September 29, 2011
The Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign (MN BBC) denounces the convictions of the Irvine 11 students for conspiracy and disruption.
In February 2010 Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren visited the University of California’s Irvine campus to give a speech. This speech was an example of “rebranding Israel,” one of the Reut Institute’s recommendations for reshaping Israel’s worsening image in the world. Oren’s speech was interrupted by shouts from 11 students, who, one by one were led out of the auditorium by police (video here). UCI Chancellor Michael Drake, visibly embarrassed by the students’ behavior, attempted to shame them. Several pro-Israeli students in the audience attempted to silence the protestors using ridicule. At the end of the video a professor is seen telling the students that they have all flunked their exams.
The eleven protesting students, all Muslim and apparently all of Middle Eastern descent or origin, were subsequently charged with crimes. The charter of the student organization to which they belonged, the Muslim Student Union was revoked and the organization was placed on probation for two years.
A similar demonstration in New Orleans by the group Young Jewish and Proud, during a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu, resulted in no charges against the Jewish demonstrators.
MN BBC believes that the eleven Muslim students had a constitutional right to demonstrate against the Israeli ambassador and express their political views. Charging and convicting them of the rarely prosecuted crime of disruption (dating back to campus protests against the Vietnam War) denied them their First Amendment rights of free speech and subjected them to unconstitutional selective prosecution. Additionally, suspending the students, denying their right of free assembly within the student group structure, and threatening to fail them for participating in the demonstration, are methods to stifle free speech, particularly political speech, and especially speech regarding views on Israel. Even the dean of the UC Irvine Law School, constitutional scholar Erwin Chemerinsky, commented that the prosecution was a “terrible mistake,” “unnecessary,” “harmful” and “divisive.” Hector Villagra, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said “If allowed to stand, this will undoubtedly intimidate students in Orange County and across the state and discourage them from engaging in any controversial speech or protest for fear of criminal charges.”
We believe that the Irvine 11 were selectively prosecuted because of their ethnicity, religion and stance against Israel’s injustices, and that Islamophobia and racism of any type must be condemned and combated wherever they occur.
Photo: mlfa.org