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New FREE service! http://click.topica.com/aaaaMdbz8SnrbAjwjxa/Imandi ------------------------------------------------------------ __________________________________________________________________________ The Internet Anti-Fascist: Tuesday, 24 October 2000 Vol. 4, Number 86 (#480) __________________________________________________________________________ Action Alerts: Applications Available for the Bannerman Fellowship Program for Activists of Color Web Sites of Interest: CIA Activities in Chile Book/Movie/TV Reviews: "Holocaust on Trial" NOVA WGBH-Boston, 31 Oct 00 "Ireland's Spanish war" by Leo McAskey "The Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain" produced by the Runnymede Trust Real Political Correctness: Proposed Bible Course Could Violate Constitution, Florida School Board People For The American Way, " Warned: Retiring School Board member urges adoption of Bible course to develop 'consciousness of God'," 19 Oct 00 What's Worth Checking: 10 Stories -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ACTION ALERTS: Applications Available for the Bannerman Fellowship Program for Activists of Color The Bannerman Fellowship Program gives long-time activists of color financial support in the amount of $15,000 to take sabbaticals of three months or more. Previous Bannerman fellows have worked on a broad range of issues, from environmental justice to immigrant rights, from political empowerment to economic revitalization. Bannerman Fellows have the freedom to use their sabbaticals in what- ever way they think will best re- energize them for the work ahead, and no product (other than a brief report) is required upon completion of the sabbatical. In order to be eligible, applicants must be an individual of color, have at least 10 years' experience as a community activist, be committed to continuing work for social change, and be a resident of the United States or its territories. Visit the Bannerman Fellowship Web site for more information on the program and to download an application. Contact: Bannerman Fellowship Program 1627 Lancaster Street Baltimore, MD 21231 Tel: (410) 327-6220 Fax: (501) 421-5862 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <http://www.bannermanfellowship.org/> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- WEB SITES OF INTEREST: CIA Activities in Chile September 18, 2000 <http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/chile/index.html> -------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOOK/MOVIE/TV REVIEWS: Holocaust on Trial http://www.pbs.org/nova/holocaust/ Program broadcast date: October 31, 2000 NOVA - WGBH Boston The systematic slaughter of millions of Jews and others in Nazi death camps arguably constitutes the darkest hour of the 20th century. Yet some claim the Holocaust is a myth. "[O]ne of the most dangerous spokespersons for Holocaust denial" (as one historian has phrased it) is the British historian David Irving, whose libel case is the subject of the NOVA film "Holocaust on Trial." On this Web site, NOVA Online goes behind the scenes of this riveting film with an essay by the producer on the emotional and intellectual hurdles he faced during the film's production. The site also probes deeper into Nazi wrongdoings and the sometimes dangerously skewed modern interpretations of them. The Director's Story "It was at times hard to take in the unimaginable tragedy that was being quietly explored in an English courtroom." So says NOVA producer Leslie Woodhead in this frank and deeply personal account of the making of his film on the David Irving trial. Timeline of Nazi Abuses From January 30, 1933, when Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, until May 7, 1945, when World War II ended with the German surrender, the Nazis unleashed a reign of terror on Europe's Jews, Gypsies, and others. Follow the rising crescendo of abuses on this timeline. Results of Death-Camp Experiments: Should They Be Used? Should modern physicians make use of the results of Nazi medical experiments on concentration-camp inmates? In this ethical provocation, form your own opinion about whether or not they should. Pseudoscience Exposed (Hot Science) To back up his claim that the Nazis used Auschwitz's gas chambers only to fumigate corpses and not to kill anyone, reputed Holocaust denier David Irving relied on research that many experts maintain was bad science. What, then, is good science? Explore this feature and find out. - - - - - "Ireland's Spanish war" by Leo McAskey Jim Monaghan (Sunday Life) 15 Oct 00 The Irishmen who fought in the Spanish civil war THE VICTIMS: Refugees, many with badly injured children, fled from the Spanish Civil War in their thousands, to France A GROUP of dedicated researchers are seeking survivors of a foreign conflict which set Irishmen at each other's throats. Pals Ciaran Crossey, Raymond Quinn and Jim Carmody are hoping to publish a book next spring, on the volunteers from both sides of the border who fought in the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War. Almost 700 Irishmen took part; some supporting the popular Spanish Government and others the pro-Franco fascists, who eventually won with the unofficial help of Hitler's Luftwaffe. "In the Republic, there were about 670 supporters of General O'Duffy who went to support Franco - some 25 of them Northerners", Ciaran Crossey said last night. "On the pro-Spanish Government side, there were an estimated 240 who went from the Republic, including 70 Northerners". "The three of us became so fed up with badly researched books with inaccurate figures that we decided