Showing posts with label freedom of expression. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freedom of expression. Show all posts

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Justice Denied DePaul Prof Who Defended Israel


After years of fighting for justice, the righteous university professor victimized by academic appeasers of Islamic supremacist anti-semitic brutes lost his battle in the fight for free speech. Chalk this up to another blow to Western civilization and yet another victory for the sharia (Islamic law).

The Muslim Brotherhood and their nazi proxies prevailed.

Back in late 2004 I posted on the egregious abuse suffered by De Paul university professor Thomas Klocek, a 15-year De Paul university professor, who had engaged in "dialogue' with some Muslim student supporters of Hamas and Islamic Jihad at a student fair on campus.

He defended Israel. He questioned whether Rachel Corrie had indeed been murdered in cold blood and whether Israelis were really treating Palestinians in the same way that Hitler treated the Jews -- as the Muslim students’ literature and posters claimed. He insisted that “the Israeli Armed Forces have exercised very careful restraint in their responses to what has been almost daily suicide bombings.” Whereupon eight students descended on the single professor. A verbal melee ensued. Despite their clear superiority in numbers, the students donned the garb of victims, complaining that they were “harassed” and "threatened.” They further alleged that Klocek had made “racist remarks.” The students met with their advisors who alerted various administrative deans. The deans wasted no time capitulating to the student agitators. They apologized to the offended students and suspended Professor Klocek.

As of that writing, a lawsuit was under way. Not any more. Another stunning defeat for free speech lovers everywhere. Islamic supremacists advance yet again.

Over at Marathon Pundit:

Justice denied for former DePaul Professor Thomas Klocek
For over 14 years, Thomas Klocek was a well-liked adjunct professor at DePaul University School of New Learning. One course he taught was "Critical Thinking." So it's ironic that he was essentially fired by the Chicago Catholic university after engaging in a spirited discussion about Middle Eastern politics with members of Students for Justice in Palestine and United Muslims Moving Ahead at a new students fair at DePaul's downtown campus in 2004. The groups were promoting the usual inflammatory tripe peddled by campus extremists such as comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.

Unaccustomed to critical thinking, the SJP and UMMA members complained to Klocek's deal--and Klocek became a formerDePaul adjunct professor. The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) got involved--of course they sided with the Muslim groups. Outside of a mathematics professor and some campus conservatives, no one at DePaul defended Klocek. As for Klocek, a devout Catholic, he learned that standing up for Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, can be a career-ending move.

I've been covering the Klocek case for five years. He sued DePaul in the summer of 2005 for defamation. But shortly before the start of the trial, the third judge assigned to the case, a DePaul law school graduate, dismissed the suit.

His lawyers appealed, but late last month the Illinois Supreme Court decided not to hear Klocek's appeal.

Justice has been denied. Klocek is a good man who got a raw deal. I'm glad to have assisted him in getting the word out about the injustice brought upon him--and I will continue to do so.

Below is a press release from Mauck and Baker, Klocek's law firm:

On Monday, November 29, 2010, the Illinois Supreme Court decided not to hear Professor Thomas Klocek’s appeal, bringing an end to his five-year suit against DePaul University for destroying his reputation. The case had been litigated in the circuit court for years in front of a number of different judges: two of which ruled Klocek properly stated valid claims against DePaul; the last of which, however, unexpectedly threw the entire case out on the eve of the trial in 2009. The appellate court was unwilling to disturb any of the circuit court’s holdings, issuing a short order, rather than a published opinion, simply rubber-stamping the circuit court result.

As those who have followed the case may recall, little more than six years ago, Klocek was a well respected part-time professor at DePaul's School for New Learning who, as DePaul’s own Father Kevin Collins put it, was "more likely to talk an ear off about religious and historical fine points than mean to offend" and was "as gentle as he was opinionated and on the erudite side." This gentle and erudite man, who had enjoyed a fourteen year unblemished record of teaching diversity and culture courses to working adults at DePaul apparently talked about religious and historical fine points with the wrong groups (the Students for Justice in Palestine and the United Muslims Moving Ahead) on the wrong campus. What he understood to be a simple, albeit contentious, dialogue lasting all of five minutes with the student activists about their pet issues, turned out to be beyond DePaul's threshold for academic freedom.

The students with the help of the Council on American and Islamic Relations quickly filed complaints with the administration demanding Klocek's removal, and in a rush to a politically-correct judgment, DePaul caved. Instead of caving privately with an eye to Klocek’s rights and reputation, DePaul's administration, without a hearing or even notice to Klocek of the students' charges against him, made a public spectacle of defending the students from the professor who had dared to "dishonor" their perspective and "assault" their beliefs. Though DePaul later claimed Klocek was suspended for his conduct and not his views or his speech, Dean Susanne Dumbleton, Klocek's supervisor, ruled that "No one should ever use the role of teacher to demean the ideas of others or insist on the absoluteness of an opinion, much less press erroneous assertions."

