Re-posted from Yaman's amateur Ramblings:
Kaplan vs Salahi
As a student at UC Berkeley, the center for the Free Speech Movement, I never thought I’d find myself at the receiving end of a politically-motivated libel lawsuit. I am the creator of a blog called “Lee Kaplan Watch” which focuses on analyzing the integrity of Kaplan’s published articles. When he discovered the website, Kaplan began a campaign of intimidation, including e-mail threats of legal action and various online smears alleging that I was a Nazi, a Ba`athist, and a member of al-Qaeda. He threatened to harass me and members of my family, and even went so far as to contact the Dean of Student Life at the university. After asking me to stop writing about his work several times, he finally filed a lawsuit against me in small claims court for “tortious business interference,” libel, and slander.Lee Kaplan, for those who are unaware, is a journalist for David Horowitz’ right-wing, anti-Muslim, and anti-Arab publication, FrontPageMag.com. He is also associated with a number of regressive organizations like the Bruin Alumni Association, the United American Committee, StopTheISM, Dafka, and the Northeastern Intelligence Network. Kaplan chooses easy and weak targets and he chooses them well, focusing on students who mobilize on campuses throughout the country in opposition to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands. He is more relevant in the San Francisco area, where his extreme and annoying behavior has often come under scrutiny. He has widespread financial and organizational backing at his disposal, a privilege that others and myself, as college students, are sorely lacking.So it goes that Kaplan cleverly decided to sue me in small claims court, where standards for evidence are virtually non-existent, procedures occur at the discretion of the judge, and no record of court proceedings are kept. These low standards allowed Kaplan to present misleading and false material as “evidence” that I had defamed him and cost him a job offer writing for SportsBlogger.com, a website which does not even exist and has not for at least the past 2 years. Even more troubling, I had never written the very things he claimed were defamatory. One of the statements was taken from a spoof of my blog on a third-party website that I have no control over. The other simply does not exist. In addition to the lack of evidence, nearly arbitrary procedures meant that three witnesses, including a computer expert who could attest to the fact that my website did not contain those statements, were not able to testify during the 25 minute hearing, and my lawyer was asked not to present legal arguments in my defense.Despite all of these problems with the evidence, the judge, for reasons I will never know, bought one of Kaplan’s many claims and ordered me to pay him $7,500. I will never know which ones or why because judges in small claims court do not release written opinions explaining their rulings. Furthermore, as far as I know, the decision is not appealable to a higher court. That means I have no recourse against a judgment given without justification despite the fact that it punishes me for exercising my first amendment rights to political speech.
Dave Johnson at SeeingTheForest was right to call this “a freedom of speech and right-to-blog issue.” Ann Althouse, a professor of law at the University of Wisconsin, commented on the lawsuit saying that “thinking small [as in, small claims court] looks like an effective way to squelch speech.” But she poses the more serious question regarding the fact that this suit was brought before a court that doesn’t write opinions: “if the court’s opinion doesn’t explain what you did wrong, how can you keep writing? You have to worry about the next small claims lawsuit.”
What does this mean? It means that this lawsuit is not only about me, and is not only about Lee Kaplan. It is about the real danger that underhanded legal tactics like these pose to all bloggers and those without the resources to protect themselves from abusive litigation that is aimed at silencing them. For now, it looks like small claims court is a convenient and reliable route for anybody who can dish out $75, the cost of filing a claim, to harass and intimidate those they disagree with. Real evidence and a credible story might not even be necessary to make a hefty return on that small investment. At least, that is what I have learned with this experience.
In the meantime I continue to investigate my legal options to see if there is any way to salvage my free speech rights. To that end I have established a fund to collect donations that will go either towards paying legal expenses in case of an appeal or paying off the lawsuit if there are no other options. But I will also continue to blog about this and other contentious issues, despite the enormous pressure that this abusive lawsuit has put my family, friends, and myself under.
