Posted on 09/21/2007 5:42:36 PM PDT by Stoat
***
As I mentioned yesterday, Columbia students on Facebook have been busy organizing a protest of the Iranian nutjobs visit on Monday.
Here are some details:
WHEN: Monday, September 24, 1:00-3:00
WHERE:
COLUMBIA STUDENTS (w/ Columbia IDs): On campus, outside Lerner Hall
NON-COLUMBIA STUDENTS: The Columbia Gates. 116th and Broadway - we have secured a permit to stage a protest there.
WHO: YOU and your friends, along with Hillel, Hasbara, StandWithUs, Amcha, ZOA, The David Project, Columbia student groups, concerned citizens. Expected attendance is in the thousands.
WHY: Remember - the world is watching. This is a monumental opportunity to make our voices heard. Generations will ask us, What did we do to protest? Where were we?
NEED A RIDE?
Hasbara Fellowships will be organizing busses from various campuses and points around the city. They are planning to provide busses from: NYU, Rutgers, Baruch, Queens, Hofstra, Brooklyn, and from the earlier rally in front of the UN. YU and Stern students probably have their own busses, ask around. We also need people to step up and be campus leaders to organize the bussing and rallying. Please be in touch. More details will be forthcoming.
The Columbia organizers link to this video as a reminder:
And the organizers link to signs here. A few samples:
The campus paper, the Columbia Spectator, reports:
Nearly 50 student leaders and a dozen administrators sat down with University President Lee Bollinger for an hour on Thursday for a passionate yet civil discussion to air concerns about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejads scheduled speech on campus on Monday.
When asked by Bollinger, student leaders overwhelmingly agreed that the event was in line with the academic purpose of the University, but several students expressed their disappointment in Bollingers handling of the invitation, with many airing concerns about student participation. Meanwhile, students began to solidify plans for a rally on Low Plaza this Monday.
Students concerns with the event included the logistics of establishing a rally on campus and the worry that lending Ahmadinejad a podium from which to speak would elevate and legitimize his views. Those in attendance expressed their greatest concerns regarding how students would be involved in the event itself.
A girl came up to me after [a College Democrats meeting last night]she was an Iranian student, an Iranian refugee, and she was near tears. She said, I came to Columbia just for this moment, and I cant believe the event is closed off before I can even register for it, Josh Lipsky, CC 08 and president of the Columbia University College Democrats, said, while expressing his disappointment that only the most well-connected of students had been able to snatch up seats. He called on those in the room to give their seats to underclassmen.
Administrators said that 80 percent of all seats had been reserved for students. For those without a spot, the event will be available via Webcast.
Meanwhile, idiocy abounds. Here’s reason number 9,871 not to send your kid to Columbia:
Christien Tompkins, CC 08, co-chair of the United Students of Color Council and member of Students Promoting Empowerment and Knowledge, compared the invitation of Ahmadinejad to that of Jim Gilchrist and said he was disappointed in Bollingers leadership for going out of his way to denounce the Iranian head of state and but not the racist founder of the Minutemen Project.
Because, like, opposing illegal immigration is just as bad as calling for the annihilation of Israel, pursuing nuclear revenge, and funding terrorism against American civilians and soldiers.
Live by moral equivalence, die by moral equivalence.
Lee C. Bollinjerk
Do you really care about this issue or are you just looking for another excuse to post pictures of Michelle ?????
;-)
I wont be at the university, I’ll be at the UN!
bump
THANKS ! wish I could join you my FRiend !
Good to see.
