Freedom of Speech Under Attack by supporters of Pro-Israeli Lobby

You can fool some people sometimes,
But you cant fool all the people all the time.
So now we see the light
We gonna stand up for our rights!
Get up, stand up!
Stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up!
Dont give up the fight!
Get up, stand up!
Stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up!
Dont give up the fight!
Get up, stand up!
Stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up!
Dont give up the fight!-Bob Marley

The FIGHT is for FREEDOM OF SPEECH which is under attack in the USA and about how a few fear filled people who cannot bear the light of truth are able to manipulate corporations and control universities into censorship!

I begin today with an email I received from one of the Editors of The Peoples Voice which illuminates these facts, and what I did to stand up for my freedom of speech rights!

Following that, is the "Finkelstein case: Academic freedom loses to Israeli lobby" about Norman Finkelstein, the son of Holocaust survivors and esteemed political scientist, who was recently denied tenure at DePaul University despite unanimous support from his department and the Arts and Sciences faculty.

In clean up position is a YOU TUBE Link to the video "If Americans Knew What Israel Is Doing!"

That was also censored!

Get up, stand up!
Dont give up the fight!
Get up, stand up!
Stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up!
Dont give up the fight

Dear Reader,

We @ thepeoplesvoice.org need your help! Anti-democratic forces have succeeded in making Google take us off its news list. It is important for web sites like ours to be listed there, so that more people will have access to alternative points of view, not just the Main Stream Media. Below you will find an extract of what we have to say about these negative forces. You will find the rest of it on our homepage. We will later post an extended article about this. As you will understand, we WILL fight back, but we do need your help to succeed in this. Please consider helping us.

Well, they're at it again. This time a gang of crazies at the Daily Kos have managed to convince Google News to remove our site. They may have had help from the extremists at 'Little Green Footballs' or 'Elder of Ziyon', two other sites that want to shut us down. They falsely accuse us of anti-Semitism when we are fiercely opposed to bigotry and racism in all it's forms. It is our sincere belief that a handful of people who seek to inhibit freedom of speech cannot equal the power of the majority of the people. If you like what we are doing and want more people to see the articles on our site please write a few words or a letter to Google News. Tell them that you like the site and to please put thepeoplesvoice.org back on Google News."

If you would like to help out, please just enter our homepage and click on "Contact Google News" in the upper right hand corner. This will lead you to Google's page dedicated to suggestions and / or feedback. Please just fill in your name etc. and whatever you would like to say or use the text / example below. Thank you!

Sincerely,
Schuyler Ebbets &
Ragnar Johannessen
The People's Voice
thepeoplesvoice.org

http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/

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MY EMAIL to Google News:

Because of my pro-human rights position for Palestinians and because I am a correspondent for the thepeoplesvoice.org [among MANY other websites] I endured weeks of UNJUST attacks, slander, censorship and then was banned without notice from the Daily Kos and Street Prophets.

The slander against me has continued on Little Green Footballs, a site I have never posted on.

Excerpted from June 7, 2007 WAWA Blog

http://www.wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=...

It Sure Smells Like a Right Wing Zionist Cabal at The Daily Kos

I have never been one for conspiracy theories; but I do understand all things are connected and nothing happens by accident.

My short 'career' at the Daily Kos, touted as a "progressive" site which seeks to elect democrats, has been one of the most chilling and illuminating experiences of my life…

…On the afternoon of June 3, 2007, when I discovered I was no longer allowed access to respond to the attacks against me or post another diary, I immediately emailed the founder of the site the following letter:

Dear Markos,

I am unable to comment back to anyone on my diary, as the COMMENT click has disappeared. I assume it is because my many attackers were able to finally achieve their goal and silence me.

...will you please clarify for my article the following issues?

1. How is it that one can be relentlessly slandered by so many on this site and have no recourse to respond?

2. Why are the commenters allowed to continuously post all sorts of inaccurate and derogatory comments about me, but I am dammed if I ignore them and Troll Rated when I respond?

3. Why does this site allow mean spirited, closed minded and hard hearted people the right to express themselves, yet I am denied the right to share what comes from my heart and what I learned in OPT?

4. Why are commenters allowed to persistently accuse me of all sorts of inaccuracies, such as I am anti-Semitic and a holocaust denier, without any proof cited from any of my writings to back up their false claims and now, I am denied the right to respond?

5. How come the supportive comments posted on the thread and my thank you comments back to the writer have been deleted? What is the criterion for such censorship?

6. If this site is dedicated to elect a democrat, why are sophomoric comments and inappropriate pictures allowed to be used to hi-jack a diary that addresses the most critical issue of this century: the 40th year of occupation of Palestine in the pursuit of human rights for all which would lead to justice, security and peace for all the people of the Holy Land?

I have yet to receive his reply.

The most persistent issue for this particular cabal of Kossacks was because of the free advertisement with a link to my site that the Editor of Peoples Voice had so graciously posted on the Peoples Voice site. This well organized cabal of Kossacks had judged and ruled that the Peoples Voice is an anti-Semitic "hate site" and has denied the holocaust. When I alerted the Editor of Peoples Voice about the slander against us, he attempted to post the following, but his comment was immediately deleted. Apparently, someone or some bodies were on duty 24/7 specifically to act as a censor.

