"we are concerned not only with the way
Arun Gandhi was treated but is also disturbed by the fact
that a powerful lobby has attempted to silence any criticism
of the state of Israel, suppress freedom of speech, and intimidate
academics and authors who dare to challenge
unconditional support for Israel."
MEDIA ADVISORY
Oakland, California, February 12, 2008.
South asian organizations and groups have condemned
the forced resignation and campaign of defamation
against Arun Gandhi by sending a strongly worded
statement to the University of Rochester and the
Washington Post blog at which Gandhi posted an
article. (http://windowintopalestine.blogspot.com
/2008/02/jewish-identity-cant-depend-on-violence.html)
The statement was drafted by Dr. Sunaina
Maira, Associate Professor at the University of
California, Davis, and endorsed by South Asians
organizations and community members, as well as
groups and individuals from from all over the world.
The statement condemns the manner in which Arun
Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and the
founder/director of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for
Nonviolence at the University of Rochester, was
forced to resign from his position.
Arun Gandhi, a respected and renowned public figure who
has worked for years to promote non-violence and inter-faith
understanding, sparked controversy after writing a
two-paragraph commentary titled "Jewish Identity Can't
Depend on Violence." Posted at "On Faith," a Washington
Post blog, the article criticized Israeli militarism and the misuse of
the tragedy of the Holocaust to justify violence against another
group and suggested that this was undermining support for Israeli
policies. While Gandhi issued a public apology for his
"poorly worded" comments and clarified that he did not believe
that the Israeli state's policies were reflective of the views of all
Jewish peoples, he was quickly denounced by pro-Israel groups,
such as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the
American Jewish Committee, as "anti-Semitic."
"It was not enough for the University of Rochester that he had
been pressured to apologize. Gandhi's resignation makes it
clear that he was the latest casualty of the powerful and highly
organized pro-Israel lobby in the U.S. that immediately deems
any and all criticism of Israel 's policies as anti-Semitic," noted
Maira. She continues, "It is shameful that groups such as the
Hindu American Foundation who claim to promote tolerance
and understanding would support such blatant censorship of
Gandhi's grandson. Perhaps they choose to ignore Mahatma
Gandhi's statement in 1946 that Jewish settlers have erred
grievously in seeking to impose themselves on Palestine
with the aid of America and Britain and now with the
aid of naked terrorism. "
Yasmin Fatima, a member of Friends of South Asia, a non-profit
organization working for social justice that has endorsed the
statement said, "we are concerned not only with the way
Arun Gandhi was treated but is also disturbed by the fact
that a powerful lobby has attempted to silence any criticism
of the state of Israel, suppress freedom of speech, and intimidate
academics and authors who dare to challenge
unconditional support for Israel."
FOSA was joined by over 100 individuals and 16 organizations
in endorsing the statement drafted by Dr. Maira. Civil rights
acivists and organizations from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka,
Bangladesh, USA, UK, France, Germany, Ireland, Canada,
and other countries signed on to express support. The
statement was also endorsed by campus groups, such as
Students for Justice in the U.S. and the Jawaharlal Nehru
Univeristy Teachers' Assocation in New Delhi, India, in
addition to drawing many signatures from individual faculty
members from the U.S. to India.
Dr. Philip Beard, founder of the Center for the Study of the
Holocaust at Sonoma State University observed, "The
actions of the Israeli government and its military, and those
of the Jewish lobbying organizations in the U.S. who uncritically
support them, are anathema to the lessons of the Holocaust –
for example, that we must muster the civil
courage to resist the oppression of the less powerful by more
powerful groups." He commented that while those criticizing
Israel are most definitely not anti-Semitic, the true anti-Semites
are those "Jews and non-Jews alike, who preach unquestioning
support of governments and military establishments that flout
international agreements to which
they are party." Dr. Anil Sadgopal, the former Dean of the
Faculty of Education at University of Delhi, drew attention to
the parallels between the strong-arm tactics of the right-wing
American Jewish groups and Hindu fundamentalist groups
(the Sangh Parivar) in India. He wrote, "The intolerance
demonstrated by the American Jewish Committee, ADL,
as well as Hindu American Foundation is both anti-democratic
and un-Gandhian. Such intolerance is becoming commonplace
in India too – mostly by Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad
and other members of the Sangh Parivar. We must resist this
decline in social and human values."
