Occupy Wall Street Not Palestine

Friends,


The following is a flow of communication about the Occupy Wall Street Movement and the way the media responds. You can catch me on video talking about the intersections between movements on Mindsimedia Blog. 




WLS-TV / ABC 7 Chicago

 190 North State Street Chicago, Illinois 60601

October 27, 2011

 To Whom It May Concern:

Wednesday night, you broadcast an irresponsible and uninformed report by Chuck Goudie (http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/iteam&id=8407349 <http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/iteam&id=8407349><http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/iteam&id=8407349> ).

 Mr. Goudie asserted that the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement has a "vein of anti-Semitism flowing through [it]," and used the presence of Palestine solidarity activists in the movement to help "prove" his argument. The Occupy Wall Street movement has the support of tens of thousands of Americans in cities across the country, and is growing rapidly, because Americans are suffering from an economic crisis brought about by Wall Street and big banks.  They, like me, are investigating all the factors that have created such an unjust economic system. They, like me, are looking at where the money goes and where it doesn’t. Everything is under investigation including our military budget and our foreign aid.

As the OWS movement describes it, the "99%" experience extreme economic inequality, where millions are unemployed without meaningful help, while bankers in trouble are bailed out. 

While there have been unfortunate anti-Semitic statements made by individual protesters at OWS actions that should and have been challenged as dangerous and divisive, the vast majority of the movement does not espouse these opinions. 

It appears from Mr. Goudie’s report on Wednesday evening that the Media and Mr.Goudie, have inflated these unrepresentative views for the purpose of discrediting two movements-OWS and Palestine solidarity. 

Anti-Semitism like other forms of hate speech should be reported and challenged by all and you are right to report on this. However, using the presence and involvement of Palestinians and Palestinian solidarity activists like Hatem Abudayyeh to prove the movement is anti-Semitic is not only unprofessional but borderline libel.

I had the opportunity to hear Mr. Abdayyeh’s speech at the 10^th year anniversary of the War in Afghanistan. It was passionate that the time has come for Palestine to be free.  His words are not any more anti-Semitic than my sign “Occupy Wall Street not Palestine”.  According to Mr. Goudie, I, a Christian minister who has just returned from the Holy Land and has witnessed what our tax dollars are paying for, could be considered anti-Semitic for carrying a sign that critiques the 65-year occupation of another country.  Is anyone who criticizes Israel’s politics called anti-semitic or only Palestinians or Arabs?

I, like thousands of others, including Jews and rabbis, are critical of Israel’s policies and the United States diplomatic and financial support of the occupation of Palestine. We see the connection between the injustice here and the injustice there. This is why the iconoclastic Palestinian flag is carried everywhere. It is yet another symbol of an ongoing injustice in the world, one that our government supports by the billions. People are connecting the dots and I am thankful that they are.  As the late Dr. King said, “An injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere, we are all tied together in a mutual garment of destiny.”

The Occupy Wall Street Movement and its many creative and bold leaders are helping us see the interconnections between movements. Instead of demonizing both the Occupy Movement and those standing up for Palestinian freedom, Mr. Goudie and Channel 7 should have been reporting on why these movements for economic justice and political freedom are linked.

To rectify the damage that has been done and will be done to the Occupy Movement and the Palestinian Solidarity Movement and people like myself, I recommend that Mr. Goudie immediately and publicly apologize to Mr. Abudayyeh and the Occupy Movement for making these inaccurate statements. Secondly, I recommend that Channel 7 apologize to its viewers who hold that one of our most cherished rights, as a democratic country is our freedom of speech. Your news reporting should be lifting that up not distorting or censoring it.

Respectfully yours.

Rev. Loren McGrail

Chicago, Illinois

Thank you for sending a copy of a letter to ABC7 News concerning the I-Team’s report.

          If you saw our broadcast on the 10pm news Wednesday night, you know that it focused on Jewish leaders who are concerned about the presence of anti-Semitic signs and some disturbing statements made at Occupy protest events in Chicago and elsewhere.

The report wasn't intended to be a panacea of what Occupy demonstrations are about or any of the issues associated with the continuing protests. Those events have been duly documented on ABC7. Our report was aimed at the narrow issue of anti-Semitic conduct resulting from fringe individuals using Occupy gatherings for their venues.

          As we stated in our report, the issue was “from small but vocal segments of the movement whose hatred on the picket lines is being magnified on the Internet…Now, anti-Semitic sign bearers and speakers who have latched onto the Occupy demonstrations have Jewish leaders in Chicago concerned.”
          Just because the instances of anti-Semitism have been small and scattered though, we chose not to turn a blind eye to them especially when the Anti-Defamation League and others have expressed concerns that they could multiply.

To ignore the presence of hateful behavior at largely peaceful undertakings would have been irresponsible and could have contributed to an escalation of anti-Semitism at Occupy events in Chicago and elsewhere.

Shining a light on intolerance is a regular motivation of much of our reporting.

I hope this helps you understand what went into the process. Thank you again for taking the time to express your opinion.

          Kind regards.

          Chuck Goudie

ABC 7 News Report Smears Occupy Chicago w/ Anti-Semitisim

October 30, 2011 mindsimedia Leave a comment

In a three and a half-minute segment broadcast on ABC 7 news last week reporter Chuck Goudie took some segments from YouTube videos, a memo from the GOP, some exaggerations and used it in a thinly veiled attack on Occupy Chicago for a pattern of anti-Semitism.
First  off any protest is going to draw a fringe element who hold views contrary to what most people have. And second because Occupy Chicago is open to Palestinian doesn’t make the group anti-semitic. Here we present a link to  the original news  report, I can’t get it to embed here.  A rebuttal interview from Dogstar7  w/Rev. Loren McGrail, Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel. We also have a clip of Occupy Chicago’s march to ABC news studios Saturday night.