What the Editor of Peoples Voice wrote:

...I have witnessed many baseless slanders and groundless attacks. Thepeoplesvoice.org is neither a hate site nor an anti Semitic site. There is not one denial of the holocaust present on thepeoplesvoice.org web site however there are many pages reaffirming the holocaust.

It seems to me that the people here attack others for speaking about things that supporters of Israel don't like. I would say Mrs. Fleming is not being attacked for any wrong she has done, but because of her views, and some people here have launched into a little smear job against her.

None of the accusations about Eileen Fleming or thepeoplesvoice have merit.

...I have openly challenged you to back up your accusations that thepeoplesvoice.org or Eileen Fleming are anti Semitic and that thepeoplesvoice.org posts holocaust denials, but you only delete my posts like a child.

Please show me where thepeoplesvoice.org has denied the holocaust as you have alleged over the past week, I want to see the proof and I am sure the public wants to see the proof also.[end]

Although I am unable to respond to comments and attacks on my diary, the cabal has continued to talk about me and thus, provide the following proof.

On June 4, 2007, Zemblan wrote:

Just a quick note about Eileen
About Eileen
I don't think she'll be posting here anymore…Poor Eileen. There's only one possible explanation. Obviously, she's just another victim of the Zionist Thought Police. Her advertising and crossposting on a hate site were simply irrelevant and could not possibly have factored into her departure in any way. If you think otherwise, you're a victim of Zionist mind control, just like the DKos editors. And it wasn't even really a decision the DKos editors agreed with; they were simply cowed into banning Eileen by a well-organized campaign of email harrassment that was most likely promulgated through GIYUS [ED Note: GIYUS/ Give Israel Your United Support, is a project of the World Union of Jewish Students] and I'll bet there were thousands of emails from Tel-Aviv...

No other possible explanation could possibly be possible, especially the plain and simply one given. She is clearly another victim of the Infantophagy Lobby.

by zemblan on Mon Jun 04, 2007 at 11:26:13 AM PDT

* And one other note

Remember when someone was hopping up and down about how this controversy is really all a put-on by Thuh Zionist Thought Police, and that we secretly didn't give a damn about the hate site, just about trying to silence Eileen's daring and controversial…

by zemblan on Mon Jun 04, 2007 at 11:42:40 AM PDT http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/3/85645/97104

What piqued my interest immediately is that I have a link attached to my website that informs me, where my readers are coming from. The 24 hours from June 3rd at 4 AM until June 4th, proved that visits from Israel increased so greatly, that Israel went from 17th place into 5th place out of the total countries who had visited my site during that time period…

On Sun Jun 03, 2007 at 07:38:35 PM PDT a Kossack named Warren Terrer wrote:

Eileen has again been banned, apparently. Shergald's cunning plan is working! Bwahahahaha!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/3/85645/97104

The Peoples Voice gives voice to ALL the people, it is in no way a hate site or anti-Semitic, just controversial; as the truth always is! In fairness and in support of freedom of speech, I beseech you to PLEASE put the Peoples Voice back on Google News.

Thank you,

Eileen Fleming
Author "MEMOIRS OF A NICE IRISH-AMERICAN 'GIRL'S' LIFE IN OCCUPIED TERRITORY"
Reporter and Editor
http://www.wearewideawake.org/

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Finkelstein case: Academic freedom loses to Israeli lobby
Matthew Abraham, The Electronic Intifada, 25 June 2007
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article7055.shtml

DePaul University's Promotion and Tenure Board's 8 June 2007 decision to deny tenure to professors Norman G. Finkelstein and Mehrene Laurdee has placed DePaul University on the brink of a legitimacy crisis that threatens to irrevocably harm the very fabric of a university that has placed social justice and activism at the heart of its Vincentian mission since 1898. What does it mean that this Vincentian University has denied tenure to two passionate advocates of social justice who not only met the tenure requirements of their departments and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences but clearly surpassed them? What would St. Vincent de Paul have made of this year's tenure and promotion decisions? Would he have agreed with them? From what I know of St. Vincent de Paul's life and work, I'm almost certain he would be distressed by what has transpired under the name of "Vincentian tenure standards," which are transparent code words for "proving one's ideological serviceability to the interests of the powerful," in this case DePaul's would-be patrons. Finkelstein and Larudee apparently failed that test.

Norman Finkelstein has written passionately about the plight of the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation, indicting powerful elites who capitalize upon the moral capital of the Holocaust for financial gain while demonstrating indifference toward the suffering of those on the receiving end of US high-tech weaponry in the Palestinian occupied territories and south Lebanon. Larudee, the sister of International Solidarity Movement leader Paul Larudee who was jailed in Israel for a brief time, is a specialist on international organizations and developing countries. During their time at DePaul, Finkelstein and Larudee have inspired numerous students to create a better world, sparked vigorous debate on the issues of our age, and dared to speak truth to power, which is an era of clichés and political correctness is the minimum intellectual responsibility requires.