BTTT
I don’t think there’s a chopper pad close enough to Lerner Hall to get the terrorist there without at least the last part of his trip on public streets. There really ought to be enough people in and near NYC, with and without cars, to simply block the motorcade. I’m generally not a fan of mob demonstrations, and wouldn’t even want to “demonstrate” per se, but this guy should simply be blocked. He’s currently holding US citizens hostage, currently sponsoring guerrilla warfare against US troops on another country’s soil, and currently making additional military threats against the US and other countries. He’s been barred by the NYC government from certain parts of the city, and frankly ought to be under arrest if he sets foots off UN property, apart from a chopper trip from JFK to the UN building and back again. If even a quarter of the people in NYC who don’t think he should be allowed to speak at Columbia would simply stand in the way or park their cars in the way, the event would be “cancelled due to security concerns”.
Posting pictures of Michelle should be considered a public service!
I just checked, the protest MONDAY is at the university, not the UN...oops!
FR *bookmark*
ttp
Thanks for the ping. Great thread. BTTT!
Hes ready for take-off. Are you?
Update: 9/11 family member Sgt. Tim Sumner passes along this flabbergasting FARS report and wonders which families hes going to meet
After having been rejected by the United States administration to visit the site of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is now planning to meet the families of the 9/11 victims, Fars news agency reported.
Fars, which is close to the presidential office, further reported that Ahmadinejad would also meet US war critics
Yes, question their patriotism. And their sanity.
***
In addition to the National Rally to End the Threat Now at noon on Monday at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza across from the United Nations and the Columbia U. student protest on Monday from 1:00pm to 3:00pm at The Columbia Gates. 116th and Broadway, theres a rally against Ahmadinejad today at 12:30pm:
At 12:30 p.m. Sunday, New York City Council Member David I. Weprin (D-Hollis), chair of the New York City Council Finance Committee, will join other elected officials, community groups and civic leaders to protest Ahmadinejads visit and urge Columbia to rescind its invitation. The rally is to take place at Columbias main gate at W. 116th St. and Broadway.
Ahead of his visit here, the Iranian nutjob sent a shout-out to his Hamas homeboys
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reaffirmed his support for the Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip, in a telephone call with the premier dismissed by the Palestinian leadership, a Hamas spokesman said Sunday.
Prime minister Ismail Haniya spoke Saturday night with the president of the Iranian Islamic republic Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, spokesman Tahar Al Nunu said.
He wished him well on the occasion of the month of Ramadan, and reaffirmed Palestinian-Iranian ties, he added.
and enjoyed an Iranian military parade of new long-range missiles, replete with Death to the US/Israel banners (via LGF):
Will Ahmadinejads hosts at his National Press Club luncheon videoconference chew on that?
|
Protests Await Iranian President In N.Y.
CBS/AP) Critics of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad started protesting even before the hardline leader made his scheduled arrival in New York for planned speeches at a high-profile university and the United Nations that have aroused a storm of opposition.
A group of about 40 elected officials and civic leaders demonstrated Sunday outside Columbia University, where Ahmadinejad was scheduled to speak at a forum on Monday. More protests were to follow on Monday near Columbia and the United Nations, where the Iranian president was to address the General Assembly on Tuesday. Before leaving Tehran for the United Nations this morning, Ahmendinajad said he welcomed the U.N. as a forum to offer his solutions to the world's problems, reports CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller. The Bush Administration says he's the problem, adds Miller, citing his calls for the destruction of Israel, Iran's role in supplying arms to Iraqi insurgents, and his alleged nuclear weapons program. "This invitation is a slap in the face to all New Yorkers and especially to those families who lost loved ones on Sept. 11 right here in New York City," said David Weprin, a City Council member. State Assemblyman Dov Hikind added, "He should be arrested when he comes to Columbia University, not invited to speak for God's sake." Some political leaders and religious groups have said Columbia should not give Ahmadinejad a platform. Among them are the head of the City Council, Christine Quinn, who has said "the idea of Ahmadinejad as an honored guest anywhere in our city is offensive to all New Yorkers." Columbia canceled a planned Ahmadinejad appearance last year, citing security and logistical reasons. In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said there were "efforts to cancel" the upcoming