Statement and signatures available at:
http://www.friendsofsouthasiawiki/tiki-index.php?page
Why Did Gandhi Have to Resign?
On January 7, 2008, Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma
Gandhi and the founder/director of the M.K. Gandhi Institute
for Nonviolence at the University of Rochester, wrote two
paragraphs on the Washington Post blog, On Faith, titled
"Jewish Identity Can't Depend on Violence." Within three
weeks, Gandhi was forced to resign as Director after a storm
of criticism that he was anti-Semitic by pro-Israel groups such
as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the American Jewish
Committee, and by pressure from the President of the
University of Rochester, Joel Seligman. Why did these
two paragraphs cause the resignation of Gandhi, a respected
and renowned public figure who has worked for years to
promote non-violence and inter-faith understanding, study
racism and prejudice, and who grew up with the daily abuses
of the apartheid regime in South Africa?
The title of Gandhi's post, in itself, seems like a reasonable
statement to make, one which would be true of any group.
No group's identity can depend on violence. In the article,
which was quickly painted as "shameful" by Abraham Foxman,
the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Gandhi
recognized the horror of the Holocaust but observed that legitimate
sympathy for this past tragedy cannot mean blindness or
justification for violence inflicted on another group in the
present. This too, seems like a logical point, and one that has
been made innumerable times by Jewish Americans and Israelis
alike, including the children of Holocaust survivors, such as
Dr. Norman Finkelstein. However, Finkelstein, author of
The Holocaust Industry, also paid the price for his critical
scholarship and was recently denied tenure for challenging
pro-Israel propaganda and campaigns headed by Foxman and
the ADL. Furthermore, many have also noted that the
Palestinians who were dispossessed and exiled with the creation
of the Israeli state in 1948, after World War II, were paying the
price for a European tragedy that was not of their own making,
what Gandhi called "a German burden."
In the article, Gandhi advised those concerned about Jewish
identity and the future of Israel to make genuine efforts toward
peace and non-violence, rather than acquiring "weapons and
bombs." Israel is the only state with nuclear weapons in the
Middle East, a little known fact that causes no hysteria about
WMDs in the US, let alone sanctions or invasions. Gandhi
noted that when he visited Israel in 2004, he observed their
"superior weapons and armaments" that make it the most
powerful and advanced military power in the region. His advice
was simply to point out that it would be better for Israel to
"share [its] technological advancement" with its poorer neighbors
and build friendships, rather than live in a heavily armed fortress
surrounded by a wall that has imprisoned Palestinians and
expropriated their land. On the same trip to Israel-Palestine,
Gandhi had urged Palestinians to engage in non-violent civil
disobedience. Another, little known fact is that Palestinians
do countless acts of non-violent resistance, and have for a
long time, but they face Israeli tanks, U.S.-supplied F-16s and
Apache helicopters. Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist,
was killed by an Israeli bulldozer that drove over her while she
was trying to protect a Palestinian house from being destroyed.
Gandhi actually posted an apology for what he called his
"poorly worded" comments and wrote:
"I do not believe and should not have implied that the policies of the
Israeli government are reflective of the views of all Jewish people.
Indeed, many are as concerned as I am by the use of violence for
state purposes, by Israel and many other governments. I do
believe that when a people hold on to historic grievances too
firmly it can lead to bitterness and the loss of support from those
who would be friends. But as I have noted in previous writings,
the suffering of the Jewish people, particularly in the Holocaust,
was historic in its proportions. While we must strive for a future
of peace that rejects violence, it is also important not to forget
the past, lest we fail to learn from it. Having learned from it,
we can then find the path to peace and rejection of violence
through forgiveness."
