I'm surprised no one has yet posted comments about the following article by Mark Schultz that appeared in Chapel Hill News. Chapel Hill Town Council has taken many principled positions on contentious national issues such as gay rights or gun control, to name two. Why not Palestine? Where does this community stand on the issue of free speech? Why is it OK to take positions on some issues, but not others? In this case the town itself is not actually taking a position, but allowing a local church to pay for ads that say the following: “Join with us. Build peace with justice and equality. End U.S. military aid to Israel.” It's a simple message quite in keeping with many of the values Chapel Hillians hold dear. Should the town censor this particular kind of speech on town buses?
Town leaders will discuss their policy for bus advertising after an ad calling for an end of U.S. military aid to Israel drew complaints.
On November 15th, around four p.m., local Earth First! activists gathered outside of the Royal Bank of Canada in Carrboro to protest the bank's investment in the world's most destructive project, the Canadian Tar Sands. We were holding signs, banners, and doing some chanting. The police arrived and told us that we could not stand anywhere on the sidewalk at all.
I am interested in what OP folks think about the disruption Tuesday evening at the University of the planned talk by Tom Tancredo, preventing him from speaking. I hope we don't see this as a campus issue isolated from the rest of local progressive politics, because it raises fundamental questions about freedom of speech and liberalism.
To me this seems very simple. Tancredo's views on immigration may be loathsome, but he had a right to speak. I am repeatedly appalled, I have to add, at the lack of appreciation of this basic point among some of my fellow progressives and liberals. Free speech applies even to people who are wrong.
The Peoples Channel, Chapel Hill & Orange County's Community Media Center & Public Access TV Station, is opening the airwaves to
members of the community to come in the studio to watch the Presidential
debates. We will be going LIVE Friday Sept. 26th at 8:30pm with the first debate between Sen. John McCain & Sen. Barack
Obama on the big screen. The community is welcome to come in to share their
thoughts before, during, & after the debates. Live coverage will go on
until 11pm with rebroadcasts the following day. Don’t let the
corporate pundits have the last word, come in & tell the community what you
think while you watch.
What: TPC Watch & Share of the
Presidential/Vice Presidential Debates LIVE
When: Friday Sept 26th.
Doors open at 8pm, we will broadcast LIVE at 8:30 until 11pm.
Where: TPC Studios 300AC S Elliott RdChapel Hill
Please call 919.960.0088 or email tpc@thepeopleschannel.org if you
have any questions.
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