to do our own research and set the record straight once and for all". The International Brigades were disbanded in 1938, and while some of the Irish volunteers returned home north and south, others emigrated to other parts of the world. Now only a handful are known to remain alive - although there are possibly others ashamed of their fascist past, who have hidden their private histories. The writers are not interested in sitting in judgment on the men from either side, but in creating an unbiased and accurate book on the controversial war which acted as a scene-setter for the horrors of the 1939-1945 conflict which left millions dead. They are anxious to also contact relatives of participants who may have left vital information behind. "We would really like to publish a fair and complete history of the Irish people who took part", Ciaran added. - - - - - Outcry greets new report: Right wing wants to cover up racism Hassan Mahamdallie (Socialist Worker [U.K.]) 21 Oct 00 A new report on racism has sent the right wing press into an absolute frenzy. The press picked out one passage in the 400-page report which said, "Britishness, as much as Englishness, has systematic, largely unspoken, racial connotations." The Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain, produced by the Runnymede Trust, was called "rubbish", "balderdash", "sub-Marxist gibberish", "PC crap", "ludicrous", "offensive" and "garbage". The Tories demanded the report was "binned", and one journalist even called for its authors to be prosecuted under the Race Relations Act. Tory leader William Hague wrote in the Daily Telegraph that if the report's recommendations were implemented "then our police would be paralysed, school exams would be fiddled, classroom discipline would collapse and our political institutions would be stuffed with people on the basis of their colour rather than on whether they could do the job." Hague said that in the 1970s the "threat" to British society came from "militant trade unions". The "danger" today was from "anti-British" campaigners against racism. New Labour ran away from the argument. Home secretary Jack Straw distanced himself from the report, saying that he was "proud to be British". The right wing press and politicians want people to suffer racism silently, and for institutions such as the police to continue discriminating against black people unhindered. Those attacking the Runnymede report are exactly the same people who attacked the Macpherson report into the Stephen Lawrence scandal. One of the first Tories to condemn the Runnymede report was Aldershot MP Gerald Howarth. He said, "It is an extraordinary affront to the 94 percent of the population which is not from ethnic minorities. The native British must stand up for ourselves." It was Howarth who attacked the Macpherson report, saying, "It is fair to say that no government has ever received a mandate to turn the United Kingdom into a multiracial society. "Some who have come here appear no longer content to learn and accept our native customs and traditions, but wish to assert their own." If people like Howarth had their way there would be few black people in this country and we would all have to put up with the "English culture" of warm beer and cricket on the village green imagined by Tory ex prime minister John Major. The central truth that the Runnymede report talks about, and which the right wing seek to deny, is that racism is structured into British society. It points out: "Overall, unemployment rates for black and Asian people of working age are double those for the white population, and even higher for the 16-24 age group." "A Policy Studies Institute investigation in the mid-1990s found that overall one in eight of the people it surveyed - Bangladeshi, Caribbean, Chinese, Indian, Pakistani - had experienced racist insults or abuse during the previous 12 months." "60 percent of people of Bangladeshi or Pakistani origin live in poverty." The report highlights discrimination by employers, the lack of opportunity for young blacks, the way in which minorities are targeted by the criminal justice system, and the hatred whipped up by the established parties against asylum seekers. Nowhere in any of the articles condemning the report has there been any mention of these problems or how to tackle them. As Guardian journalist Gary Younge wrote last week, "If you really want to take the racial temperature in Britain, you would be better off examining the reactions to the report on multi-ethnic Britain rather than the report itself. "The reactions of Lord Tebbit, Gerald Howarth MP and the Daily Telegraph leader writers suggest that we may be no closer to having a mature and open debate about race in this country than we are about cannabis." The main problem with The Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain is its belief that the solution to racism lies in the hands of those at the top of society. This reflects the make-up of much of the panel that put it together - "respectable" anti-racists and establishment New Labour figures such as Trevor Phillips and Lady Gavron. The report says that there is a "multicultural drift" in society in general. It means by this that on a day to day basis people of different "ethnic" groups tend to mix together. The report says state institutions should speed up this process through legislation and positive declarations of multiculturalism. There are two faults with this argument. Firstly, the way in which black and white have integrated with one another has not been due to a "drift". It has been the result of battles that have taken place largely at the base of