Yet President Seligman described the apology as "inadequate,"
rather than supporting Gandhi's freedom of speech. It was not
enough for University of Rochester that he had been pressured to
apologize. Gandhi's resignation makes it clear that he was the
latest casualty of the powerful and highly organized pro-Israel
lobby in the U.S. that immediately deems any and all criticism
of Israel's policies as anti-Semitic. The irony is that in his post,
Gandhi was actually noting the very phenomenon of a community
overplaying its historic experience that was enacted in the vitriolic
response of powerful and well-funded organizations created to
silence and intimidate critics of Israel. Foxman is one of the
staunchest apologists for Israel's inhuman treatment of the
Palestinians, about whom a Wall Street Journal editor once
quipped: "[he] has become drunk with power…knowing he can
label anyone who challenges him an anti-Semitic bigot."
One only needs to look at the hundreds of responses to Gandhi's
posting on the blog to realize that there were, in fact, countless
letters supporting Gandhi and decrying the bullying tactics and
censorship of the Israel lobby. Stephen Walt (Harvard) and
John Mearsheimer (University of Chicago), authors of the
much-publicized book, The Israel Lobby, know a thing or
two about this repression. So does Jimmy Carter who was
slammed as an anti-Semite after he published Palestine:
Peace, not Apartheid.
It is shameful that groups such as the Hindu American Foundation
who claim to promote "tolerance and understanding" would
support such blatant censorship of Gandhi's grandson. Perhaps
they choose to ignore Mahatma Gandhi's statement in 1946 that
Jewish settlers "have erred grievously in seeking to impose
themselves on Palestine with the aid of America and Britain and
now with the aid of naked terrorism .. Why should they resort to
terrorism to make good their forcible landing in Palestine?" The
HAF has chosen instead to ally itself with groups such as the ADL
and to participate in the dishonest and cowardly silencing of any
one who dares to criticize the racism and violence directed
against Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims. Hindu, Indian, South
Asian groups that profess to support dialogue and mutual respect
should respect the rights of individuals to freely express their
views without fear of losing their jobs and being publicly defamed.
Such actions are insulting to the memory of courageous leaders
such as Mahatma Gandhi who risked their lives for national
self-determination and an end to colonialism and racism. Like his
grandfather, Arun Gandhi has paid a price for the larger principle of
speaking out in support of justice and freedom.
ENDORSED BY:
Organizations
1. Arab Organizing and Resource Center,
San Francisco, CA, USA
2. Association of Indian Muslims of America,
Washington DC, USA
(http://www.aimamerica.org)
3. Bay Area Nakba Committee,
San Franscisco, CA, USA
4. Campaign to Stop Funding Hate,
Hayward, CA, USA
(www.stopfundinghate.org)
5. Forum Against Oppression of Women,
Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
(faowindia@yahoo.co.in)
6. Friends of South Asia, Sunnyvale,
CA, USA (www.friendsofsouthasia.org)
7. Human Rights-Tamil Nadu Initiative,
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
8. Indian Muslim Relief & Charities,
Palo Alto, CA, USA (www.imrc.ws)
9. JNU Teachers' Association,
New Delhi, New Delhi, India
10. SAMADANAM -
The National Centre for Promotion
of Non Violence and Conflict Resolution,
