[Antiracism] Fw: Jimmy Carter: Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid

[Marty Nathan]

Jimmy Carter: Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid
>From Lisa Baskin. I was 5883. Hope you can sign. Marty


I have signed the petition, and am # 4591....
Lisa


http://www.petitiononline.com/Amazon07/



To: Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon.com

As longtime Amazon customers, we are deeply disturbed by your
treatment of Jimmy Carter's important new book, Palestine: Peace Not
Apartheid.

Under the "Editorial Reviews" heading --a space normally used
either
for the publisher's own description of a book, or for short,
even-handed summaries from listing services such as Booklist and
Publishers Weekly --you insist on running the complete,
20-paragraph, 1,636-word text of a review unabashedly hostile to
Carter's viewpoint. You have refused to add information shoppers
should have in evaluating this review: the fact that the reviewer,
Jeffrey Goldberg, is a citizen of Israel as well as the United
States, and that he volunteered to serve in the Israeli Defense
Forces, for which he work ed as a guard at a prison for Palestinian
detainees. And you have refused to balance his negative review by
giving comparable space to a favorable assessment of the book, even
though positive reviews by qualified experts have appeared in many
reputable publications.

Because giving so much space in this location to such a negative
review is so unusual -- if not unprecedented -- for Amazon, and
because you have refused requests from many customers that you take
a more balanced approach, we can only conclude that you are
deliberately trying to discourage shoppers from ordering the
former
President's book.

This is contrary to Amazon's own interests as a bookseller. More
&nb sp; important, it's also contrary to the interests of
understanding,
peace, and justice for all parties to the Israel/Palestine
conflict

We are not interested in supporting a corporation that uses its
power in the marketplace in such a biased and unconstructive way on
such an important issue.

Accordingly, if you do not, by Jan. 22, remove the Goldberg
review,
move it to the more appropriate "See all Editorial Reviews" page, or
restore a semblance of balance by giving comparable space and
prominence to a more positive evaluation of Palestine: Peace Not
Apartheid, we the undersigned pledge to:

1. Stop shopping at Amazon.com;

2. Completely close our accounts on your servic e; and

3. Encourage our friends, family, and associates to do likewise.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned
<http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?Amazon07>


-- 
   

     ''The history of our nation has demonstrated that separate is
          seldom,  if ever, equal.''
       
        Majority opinion, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
                4 February 2004


l.baskin at comcast.net

Lisa Unger Baskin
The Gehenna Press
P. O. Box  314
Leeds, Massachusetts
01053
413-586-4127   413-586-6222 (fax)
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