For those who might be fearful to speak up due to cases like this, you have every right to be weary. Indeed, this case is very ominous in its implications. But the worst thing we could possibly do is shy away from continuing to publicly take firm, principled, and dedicated political stands. We should remain courageous enough to embrace and confront contentious political issues, specially those regarding the cause of the Palestinian people in particular and American involvement in the Middle East in general, despite what we have faced and, no doubt, what will continue to come our way.
I have written extensively about my reaction to the ruling and my thoughts on Kaplan’s claims on the blog here and here for those who would like more information about the case. You may also browse the court’s record of documents and filings by clicking here. If you would like further comment from me regarding this case, please feel free to contact me at ysalahi@gmail.com.
I would also like to make a small request that those who are in the least bit outraged by this story please do what they can to publicize it by e-mailing it to friends and listservs, writing about it on blogs, or sharing it on websites like Facebook and MySpace. People need to know about this new method of shutting down dissent so that steps can be taken to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Number of 'hits'
Today, I went with my cousin to the commercial complex of the festival city. Although I've heard that the Ikea store has been open there for quite sometime, today was my first visit since I was always apprehensive about the dodgy roads and the labyrinth-like diversions in and out the festival city.
However, after some assurances from my cousin, and since he had volunteered to drive us there, I agreed to go and check it out.
Ikea (a comprehensive furniture store, notoriously Swedish) is always fun to visit. We literally spent three hours walking the tour and browsing pieces of furniture and light fittings. At the risk of sounding like a promotion, I'd like to say that Ikea furniture are not only assembled parts of wood, glass and steel, there is a culture and way of life behind them. The colors, proportions and the eye comfort that result from the careful design, they all go along quite nicely.
Ikea also brags about the durability of their products. Inside the store, you'd see encased closets where a certain piece of furniture is being subjected to certain load or force (one that emulates the kind of forces a certain piece has to endure during its usage, like pulling of a drawer, or a mechanical arms with the shape of human back and butt resting on a chair) an electronic meter would usually indicate the numbers of hit this mechanism has applied on the piece during an experiment. Seeing that a desk pedestal has withstood 8000 consecutive pull of its drawers, would certainly make you admire the durability of this brand…
Well, pleasing everyone is an impossible endeavor, for that my cousin (the weasel....), was still unsatisfied, he thought that Ikea should extend these experiments to the king size beds!
However, after some assurances from my cousin, and since he had volunteered to drive us there, I agreed to go and check it out.
Ikea (a comprehensive furniture store, notoriously Swedish) is always fun to visit. We literally spent three hours walking the tour and browsing pieces of furniture and light fittings. At the risk of sounding like a promotion, I'd like to say that Ikea furniture are not only assembled parts of wood, glass and steel, there is a culture and way of life behind them. The colors, proportions and the eye comfort that result from the careful design, they all go along quite nicely.
Ikea also brags about the durability of their products. Inside the store, you'd see encased closets where a certain piece of furniture is being subjected to certain load or force (one that emulates the kind of forces a certain piece has to endure during its usage, like pulling of a drawer, or a mechanical arms with the shape of human back and butt resting on a chair) an electronic meter would usually indicate the numbers of hit this mechanism has applied on the piece during an experiment. Seeing that a desk pedestal has withstood 8000 consecutive pull of its drawers, would certainly make you admire the durability of this brand…
Well, pleasing everyone is an impossible endeavor, for that my cousin (the weasel....), was still unsatisfied, he thought that Ikea should extend these experiments to the king size beds!
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Abstinence
First of all; I would like to reassure all of those concerned that cyclone 'Gunu' (a funny name by the way) is not having any significant effect on Dubai yet. The Met projections suggest that it is going to head north toward Iran. Dubai might experience some mild showers.
Well; whatever will be, will be.
I haven't been posting much recently. I've been extremely busy at work. During the last couple of weeks, I would go to bed dreaming of tons of steel slung over my shoulders, floods of concrete poured around my calves, angry owners screaming in my ears, shackles of penalties and contractual obligations holding my hands in a standstill. This is not a nightmare by the way; it's been an every day's reverie.
