[Antiracism] Fwd: Protest UMass degree for Card: Friday - 5/25, 12:15 pm

[varghese at educ.umass.edu]

----- Forwarded message from Eric Hamako <hamako at educ.umass.edu> -----
    Date: Wed, 16 May 2007 11:21:55 -0400
    From: Eric Hamako <hamako at educ.umass.edu>
Reply-To: Eric Hamako <hamako at educ.umass.edu>
 Subject: [Socjus-teach] Protest UMass degree for Card: 5/25, 12:15 pm
      To: SJE-List <socjus-teach at educ.umass.edu>


Honor Students, Not War Criminals!

NO DEGREE FOR ANDREW CARD

Community members: Please join UMass students, faculty, and staff in
opposing an honorary degree for this architect of the Iraq War.

Where: Mullins Center, UMass

When:12:15 p.m., Friday, May 25th

What: Protest outside UMass Graduate Commencement

Bring all your creative energy to help us remind UMass of its values!
We'll have STREET THEATER, the RAGING GRANNIES, and MORE!

Remember that graduate students deserve our respect. Honor them while
holding Card and the UMass administration accountable!

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP ORGANIZE, PLEASE EMAIL
webmaster at northamptoncommittee.org

OTHERWISE, JUST SHOW UP!!!

Andrew Card is responsible for the lies and distortions that led to the
Iraq war and occupation. He is therefore not eligible for an honorary
degree which can be awarded only to "persons of great accomplishment
and high ethical standards who exemplify the ideals of the University of
Massachusetts".

It is now an undisputed fact that the Bush Administration knowingly and
deliberately used lies and distortions to persuade the American public
that the invasion and occupation of Iraq was necessary. The two major
arguments that were advanced to justify the war were: (a) that Iraq
possessed weapons of mass destruction; and (b) that there was a link
between the attacks of 9/11 and Iraq. It has now been confirmed by many
sources (including George Tenet, Former Director of the CIA) that these
were not just "failures of intelligence," but deliberate
falsifications aimed at confusing and scaring American citizens to
support an illegal war. An internal memo detailing the minutes of a
meeting of Tony Blair's top ministers reported that "the
intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy" by the
Bush administration. The resulting illegal war has led to the deaths and
injuries of thousands of American soldiers, as well as the deaths of
hundreds of thousand of Iraqis. In addition the international reputation
of the United States is in tatters, and the world has never been more
dangerous. On every single count, the lies and deceptions of the Bush
administration regarding the war in Iraq have been globally disastrous.

As President Bush's Chief of Staff Andrew Card was a founding member
of the White House Iraq Group (WHIG) that cherry-picked the evidence and
oordinated the propaganda campaign designed to deceive public opinion.
This has been confirmed by a wide range of experts -- including
published work in peer-reviewed journals -- as well as government
insiders.

Awarding an honorary degree to Andrew Card therefore brings great
disrepute to the University and makes a mockery of any of its attempts
to join the ranks of the top tier research schools in the country. To
honor a person who is guilty of such blatant intellectual dishonesty
destroys any idea that the University is a serious academic institution
committed to basic values of truth and honesty. It tarnishes anyone
connected with the University.

Northampton Committee to Stop the War in Iraq
http://northamptoncommittee.org <http://northamptoncommittee.org>


----- End forwarded message -----


Rani Varghese, MSW
Doctoral Student, Social Justice Education
University of Massachusetts-Amherst
varghese at educ.umass.edu
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