Bill
Nevins, High School-Lehrer aus New Mexico, wurde letztes Jahr gefeuert,
weil seine Schülerin Courtney, ein Teenager, in der
Buchhandlung Barnes & Noble in Albukerque - (das ist die Stadt, in
der die Amerikaner voller Stolz ihre ersten Atombomben ausstellen...) -
vorgetragen hatte. Der Schulleiter beschuldigte das Mädchen,
"unamerikanisch" zu sein, weil sie den Krieg gegen den Irak und das
Fehlschlagen des Bildungsprogramms der Bush-Regierung, "Kein Kind
zurücklassen", kritisierte. Bill Nevins wurde darauf hin gefeuert,
weil er das Gedicht unzensiert gelassen hatte. Schüler und
Mitarbeiter der Schule, die seine politischen Auffassungen nicht
teilten, schrie der Schulleiter an, sie sollten den Mund halten.
Poster von Kunstschülern, die sich kritisch-satirisch mit der
Irak-Politik von Bush befassten, wurden heruntergerissen; Kunstlehrer,
die sich weigerten das zu tun, bekamen keinen neuen Vertrag für
das neue Schuljahr.
Die
Botaschaft ist klar: Kritisches Denken und Redefreiheit gelten nicht
für Leute, die nicht der Meinung des Schulleiters sind...
Nevins wurde
inzwischen eine neue Stelle angeboten, die er aber nicht antreten kann,
weil der alte Schulleiter ihm seine Papiere nicht aushändigt.
Schriftstellern
und Herausgebern, die seit
Jahren Essays, Filme, Gedichte, wissenschaftliche Artikel und
Bücher von iranischen, nordkoreanischen und sudanesischen Autoren übersetzt
hatten, wurde bei Androhung einer Geld- oder Gefängnisstrafe die
Fortführung ihrer Arbeit untersagt. Herausgeber und
Filmproduzenten dürfen keine Werke von Autoren aus diesen
Ländern herausgeben oder verwerten.
Werden bald wieder Bücher brennen???
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Bill Nevins,
a New Mexico high school
teacher and personal friend, was
fired last year and classes in poetry and the poetry club at Rio
Rancho High School were permanently terminated. It had nothing to do
with obscenity, but it had everything to do with extremist politics.
[...] In March 2003, a
teenage girl named Courtney presented one of her poems before an
audience at Barnes & Noble bookstore in Albuquerque, then
read the poem live on the school's closed-circuit television channel.
A school military liaison and the high school principal accused the girl
of being "un-American" because she criticized the war in Iraq and the
Bush administration's failure to give substance to its "No child left
behind" education policy.
The girl's mother, also a teacher, was ordered by the principal to
destroy the child's poetry. The mother refused and may lose her job. Bill Nevins was suspended for not censoring
the poetry of his students. Remember, there is no obscenity to
be found in any of the poetry. He was later fired by the principal.
After firing Nevins and terminating the teaching and reading
of poetry in the school, the principal and the military liaison read a
poem of their own as they raised the flag outside the school. When the
principal had the flag at full staff, he applauded the action he'd
taken in concert with the military liaison. Then to all students and faculty who did not
share his political opinions, the principal shouted: "Shut your faces."
What a wonderful lesson he gave those 3,000 students at the largest
public high school in New Mexico! In his mind, only certain opinions
are to be allowed.
But more was to come. Posters
done by art students were ordered torn down, even though none was
termed obscene. Some were satirical, implicating a national policy that
had led us into war. Art teachers who refused to rip down the posters
on display in their classrooms were not given contracts to return to
the school in this current school year.
The message is plain. Critical thinking,
questioning of public policies and freedom of speech are not to be
allowed to anyone who does not share the thinking of the school
principal.
The teachers union has been joined in a legal action against
the school by the National Writers Union, headquartered in New York
City. NWU's at-large representative Samantha Clark lives and works in
Albuquerque.
The American Civil Liberties Union has become the legal arm
of the lawsuit pending in federal court.
Meanwhile, Nevins
applied for a teaching post in another school and was offered the job but he can't go to work
until Rio Rancho's principal sends the new school Nevins' credentials.
The principal has refused
to do so, and that adds yet another issue to the lawsuit, which
is awaiting a trial date.
While students are denied poetry readings, poetry clubs and
classes in poetry, Nevins works elsewhere and writes his own poetry.
Writers and editors who have
spent years translating essays, films, poems, scientific articles and
books by Iranian, North Korean and Sudanese authors have been warned
not to do so by the U.S. Treasury Department under penalty of fine and
imprisonment. Publishers and film producers are not allowed to edit
works authored by writers in those nations. The Bush
administration contends doing so has the effect of trading with the
enemy, despite a 1988 law that exempts published materials from
sanction under trade rules.
Robert Bovenschulte, president of the American Chemical
Society, is challenging the rule interpretation by violating it to edit
into English several scientific papers from Iran.
Are books burning next?
Hill is a retired News-Journal reporter.