Selina Robinson must be removed from the BC NDP cabinet. The post-secondary education minister has spoken and acted as if she is an authoritarian, genocide-promoting Jewish supremacist.
In a recent speech to B’nai Brith Robinson called Palestine before European colonization “a crappy piece of land with nothing on it.” She added, “there were, you know, several hundred thousand people, but other than that it didn’t produce an economy, it couldn’t grow things it didn’t have anything on it.”
Her colonial — terra nullius — thinking must be rejected. It’s especially outrageous Robinson made that comment days after the International Court of Justice found it “plausible” Israel was committing genocide in Gaza and called on Israel to stop its genocidal incitement.
But it’s not just her words that should get her fired from cabinet. Robinson has acted on her anti-Palestinianism in a way that violates all democratic norms. As the minister in charge of BC’s post-secondary institutions she flagrantly violated academic freedom.
Yesterday the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) and Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of British Columbia (FSPE) jointly called for Robinson to resign after she intervened to pressure Langara College to fire Dr. Natalie Knight for supporting the Palestinian cause. After Knight was cleared by a college board for widely mediatized comments backing Palestinian resistance, Robinson expressed her disapproval and said she met college officials to express that position.
According to the FPSE, their call for Robinson to resign is the first time in the union’s 50-year history they’ve called for a minister’s resignation. (more...)
BC cabinet minister must be fired to save NDP credibility
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