society. When mixed couples in the 1950s and 1960s braved social exclusion to set up house together, or when black people refused to obey "colour bars" in the workplace, they pushed society a step forward. The campaigns in the trade unions in the 1950s and 1960s to stand in solidarity with black workers and adopt anti-racist policies also made a big difference. Then there have been key struggles such as the fight against the Nazis in the 1970s, or when the miners supported the Asian Grunwick strikers in 1977, or the overwhelming support from working people for the family of Stephen Lawrence. Secondly, the report looks to the very institutions that are part of the problem for the solution to racism. It asks the government to declare itself "anti-racist". Yet this is a government that has passed anti-immigration controls that have boosted racism. Studies have shown for decades that major employers discriminate against black workers, yet only a handful a year are taken to court. The idea that the police can be reformed by a top-down approach of the "carrot and the stick" will not work. For 40 years and more black organisations have been saying that the police are racist to the core, yet the police are still allowed to get away with racist stop and searches, and black deaths in custody. No gold medal for the police THE RIGHT wing has used the success of black Olympic athletes to show that black people have no problems in British society. But the right wing cannot have it both ways. Olympic British boxing champion Audley Harrison was feted for winning his gold medal. But seven years ago Harrison won a £27,500 out of court settlement after he was jumped upon by police officers from London's notorious Stoke Newington station. He recalled how during a wrongful arrest "five or six of them struggled me to the floor, gave me a beating and dragged me to the back of the station". Is 'British' always racist? THE FUTURE of Multi-Ethnic Britain laid itself open to attack when it talked about "Britishness" having racist connotations. It has let the right use this issue as a diversion from the real problems black people face. It is also patently not true. There are many white people who may think of themselves as "British" who are not racist. The desire to be known as "black British" can reflect black people's defiance of racists - who say that you have to be white to be a real "Briton". It is also wrong for the report to believe that simply by changing language from "British" or "English" to "part of a community" you can change the way people think or act. What does alter people's attitudes about themselves and the people around them is by living, working and struggling together. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- REAL POLITICAL CORRECTNESS: It's from the rightwing authoritarians and always has been Proposed Bible Course Could Violate Constitution, Florida School Board Warned: Retiring School Board member urges adoption of Bible course to develop 'consciousness of God' People For The American Way 19 Oct 00 People For The American Way Foundation today urged the Hernando County, Florida School Board not to violate the Constitution by adopting a Bible course intended to promote religious beliefs among students. In a letter to all five members of the central Florida school board, PFAWF warned that the courts and the state Department of Education have rejected such courses, and offered its assistance to the public school districts on how they could constitutionally teach students about religion, including the Bible, without stepping over the line and promoting religious faith. The full text of the letter follows: Dear Mr. Malcolm: I am writing on behalf of People For the American Way Foundation and our many thousands of Florida members, particularly our members in Hernando County, concerning a recent proposal by School Board Member Jerry Milby that the school district add a Bible course to its high school curriculum. The difficult issue of Bible courses in public high schools is one with which we are greatly familiar and have been much involved, particularly in Florida. While the Bible may be taught about in public schools if the instruction adheres to very specific constitutional requirements, as discussed below, it has been our experience that Bible classes in public schools are often used as a vehicle for unconstitutional religious instruction. Our organization and our Florida members are concerned that this not happen here. We are therefore writing to bring to the school district's attention important information that it should consider as it reviews Mr. Milby's proposal. People For the American Way Foundation has long been a strong advocate of teaching our children about religion and about the role that religion and people of faith have played in the history of our country. Indeed, in 1986, we were among the first to criticize American history textbooks for excluding such material. For example, we criticized textbooks for describing the Pilgrims as "wandering people" and ignoring the issues of religious liberty so central to an understanding of who the Pilgrims were. But teaching about religion in a public school must be conducted within our constitutional framework that prohibits the government from endorsing or promoting religion. Thus, while students in a public school may be taught about the Bible, they cannot be taught the Bible. And, as the Supreme Court has held, any teaching about the Bible in a public school must be "presented objectively, as part of a secular program of education." School District of Abington Township v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203, 