilege+rebuked+sparking/3949150/story.html
Please join our Call for Action! Write Ontario MPPs to register your urgent concern about these recent attacks against Palestine solidarity activist and OISE-University of Toronto Masters graduate, Jenny Peto.
What you can do:

* Cut, paste and/or modify sample letter (below)
* Or simply forward the F4P statement to MPPs, noting your support for it (e-mails included below)
* Please cc F4P at faculty@caiaweb.org
* Circulate this action call-out widely …
See below (and attachment) for:
* Faculty 4 Palestine statement condemning the attacks (below and attached)
* Ontario MPPs e-mail addresses
* Sample letter
* Transcript from Ontario legislature
* * * * * * * *
Faculty for Palestine (F4P) statement condemning attack on OISE thesis/student

December 9, 2010

On December 7, 2010, members of the Ontario Legislature condemned an MA thesis written by Jenny Peto, a recent graduate of the Sociology and Equity Studies program at OISE-UT (transcript: see below or http://tinyurl.com/MPPsattackthesis). This unprecedented denunciation of an MA thesis in the legislature comes on the heels of criticism of the thesis by people associated with Israel advocacy organizations, which received coverage in the National Post and the Toronto Star.

Faculty for Palestine (F4P), a network of 450 academics from more than 40 Canadian universities and several colleges, condemns this attack and sees it as a serious threat to academic freedom and university autonomy. It constitutes an attack on the main tenets of scholarly inquiry, undermines the integrity of research and teaching in public institutions, and sends a chill across the university system particularly for students and faculty whose work challenges the racial and colonial power of the Israeli state.

Faculty for Palestine is calling for immediate and widespread condemnation of the use of public power to intimidate individual students and faculty members and, ultimately, to regulate what can be said and done in Canadian universities. It is no coincidence that these MPPs are targeting the work of a well-known Palestine solidarity activist who has been outspoken in her support for the campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israeli apartheid. These same MPPs have a consistent record of attacking Palestine solidarity activity and defending increased trade relations with Israel. This is a blatantly political attack, and we reject these MPPs’ claim to be motivated by a concern about the scholarly legitimacy of Ms. Peto’s academic work.

We fully support and commend Ms. Peto and OISE-University of Toronto faculty for their continued defense of the thesis. Entitled “The Victimhood of the Powerful: White Jews, Zionism and the Racism of Hegemonic Holocaust Education” Ms. Peto, who is herself Jewish and the grandchild of Holocaust survivors, takes a critical look at Zionist Holocaust education. She presents the argument that today, anti-Semitism and the Holocaust are often used to deflect criticism of Israel. Far from being an anti-Semitic tirade, this thesis is an anti-racist reclamation of Jewish history and a denunciation of those who abuse this history in support of the policies of the State of Israel including apartheid. What makes the attacks on Ms. Peto even more absurd is the fact that similar (yet not identical) arguments were made by Avraham Burg -former Speaker of the Israeli Knesset, former Cabinet Minister in Israel, and former Chairman of the Jewish Agency- in his recent book The Holocaust is Over, We Must Rise from its Ashes. None of the MPPs or the pro Israel lobby groups rose to criticize him. In this case however, they were quick to condemn the academic work of Ms. Peto because she is a Palestine solidarity activist who advocates for a boycotting, divesting from, and imposing sanctions on Israel until it complies with international law.

As documented recently by an Al Jazeera report and other publications, attacks on pro-Palestinian organizations and individual activists are escalating in Canada – the defunding of the Canadian Arab Federation and KAIROS, the banning of George Galloway, the condemnation of Israeli Apartheid Week, attempts to ban QuAIA from pride – the list goes on and on. The wave of repression was even condemned by the Palestinian civil society organizations. Faculty for Palestine believes that academic freedom and freedom of expression are under serious attack by advocacy organizations seeking to silence criticism of the state of Israel.

CALL FOR ACTION

Individuals and organizations can send letters to leaders of all three parties, the MPPs involved in the attack and your MPP. Their email addresses are:
ahorwath-co@ndp.on.ca, dmcguinty.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org, tim.hudakco@pc.ola.org,
 steve.clark@pc.ola.org, ehoskins.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org and peter.shurmanco@pc.ola.org.

MPP address can be found here: (addresses available at http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/members/members_current.do?locale=en)
PLEASE ALSO CC Faculty 4 Palestine at faculty@caiaweb.org

SAMPLE LETTER

Re: December 7, 2010 Condemnation of a University of Toronto Master’s Thesis in the Legislature
I am deeply concerned that the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, along with MPPs Clark and Shurman, would publicly condemn a Master’s thesis and slander the author as an anti-Semite based on biased media reporting and unfounded allegations from pro-Israel groups. I am equally perturbed by the attacks on academic freedom.

