Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2006 4:09 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [marxist_sociology-announce] FW: protest repression of
Brazilian sociologist
Emir Sader, a prominent Brazilian professor of sociology at the University
of São Paulo, has been deprived of his academic post and sentenced to a year
of community service for expressing a political view.
Senator Jorge Bornhausen, a member of the rightwing Liberal Front Party and
a former state governor under the military dictatorship that ended in 1985,
declared that "the PT is a race that should be wiped out for thirty years."
The Workers party (PT) is the party of Lula who was just reelected president
with more than 60% of the vote. Bortnhausen's use of the term "race" is
especially significant in the Brazilian racial context.
Sader replied in an article calling Bornhausen a racist and a fascist.
Bornhausen sued for calumny and defamation. The judge ruled in his favor,
sentencing Sader to the loss of his job as well as to the community service.
The sentence is under appeal but this gross violation of academic freedom
and freedom of speech must be vigorously protested. Go to
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/emir/ <http://www.PetitionOnline.com/emir/>
to sign a petition that says, in part,
In a complete inversion of values, what is intended with a sentence like
this one is to impede the right of free expression in an action that intends
to intimidade and criminalize critical thought. It is also a threat to
university autonomy which assures that the university is a public space for
free through. To impose a prison sentence and the loss of a job won through
a public competition is a message to all those who do not keep silent in the
face of injustice.
We the signers express our most vehement repudiation.
This is a brief summary of the information I have; I can send more in
Spanish or Portuguese to anyone who requests it.
Jack
**************************************************************************
You can't stay the course when things are getting steadily worse.
--Anthony Cordesman on Iraq, NPR, October 20, 2006
**************************************************************************
Jack Hammond Phone: 212-772-5573
Sociology Department Fax: 212-772-5645
Hunter College e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
New York, NY 10021********************************************************
On the web: www.socialistproject.ca
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Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6
Currently based in Venezuela.
NOTE NEW PHONE NUMBERS
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fax: (58-212) 573-7724