225 (1963). It appears from press reports that Mr. Milby has proposed that the school district offer a Bible course in order for students to obtain what he calls a "consciousness of God," and as a means of promoting moral behavior. See "Schools Urged to Put Bible in Classes," St. Petersburg Times (Oct. 5, 2000). The use of the Bible for such purposes, however, would not be secular education at all but would be clearly unconstitutional. As you may know, we recently conducted an investigation into Bible courses that had been taught for many years in high schools across Florida under the rubric of "Bible History." Our investigation revealed that these courses were being taught in violation of the Constitution. Not only was the Bible presented to students as true, which is a religious rather than an objective perspective, but the courses were used to promote faith formation and inculcate students in religious values. Last January, we published the results of our investigation in a detailed report entitled The Good Book Taught Wrong: "Bible History" Classes in Florida's Public Schools. A copy is enclosed for your information. When we published our report in January, we also urged the Florida Department of Education to remove the "Bible History" courses from the state's approved course list. In March, the Department took this significant step, effective with the 2000-01 school year. In place of these courses, which were part of the Social Studies curriculum, the Department adopted two new Humanities courses entitled "Introduction to the Bible I" and "Introduction to the Bible II," along with detailed course descriptions and learning requirements. This means that if the Hernando County School District does decide to offer a course about the Bible, that course must conform to the state's new course descriptions and learning requirements. Among other things, and as is clear from the Department's new materials in addition to judicial precedent, a public school course about the Bible cannot be used to give students a "consciousness of God" or otherwise use the Bible to impart life lessons to students or encourage them to have religious faith. For your further guidance, we have enclosed a copy of a recent publication entitled The Bible & Public Schools: A First Amendment Guide. This booklet was published in November 1999 by the Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center and by the National Bible Association, and endorsed by a diverse group of religious liberty and religious and educational organizations. These organizations include the Christian Legal Society, the National Association of Evangelicals, the American Jewish Committee, the National School Boards Association, the American Association of School Administrators, the National Education Association, and our organization, People For the American Way Foundation. All of these organizations, some of which are often at odds over the subject of religion in public schools, have joined together to help educators chart a constitutional course when it comes to teaching about the Bible. As this publication makes clear, careful development of a proper curriculum is but one prerequisite to teaching about the Bible constitutionally in a public school. An additional necessity is adequate teacher training. As the guide stresses, "When selecting teachers to teach Bible electives, school districts should look for teachers who have some background in the academic study of religion. Unless they have already received academic preparation, teachers selected to teach a course about the Bible should receive substantive in-service training from qualified scholars before being permitted to teach such courses. Electives in biblical studies should only be offered if there are teachers academically competent to teach them." The Bible & Public Schools, at 6 (emphasis added). We strongly urge the school district, if it does not already offer one, to consider a course in world religions or comparative religion as an alternative to a course focused exclusively on the Bible. Apart from the constitutional pitfalls, a course focused on the Bible would ignore the religious diversity that exists in America and the rest of the world. A more inclusive course, such as one in world religions, would far better serve the students of Hernando County as they enter adulthood in a religiously diverse world than would a Bible-focused course that does not consider the faith documents of religions other than Christianity and Judaism. And students in such a course certainly could be taught properly about the different beliefs of the biblical religions, as well as those of other world religions. In addition, the school district could also offer students a course in character education. This subject can be taught constitutionally in a public school as long as the instruction does not promote religion and students are not encouraged to develop particular character traits because those traits are faith-based. As you may be aware, we were counsel to the Lee County, Florida parents and other concerned citizens in their successful lawsuit against their school board challenging the adoption of unconstitutional curricula for high school Bible courses. See Gibson v. Lee County School Board, 1 F. Supp. 2d 1426 (M.D. Fla. 1998). We trust that the Hernando County School Board will not repeat the mistakes made in Lee County or by the many other school districts across Florida that had been teaching the state's former "Bible History" courses. Please do not hesitate to call us if there is any other information that we can provide. We look forward to hearing from you as to the School District's plans regarding Mr. Milby's proposal. