URGENT: AMP and Free Speech under attack in San Francisco

ACTION ALERT

Call NOW and urge supervisors to reject JCRC’s attempt to ban political speech ads

(CHICAGO 05/21/2013) – The American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) and free speech are under attack in San Francisco after the Jewish Community Relations Council launched a divisive and defamatory attack in response to AMP’s Israeli apartheid bus ad.

The JCRC, a pro-occupation organization, has compared AMP’s ad, which features Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu comparing Israeli apartheid to apartheid in South Africa, to the hateful and racist ads placed by noted Islamophobe Pamela Geller, whose organization the American Freedom Defense Initiative called Palestinians and Muslims ‘savages.’

AMP’s ad critiques Israeli and American policies while Geller’s ad defame an entire religion and all its adherents. The Southern Poverty Law Center has deemed the AFDI a hate group. Jewish Voice for Peace has strongly endorsed AMP’s ad and asserts the JCRC does not represent the entire Jewish community.

Stop potential censorship
The JCRC has issued a press release referencing a letter signed by seven SF supervisors that
     A) Condemns AMP
     B) Asks the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority (Muni) to ban political speech ads
     C) Asks Muni to donate the proceeds from AMP”s ad to a fund to serve the Jewish community. (To counter the hurtful effect of Geller’s hate-speech ad, Muni donated the proceeds from it to fund a study of the health impact of Islamophobia on Arabs and Muslims in the Bay area.)

Take Action
Several supervisors have not signed onto the letter and we must support them and ask them to counter this attack on civil liberties by the JCRC. Seven have signed and we must urge them to rescind their signatures. Call them today BEFORE 2 p.m. PST (5 p.m. EST).

Call supervisors who have not signed

Talking points

    > Thank you for not signing this letter, which wrongfully equates AMP’s political speech with hate speech Donating the proceeds of the ad to the SF Human Rights Commission would also improperly put AMP’s speech on par with hate speech and would also inaccurately convey that there is a single Jewish perspective on the issue of Israel/Palestine.
    > Closing Muni as a space for speech would ensure that important issues of public debate are no longer discussed in public spaces in San Francisco. San Franciscans should not be told by their government what speech they can and cannot hear. This speech needs to be placed in the marketplace of ideas and either accepted or rejected.    
    > Please do not succumb to pressure to sign this problematic letter, and please consider conveying to SFMTA that there is a difference between hate speech and AMP’s political speech, that SFMTA should only donate proceeds to SFHRC in cases of hate speech, and that closing spaces for speech goes against the fundamental American value of free and robust speech.

BOS members who have not signed problematic letter to SFMTA:
John Avalos, Supervisor, District 11, [email protected], (415) 554-6975
David Campos, Supervisor, District 9, [email protected], (415) 554-5144
Jane Kim, Supervisor, District 6, [email protected], (415) 554-7970
Eric Mar, Supervisor, District 1, [email protected] , (415) 554-7410

Call supervisors who have signed the letter

Talking points:
    > I am disappointed that you signed the letter and ask you to reconsider and remove your name.
    > Unlike Geller’s ads, which demonize and disparaged entire communities on the basis of immutable characteristics, the AMP ads take a civil but controversial perspective on a political issue by quoting a Nobel Peace laureate Desmond Tutu. To equate these two types of speech is unfair and defamatory.  
    > Your request that the proceeds be donated toward a Jewish community fund also improperly implies that the Jewish community speaks with one voice on Israel/Palestine. It does not. Many members of the Jewish community support the AMP ads.  
    > Closing Muni as a forum would ensure that important issues of public debate are no longer discussed in public spaces in San Francisco. San Franciscans should not be told by their government what speech they can and cannot hear. This speech needs to be placed in the marketplace of ideas and either accepted or rejected. 

BOS members have signed problematic letter to SFMTA:
Scott Wiener, Supervisor, District 8, [email protected], (415) 554-6968
London Breed, Supervisor, District 5, [email protected], (415) 554-7630
Malia Cohen, Supervisor, District 10, [email protected], (415) 554-7670
Mark Farrell, Supervisor, District 2, [email protected], (415) 554-7752
Katy Tang, Supervisor, District 4, [email protected], (415) 554-7460
Norman Yee, Supervisor, District 7, [email protected], (415) 554-6516
David Chiu, Supervisor, District 3 and President of the Board, [email protected], (415) 554-7450

It is important to call before 2 p.m. PST, when the Board of Supervisors holds its weekly meeting.