***** For Immediate Release - September 12, 2001
Build Peace and Justice: Resist Calls for Collective Punishment
The Student International Forum, the Columbus Campaign for Arms Control, and the OSU Committee for Justice in Palestine extend our deepest sympathies and condolences to all those who lost loved ones and suffered injuries in New York and Washington D.C. on September 11, 2001. We are appalled by the enormity of casualties.
At the same time, we are disturbed by voices of ignorance and prejudice -- heard in the mass media and the streets -- which incite others to target Arab- and Muslim-Americans as objects of scapegoating (the Council on American-Islamic Relations reports that some have already been verbally or physically attacked because of their religion or ethnicity). We are distressed by calls for massive military strikes against an as-yet-unidentified nation alleged to be a "host of terrorists" -- the same logic of collective punishment as employed by terrorists.
We join others to support all efforts to promote peace and justice, condemning those that seek to foster racism, hate, and fear.
We call on all people of conscience to speak out against the scapegoating of Arab- and Muslim-Americans, as well as of Arabs and Muslims abroad.
We urge people to defend civil rights and liberties, the most precious legacy of generations of struggle.
We oppose any military strike by the U.S. government that might result in civilian casualties here and abroad; we believe that sacrificing more lives in blind retaliation is not only unjust but also counterproductive.
For more information, contact Yoshie Furuhashi at furuhashi.1 at osu.edu or 614-668-6554; Mark D. Stansbery at walk at igc.org or 614-252-9255; and Noor Alam at justice_in_palestine at hotmail.com or 614-291-8196. For information on the OSU Committee for Justice in Palestine, visit <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>. *****
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