Statements

CUNY FOR PALESTINE STATEMENT ON BROOKLYN COMMONS HOSTING ANTI-SEMITIC SPEAKER (09/06/2016)

We at CUNY for Palestine condemn unequivocally the Brooklyn Commons’ hosting of the anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist, Christopher Bollyn, on Wednesday, September 7th.

Since Bollyn’s scheduled talk has been made public, the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories he espouses have come to light. Bollyn bases his ideas upon vicious and false lies such as the Czarist Russia anti-Semitic forgery, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and claims that shadowy Jewish groups were behind the 9/11 attacks. His delusions of Jewish/Zionist cabals lead him to abuse the issue of Palestine as part of his wider anti-Semitic conspiracies. His crass exploitation of Palestine is bereft of any fact as are his other theories born out of his anti-Semitic hate.

As a coalition of students, graduate students, and faculty in the CUNY system fighting for the rights and self-determination of Palestinians, we cannot sit idly by as an anti-Semitic individual co-opts the Palestinian movement to disseminate his hateful agenda. There is no space within the Palestine solidarity movement for anti-Semites. We reject all forms of discrimination whether they be religious, ethnic, racial, gender, or sexual.

We stand as allies with the various NYC-based Jewish organizations who have denounced this anti-Semitic event and commend the organizations which use Brooklyn Commons’ space for condemning the scheduled event: Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, Right to the City Alliance, Jacobin Magazine, Theater of the Oppressed Laboratory, FUREE, Marxist Education Project, The Indypendent, and WBAI. We call upon all allies to denounce Christopher Bollyn’s anti-Semitic hate speech and conspiracy theories and to condemn the Brooklyn Commons for not heeding legitimate requests to repudiate politics of hate in their space. Finally, we call upon all allies to stand with us against anti-Semitism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry, and oppression.