WashPost article: In New York, a Word Starts a Fire

A lot has been written on the topic of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, but not much in the two bigwig newspapers - the New York Times and the Washington Post - but that changed when they finally started covering the school and its Principal-who-was-to-be, Debbie Almontaser.

This article in the Washington Post is pretty informative and balanced and gives good perspective on the issue with a wide variety of quotes from diverse stakeholders in the matter.

The "word" being referred to in the title of the article is intifada. I will not say anything further but I hope you read the article!

Khalil Gibran event a success!

The Khalil Gibran school event turned out to be amazing! I was there primarily in solidarity, and was upset to have arrived so late, but clearly our community has its act together - finally! Everything was done by 7:15, and the sidewalk was cleared shortly thereafter with lots of media and a surprisingly diverse crowd.

Copied below are links to articles on the coverage - take your pick! - all courtesy of Erica Waples.

Thanks, Erica!

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ASSOCIATED PRESS: Supporters of NYC Arabic school want founding leader
reinstated (multiple news outlets using AP story)
> AM New York: http://www.amny.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--arabicschool0821aug21,0,7617290.story
> International Herald Tribune: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/08/21/america/NA-GEN-US-NYC-Arabic-School.php
> Staten Island Advance: http://www.silive.com/newsflash/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-27/1187655317296650.xml&storylist=simetro

ASSOCIATED PRESS: U.S. rabbi defends N.Y. Arab school despite charges
it will be anti-Israel
> Ha'aretz: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/895796.html

DAILY NEWS
> http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/08/21/2007-08-21_protest_pans_principals_ouster_over_tshi.html
> http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/08/21/2007-08-21_2language_schools_put_in_spotlight.html

FOX TV CHANNEL (Channel 9, different from Fox News Channel on cable)
> http://www.myfoxny.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=4124172&version=5&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

NEW YORK TIMES
> http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/nyregion/21protest.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

NEWSDAY
> http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--arabicschool0821aug21,0,4590078.story

NY1 NEWS
> http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=72822

NY POST
> http://www.nypost.com/seven/08212007/news/regionalnews/rallying_cry.htm

NY SUN
> http://www.nysun.com/article/60909
> http://www.nysun.com/article/60954


** Pre-Event Articles **
> The Arab American News: http://www.arabamericannews.com/newsarticle.php?articleid=9515
> Daily News: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2007/08/20/2007-08-20_they_scapegoated_her.html
> New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/15/education/15school.html?fta=y
> NY Sun: http://www.nysun.com/article/60846

Khalil Gibran Intl' Academy event - 8/20

COMMUNITIES IN SUPPORT OF KHALIL GIBRAN INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY

Press Advisory Contact: Erica

Phone: 718-431-4465

For Immediate Release Email: media@awaam.org

NEW YORKERS COME OUT IN SUPPORT

OF ARABIC-LANGUAGE SCHOOL

Diverse groups applaud Almontaser’s work and urge public officials to “reject racism”

August 17, 2007; New York, NY— Communities in Support of Khalil Gibran International Academy, a diverse

group of community leaders and organizations, plan to express their backing of KGIA on Monday, August 20,

2007. Below is the text of their statement of support.

Statement of Support for Khalil Gibran International Academy

As New Yorkers in support of quality public education for all our communities, we stand in solidarity with the

Khalil Gibran International Academy, which has sustained hateful and false attacks by anti-Arab media and

extremists. In the post-9/11 world, a school educating our children about Arab history, culture, and language is

not only crucial for the next generation to become informed leaders for positive change in our communities; it is

also an extraordinary place of hope for peace, understanding, and justice for our embattled world. We regret

that Debbie Almontaser was pressured to resign and applaud her work to establish this school and promote

intercultural exchange in this diverse global city.

Those who seek to equate the study of Arabic language, culture, and history with religious fanaticism and

violence are irresponsibly aggravating a present moment of hysteria against Arab and Muslim communities, and

are using this moment to promote hatred in a time of war. We urge our public officials to reject these racist and

inaccurate attacks and continue to work towards building a lasting educational institution that promises to bring

our communities together, rather than divide and pit them against each other. We call on all New Yorkers who

want to see peace on our streets and in our world to stand with us in support of the Khalil Gibran International

Academy.

Event Information

Peaceful Demonstration in Support of KGIA

Monday, August 20, 2007 at 6:00 PM

NYC Department of Education

Tweed Courthouse, 52 Chambers Street

###

For an up-to-date list of event sponsors, please visit www.awaam.org. Interviews available upon request.

Article: A blind eye to bigotry

When I read the title of the article, I thought it'd be something about Blacks in America or antisemitism in the Middle East, but alas - it was on the Muslim massacre that took place in Gujarat, India five years ago.

I recall the horrors of that time in South Asian history because I was living in Lahore, Pakistan when it happened. We saw the images, read the stories. And today, to see that the ultimate perpetrator of that tragedy - Chief Minister Narendra Modi - is still in power is revolting. His political party - the BJP - is ultra-right wing and is thankfully no longer in power nationally, yet the ugly serpent still rears its head occasionally.

The article opened my eyes to the fact, no matter what, to make money, people will stoop to the lowest rung on a ladder and not even be hesitant or remorseful about it. Take, for example, China, which buys a lot of oil from Sudan. Likewise, you've got huge corporations from all over the world that continue to do business in Modi's Gujarat.

Some excerpts copied below:

Five years ago this week, across the Indian state of Gujarat, the stormtroopers of the Hindu right, decked in saffron sashes and armed with swords, tridents, sledgehammers and liquid gas cylinders, launched a pogrom against the local Muslim population. They looted and torched Muslim-owned businesses, assaulted and murdered Muslims, and gang-raped and mutilated Muslim women. By the time the violence spluttered to a halt, about 2,500 Muslims had been killed and about 200,000 driven from their homes.

The events of 2002 did not conform to the paradigm of the war on terror, in which India was a prize ally, so never achieved the infamy in the west they deserved. An array of interests - in New Delhi, London and Washington - is dedicated to ensuring the atrocity is consigned to oblivion. For them, the release of Parzania, a feature film centred on the violence, is an uncomfortable development. Despite dramatic flaws, it accurately depicts the savagery of the anti-Muslim violence, its planned, coordinated character, and the complicity of the police and the state government. Cinemas in Gujarat, under pressure from the Hindu right, are refusing to screen the film.

If and when Parzania reaches audiences here and in the US, it will offer a necessary counter-tale to the fashionable fable of the Indian neoliberal miracle, exposing the brutality and bigotry that have gone hand in hand with zooming growth rates and hi-tech triumphalism.

· Mike Marqusee writes a column for the Hindu; his most recent book is Wicked Messenger: Bob Dylan and the 1960s.

www.mikemarqusee.com

Read the entire article from The Guardian.