Columbia speech, but the Iranian government was continuing to pursue the program. He did not elaborate other than to say pressure was being brought to bear on the program's sponsors. Columbia has said Ahmadinejad has agreed to take questions and will be challenged to discuss his views on the Holocaust, Iran's nuclear ambitions and other issues. Through a spokeswoman's recorded message on a telephone line set up to respond to inquiries about the speech, Columbia President Lee Bollinger said the university's commitment to "understanding the world as it is and as it might be" required engagement at times with "offensive and even odious" beliefs. "It is a critical premise of freedom of speech that we do not honor the dishonorable when we open a public forum to their expressions. To hold otherwise would make vigorous debate impossible," the message said. The telephone line was not accepting messages early Sunday, and Columbia representatives did not respond immediately to an e-mail message. Some Columbia students, even some who plan to rally against Ahmadinejad, have said they support allowing him to speak. Ahmadinejad said Sunday that the American people are eager to hear different opinions about the world, and he is looking forward to having the chance to voice them during his trip to the United States, Iranian state media reported. Ahmadinejad said the American people have been denied "correct information," and his visit will give them a chance to hear a different voice, the official IRNA news agency reported. "The United States is a big and important country with a population of 300 million. Due to certain issues, the American people in the past years have been denied correct and clear information about global developments and are eager to hear different opinions," Ahmadinejad was quoted by IRNA as saying. State-run television also quoted Ahmadinejad before boarding his presidential plane Sunday as saying that the General Assembly was an "important podium" to express Iran's views on regional and global issues. Ahmadinejad caused a stir earlier this week with a much-criticized request to lay a wreath at the World Trade Center site, an idea that prompted an outcry from politicians and Sept. 11 victims' families. Police denied the request, citing construction and security concerns. In an interview to air Sunday on the TV news magazine "60 Minutes," Ahmadinejad indicated he would not press the issue but expressed disbelief that the visit to ground zero would offend Americans. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hosseini also appeared dismayed that the request was rejected. "What kind of damage will the U.S. face?" by Ahmadinejad visiting the site, Hosseini told reporters at his weekly press conference Sunday. Despite the tensions between Washington and Tehran, many Iranians do not share their president's hostility towards the United States. After the Sept. 11 attacks, hundreds of young Iranians held a series of candlelight vigils in Tehran to express sympathy for the victims. Ahmadinejad's visit to New York is being debated back home. Some in Iran think his trip is a publicity stunt that hurts Iran's image in the world. "Many experts believe Ahmadinejad's previous two visits brought no achievement ... rather, it heightened tensions," the reformist daily Etemad-e-Melli, or National Confidence, said in an editorial Sunday. But conservative lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi said it was a good chance for Iran to air its position. "This trip gives the president a good chance to meet world leaders and inform them of Iran's rightful position," IRNA quoted Boroujerdi as saying. © MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
Bump Dat...
Geraldo is live from Columbia on At Large. Ahmadinejad is a terrorist.
Nearly? Does that mean there was 45? 47? 49? We can assume it wasn't 50...
Is there a problem with using precise numbers when the number is relatively small? I can understand estimating a "crowd of nearly 10,000", but if there was "nearly 50" then a precise number would have been just as easy.
PELLEY: Sir, what were you thinking? The World Trade Center site is the most sensitive place in the American heart, and you must have known that visiting there would be insulting to many, many Americans.
AHMADINEJAD: Why should it be insulting?
PELLEY: Well, sir, you’re the head of government of an Islamist state that the United States government says is a major exporter of terrorism around the world.
AHMADINEJAD: Well, I wouldn’t say that what the American government says is the prerequisite here. Something happened there which led to other events. Many innocent people were killed there. Some of those people were American citizens obviously. We obviously are very much against any terrorist action and any killing. And also we are very much against any plots to sow the seeds of discord among nations. Usually you go to these sites to pay your respects. And also to perhaps air your views about the root causes of such incidents. I think that when I do that, I will be paying, as I said earlier, my respect to the American nation.
PUKE!
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