The thesis in question, entitled “The Victimhood of the Powerful: White Jews, Zionism and the Racism of Hegemonic Holocaust Education” takes a critical look at Zionist Holocaust education. It presents the argument that today, anti-Semitism and the Holocaust are often used to deflect criticism of Israel. Far from being an anti-Semitic tirade, this thesis is an anti-racist reclamation of Jewish history and a denunciation of those that abuse this history in support of Israel. The author, Ms. Jenny Peto, is Jewish and the grand-child of Holocaust survivors. She is also a pro-Palestine activist who has been critical of Israel and spoken in support of the Palestinian-led campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel. Also, it is absurd that Ms. Peto is being attacked for argument which are similar (yet not identical) to arguments made by Avraham Burg -former Speaker of the Israeli Knesset, former Cabinet Minister in Israel, and former Chairman of the Jewish Agency- in his recent book The Holocaust is Over, We Must Rise from its Ashes.

This unprecedented intervention by the legislature is politically motivated and has nothing to do with defending Ontario’s Jewish community from anti-Semitism. As the MPPs themselves admitted, this attack is part of a larger attempt to silence all criticism of Israel in Ontario. At a time when Ontario is increasing trade relations with Israel, attacks on pro-Palestinian groups and activists are alarming, but not surprising.
As an MPP, I am asking you to:

- Demand an apology from Mr. Hoskins, Mr. Shurman and Mr Clark;
- Defend the right to criticize Israel in Ontario by opposing those that seek to shut down events like Israeli Apartheid Week;
- Uphold and support the freedom of academics to pursue research unfettered by political forces;
- Insist that Ontario cut its ties to Israel until it complies with international law.
Sincerely

Transcript from the Legislature – http://tinyurl.com/MPPsattackthesis

Mr. Steve Clark: My question is for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. Minister, Jewish groups are criticizing the University of Toronto for accepting a shockingly anti-Semitic master’s thesis. The holocaust is a horrible chapter in human history that claimed the lives of six million Jews. Yet this disgusting paper attacks educational programs working to insure such evil is never repeated. Minister, this House unanimously passed a resolution from the member from Thornhill condemning Israeli apartheid week. What are you doing as Minister of Citizenship to stop the rising tide of anti-Semitism?

Hon. Eric Hoskins: I deeply appreciate the member opposite for raising this. I too, was greatly disturbed and in fact disgusted when I read the immediate reports as well. I want to say first and foremost that this government remains absolutely committed to fighting discrimination in all its forms. I want to add as well that the McGuinty government denounces all acts of anti-Semitism, which we believe is a particularly vile and pernicious form of discrimination, and we will continue our work to protect the human rights of our Jewish community and of all Ontarians. I was proud that this Legislature, earlier this year, in fact came together to condemn anti-Semitism on our university campuses and we will continue our hard work on behalf of all Ontarians, including our Jewish community.

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Supplementary, the member from Thornhill.
Mr. Peter Shurman: I wish I could say that this hateful and poorly—
Interjections.
The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Stop. I just ask the honourable members; this is an important issue that the House, all members need to be able to hear clearly and appreciate not having the interjections. Member from Thornhill?

Mr. Peter Shurman: I wish I could say that this hateful and poorly researched paper, attacking programs that use the horrors of the holocaust to somehow show the dangers of discrimination and racism by Jews, was an isolated incident. Unfortunately, it’s only the latest example that we’ve seen. There are too many other cases including this summer, where anti-Semitic material was found at the Scott library not to mention an attack on the Jewish student association. Minister, will you today speak up on behalf of Jewish groups who have been so deeply hurt by this piece of garbage and condemn it not as an academic paper but for the hate that it actually is?

Hon. Eric Hoskins: Well, again, I appreciate the question from the member opposite. I join them in condemning this attack on Ontario’s Jewish community. I want to reiterate that, as I mentioned, that I was very proud earlier this year when the Legislature came together to condemn anti-Semitism on our campuses and in other ??forums. I look forward in fact to later today where there is a gathering of Jewish members from the Ontario community as we celebrate this important time of Hanukkah. I look forward to being able to speak with many members of that community as I’m co-hosting that event that the Premier is attending along with Monte Kwinter. I also want to add that the state of Israel is a very good friend of the province of Ontario. I had the privilege of visiting Israel earlier this year with the Premier and a number of members of the Liberal caucus and of this government to improve our ties. So again—

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian