From: "Antonio Broadwa" <a_broadway75-AT-hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: AUT: A friend under attack
Date: Thu, 03 Apr 2003 21:57:38 +0000


To give an idea of some of the fallout from this, the following is an appeal 
sent out by the Brecht Forum:

>Subject: Re: Panel at the Brecht Forum on Special Registration (fwd)
>
>Dear friends,
>
>We need your help. Tomorrow, Thursday, April 3rd, the Brecht Forum and 
>Action for Immigrant Rights is facilitating a panel discussion on the INS 
>special registrations, and recent detentions, deportations and 
>disappearances of Arab, Muslim and South Asians after Sept 11th.
>
>One panelist, Nicholas DeGenova, aroused an attack in the right wing and 
>corporate media last week, when he made comments at an antiwar teach in. To 
>read more, see the NY Times article, 
>http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/29/education/29PROF.html?pagewanted=print&position=top, 
>and the Columbia student paper at 
>http://www.columbiaspectator.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/03/31/3e8820b855697
>
>We are not interested in this controversy, in either courting it or 
>answering it. We do not want to add fuel to the attack. But, we do want to 
>create a safe space tomorrow where immigrant rights organizers can discuss 
>and strategize against the current crisis and loss of rights and liberties 
>of immigrants.
>
>The Brecht Forum has received threatening phone calls and attention, and 
>warnings from people planning to show up at tomorrow's panel. We don't 
>expect DeGenova to speak tomorrow. But we worry that people that don't mean 
>well will attend.
>
>Can you send the message out to friends, affinity groups and sympathetic 
>individuals to help us out by attending and volunteering tomorrow? We need 
>sensitive people, who can help us avoid potential endangerment of the 
>immigrants, legal and undocumented, present.
>
>I appreciate your help and advice. Please feel free to call me at (646) 
>321-5710 if you have any questions or concerns.
>
>In solidarity, Yvonne
>
>The event details... please note that DeGenova will not attend.
>
>--
>
>The New Internments: Special Registration, Detentions & Deportations
>
>Co-sponsors: Action for Immigrant Rights at Columbia University, Desis 
>Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), Center for Study on Ethnicity and Race at 
>Columbia University, Coalition for Human Rights of Immigrants, & Jews for 
>Racial & Economic Justice
>
>Thursday, April 3rd, 7:30 pm
>
>-AT- The Brecht Forum 122 West 27th St. 10th Fl. NYC (Betw. 6th & 7th Aves.) 
>1,9,N,R to 28th St. www.brechtforum.org (212) 242-4201
>
>Speakers: Reem Abu-Sbaih, Namita Chad, & Sandhya Shukla
>
>In the hysteria that the Bush administration has continued to foment for 
>over a year in its push for the continued militarization of the globe, a 
>gutted constitution, and a ghoulish vision of endless war, immigrants in 
>the U.S. have been 'disappeared' and deported at alarming rates. A sudden 
>and dramatic escalation of this began in December. Now thousands of 
>detainees are being held across the country, many of them having been 
>arrested in mass sweeps after voluntarily coming in for 'special 
>registration,' a mandate by Immigration and Naturalization Service(INS). 
>This racist and unconstitutional policy is one of the most frightening 
>breaches of civil liberties we have seen since 9/11/01 and has sparked 
>resistance all over the country. Not dissimilar to being placed in 
>internment camps, detainees have also reported torture and beatings and 
>great difficulty communicating with the outside, including legal advisors. 
>We hope to have a constructive, invigorating and participatory discussion 
>about current organizing and strategy for continued resistance within the 
>context of a larger global analysis.
>
>bios:
>
>[SANDHYA SHUKLA] is an assistant professor of anthropology and Asian 
>American studies at Columbia University. Professor Shukla has published in 
>the areas of migration, transnationalism, and South Asian cultures and 
>diasporas.
>
>Both Shukla and DeGenova are affiliated with the Center for the Study of 
>Ethnicity & Race at Columbia, whose intellectual mission is to expose the 
>fraudulent natures of the ideas and practices of race and to ascertain the 
>articulations of race with gender, sexuality, class, and nation.
>
>[REEM ABU-SBAIH] is an Arab community activist organizing around the 
>detentions. She is part of the movement in NYC to raise awareness in 
>targeted communities and support them through the registration process.
>
>[NAMITA CHAD] is the community organizer for Desis Rising Up and Moving. 
>DRUM works with INS detainees and their families as well as with people who 
>are supposed to comply with the registration process. They do preventive 
>detention work within the South Asian community.
>


>From: chris wright <cwright.21stcentury-AT-rcn.com>
>Reply-To: aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>Subject: AUT: A friend under attack
>Date: 02 Apr 2003 20:51:43 -0600
>
>For those who have not heard, a Columbia anthro professor has become the
>center of much attention in the last few days, after he called for a
>"million Mogadishus" at a teach in at Columbia.
>
>For those who have heard and who did not know, this person, Nick
>Degenova, is one of my closest friends and the person who got me into
>communist politics, as well as my closest long-term collaborator, since
>the mid 1980's.
>
>Do a search on Yahoo for "million mogadishus" and you will see the furor
>over his comments.  What you won't see are the death threats that have
>forced him, his partner, and her daughter to go into seclusion.  I am
>trying to get a copy of the speech, but I have not been able to get a
>hold of him today.
>
>Aside from any support for him I would welcome, I would also like any
>feedback on what he said.  Until I have seen the full text I am not sure
>how I feel about it, but I am basically supportive, with some criticisms
>around other things he and I have talked about that relate to this.
>
>Not sure what else to say.  Kind of stunned and very worried for his
>safety and that of his partner and her daughter.
>
>Cheers,
>Chris
>
>
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