On Monday November 4. 2002, the Daily Targum, Rutgers University Campus paper, published a racist advertisement attacking Palestinians (In order to see the advertisement please see Flyer 1 or Flyer 2).
New Jersey Solidarity will launch an ad campaign in the targum in order to:
New Jersey Solidarity needs your help. In order to purchase space in the Targum we will need donations from the community. Please help us fight racism on campus, in our community, our country and in the world.
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ANTI-ARAB RACISM: The Last Acceptable Bigotry?
This advertisement appeared in the Daily Targum, the daily newspaper of Rutgers University, on Monday, November 4, 2002. Posing as counterpoints the alleged "heroes" of Israeli and Palestinian children, the advertisement demonizes and dehumanizes the Palestinian people. In its association of militancy and militarism solely with Palestinians (ignoring the ubiquity of the Israeli army, the fourth-most-powerful in the world), it dramatically misrepresents the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Beyond those political distortions, however, lies the real danger of this advertisement. It is not merely a bit of pro-Israeli sloganeering. Rather, it is an overtly racist attack upon the Palestinian people, young and old, portraying them as somehow internally prone to violence and hatred--and clearly inferior to Israelis, who are portrayed as instinctually heroic, happy and positive.
The advertisement does not merely put forth a political perspective. It demonizes Palestinians and seemingly exposes an inherent inferiority and propensity to violence on the part of Palestinians. Even the youngest, most innocent Palestinian--the school child--is demonized as nothing morethan a future gunman. In the view of this advertisement, only some lives are precious--and none of those are Palestinian. Rather than recognizing common humanity, criticizing a political system, action or law, this advertisement classifies all Palestinians as dangerous terrorists, whose lives are not worth protecting--after all, every Palestinian will inevitably grow into a life of violence. In its depiction of what is clearly a "superior" race or ethnic group, and an "inferior" group, this advertisement is blatant racism. Unlike student articles and commentaries, which may raise issues of freedom of speech, this racist advertisement is a paid promotion for anti-Arab racism. While we pay Targum fees on our term bill every semester, the Targum should not be seeking profit in the promotion of racism, bigotry and hatred.
The Daily Targum should NOT profit from racism! DEMAND AN APOLOGY!
WRITE:
The Daily Targum
126 College Ave, Suite 431
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
CALL:
(732)932-7051EMAIL:
opinions@dailytargum.comTo aid this campaign, contact:
NEW JERSEY SOLIDARITY