BSTW wants to protest the Barak speech. I'm sure we're all shocked.

Subject: IMPORTANT Call for a united protest against Ehud Barak

OPEN LETTER TO CAMPUS ACTIVISTS ­ PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY

LET’S ORGANIZE A PROTEST AGAINST EHUD BARAK SPEAKING ON CAMPUS (NOVEMBER 19
at Zellerbach)!

Don’t be fooled. Although the campus is promoting former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s speech on campus as “Peacemaking in the Middle East”, Barak is anything but a man of peace. Not only has he overseen military aggression against the Palestinians, but Ehud Barak is actually coming to campus as part of a nation-wide tour to promote the US war with Iraq. A recent article in the Stanford Review quotes him saying the following (http://www.stanfordreview.org/Archive/Volume_XXIX/Issue_1/News/news1.shtml):

"To the best of my judgment, the course that has been set by the Bush administration is the right one," he said. Several times, Barak returned to the merits of removing Hussein from power, stressing that no one can be sure when Iraq's leader will acquire "a crude nuclear device, similar to those which destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki." "If we wait too long [to deal with Iraq], we may be making a very grave mistake," he noted warily. "We must act while we still can." "Previous violations of many United Nations Security Council resolutions provide the legitimacy to remove [Hussein]," he said, defending the "moral and strategic clarity" of Bush's motives for a strike against Iraq.

We believe that everyone who is opposed to the policies that Ehud Barak represents should come together to protest his speech. We propose the following:

We would like to organize the largest possible rally and an open-air teach-in to coincide with his speech in Zellerbach. Concerned activists from every possible group that opposes Barak’s policies should come to the next meeting of the Berkeley Stop the War Coalition, November 7th at 6PM in 2062 VLSB, to help plan and organize this protest against Barak.

Please send concerns, comments, and queries to ucbstopthewar@hotmail.com

Signed,
The Events Committee of the Berkeley Stop the War Coalition

A better question might ask why Barak has turned Hawkish recently. Perhaps it has something to do with Arafat destroying his political future and hopes of peace in his preference for Intifada.Email This Post!