As an untenured assistant professor on this campus, who thought serious scholarship would find a site of articulation within the university named after St. Vincent de Paul, I have questioned not only my DePaul colleagues' commitment to academic freedom, but the motivations and rationalizations of many of my colleagues who remain silent in the wake of the grave injustice that took place on 8 June 2007, when Finkelstein and Larudee received their denial letters from President Dennis Holtschneider.

Outside the student center at the Lincoln Park, Chicago campus stands a giant statue of the famous 20th century priest, Monsieur John Egan, who asks, "What are you doing for justice?" At DePaul these days, it seems the students are doing more by way of affirmatively answering Egan's question than the faculty. Students have staged protests of some sort every day since the tenure denials were made official. At this moment, a handful of these students are staging a hunger protest outside the Lincoln Park student center. DePaul's students are standing on principle, and as one protester's rally sign declared, "You can silence our professors, but you can't silence their ideas."

Professional decorum dictates that administrative decisions, whatever they may be and regardless of whether or not they make sense, should be accepted with grace and without undue skepticism, and certainly without resistance, by the faculty. This situation, however, demands fierce resistance. I am calling on all of my DePaul colleagues to launch an intellectual revolt against the suppression of academic freedom on our campus. Although President Holtschneider maintains that academic freedom is alive and well at DePaul, and Provost Epps insists that the denial of tenure to Larudee and Finelstein were "faculty decisions," it is high time to call out these PR strategies for what they are: convenient smokescreens designed to appease, obfuscate and confuse.

Over the last three months, I have provoked, teased, begged, and cajoled tenured faculty at DePaul to be vigilant about the Finkelstein case, stating quite clearly that it was a test case that would have wide ranging implications for the future of academic freedom and academic freedom protections in the United States. Regrettably, only about four faculty members at DePaul took this warning seriously, with most believing the tenure processes at DePaul have essentially been fair and would, over time, weed out any early expressions of bias and unfairness. Indeed, some faculty members stated unequivocally that they would lead the charge if the University Board denied Finkelstein tenure. As one senior faculty member proudly proclaimed, "The faculty will revolt if Finkelstein is denied."

Now that the results are final and Finkelstein and Larudee have been the victims of egregious violations of academic freedom and due process per the faculty handbook, faculty members at DePaul must stand up, speak out, and not settle for a summer of fun, relaxation, and a convenient amnesia. It is high time for the faculty to identify and mobilize against the forces within DePaul university that conspired to deny Finkelstein and Larudee what they rightfully earned; organize in support of academic freedom by creating a solid lobbying effort against illegitimate external influences in DePaul's tenure and promotion processes; and perhaps most importantly, insist upon a thorough investigation of what happened at the University Promotion and Tenure Board (UPTB) hearings in May that led to majority votes against Finkelstein and Larudee's tenure and promotion to associate professor.

If a task force were formed to interrogate the faculty members who served on this year's committee, there is the possibility that someone would emerge to tell the truth about what influence, if any, was placed on the faculty members who served to vote in a particular way. This needs to happen not just to answer the questions that have emerged over the last two weeks about how the UPTB arrived at its decisions, but to prove that DePaul's administration has absolutely nothing to hide. If there is nothing to hide, there is no reason why those who served on the UPTB would object to being interviewed by the task force. The administration's insistence that there is no appeals process only contributes to an already tense situation filled with suspicion about the UPTB's deliberations from last April and May.

That Finkelstein and Larudee received overwhelming support from their respective departments and unanimous support from the Liberal Arts & Sciences College personnel committee that heard their cases, only to have the UPTB reach entirely different conclusions about their scholarship than the lower levels in what essentially amounts to a retrying each case, suggests that the seven voting members of the UPTB either learned a great deal about the U.S.-Israel-Palestine conflict and international studies in a month's time, were denied crucial pieces of information, or were coerced to vote a certain way to produce a desired outcome. In any event, all three scenarios are extremely troubling.

One thing is clear: US supporters of Israel, who have not hesitated in the past to use psych-op smear tactics against individuals committed to upholding international law and the international consensus on the Israel-Palestine conflict, may very well have successfully corrupted DePaul University's tenure and promotion processes through DePaul's Board of Trustees in a blatant attempt to remove political opponents from the largest Catholic university in the United States.

Matthew Abraham is an assistant professor of English at DePaul University in Chicago, IL. He is guest editor of a forthcoming issue of Cultural Critique on the life and legacy of Edward Said. He was the 2005 winner of the Rachel Corrie Courage in the Teaching of Writing Award.

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If Americans Knew What Israel Is Doing! VIDEO WAS CENSORED!

Those who want to suppress the facts have dishonestly contacted YouTube and claimed that the video "If Americans Knew What Israel Is Doing!" was a Terms of Service Violation. The video is clearly NOT a TOS violation. See why they don't want you to see it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynWjYHP91gA

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Get up, stand up!
Dont give up the fight!
Get up, stand up!
Stand up for your rights!
Get up, stand up!

Dont give up the fight!

Published first:
http://www.wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=...