Please read the rest here.
UPDATE: more Jew hatred from De Paul university: Depaul banned Sabra Hummus at urging of Students For Justice in Palestine (Islamic annihilationists) -the very same group that got the professor canned in 2004.

Then Depaul reinstated the Sabra Hummus but they are investigating........ (hat tip Laura)
Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Iran Supports Foreign Freedoms Not Domestic


As proud as I am of the independent political path our country has taken and the role it plays as an enabler of resistance to Israel, I am deeply aware of the great costs we have been forced to bear as a people by our government. The national resistance to colonialism and oppression abroad has gone hand in hand with our repression domestically. The state-sponsored violence and mass arrests that have shaken our country for the last 16 months are not what the resistance looks like.

Our solidarity with the Lebanese resistance and with the Palestinians should not be pendant on our willingness to silence ourselves domestically, and the acceptance of this silencing by many Lebanese and many Palestinians deeply pains those of us who marched last year yelling "People why are you seated, Iran has become Palestine" and "Whether Iran or Gaza, stop killing people." We are not traitors, nor pro-American, nor Zionist "agents" -- we merely want the same freedom to live, to exist and to resist as we demand for the Palestinians and for the Lebanese.
Electronic Intifada

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Freedom of Expression on Trial

Is what Fitna says about Islam and the Qur'an accurate? See here. But it is not clear in the Wilders show trial whether or not truth is an adequate defense. "Court views anti-Islam film in Wilders hate speech trial," from AP, October 6:

The hate speech trial of politician Geert Wilders has resumed with judges viewing his anti-Islam film "Fitna," which juxtaposes Koranic verses and images of violence, and offended many Muslims worldwide when it was released in 2008.

Of course, those Muslims were not offended when Islamic jihadists juxtaposed Qur'anic verses with violence by committing violent acts and justifying them by reference to those Qur'an verses.

Wilders is charged with inciting hatred against Muslims via "Fitna" and in dozens of public remarks comparing Islam to Fascism, calling for a ban on Muslim immigration and for a ban on the Koran. In one opinion piece he wrote "I've had enough of Islam in the Netherlands; let not one more Muslim immigrate," adding "I've had enough of the Koran in the Netherlands: Forbid that fascist book."
Wilders argued on Monday that he has a right to freedom of speech and that his remarks were within the bounds of the law.
"I am a suspect here because I have expressed my opinion as a representative of the people," Wilders told judges at the start of the trial.
"Formally I'm on trial here today, but with me, the freedom of expression of many, many Dutch people is also being judged," he said, referring to more than 1.4 million voters who made his party the country's third-largest in June elections....

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Iran Trashes Iran

'Iran: A New Year Begins'

by Hamid Tehrani

Yesterday, marked the first day of spring and the Iranian New Year. Nowruz or Norouz is celebrated in Iran and several other countries such as Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Several bloggers celebrated the day and shared their wishes and ideas on this occasion.

Some, like Raze No (meaning "new secret") added photos of festivities and spring to their blog (as above).

1Pezeshk (meaning "one doctor" in Persian), a creative blogger, asked several bloggers to express themselves on Iranian New Year in a podcast [Fa]. Seven Iranian bloggers and one Afghan blogger answered his call, and the result was a joint podcast.

Khabgard writes [Fa] with irony that the Iranian government, in the final days of last year, gave Iranians another gift: "Nine magazines were shut down!" The blogger adds that the government has delivered so many surprises, that Iranians can no longer predict what the future holds in store for the new year, let alone tomorrow!

Falosofah writes [Fa] about the difficult situation for writers and translators in Iran. He says:

The first idea crossing the mind of writers and translators is the following: "Can I keep living at the same standard as I have in the past 10 years, or will I be forced to move to smaller cities or emigrate? Each time a society faces political and economic troubles, the most affected people are the ones involved with culture and science. If you talk with a publisher or a bookstore owner, they will tell you that the prices of all other goods they sell have increased enormously, while book prices, like for other cultural products, have decreased.

Azadi Barabary blog has published [Fa], a message from Kaveh Abbassian, a left wing student leader. He says that some of his best friends are still in prison, and that students in all universities are under pressure, and freedom of speech and free association are under attack. He adds:

Despite all the pressure we say: We are present! We stand up! We don't negotiate our will to defend freedom and equality. We are stronger and more determined than ever.

Jomhour called [Fa] President Ahmadinejad's message for New Year unrealistic. The Iranian president praised economic, cultural and political achievements in last year. The blogger says the government's mismanagement created high unemployment rates and inflation. He says maybe we should change the meaning of the word 'achievement' in the dictionary.

You may view the latest post at
http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2008/03/21/iran-a-new-year-begins/