Kandy, Sri Lanka (www.samadana.org)
11. San Jose Peace & Justice Center,
San Jose, CA, USA (www.sanjosepeace.org)
12. South Asians for Liberation of Falastin,
Berkeley, CA, USA
13 . South Bay Mobilization, San Jose, CA, USA
(www.southbaymobilization.org)
14. Students for Justice, Cupertino, CA, USA
(wwww.studentsforjustice.org)
15. The Millennium Institute for Rural Advocacy Incorporated
(MIRA), Lumsden, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
16. The United People of Color
Caucus of National Lawyers Guild, USA (http://www.nlg.org/TUPOCC/)
17. Youth Solidarity Summer,
New York, NY, USA (www.youthsolidarity.org)
Individuals:
1. A.H. Cemendtaur, CA, USA
2. Aamir Qureshi, San Jose, CA, USA
3. Aaron Shepherd, Greensboro, SC, USA
4. Abdul Gaffar Sheikh,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada (AFMI-Canada)
5. Afsar Imam, London, UK
6. Anand Patwardhan, Bombay, Maharashtra, India
(Documentary Filmmaker)
7. Anil K Gupta, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
(IIM, Ahmedadbad)
8. Anil Sadgopal, New Delhi, India
((formerly)Delhi University, School of Education)
9. Anu Mandavilli, Cupertino, CA, USA
10. Archana Singh, Edmonton, Canada
11. Arun Bidani, New Delhi, New Delhi, India
12. Aruna Dhall, Pleasanton, CA, USA
13. Ashim Jain, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
14. Attaulla Khan, Baltimore, MD, USA
15. Balaji Narasimhan, CA, USA
16. Biju Mathew, NJ, USA (Rider University)
17. Bobby Kunhu, Salem, Tamil Nadu, India
18. Carolyn Steinhoff, Brooklyn, New York, USA
19. Cecile Leneman
20. Chandima Nishshanke, Colombo, Sri Lanka
(University of Kelaniya)
21. Chukka Srinivas, San Jose, CA, USA
22. D. Albert, Beed, Maharashtra, India
23. Daniel Mazgaonkar, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
24. Debayani Kar, Somes Bar, CA, USA
25. Derek Fleming, Cupertino, CA, USA
(Students for Justice)
26. Dr. Anant Maringanti, Singapore
27. Dr. Audrey Manning, Paris, France
28. Dr. Moung Usha Thowai, Bandarban, Bandarban Hill Tracts,
Bangladesh (Human Rights Activist, Specialist Physician)
29. Dr. Mukti Khanna, Olympia, WA, USA
30. Elaine Hagopian, Boston, MA, USA
31. Faisal Khan, New Delhi, New Delhi, India
(National Alliance of Peoples Movement/ Asha Parivar Delhi)
32. Gautam Premnath, Berkeley, CA, USA (University of California)
33. Girish Agrawal, Hayward, CA, USA
34. Haamid Jaffer, Karachi, Pakistan
35. Hansa Mazgaonkar, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
36. Hasan Abdullah, New Delhi, New Delhi, India
37. Huma Dar, Berkeley, CA, USA
38. I.A. Siddiqui, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
39. I.K.Shukla, Los Angeles, CA, USA (Writer)
40. Ijaz Syed, Sunnyvale, CA, USA
41. Jayoo Patwardhan
42. Jyoti Punwani, India
43. K.M.Venugopalan, Payyanur, Kerala, India
44. Kaleem Kawaja, Washington DC, USA
45. Kamala Visweswaran, Austin, TX, USA
(University of Texas)
46. Karthik Ramanathan
47. Khursheed A.Mallick
48. Kim Petersen, Anyang, Korea
49. Kiran Omar, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
50. Lalit Vachani, New Delhi, India
(Documentary Filmmaker)
51. Lawrence Zweig, Nuremberg, Fuerth, Germany
52. Leny Mendoza Strobel, Sonoma, CA, USA
(Sonoma State University)
53. Louay Safi, Ph.D., Plainfiled, IN, USA
(ISNA Leadership Development Center)
54. M.N.Kotenagabhushana, India
55. Manzoor Ghori, Palo Alto, CA, USA
(Indian Muslim Relief & Charities)
56. Marie D'Souza
57. Mazin Qumsiyeh
(Coordinator, academicsforjustice.org)
58. Melanie Kumar, Bangalore,
Karnataka, India (Freelance writer)
