On June 5, 19 Representatives led by Peter Welch of Vermont sent a bipartisan letter to President Obama, urging him to resist pressure to transfer manpads – shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, that can be used to shoot down civilian aircraft – to Syrian insurgents. This letter was supported by the Friends Committee on National Legislation, United…
May 20, 2014 Senator Paul: We Stand With You for the Rule of Law Dear Senator Paul, The undersigned groups stand with you in objecting to cloture on the nomination of David J. Barron to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. We share your concerns regarding Barron’s authorship of secret memos…
Reuters reports (emphasis mine): Online videos show Syrian rebels using what appear to be U.S. anti-tank rockets, weapons experts say, the first significant American-built armaments in the country’s civil war. … Some analysts suggested they might have been provided by another state such as Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally, probably with Washington’s acquiescence. This sentence should…
Maryland: Bill Defunding Universities With Ties To Israel Boycotters Dies In Committee Watered Down Condemnation Appears In Maryland State Budget Bill Contact: Susan Kerin, skerin1@msn.com, Keep Speech Free in the Free State (4/7/2014 – Annapolis, MD) As the Maryland General Assembly completed its work on the state budget bill, legislators inserted language that weakly condemns the American Studies Association (ASA) decision to boycott Israeli…
[This statement is now posted on the website of the Maryland coalition, "Keep Free Speech in the Free State." A direct link is here. A press release is here.] Statement from Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu on 2 April 2014 US EFFORTS TO CURB FREEDOM OF SPEECH ON ISRAEL AND PALESTINE, OF GRAVE CONCERN I am writing…
The following statement was issued by the Illinois ACLU against SJR 59, State Sen. Silverstein’s resolution condemning academic boycotts. Update: the statement is now posted on the Illinois ACLU website here. —– To: Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee Re: Senate Joint Resolution 59Date: 3/25/14 The ACLU of Illinois opposes Senate Joint Resolution 59, a…
The Obama Administration has established a new precedent by implementing sanctions against Russian officials for violations of international law in the wake of Russia’s occupation and annexation of Crimea. So we thought: let’s get civil society organizations in the United States and around the world to invoke this precedent in calling U.S. officials to account…
Note: this memo is primarily aimed at tech-savvy kids, not at old fogie technophobe Luddites. If you are a technophobe, move along, nothing to see here. Background: the world has changed, right? We do online petitions now. It’s more efficient on both sides of the interaction – easier to pass, easier to sign; you don’t…
There is wide political agreement that we need to do more to support our veterans and their families. A recent spectacular demonstration was the 326-90 vote in the House and 95-3 vote in the Senate to repeal the military pension cuts to veterans and active service members that were in the Ryan-Murray budget deal. A…
Sonya Michel Professor of history, women’s studies and American studies University of Maryland College Park, Md. Dear Ms. Michel, I was very disappointed to see you argue in the NYT that Omar Barghouti "vastly overstates" the yes vote in the American Studies Association on the boycott of Israeli higher education institutions by…