https://socialistaction.org/2018/12/09/unac-statement-on-the-cnn-firing-of-marc-lamont-hill/
UNAC statement on the CNN firing of Marc Lamont Hill
/ 22 hours ago
MLH
The following statement was published by the United National Antiwar
Coalition (UNAC) on Dec. 3. Supporters of Israel and Zionism have
repeatedly charged in the mainstream media that Professor Marc Lamont
Hill’s statements at the UN on behalf of the rights of the Palestinian
people are “anti-Semitic” and have demanded that Temple University fire
him, as CNN has already done. Patrick O’Conner, chairman of Temple’s
board, labeled Hill’s address to the UN as “hate speech,” while Temple
President Richard Englert stated that some people view Hill’s remarks as
a “perceived threat.”
At the same time, however, many Temple instructors and students have
rallied to Professor Hill’s defense, pointing out that critics have
distorted his remarks. A student-initiated march in support of Hill took
place on campus on Dec. 6.
Temple University professor and CNN commentator Marc Lamont Hill was
fired from CNN after giving a powerful speech at the United Nations in
support of Palestinian rights. The Nov. 29, 2018, UN meeting was to
commemorate the 70th year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The meeting also fell on the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, when 700,000
Palestinians were forced from their homes by the newly declared state of
Israel and hundreds of Palestinian towns and villages were emptied and
destroyed.
Marc Lamont Hill spoke of the many violations of Palestinians’ human
rights by the authorities in Israel. Not one fact that he mentioned in
his talk was disputed by CNN, but his contract was terminated with a
simple statement that said, “Marc Lamont Hill is no longer under
contract with CNN.”
In his statement to the U.N., Hill stated that “at the current moment,
there are more than 60 Israeli laws that deny Palestinians access to
full citizenship rights simply because they are not Jewish. From
housing, to education to family reunification, it is clear that any
freedoms naturally endowed to all human beings are actively being
stripped away from Palestinians through Israeli statecraft.”
He went on to speak about the recent National State Law that makes it
explicit that Israel is not a state for the Palestinian people who live
there and made illegal settlement expansion a national value. He also
spoke about the special situation of the people of Gaza who live in the
world’s largest “open-air prison.” In Gaza, unarmed Palestinians
protesting, on their own territory, the conditions Israel imposes on
them have been shot in the thousands by Israeli forces.
Jan. 2019 Hill protest (Joe Piette)
Temple students rally for Professor Hill. (Joe Piette)
Hill equated the Palestinian struggle to the struggle for Black
liberation in the U.S. and specifically mentioned the solidarity that
was expressed between the Palestinian people and the people of Ferguson,
Mo., as they protested the cop murder of Michael Brown.
Hill also said that words are not enough and that we must all take
action. He said that justice requires a “free Palestine from the river
to the sea.” This last statement has been especially criticized by
Zionist organizations and individuals as meaning, in their minds, that
the Palestinians want genocide of the Jewish people. But what it calls
for is simply freedom for Palestinians in their own land. If Zionists
don’t like this statement then we must ask them, “In which area from the
river to the sea should the Palestinian people not be free?”
Unfortunately, through their actions, their answer has been all of it.
As CNN proclaims itself a bastion of freedom of speech, it denies this
freedom to Marc Lamont Hill and all who speak truth to power. They
afford freedom of speech only to those who agree with the reactionary
politics of the CNN editors and censors.
UNAC demands: Reinstate Marc Lamont Hill! End all U.S. aid to Israel!
Free Palestine from the river to the sea! Stop the Wars at Home and Abroad!
Top photo: Marc Lamont Hill. (Ouzounova / SplashNews)
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December 9, 2018 in Civil Liberties, Palestine.
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