Defend the Irvine 11 and Eric-Michael Wilson

The Irvine 11 are students from UC Irvine who spoke out against Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren for Israel's massacre of over 1,300 Palestinians in Gaza during "Operation Cast Lead." For this exercise of their free speech, they have faced academic suspension and probation, and misdemeanor criminal charges. Zahra Billoo, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in San Francisco, will explain what their case means for student activism, and why we must defend them.

Eric-Michael Wilson is a UC Berkeley student and activist against the budget cuts and fee hikes. He attended a protest in November outside the office of the UC Regents, where the Regents were considering whether to raise tuition for the 6th time in 4 years. At this protest, a UCSF police officer drew his gun on the protesters. Eric-Michael -- despite clear video evidence to the contrary -- is accused of assaulting a police officer, when in fact he was only exercising his right to protest to fight for the rights of everyone to get an education. Claire Douglas, an activist against the budget cuts at SFSU, will speak about Eric-Michael's case.

Cosponsored by the International Socialist Organization, United National Antiwar Committee, Socialist Action, Berkeley SJP, Committee to Defend Lynne Stewart, Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal.