[OccupyCU] Jesse Francis presentation

Wed Nov 14 21:17:36 UTC 2012

Chris,

Please don't be so defensive. No one is blaming you, as an individual, for
anything. However, occupy, as a group, is responsible for the people who
are welcomed into the space. Non-hierarchy does not translate into
non-accountability. In non-hierarchies *it is especially important* for
individuals to take personal responsibility for speaking out against
oppression and oppressive forces.

This person was welcomed into the space and added to the listserv, which he
has used to spread his cryptofascist agenda. My only connection to Occupy
CU at this point is through the listserv. Accordingly all of the offending
activity I am referring to has happened on this listserv. If Occupy CU
still operates on the assumption of building a community through consent,
then(I'll try to be as clear as possible):

 *I am letting occupy CU know that I cannot consent to fascism in our
community. As such, I would rather disassociate from the group than
continue to be a part of a group that tolerates such actions. If Occupy CU
chooses to continue associating with such people, so be it. However, I do
not want to be associated with such a group.*

Chris -- I respect you and I want to make this clear that this is not a
personal attack. This is about group responsibility and accountability.

If Occupy CU chooses to work on this person, or on this project, I want no
part of it. In fact, I will make sure the antifascist community is aware of
such a project.

On Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 2:42 PM, Chris Goodrow <c_goodrow at hotmail.com>wrote:

> Fair enough, Scott.  I guess everyone that didn't reply except you is
> complicit. We're all guilty of silence, thus ocCUpy is now an anti-semitic
> group.
>
> Chris Goodrow
> (217) 898-5039
>
>
> ------------------------------
> Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2012 14:28:18 -0600
>
> Subject: Re: [OccupyCU] Jesse Francis presentation
> From: scttkmbll at gmail.com
> To: sarah.lazare at gmail.com
> CC: c_goodrow at hotmail.com; stephenf1113 at yahoo.com;
> occupycu at lists.chambana.net
>
>
> Chris,
>
> As Sarah said, silence is complicity.
>
> First they came for the communists<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist>
> ,
> and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
>
> Then they came for the socialists <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist>
> ,
> and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.
>
> Then they came for the trade unionists<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_unionist>
> ,
> and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
>
> Then they came for me,
> and there was no one left to speak for me.
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 1:57 PM, Sarah Lazare <sarah.lazare at gmail.com>wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> If someone sends out something anti-semitic to an organizing listserv or
> brings anti-semitic messages into an organizing space, silence is
> complicity. If an organization tolerates racism, sexism, or any other form
> of bigotry, then that organization is responsible. At the very least, I
> would hope that if someone says something anti-semitic they would get
> push-back. I am very concerned that the only response I've seen to a
> proto-fascist, anti-semitic organization's presence at the local Occupy has
> been to criticize someone for speaking out against it. Have there been
> other responses that haven't been aired in this public online forum?
>
> Sarah
>
> On Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 1:19 PM, Chris Goodrow <c_goodrow at hotmail.com>wrote:
>
> In all fairness, Scott, you're doing something similar that a number have
> people have done in regard to Occupy around the nation since it began.
>  You're taking one instance of what one person says and placing it all on
> the group. When one person shit on a police car, guess what?  That must
> mean that we're all dirty drugging hippies shitting on cars. So, rather
> than shit on ocCUpy, perhaps your issue should be with the one person
> you're taking issue with.
>
> I personally agree that we shouldn't be getting into the 911 truth
> conspiracy theories and it would only serve to discredit us further.  Of
> course, that is just me speaking as one person and not ocCUpy as a whole.
>
> Chris Goodrow
> (217) 898-5039
>
>
> ------------------------------
> Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2012 11:51:58 -0600
> From: scttkmbll at gmail.com
> To: stephenf1113 at yahoo.com
> CC: OccupyCU at lists.chambana.net
>
> Subject: Re: [OccupyCU] Jesse Francis presentation
>
> More from the website:
>
> "The Nazi's caused the death of 100's of thousands, not millions, and not
> in gas chambers.  Jews have used this ploy too long and at the expense of
> the lives of millions of Palestinians."
>
> "The Jews were a small minority of the 60 million killed in WWII. The gas
> chamber stories are grossly overblown."
>
> Who are "the Jews". Sounds like some "Protocols of the Elders of Zion"
> nonsense. This is just a rehashing of the "international jewry" nonsense
> that Nazis have been spouting for years. If you were honestly anti-zionist
> and not anti-semitic, you would be well advised to not *refer to the
> state of Isreal as "the jews"*.
>
> Don't conflate your anti-semitism with anti-zionism.
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 11:30 AM, Stephen Francis <stephenf1113 at yahoo.com>wrote:
>
> NewsFollowUp.com is very anti-Zionist because of the mountain of evidence
> to Zionist involvement in 9/11.  NewsFollowUp.com is NOT anti semitic.
>  There is a massive anti Zionist movement in Israel that deserves to be
> supported.  There is a huge difference between anti-semitism and
> anti-Zionism.
> I'm very interested in the outcome of this discussion within the OccupyCU
> group because it gets to the bare bones issues of income inequality,
> privacy, media ownership, civil rights...on and on.  If there is a
> consensus that agrees with Scott Kimball, I will gladly leave the group.
> Thank you,
> Steve Francis
>
>    ------------------------------
> *From:* Scott Kimball <scttkmbll at gmail.com>
> *To:* Stephen Francis <stephenf1113 at yahoo.com>
> *Cc:* "OccupyCU at lists.chambana.net" <OccupyCU at lists.chambana.net>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, November 14, 2012 10:46 AM
> *Subject:* Re: [OccupyCU] Jesse Francis presentation
>
> Are you kidding me?
>
> Everyone here should be aware of the fact that the "9-11 truth movement"
> is highly anti-semitic and connected to neo-fascist groups. If anyone
> bothered to go on the website, they would see this link:
>
> http://www.newsfollowup.com/Israel.htm
>
> Which boldly proclaims that "The holocaust is the greatest hoax ever
> perpetrated on mankind". I found this after about 2 minutes on the website.
> Trust me, it only gets worse from there. For those of you who were
> previously unaware, now you know. For everyone else, shame on you!
>
> In addition, why would you support this absurd discourse? There are real
> problems that we need to organize around and you are spending your time
> your time postulating conspiracy theories.
>
> Shame on you OccupyCU.
>
> Unless someone has a reasonable response as to why this poison is being
> brought into this community, I'd like to be removed from the listserv. I
> don't want to be associated with anti-semitic groups and, I'm sure, many of
> you do not as well.
>
> On Wed, Nov 14, 2012 at 3:22 AM, Stephen Francis <stephenf1113 at yahoo.com>wrote:
>
> Hello all,
> Just wanted to clarify my presentation from Monday night at the OccupyCU
> meeting.
> I think I failed to emphasize the overall impression that I wanted to
> make, which is that I'm proposing and what all ready exists now on the
> internet is a 9/11 Truth Video Conference.
> I'm proposing this as an activity for the group that would not compete
> with other activities, all in our effort to define our purpose and identify
> activities that we all agree on that would be worthwhile to energize the
> group.
> It is also an effort to promote video conferencing as a tool or skill that
> we can use with all our activities locally.
> Because of the volume of traffic of NewsFollowUp.com<http://newsfollowup.com/>,
> there are about 30,000 'impressions' of an advertisement for the 9/11 Truth
> Video Conference (held in CU) per month and about 200 'clicks' per month to
> the advertisement and the page that provides all the information about the
> conference.  Because of the scope of NewsFollowUp, these clicks are going
> to mostly a national but also an international audience, which doesn't help
> the effort locally, but is good for finding 'high profile activists' on a
> national basis that would want to give a video presentation at the video
> conference.  I'm sure there are people locally that could make
> presentations also.
> I don't think this amount of 'clicks' is nearly enough to get the word out
> so I'm soliciting for help and need suggestions on how to increase the
> reach of the advertisements.  Thus I will be taking my presentation to
> other groups in town.
> Anyway, I hope this is helpful.
> Thanks
> Steve Francis
>
> http://www.newsfollowup.com/
>
> http://www.newsfollowup.com/midwest_911_truth_conference_champaign-urbana_september_2013_newsfollowup.htm
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
>
>
> --
> Scott Kimball
> Project Organizer
> American Federation of Teachers
> Higher Education Project
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Scott Kimball
> Project Organizer
> American Federation of Teachers
> Higher Education Project
>
>
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>
> _______________________________________________
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> OccupyCU at lists.chambana.net
> http://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/occupycu
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Scott Kimball
> Project Organizer
> American Federation of Teachers
> Higher Education Project
>
>

-- 
Scott Kimball
Project Organizer
American Federation of Teachers
Higher Education Project
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