But I am not worried, because even in the darkest of my impulses, I am never gagged, I am still able to mumble, talk, shout, curse, cuss…at least for now…
Today marks the fortieth anniversary of our notorious defeat. A very bitter memory, even for those who haven't lived it. I am fortunate to have a father who fought in the 73's October war, a relatively successful war. He was a squad commander. The rule of his group was pronounced more loudly during the attrition war that followed the course of the main war. Those were difficult times when Syria was left alone. Anwar Al Sadat had suddenly decided that Egypt would do a better job singing solo, something that is still gravely disputable till date.
One of the blessing of having blackouts in Syria (and those were aplenty when I was a little kid) is that my father would seize the moment, in which he wouldn't be able to anything else otherwise, to tell me in details about his experience in the combat field.
War memories are never sweet; I still recall the bitterness in my father's tone. He still suffers a punctured eardrum, an injury which he'd been able to disguise through trickery and solemn attitude. He realizes deep down inside, that his very little sacrifice is nothing compared to the tremendous suffering of our Palestinian brethren, either those who were stranded in the exodus, or left inside the occupied territory, floundering in despair.
But let's admit that neither Palestine nor Jolan could benefit from our tears. And just how many tears have been shed, reflecting the agony of the immeasurable pain. I am only hoping that that would not go in vain. With Karma in place, what had gone around would come around one day, and justice will take its course. Peace has been a glamorous word recently, I am not being despondent, but I believe that relying on peace alone is not the answer. I advice those wagering on peace to consider the alternative, a plan B should never be shelved. We need to be honest to ourselves; we need to subordinate our personal and national agendas to the greater cause. Al Quds holds a sacred statue for both Muslim and Christian Arabs alike.
However, the Arabic prospect looks very bleak at the moment, with all the internal troubles hovering in our backyard, restoring Al Quds, and all the other occupied territories, seems to be a purpose held in abeyance.
Well; whatever will be, will be.
I haven't been posting much recently. I've been extremely busy at work. During the last couple of weeks, I would go to bed dreaming of tons of steel slung over my shoulders, floods of concrete poured around my calves, angry owners screaming in my ears, shackles of penalties and contractual obligations holding my hands in a standstill. This is not a nightmare by the way; it's been an every day's reverie.
But I am not worried, because even in the darkest of my impulses, I am never gagged, I am still able to mumble, talk, shout, curse, cuss…at least for now…
Today marks the fortieth anniversary of our notorious defeat. A very bitter memory, even for those who haven't lived it. I am fortunate to have a father who fought in the 73's October war, a relatively successful war. He was a squad commander. The rule of his group was pronounced more loudly during the attrition war that followed the course of the main war. Those were difficult times when Syria was left alone. Anwar Al Sadat had suddenly decided that Egypt would do a better job singing solo, something that is still gravely disputable till date.
One of the blessing of having blackouts in Syria (and those were aplenty when I was a little kid) is that my father would seize the moment, in which he wouldn't be able to anything else otherwise, to tell me in details about his experience in the combat field.
War memories are never sweet; I still recall the bitterness in my father's tone. He still suffers a punctured eardrum, an injury which he'd been able to disguise through trickery and solemn attitude. He realizes deep down inside, that his very little sacrifice is nothing compared to the tremendous suffering of our Palestinian brethren, either those who were stranded in the exodus, or left inside the occupied territory, floundering in despair.
But let's admit that neither Palestine nor Jolan could benefit from our tears. And just how many tears have been shed, reflecting the agony of the immeasurable pain. I am only hoping that that would not go in vain. With Karma in place, what had gone around would come around one day, and justice will take its course. Peace has been a glamorous word recently, I am not being despondent, but I believe that relying on peace alone is not the answer. I advice those wagering on peace to consider the alternative, a plan B should never be shelved. We need to be honest to ourselves; we need to subordinate our personal and national agendas to the greater cause. Al Quds holds a sacred statue for both Muslim and Christian Arabs alike.
However, the Arabic prospect looks very bleak at the moment, with all the internal troubles hovering in our backyard, restoring Al Quds, and all the other occupied territories, seems to be a purpose held in abeyance.
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