59. Míchel Angela Martinez, Brooklyn, NY, USA
60. Moazzam Sheikh, San Francisco, CA, USA
61. Mohammad Imran
62. Muhammed Muzzammil Cader, Kandy, Sri Lanka
(SAMADANAM and Service Civil International)
63. Mustafa Quraishi, New Delhi, New Delhi, India
64. Muzaffar Assadi, Mysore, Karnataka, India
(University of Mysore)
65. Nachiket Patwardhan
66. Nadia Kury, Castro Valley, CA, USA
67. Nagesh Havanur, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
68. Nahida Sunil, Bangalore, CA, USA
69. Najid Hussain, Bear, DE, USA
70. Narasimha Rao, San Francisco, CA,
USA (Stanford University)
71. Nikhil Shah, Los Angeles, CA, USA
(The United People of Color Caucus of National Lawyers Guild)
72. Noura Khouri
73. Paola Bacchetta, Berkeley, CA, India (UC Berkeley)
74. Philip H. Beard, Rohnert Park, CA, USA
(Emeritus Professor of German and Global Studies,
Sonoma State University)
75. Preeti Shekar, Berkeley, CA, USA
(KPFA and Global Fund for Women)
76. Prof Anil Sadgopal, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
77. Prof J G Krishnayya, Pune, Maharashtra, India
(Systems Research Institute)
78. Prof. Jagan Agrawal, Ph.D, Rohnert Park, CA, USA
79. Ra Ravishankar, Portland, OR, USA
80. Raja Swamy
81. Raju Rajagopal, Berkeley, CA, USA (Social Activist)
82. Rakhshanda Saleem, Cambridge, MA, USA
83. Ram Puniyani, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
(All India Secular Forum)
84. Ramkumar Sridharan, San Jose, CA, USA
85. Randy W. Sandberg, San Jose, CA, USA
(www.ENDinjusticeNOW.com)
86. Rebecca Kurian, India
87. Rohini Hensman, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
88. Roshni Rustomji, Alameda, CA, USA
89. Rosylin Dean, San Jose, CA, USA
90. Ruchita Parat, Palo Alto, CA, USA
91. Sabah Khan, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
92. Sandeep Vaidya, Dublin, Ireland (India Support Group)
93. Sandhya Gokhale, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
94. Sanjeev Mahajan, San Francisco, CA, USA
95. Saqib Mausoof, Daly City, CA, USA
96. Satya Sivaraman, New Delhi, New Delhi, India
(Journalist)
97. Shabnam Hashmi, New Delhi, New Delhi, India
98. Shalini Gera, Hayward, CA, USA
99. Sikandar Azam, New Delhi, New Delhi, India
(Radiance Viewsweekly)
100. Simon Joseph.M, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
101 . Snehal Shingavi, Berkeley, CA, USA (UC Berkeley)
102. Sunaina Maira, Oakland, CA, USA (UC, Davis)
103. Syed Rizvi, San Jose, CA, USA
104. T.S.S.MANI, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
(Human Rights Initiative)
105. V.P Zuhra, Kozhikode, Karala, India (NISA)
106. Veena Dubal, Berkeley, CA, USA (UC Berkeley)
107. Vijay Prashad, Northampton, USA (Trinity College)
108. Vinay Lal, Los Angeles, CA, USA (UCLA)
109. Yasmeen Fatima, San Jose, CA
110. Yousef Abudayyeh, San Diego, CA, USA
111. Zafar Shah, Baltimore, MD, USA
(The United People of Color Caucus of National Lawyers Guild)
112. Rakshanda Saleem, Cambridge, USA
References to the postings cited in the statement:1. Arun Gandhi's Blog Entry to the Washington
Post/Newsweek's On Faith blog: (Jan 7, 2008)
"Jewish Identity Can't Depend on Violence"
http://windowintopalestine.blogspot.com/
2008/02/jewish-identity-cant-depend-on-violence.html
2. Arun Gandhi's
"Apology for my poorly worded post"
(Jan 10, 2008)
http://newsweek.washingtonpost
/2008
3. Joel Seligman, University of Rochester
(Jan 11, 2008),
describing Arun Gandhi's apology as inadequate:
http://newsweek.washingtonpost com/
onfaith/guestvoices/2008
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