SF Labor Council Resolution In Defense of Sami Al-Arian

From the www.monabaker.com archive (legacy material)

24 February 2003

In Defense Of The Democratic Rights Of Professor Sami Al-Arian
Whereas, there has been a concerted political effort to fire Palestinian American Professor Sami Al-Arian from the University of South Florida and,
Whereas, the union, the United Professors Of Florida which is affiliated to the National Education Association has defended their member Professor Sami Al-Arian’s democratic rights and,
Whereas, using the Patriot Act and other recently passed legislation, the US government has sought to eliminate the democratic rights of Professor Sami Al-Arian and,
Whereas, Professor has been a supporter of democratic rights not only in the Middle East but for democratic rights for people in the US and around the world and,
Whereas, the US government is seeking to silence political dissidents using the Patriot Act and other repressive legislation and,
Whereas, the use of these laws threatens the rights of all working people and all Americans,
Therefore be it resolved this body protests the indictment of Professor Sami Al-Arian and we call not only for the removal of this indictment but for opposition to the Patriot Act and other repressive legislation and we will forward this to the United Professors of Florida www.unitedprofessorsofflorida.org as well as Professor Sami Al-Arian and,
Finally, we call on all other labor and community organizations to protest the violation of Professor Sami Al-Arian’s rights, for this resolution to be sent to all affiliated bodies and to all our political representatives in the Congress and US Senate and for an end to this harassment and profiling of Arab Americans and Muslims and those who are critical of the policies of Israel.
For a chronology and detailed overview of this case, visit http://w3.usf.edu/~uff/AlArian/Current.html (MB)