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Protests, injunction threatened against pro-Palestinian speakers
Published: January 4, 2007
ANDOVER - Student protests and a court injunction are possible if Andover High School does not change the format of tomorrow's visit by pro-Palestinian speakers, a local lawyer said.
Pam Lebowitz has organized about 100 parents and residents who are demanding that the high school invite other guests to oppose Wheels of Justice, which they say is an extremist, anti-Israel group. Middle East scholars are coming to the school next week to give a different perspective, but that is not the same as having the two sides present at the same time, Lebowitz said.
"We don't understand why we can't have a more balanced forum," she said.
Lebowitz and some of her colleagues planned to plead their case to Superintendent Claudia Bach this morning, during her monthly coffee hour at Starbucks on Main Street. If Bach and Principal Peter Anderson do not make any changes, Lebowitz's group will help about 50 students who want to stage a walkout or picket in front of the school tomorrow, Lebowitz said.
Lebowitz, whose nephews attend the high school, may also seek an injunction to prevent Wheels of Justice from coming to the school, she said.
While she and some parents planned their strategy at Memorial Hall Library last night, others - along with students, teachers and community members - attended a forum at Temple Emanuel with David Cohen, the associate director of the Anti-Defamation League of New England.
Pam Lebowitz has organized about 100 parents and residents who are demanding that the high school invite other guests to oppose Wheels of Justice, which they say is an extremist, anti-Israel group. Middle East scholars are coming to the school next week to give a different perspective, but that is not the same as having the two sides present at the same time, Lebowitz said.
"We don't understand why we can't have a more balanced forum," she said.
Lebowitz and some of her colleagues planned to plead their case to Superintendent Claudia Bach this morning, during her monthly coffee hour at Starbucks on Main Street. If Bach and Principal Peter Anderson do not make any changes, Lebowitz's group will help about 50 students who want to stage a walkout or picket in front of the school tomorrow, Lebowitz said.
Lebowitz, whose nephews attend the high school, may also seek an injunction to prevent Wheels of Justice from coming to the school, she said.
While she and some parents planned their strategy at Memorial Hall Library last night, others - along with students, teachers and community members - attended a forum at Temple Emanuel with David Cohen, the associate director of the Anti-Defamation League of New England.
The purpose of the forum was to give students a "deeper understanding" of the Wheels of Justice, Rabbi Robert Goldstein said. About 20 students attended, and they said that most of their discussions in school have been about whether the group has a right to speak there.
"We haven't really talked about what the group is," senior Jillian Bargar said.
Cohen told the audience that Wheels of Justice has a "destructive" and "frighteningly anti-Semitic" message, and he distributed a double-sided sheet of paper about Joe Carr and Mazin Qumsiyeh, the two members of the group who will speak to students tomorrow.
Carr's Web site says it is "dedicated to the overthrow of the U.S.-led global capitalist oppression" and displays the symbol for anarchy. In a recent article on the Palestine Chronicle's Web site, Qumsiyeh says "ethnic cleansing" is happening to Palestinians in Israel.
Cohen said he was not encouraging students to "take on" the speakers, but he did distribute a sheet of questions they could ask to challenge the speakers' positions.
Most students will be too intimidated to ask those kinds of questions, Bargar said. Her classmate Merav Levkowitz agreed and said the speakers will likely have responses ready for those prepared questions.
"They have an act," she said. "They're completely polished."
When two professors from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University present an alternate view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to students next week, it may be too late, Levkowitz said.
"Some people are going to take what they learned from (the Wheels of Justice) and spread those ideas around," she said.
Anderson originally banned Wheels of Justice from coming to Andover High in October, but he reversed his decision last month after teachers union President Tom Meyers - one of the six social studies teachers who invited Wheels of Justice - threatened to sue the school.
The two presentations will allow students to have the "healthy debate" that is so important when studying democracy, school lawyer Leonard Kesten said.
"We believe that this entire presentation will tremendously enhance educational opportunities for the kids," he said.
The Wheels of Justice members and the Harvard scholars will speak to six social studies classes, Kesten said. The events are closed to the public, but Andover High is hosting a public Wheels of Justice forum tomorrow at 7 p.m. in the school's library.
The school has not yet set a date for next week's visit by the Harvard scholars, Kesten said. There are no plans for a public forum with the professors, but the school could schedule one if there is interest, Kesten said.
