Dr. Cornel West’s letter to Univ. of Arizona:
http://nomoredeaths.org/University-of-Arizona-NMD/cornel-west-ua-letter.html
Media Contacts: UA No Más Muertes / UA Jewish Voice for Peace:
Francisco Baires: 520-991-7151 / fco.brs@gmx.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Gabriel Matthew Schivone: 520-302-6006 / gabrielm@email.arizona.edu This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
TUCSON AZ (April 28) — In a stunning public move that may draw much criticism, Dr. Cornel West — probably the most well-known and renowned U.S. public intellectual — has called on the University of Arizona (UA) to divest from corporations profiting from Israel’s illegal settlement and occupation of Palestine as well as from the racist practices — particularly attacks on Ethnic Studies — against immigrant and indigenous peoples in AZ and nationwide.
Dr. West’s remarks came in the form of an open letter, dated today and addressed to the university community, following an enormously well-received lecture, “Borders to Democracy,” given earlier this month to thousands of people on the UA campus, and sponsored in part by the Office of the UA President, Robert Shelton. The letter followed an effort last month similarly calling for UA divestment by Nobel laureate and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Dr. West’s letter focused on an event held last Thursday at the UofA called “Denying Ethnic Studies — from AZ to Palestine,” part of a national “Right to Education” tour by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). A local ABC-TV affiliate, in its report, “Ethnic Studies Activists Compare their Struggle to Palestinians’,” quoted one of the event’s speakers, Leilani Clark, responding to the possibility of some people being offended by the comparison: “…I’m really sorry if it offends you but at the same time you cannot dismiss and you cannot downplay those parallels….There’s very stark similarities; for instance, the border completely slashing across our lands.”
In the letter, West praised Ethnic Studies youth in their global effort to preserve their education and cultural history and pointed to UA corporate partners Caterpillar and Motorola as among the corporations responsible for the “treachery targeting our youth’s future.” He then endorsed the use of “Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS)” as “an effectively nonviolent means of exerting moral and economic pressures to end unjust policies, from racial profiling to repressive laws, to foreign occupation and land settlement.” He also praised JVP’s campaign urging TIAA-CREF — a leading pension fund for educators — to divest from corporations, including Caterpillar and Motorola, which support the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
West’s letter came on the heels of an Ethnic Studies youth movement that is shaking Arizona and the nation to its bones. This past Tuesday night, when the Tucson Unified District School Board (TUSD) was to vote on a fateful measure that would effectively dismantle Ethnic Studies programs as core classes for students, the popular youth coalition UNIDOS (United Non-discriminatory Individuals Demanding Our Studies) and dozens of supporters occupied the TUSD headquarters. Minutes before the meeting was to begin, 9 UNIDOS activists rushed the Board platform and chained themselves to Board members’ chairs and dais, setting up a banner that read, “UNIDOS Presents the Youth School Board.” The Board was unable to hold their meeting and rescheduled for a later time. Asiya Mir, organizer with UNIDOS and founder of Tucson High School Students for Justice in Palestine, was one of the 9 activists who chained themselves to the board. Mir believes the TUSD board will not yield from selling out the students’ education. However, she said, “We stopped them from passing the vote tonight. For tonight, it’s a victory.”
But what does divestment have to do with Ethnic Studies? — Everything, students say. Elizabeth Dake, ASUA Women’s Resource Center Health and Sexuality Chair, opined in this Monday’s edition of the Arizona Daily Wildcat, “Denying education to Palestinian students and eliminating ethnic studies in Arizona are necessary steps to maintain oppressive, pro-corporate policies. The UofA currently holds contracts with Motorola, Caterpillar…which support Israeli occupation of Palestine and anti-immigrant legislation in Arizona. Divestment is the strongest statement our university can make in support for worldwide human rights. We, as members of the university community, demand that our administration end our university’s contracts with these corporations and stand up for human rights around the world and at home.”
Asked what he thinks of Dr. West’s call for UA divestment from Caterpillar and Motorola, Gabriel Matthew Schivone, a Chicano-Jewish American and coordinator of JVP’s UA student group, stated: “Well, it depends on the university’s values in relation to their actions. If they [the UA administration] supported divestment — which of course they do not — they’d likely feel pride and triumph because they would be complying with international law and be acting in step with their principles. But since they choose to violate their own principles and the rule of law, their actions — called out by an honored guest — demonstrate a shameful embarrassment on the university’s credibility, on its reputation and standards.”
“Virtually the whole administration invited Dr. West and probably endorsed a handsome speaker’s fee,” Schivone continued. “And here Dr. West is calling on the UofA to withdraw from what is doubtless a criminal and indecent association with corporations destroying people’s lives in Palestine, here along the border and nationwide. We [students] regard [West’s endorsement] as a very significant victory for human rights, from AZ to Palestine.”
Those in the national organization of Jewish Voice for Peace were happy to receive West’s endorsement and praise. According to Rabbi Alissa Wise: “We at JVP are delighted to see Professor Cornel West’s support of the student organizers at the UofA. We at JVP share his concern of the connection between injustices in Arizona and those in Palestine, and for his recognition of the myriad corporations profiting from the occupation that denies Palestinian youth full access to education, including those companies highlighted in our petition to TIAA-CREF asking that they divest from the Israeli occupation.”
The night of Dr. West’s visit to the UA, campus No Más Muertes (NMM) representatives, students Grecia Ramirez and Schivone, attended a pre-event gathering where Dr. West met and spoke with Ethnic Studies students. Dr. West invited both students to the podium to speak about the massive mock wall their group erected on campus last month that captured national attention, the group’s humanitarian work in the desert and anti-racist work in the cities.
The students presented Dr. West with the March 30 letter addressed to the UA from Archbishop Tutu — who West regards as a close, personal friend — and asked West to support Ethnic Studies and a two-year student campaign urging the UofA to divest from Caterpillar and Motorola. Dr. West’s eloquently moving and passionate letter to the entire UA community was the result.
http://www.nomoredeaths.org/University-of-Arizona-NMD/west-ua-divestment.html
