Free speech victory in Chicago

On Thurs., Sept. 14, the DePaul University College of Law informed the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) in Chicago that it was canceling a forum on the Middle East scheduled for the next evening. The forum’s title was “Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq: U.S. imperialism in the Middle East and the forces resisting it.”

After a struggle, which included an emergency e-mail campaign, the forum went ahead as scheduled. Richard Becker,

ANSWER western regional coordinator Richard Becker speaks in Chicago, Sept. 15.

ANSWER’s western regional coordinator, and Suzanne Adely, from the Arab Movement of Women Arising for Justice, spoke at the forum. More than 50 people attended.

It is clear that Zionists applied pressure to the school in an attempt to shut down the forum. The reasons given by DePaul for canceling the forum were obviously not the real reasons. The school claimed that the forum posed a security risk, that they heard 500 people were slated to attend, that the student chapter of the National Lawyers Guild was not listed on the leaflet, and the proper procedures were not followed.

The room for the forum had been reserved by an officer of the National Lawyers Guild chapter at the law school.

When pressed, Charlotte Taylor, the law school’s assistant dean, admitted that meetings reserved by officers of campus groups normally are approved and take place without question on an established “honor” system. She said that administrators do not normally check on or hold up meetings. In explaining the rationale for veering from the established system for the Sept. 15 forum, Taylor only stated that concerns about the forum were “brought to her attention” by an unnamed source.

In response to the attack, ANSWER launched a national and local e-mail and phone-in campaign to demand that the

Suzanne Adely, Arab Movement of Women Arising for Justice

law school reverse its cancellation. The campaign was an overwhelming success. Over 2,000 people e-mailed and hundreds of people called the law school’s dean to protest the attack on free speech. It was an important show of support for the anti-war movement.

The campaign greatly frustrated campus administrators. It forced the school to arrange a room for the forum in the same building as was originally planned.

The attempt to shut down the forum in Chicago is part of a wider program waged by Zionists and pro-imperialist forces in the United States and around the world to threaten all who speak out against the brutal nature of U.S. aggression and Israeli war crimes. They seek to intimidate and drown out those who actively build solidarity and support for the people of Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq and the entire Middle East.

On Sept. 15 in Chicago, the Zionists were defeated by the efforts of thousands of people around the country who fought back against their anti-Arab racism and lies.