Joe W.
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=2005020115155356
Wednesday, February 02 2005 @ 02:00 PM PST
AK Press Author, Ward Churchill, Under Attack Tuesday, February 01 2005 @ 03:15 PM PST Contributed by: Admin Views: 279 After finding himself at the center of a media firestorm--and receiving a barrage of death threats--AK Press author, Ward Churchill, has stepped down from his position as Chair of the Ethnic Studies Department at the University of Colorado. Not satisfied with this, Colorado Governor Bill Owens is demanding that Ward resign his position as a tenured professor as well.
AK Press Author, Ward Churchill, Under Attack
After finding himself at the center of a media firestorm--and receiving a barrage of death threats--AK Press author, Ward Churchill, has stepped down from his position as Chair of the Ethnic Studies Department at the University of Colorado. Not satisfied with this, Colorado Governor Bill Owens is demanding that Ward resign his position as a tenured professor as well.
The controversy is based on an essay Ward wrote soon after 9-11, which he later expanded into an AK Press book, On the Justice of Roosting Chickens: Reflections on the Consequences of U.S. Imperial Arrogance and Criminality. Conservative protestors used the essay to force Hamilton College in New York to cancel a speaking engagement Ward had scheduled there. The mainstream media (including Bill O'Reilly and Fox News) has picked up the story, distorting and misrepresenting the facts, as usual.
AK Press wishes to voice our support for Ward in this struggle--in terms of both his well-researched analysis of factors that contributed to the 9-11 attacks and his right to express that analysis in public without having his life and livelihood threatened.
Below, we've provided some links to articles describing the controversy, followed by the press release Ward issued. We also recommend that you read On the Justice of Roosting Chickens yourself, rather than relying on the media's version on it. Individuals can order it here: http://www.akpress.org/2003/items/onthejusticeofroostingchickens
The book is available to bookstores and to the trade in general from Consortium Book Sales and Distribution at: http://www.cbsd.com/ or 1-800-283-3572 --------------------------------------------------------------------
Ward Churchill's Press Release:
January 31, 2005
In the last few days there has been widespread and grossly inaccurate media coverage concerning my analysis of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, coverage that has resulted in defamation of my character and threats against my life. What I actually said has been lost, indeed turned into the opposite of itself, and I hope the following facts will be reported at least to the same extent that the fabrications have been.
(snip)