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT'S WORTH CHECKING stories via <ftp://ftp.nyct.net/pub/users/tallpaul/publish/story7/> AP, "German Court Sentences Firebombers," 5 Oct 00, "With politicians pledging to hit right-wing extremists with the full force of the law, an eastern German court sentenced a man and teen-ager Thursday to long sentences for attempted murder in a firebomb attack on a Vietnamese family. Marcel Hanwald, 23, was sentenced to nine years and his 16-year-old accomplice, Andreas Pischel, received five years from the court in Potsdam for throwing two Molotov cocktails through an open window of the family's apartment in May." <1891.txt> Amnesty International, "Israel/Occupied Territories: Amnesty International sends delegates to Israel," 4 Oct 00, "Following the deaths of demonstrators in Israel and the Occupied Territories, including the areas under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, Amnesty International is today sending delegates to investigate the circumstances of the killings and to make recommendations to the Israeli Government." <1892.txt> Amnesty International, "Israel and the Occupied Territories: Civilians' lives must be respected," 2 Oct 00, "Amnesty International condemned indiscriminate killings of civilians following four days of clashes in Israel and the Occupied Territories which have left at least 35 Palestinian civilians dead and hundreds of others injured." <1893.txt> Nicole Ziegler Dizon (AP), "Schools Struggle Shielding Gay KidsSchools Struggle Shielding Gay Kids," 8 Oct 00, "Meg Sievers was tired of the teasing, the snickers, the whispered death threats. So she and other gay students in this suburb west of Chicago asked the school board to include 'sexual orientation' in a policy that bars students from harassing other students. The monthlong battle that ensued reflects the struggles school districts across the country face ...." <1894.txt> AP, "United Way asked to drop Boy Scouts," 3 Oct 00, "Some employees at Los Alamos National Laboratory are urging the northern New Mexico United Way agency to stop funding the Boy Scouts because of the group's ban on gay troop leaders. The workers say as long as the Boy Scouts are on the list, solicitation of pledges from Los Alamos lab violates the lab's policy against discrimination. 'The lab, which has a non-discrimination policy, is soliciting funds for an organization that discriminates. It's a strange inconsistency and we think it needs to be changed,' said Julie Johnston, a technical employee in the lab's Environment Safety and Health Division and former president of the Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Diversity Working Group at the lab." <1895.txt> Xinhua, "Chilean Communists to sue US government," 6 Oct 00, "The Chilean Communist Party is preparing a lawsuit against the US government for its involvement in Chile's military coup in the 1970s. The lawsuit, which will be filed in the US Federal Court, was based on documents recently declassified by the CIA, the party's secretary-general Gladys Marin said." <1896.txt> PlanetOut, "Namibian Call to 'Eliminate' Gays," 2 Oct 00, "In another rhetorical outburst -- this time to graduating cops -- a top official denies gays and lesbians have constitutional rights and encourages persecution. Namibian Home Affairs Minister Jerry Ekandjo on September 29 called on 700 new graduates of the police academy to 'eliminate' gays and lesbians." <1897.txt> Jeff Cole ([Milwaukee] of the Journal Sentinel), "Man who hosted 'whites- only' party gets 30-day jail term: Punishment includes 100 hours of community service, letters of apology," 28 Sep 00, "A Saukville man who hosted a "whites only" drinking party in Saukville was sentenced to 30 days in the Ozaukee County Jail and three years of probation after pleading guilty to a series of misdemeanors. ... Rosploch pleaded guilty to charges of criminal damage to property, carrying a concealed weapon and disorderly conduct. The incidents that got Rosploch arrested began Feb. 9 at Willie's Lakefront Lanes in Port Washington. There, Rosploch and Aaron D. Smith, 17, cornered a 16-year-old Hispanic youth and forced him to kneel and call himself racially offensive names, according to the criminal complaint." <1898.txt> Seth Gitell (Boston Phoenix), "Hate crimes: Neo-skinheads set up shop," 28 Sep 00, "As police continue to investigate the beating by skinheads of a Muslim Harvard University student last Tuesday night, experts note that members of the World Church of the Creator, an extremist far-right group, are operating in the Boston area. The group first gained notoriety when member Benjamin Nathan Smith went on a shooting spree last summer in Chicago, killing two people and wounding nine others. Experts say the Boston area has seen a rash of extremist activities by affiliates of the racist group." <1899.txt> AP, "Court allows suspension in Confederate flag case: Confederate flags were specifically banned as being racially divisive," 3 Oct 00, "A Kansas youth suspended from school for three days after he drew a picture of a Confederate flag lost a Supreme Court appeal Monday. The court, without comment, turned away arguments that the suspension violated the youth's freedom of speech and other constitutionally protected rights." <1900.txt> * * * * * In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. __________________________________________________________________________ FASCISM: We have no ethical right to forgive, no historical right to forget. 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