Pictures From "Academic Freedom In Peril: Ward Churchill And His Right Of Free Speech"

Ward Churchill's latest tactic is to now spend more time covering all of his statements, whether false or not, with the cloak of the First Amendment and Academic Freedom.

As to the First Amendment and freedom of speech, no one has a right to FALSELY yell fire in a crowded theater. That means no one has a right to tell lies or cause harm to anyone under the protection of the First Amendment.

As to Academic Freedom, Black's Law Dictionary defines Academic Freedom as a "Right to teach as one sees fit, but not necessarily the right to teach evil."

As to troubled times, it is always troubled times for the workingclass in a capitalist society. That is no excuse for the grief Ward Churchill has caused and the fact that these professors are defending Churchill under the false premise of Academic Freedom and Freedom of Speech, knowing what he said is wrong, is outrageous. It proves once again that UC Berkeley is a rich folk's finishing school where contempt for the workingclass prevails. It is, of course, the same school which allows John Yoo to be a professor of law at its law school, Boalt Hall, the same Yoo who authored torture memos supporting the illegal imprisonment and torture of prisoners at Guantanamo and who has declared the Geneva Conventions regarding war crimes and treatment of prisoners, brought into existence because of the horrors perpetrated by the Nazis, including Adolf Eichmann, to be null and void. Thus, we see, it is not the color, gender or sexual orientation of a person that makes the difference but their class outlook. That is, do they support the workingclass or do they support the capitalist class?

Ward Churchill knowingly joined with the fascist George Bush, chairperson of the Board of Big Business also known as the President of the US, in promoting his Big Lie that the 9/11/01 Reichstag Fire was somehow an outside attack by some unknown, and never proven organization when just the fact that there was no air defense which could have stopped the first plane crash was absolute proof that this was an inside job as our excellent air defense had obviously been told to stand down, which orders had to come from the president, vice-president or secretary of war.

We now know much more about the 9/11/01 Inside Job because we have all read Michael Ruppert's Crossing the Rubicon and David Ray Griffin's New Pearl Harbor and the 9/11 Commission Report: Distortions and Ommissions, at the very least.

By now, all ethnic studies professors, including Ward Churchill, must have read these basic books as they are all readily available and the topic is a major political issue.

Churchill added insult to injury by referring to the victims of US capitalism, the workers at the World Trade Center, as "little Eichmanns" and then as late as March 25, 2005 at the Women's Building in San Francisco, defended this insane statement by stating that Eichmann was just a technocrat who coordinated the trains when in fact Eichmann was a leading Nazi who planned the Holocaust and carried it out, including having vans with their exhaust go into the vans to kill Jews inside and at Auschwitz, approved the use of Zyklon-B and witnessed the extermination of Jews!

See:
http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/e/eichmann-adolf/
and
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/biographies/eichmann.htm

Ward Churchill is old enough to remember the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann and as a liberal arts professor has a responsibility to not only pick and choose his words carefully but also to know basic history. The deeds of Adolf Eichmann are well-known to anyone who makes any effort to learn of them as this trial was very public, broadcast daily around the world, reported by all the world's press. For the trial transcript, see:
http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/e/eichmann-adolf/transcripts/

Meanwhile, neither Ward Churchill nor his followers offer any solutions to the problems of this society whatsoever. We have yet to even learn the name, address and phone number of a bar that is allegedly in San Francisco's Financial District where anti-Native American racism and contempt for women is promoted with a display of the teeth of a Native American woman so we can call this bar and demand they put an end to this display.

All we get from Ward Churchill and his supporters is name-calling of the workingclass as "little Eichmanns" followed by erroneous use of the First Amendment and Academic Freedom.

THE ONLY SOLUTION IS A LABOR MOVEMENT.
The horrors perpetrated by the US capitalist class both abroad and at home can only be stopped and ended permanently by organizing labor. Ward Churchill and his followers never even propose a labor movement as they are too busy calling us workers horrible names. Believe it or not, many people are very well aware of the terrible crimes being committed in our name and are outraged. The fact remains, nothing can change until labor moves. Labor moves when it gets hungry enough, and we have arrived at that moment. Things can no longer go on in the old way. We live in a society that is crumbling all around us and the only way the workingclass can survive is by organizing, putting an end to capitalism and its profit motive, and establishing socialism, that is a non-profit society where labor shares the wealth that we produce as equitably as possible with everyone. Only with a strong, organized labor can we have world peace.

I'm not a big fan of Ward or many of his ideas but he is a test case in a growing attack on free speech within Universities. Listening to everything he says (which is pretty different from what people claims he says) I dont think I would really disagree with any of it but I think his tone and choice of words is designed specifically to incite. Its hard to be too sympathetic to someone who wants to court controvery but at the same time it does explain why he is one of the first on the list of academics who have come under threat for controversial beliefs. If we all nitpick on the things we dont like about Churchill we can wait around until we come under attack and everyone comes up with an excuse for why we shouldnt be defended or we can fight back.

"Scholars in all academic disciplines have the right to voice opinions that are in deep conflict with those held by much of the citizenry and the President of the United States. This right is a bedrock of the value of universities as centers of rigorous debate and learning. Academic freedom is essential for debates to be aired with all points of view, so that the facts and data marshaled for both the arguments and counter arguments can be compared."

So when are you going to start defending Harvard president Lawrence Summers freedom of speech?

Lawrence Summers has freedom of speech. Criticizing what someone said is entirely different from calling for them to be punished by the government for it (except for certain categories of non-1st amendment covered speech such as slander or causing mayhem).

It was great to see real Indians out there protesting this fake-Indian con man.

You know, I really doubt that Zachary Running Wolf who was out there with a sign could be considered on your side in any way.
He ran across the country to raise awareness about Mumia abu-Jamal. Is he one of your people? He goes on all the critical mass rides, and with regards to this, he was primarily concerned that this was part of a backlash plan against casinos, which are the first thing since the 1500s that have allowed a few tribes to improve their standard of living, which was (and still is) abysmal up until the 90s, with boarding schools, horrible healthcare and high rates of diseases like diabetes and tuberculosis, etc. Schwarzenegger manages to make it seem like indians suddenly actually have money and are rich, even though they are average make far less than african americans.

This Churchill is a living, breathing insult to Native people everywhere. The Indians in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show were more authentic than this clown.

Alvin

To all you who were offended by Ward Churchills essay or

whatever he did I have a little saying you may remember from

public school.

"Sticks and Stones will break my bones but names will never

hurt me"

So if you dont like what someone has to say IGNORE them,

dont get all up in arms over something in the grand scheme of it

all means NOTHING.

But if you must keep whining I can assure you all anyone

hears is blah blah blah!

With regards to labour.

What about hardhats beat up peace demonstrators.

And labour support for oil drilling and the envromentally dirty american auto industry?