Gulen Cult Film 'Love Is A Verb' Protested in Berkeley-STOP Public Funding To Gulen School

LOVE IS A VERB
TRUTH OR FICTION???

PROPAGANDA: “ideas or statements that are often false or exaggerated and that are spread in order to help a cause, a political leader, a government, etc.”

... in this case, the reclusive, Pocono-dwelling Fethullah Gülen and his followers, a.k.a. the Gülen Movement, cemaat (“the community”), or according to this group’s own lingo, hizmet.

“If you touch them you get burned.” – Ahmet Şık, award-winning investigative journalist upon his arrest in 2011 for attempting to expose the Gülen Movement’s activities in Turkey.

Beyond this film is a real story of
• A Turkish imam’s utopian vision of slow-but-steady acquisition of global power
• Opacity, corruption, collusion, and controversy everywhere this group goes
• FBI raids and the involvement of the CIA
• Strategic trickery, betrayal of trust, and systematic abuse of American taxpayers
• The unaware being manipulated into Gülenist tools
• American charter school students being used as pawns for this group’s geopolitical game
• A cult-like phenomenon that has been compared to Opus Dei, Scientology, and the Mafia


Open letter to Dan Woods regarding the Gülen Network's Magnolia Charter Schools
"The Walton family, founder of Wal-mart, the worldwide retail giant, has donated millions of dollars to schools considered to be associated with the Gülen community." — Charter School Scandals
http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2016/02/open-letter-to-dan-woods-regarding.html



From: *****@ucla.edu
Subject: Open letter to Dan Woods regarding the Gülen Network's Magnolia Charter Schools
Date: February 02, 2016 14:22:46 PST
To: d.woods [at] mpglaw.com

Mr. Woods:

Just read your heavy-handed letter [1] to Arthur M. Pakowitz, Esq.

As a courtesy I wanted to address some of your concerns, which are clearly based in your ignorance regarding both privately managed charter schools, and the shadowy Gülen cult that your client is associated with.

Regarding your insistence that the Magnolia corporate charter school chain's financial information is transparent. This simply isn't the case, and it wasn't until the public school district called for an audit that one was conducted. Said audits revealed millions of "missing, misused funds" [2]. These were public dollars, squandered under the private management of your client.

You then make the absurd assertion that "Magnolia's eleven charter schools are public schools…" In case you actually believe that misrepresentation, let me disabuse you.

Generally charter schools are not public schools. Both existing case law and public policy have long established this. The Washington State Supreme Court (2015) held that charter schools are not "common schools" because they're governed by appointed rather than elected boards. The 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals (2010) ruled that charter schools are not "public actors." The California Court of Appeals (2007) ruled that charter schools are not "public agents." The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) joined many other government agencies in unequivocally determining that charters are, in NLRB's words, "private entities."

By definition if a charter school is run by a for-profit company, or a (501c3) non-profit corporation (e.g. Magnolia Educational and Research Foundation), then it is not a public school. The United States Census Bureau frames this issue best: "A few "public charter schools" are run by public universities and municipalities. However, most charter schools are run by private nonprofit organizations and are therefore classified as private." [3]

Because these lucrative charter schools are not public, and are not subject to even a modicum of public oversight, they are able to get away with violating the constitutional rights of their students. The decision in Scott B. v. Board of Trustees of Orange County High School of the Arts saw Rosa K. Hirji, Esq. write: "The structures that allow charter schools to exist are marked by the absence of protections that are traditionally guaranteed by public education, protections that only become apparent and necessary when families and students begin to face a denial of what they were initially promised to be their right." [4]

Lastly, there is ample documentation tying the Magnolia corporate charter school chain to the Gülenist Movement, namely through their intertwinement with the Los Angeles based Pacifica Institute—a Gülen organization which denies the 1915-1918 Armenian genocide. [5] Moreover, Fethullah Gülen's ties to the Magnolia charter schools was reported to Turkish readers as early as 2010. [6]

Far be it for me to do your research for you, but as a courtesy I offer the following footnote [7] as starting point for your own additional discovery.

I understand that the model rules of professional conduct call upon you to vigorously represent your client's interests, but one would expect an attorney of your standing to at least base your arguments in a modicum of reality. I suppose in a way I owe you and your firm a debt of gratitude inasmuch as you provide examples of the type of attorney I don't want to be—seemingly ones that hold billable hours more important than the public interest.

[1] https://twitter.com/GooseNetworkUSA/status/694588816066121728
[2] http://www.scpr.org/blogs/education/2014/07/21/17031/audit-finds-missing-misused-funds-at-la-charter-ne/
[3] US Census Bureau. (2011). Public Education Finances: 2009 (GO9-ASPEF). Washington, DC: US Government Printing O ce. Print. vi
[4] https://apps.americanbar.org/litigation/committees/childrights/content/articles/winter2014-0114-charter-schools-upholding-student-rights.html
[5] http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/30/local/la-me-0930-ottoman-band-20110930
[6] http://gundem.milliyet.com.tr/walmart-tan-gulen-okullarina-bagis/guncel/gundemdetay/27.08.2010/1281603/default.htm
[7] Compendium of Magnolia/Pacifica/Gülen resources:

• Gulen charter schools 101 + webinar video http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/p/gulen-school-characteristics.html

• Gulen charter school lists http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/p/list-of-us-gulen-schools.html

• The Gulen Movement & its schools in the news http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/p/the-gulen-movement-and-its-schools-in.html

• Gulen Charter School Enrollment in 2013-2014 http://charterschoolscandals.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

• Mónica García champions the Gülenist Charter Movement in LAUSD http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2012/08/monica-garcia-champions-gulenist.html

