Confiscation of and ban on Israeli Apartheid Week posters
During the week of 9 February 2009, Carleton University's Equity Services banned SAIA's poster for Israel Apartheid Week 2009. The poster in question is shown at right. In response, SAIA members covered the helicopter with a add-on saying "Carleton University has banned the use of this image; repression is alive and well". On February 12, the administration sent campus police to remove the posters from SAIA's information table in the Unicentre. The University's Provost, Feridun Hamdullahpur, then sent a letter to the entire university community threatening students who do not comply with the high administration's arbitrary and reactionary interpretation of the Ontario Human Rights Code, cynically used here as a fig leaf to harrass students for political activism.
Understanding the poster
Israel's brutal bombardment and invasion of Gaza in December 2008-January 2009 resulted in thousands of civilian casualties, including many injured or killed children, according to Human Rights Watch reporting of 13 January 2009:
"According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, as of January 12, Israeli attacks in Gaza had killed at least 910 Palestinians - both civilians and combatants - and wounded another 4,250. More than 292 children and 75 women are among the dead; more than 1,497 children and 626 women had been wounded. According to the UN, more than 40 percent of the dead and 50 percent of the wounded are women and children."
The abuses perpetrated against Palestinian children by the Israeli military extends to various other forms. Amnesty International reported the following on 23 January 2009:
"Abu Abdallah told the Amnesty International team that the soldiers who took over his home in Hay al-Salam, east of Jabalia, north Gaza, had confined him, his wife and their nine children for two days in the basement. “We had no water to drink and the soldiers did not allow us to go get water. I had to take water from the toilet cistern with a small receptacle for the small children to drink. I went to the bathroom several times to weep. I did not wish my children to see me cry."
It is a remarkable feat of arrogance and disrespect for the elementary principle of free expression to ban the cartoon at right, meant to symbolize the horrendous reality Palestinian children are experiencing in the current period, on the alleged basis that it will incite observers to violate the Ontario Human Rights Code, as Carleton University has claimed.
Exchange of e-mails between SAIA and Equity Services
SAIA attempted to contact Equity Services directly in order to request a detailed explanation of the decision to ban the poster. As the e-mail exchange with Linda Capperauld shows, no meaningful explanation was offered.
Call for letters of support
On 18 February, SAIA issued a call for letters of support. Within 48 hours, more than 200 individuals had sent letters to President Roseann Runte ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) with a cc to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . SAIA Carleton is in the process of assembling the letters for posting on this website. The first batch of letters is available here.
High administration's dubious list of "facts"
By 19 February, the President's Runte's office began issuing the following reply to those writing in about the poster ban.
Carleton University’s response to SAIA’s accusations:
Fact: The University did NOT ban this event.
Fact: The posters removed did not have the necessary approval for posting.
Fact: The posters removed did not contain information about any specific events planned at Carleton.
Fact: Carleton University’s Equity Services determined that the posters removed could incite infringements of the Ontario Human Rights Code.
Fact: Should other posters be created, they can be submitted for approval and posting.
Fact: The University promotes free speech and debate in a context of respect and dignity.SAIA's response
On 22 February, SAIA issued the following response, rejecting the claims and insunuations made in the university's statement
Demonstration against ban
On 26 February 2009, students, faculty and community members protested against the Carleton University and University of Ottawa administrations' bans on the IAW poster. News reports are filed here.
