Students Protest Representative Jane Harman at UCLA (Fall 07)

Community outraged at Congresswoman’s retreat on human rights legislation; House Resolution 106

by GK

Los Angeles, CA - The University of California, Los Angeles community protested Congresswoman Jane Harman (DCA 36th district), during her visit to the university on November 10th, from 6-7 PM. Over 150 students joined the protest outside the Tom Bradley International Hall next to campus, filling up the streets in large numbers and loud chants.

The Armenian Students’ Association and the Armenian Graduate Students’ Association at UCLA hosted the protest and were joined by fellow students from campus as well as the Armenian Youth Federation, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Shant Student Association, and members of Ferrahian High School’s UCLA Model United Nations team.

“Having the UCLA community together protesting Harman’s hypocritical actions sent a strong message,” said Ara Thomassian, Vice-President of the ASA at UCLA. He went on to add, “This goes beyond the issue of the Armenian Genocide, because it is about putting humanity over politics, whether it is Darfur, Rwanda, or the Jewish Holocaust.”

Nurit Katz, President of the Graduate Student Association at UCLA, Michelle Lyon of the Undergraduate Student Association at UCLA, Katrina Garcia of the Darfur Action Committee at UCLA, as well as Arek Santikian on behalf of the Armenian community at UCLA delivered remarks in support of the protesters during the evening’s event.

“Our representatives need to have the courage to do the right thing by voting on this resolution now and not allowing threats to get in the way of upholding American Values and taking a stand against genocide,” Katz said in her address.

Harman was visiting UCLA to receive the Jacoby International Award, given to individuals who have enhanced international and intercultural understanding through volunteer or professional endeavors.

The UCLA community and constituents of the Congresswoman are outraged at Harman’s actions regarding House Resolution 106, which seeks to affirm the United States’ official recognition of the Armenian Genocide as a genocide.

While publicly endorsing House Resolution 106, the Congresswoman secretly authored a letter which was released publicly on October 3, 2007 in which she urged the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to prevent consideration of the legislation.

“Saying that it’s not the right time is an extremely dangerous argument,” Raffi Kassabian, Executive Officer of the AGSA at UCLA, stated. “It gives inconsistent allies like Turkey the political muscle to bully the United States and allows our foreign policy and freedom of expression to be dictated by foreign powers,” he added.

The government of Turkey has been engaged in an ongoing campaign of genocide denial and has remained maliciously opposed to this and similar resolutions in the past.

In its efforts to defeat H.Res.106, Turkey has spent millions of dollars on high-priced lobbyists and public relations firms in an attempt to intimidate the US Congress into avoiding consideration of the resolution.