• Financially malfeasant charters run by shadowy religious cult escape LAUSD scrutiny http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2015/03/financially-malfeasant-charters-run-by.html

• Turns out Caprice Young has been working for Gülen's charter network all along http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2015/02/turns-out-caprice-young-has-been.html

• What are Ref Rodriguez's ties to the Gülen cult, and why is the Armenian community supporting Bennett Kayser? http://www.schoolsmatter.info/2015/04/what-are-ref-rodriguezs-ties-to-gulen.html
Advocating Public Education and Social Justice

Robert D. Skeels
Juris Doctor Candidate
UCLA '14, PCL '18
*****@alumni.ucla.edu

"Problem posing education does not and cannot serve the interests of the oppressor" — Paulo Freire

Protest halts planned parade by Ottoman band
The Hollywood event was intended to call attention to a Turkish cultural festival, organizers said, but people of Armenian descent and others objected, citing the genocide.
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/30/local/la-me-0930-ottoman-band-20110930
September 30, 2011|By Jason Wells, Los Angeles Times

A planned parade by an Ottoman military marching band in Hollywood has been canceled because of objections by Armenian groups who said the event was an affront to victims of the 1915-1918 Armenian genocide.

The genocide claimed the lives of about 1.2 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, which became the modern-day republic of Turkey. The Turkish government disputes that a genocide took place.

The permit for the parade, scheduled for next Monday on Hollywood Boulevard, was pulled Wednesday, an official at the Los Angeles Police Commission said.

Hafsa Rai, a spokeswoman for the Pacifica Institute, which organized the event, said that the uproar took the organization by surprise and that its mission is to promote intercultural dialogue.

"We are not here to offend anyone. That was never our intention," she said.

The march was meant to generate interest in the Anatolian Cultures Festival in Costa Mesa starting Oct. 6, which celebrates all cultures that have at one time lived in what is now Turkey, including Armenians, Rai said.

But as word of the parade spread, it drew wholesale condemnation from Armenian groups, including the Armenian Youth Federation and Armenian National Committee, which called the march "tantamount to hate speech and harassment."

The Armenian Youth Federation had planned to protest the parade, organized via a Facebook page on which the reaction among users was a mix of surprise and outrage.

That the Ottoman military marching band was scheduled during a time when people of Armenian descent are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their homeland's republic only inflamed the reaction.

Calling the march a "blatant provocation," Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti and Councilman Paul Krekorian said in a joint statement Wednesday that they were pleased the parade was scrubbed, adding that the "Armenian genocide at the hands of the Ottoman Empire is a wound that continues to fester."

As the discontent in the Armenian community grew, Rai said, the Pacifica Institute started exploring ways to include other cultures in the parade. But when it became clear that it could not be done in time, organizers decided to pull the plug on the event, she said.

"I guess we didn't realize how long it would take," she said.

jason.wells [at] latimes.com

Rahm Supports Gulen Supported Charter Schools in Chicago
http://schoolsnapshots.org/blog/2014/06/15/fbi-raids-19-gulen-affiliated-charter-schools/
FBI Raids 19 Gulen-Affiliated Charter Schools

TOPICS:Charter SchoolsGulen
POSTED BY: PAUL KATULA JUN 15, 2014

The FBI conducted raids on June 4 at 19 Concept charter schools in Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.


Photo from the Twitter account of Bilal Eksili, identifying people from left to right as Suleyman Tuhanogullari, president, Turkish-American Federation of the Midwest; Salim Ucan of Concept Schools; Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago; Bilal Eksili, founder of the Indiana Math and Science Academies; and Tamer Copuraglu, president, Turkish-American Chamber of Commerce
The search warrants were executed in connection with an “ongoing white-collar crime matter,” the Sun-Times quoted Vicki Anderson, a special agent in the Cleveland FBI office that’s leading the probe, as saying. The US Department of Education and the Federal Communications Commission were also involved.

Last year, the Chicago school board approved two new charter schools to be run by Concept Schools, but two were already in operation in the state. Charters for the two existing schools were rejected by the board the year before, but that decision was overruled by the Illinois State Charter School Commission.

Concept runs schools in Chicago, Peoria, St Louis, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Michigan, but most of their schools are located in Ohio (Toledo, Columbus, Cleveland, Youngstown, and Dayton). The headquarters is in DesPlaines, Ill. The group has been associated with the Turkish Gulen movement, which has ties to several charter schools in several different states. For a list of schools, including two in Maryland and four in Illinois, see the website, here.

The schools have posted a few academic awards. The Chicago Math and Science Academy, for example, made the list of Honor Roll Schools from the Illinois State Board of Education in 2008, and two schools in Ohio, the HSA Columbus High School and the Horizon Cleveland High School, were named national Blue Ribbon schools by the US Department of Education in 2008 and 2012, respectively. The school model focuses on education in the STEM disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Warrants are sealed, but some info is coming to light

Some bloggers, such as Tim Furman, here, have suggested authorities may be looking for evidence of visa fraud. The organization is known for obtaining H1B visas from the US government for teachers, including teachers of English, to support Turkish partner organizations. Some people also believe the federal and state money funneled into the schools supports an Islamist campaign to take over the government of Turkey or turn it into a nation that follows Sharia law.

The US schools have become infamous for their failure to promote women (video), their failure to hire US citizens to work even in low-end jobs, and their failure to be transparent when it comes to reporting the finances or academic progress of their students.

For more information, please refer to Doug Martin’s eye-opening book, Hoosier School Heist, available here, and pay special attention to pp 114-124.

The FBI also raided charter schools affiliated with the Gulen movement in Louisiana a year and a half ago, as seen here. Even going back to 2011, reported in the New Orleans Times-Picayune, here, charter schools associated with the Gulen movement in Turkey have been suspected of criminal activity in the US.