[Peace-discuss] Urbana City Council meeting

[David Green]

Mort,
   
  Thanks for attending the meeting and taking the time to write this. Naturally the emphasis has been on free speech, perhaps as it should be, rather than the subtext of the utter hypocrisy of the organized Jewish community in pointing the finger at others rather than at themselves--while they have supported the visit, for example, of Daniel Pipes.
   
  My response to Robert Silverman's commentary is now posted on the IMC webiste.
   
  DG

"Brussel Morton K." <mkbrussel at comcast.net> wrote:
  I attended the city council meeting in order to support free access 
programming on UPTV.

It was decided that UPTV would continue to be "free access", with all 
points of view representable (under FCC guidelines).

However, there were more people in the (spare) attendance telling how 
they were grievously hurt by the anti-semitic videos shown, fearful 
that it would influence the community, and hence hoping these 
programs could be removed or restricted, then those, two in number 
(Patt and y.t.), reaffirming the value of unrestricted free access.

The holocaust was used as a battering ram to impress the city council 
members by several (Å4 in number) from the Jewish community, and it 
seemed to have its desired effect. Chenowyth and Bowersox pushed the 
idea that counter programming should be employed to counter hateful 
UPTV programming, even suggesting that the City Council produce such 
programming. However, the legal counsel affirmed that this would not 
pass legal muster; private entities could of course provide such 
programming. Given the problems such counter-programs would 
encounter, Bowersox suggested that only the specific hateful videos 
by Brunleve be counter-programmed.

Another issue discussed was whether such hateful programs could be 
relegated to the wee hours of the morning, say 3AM. This too was shot 
down by legal council who affirmed that it would be discriminatory if 
based on the content of the programs.

The insertion of disclaimers for any particular program was also 
mentioned. These are currently employed, but some wanted there to be 
specific repudiation of content. This did not pass muster.

The most forceful and eloquent defender of free speech on the council 
was Dennis Roberts. I felt Chenowyth tended to muddy the waters, 
asking for example that local programming take precedence and/or that 
another channel be provided for real free access, although she did 
ultimately support the current procedures. Heather Stevenson came out 
for free access. Only Lynne Barnes finally voted against.

The whole discussion focussed on anti-semitism and, to a much lesser 
extent, on gender issues. No one raised the issue that a different 
kind of anti-semitism could be raisedÑfor example one in which the 
state of Israel were condemned, with consequent claims by the local 
Zionist cohort that these were anti-semitic attacks. Would we then 
have to have counter-programming with a defense of Israel's right to 
exist, with references to the holocaust?

In sum, the status quo is being maintained. Free speech survives on 
UPTV. But the discussion is not quite closed.

I hope this is a fair recapitulation of what happened. _______________________________________________
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