Support Prof. Denis Rancourt’s Struggle for Justice
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)
Rancourt is a redoubtable figure, a distinguished University of Ottawa (U of O) tenured Professor of Physics, its head of a large nationally-funded research group - until unjustly suspended, fired, and forcibly removed from campus under police escort.
He’s a human rights champion, an anti-war activist, a supporter of Palestinian rights, an exceptional teacher, according to his students - dismissed and expelled from campus for being on the right side of vital issues.
Former university president Allan Rock conducted a vilification campaign against him.
He hired lawyers to target him, ordered him and his graduate students locked out of their laboratory, their equipment dismantled, his research destroyed - disgraceful actions.
Rock is a right-wing Canadian politician turned administrator, a staunch supporter of Israeli ruthlessness, its high crimes against Palestinians, its partnership with US wars of aggression.
He thuggishly ran U of O like a fascist police state, flagrantly violating Section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a constitutional bill of rights, stating:
“Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
(a) freedom of conscience and religion;
(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and
(d) freedom of association.”
Article 7 assures “(e)veryone has the right to life, liberty and security of person, and the right not to be deprived thereof in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice.”
Speech, media and academic freedoms are inviolable. Without them, all others are at risk.
Canada allies with Washington’s imperial agenda, waging war on humanity at home and abroad - including against distinguished tenured professors like Rancourt, targeting his activism for justice, earlier explaining:
“I was fired under the false pretext of having arbitrarily assigned high grades in one course in the winter 2008 semester.”
Grades were earned, not arbitrarily assigned, as falsely claimed.
“(T)he university had to dispense with due process,” said Rancourt, adding:
“In the words of the professors’ union’s lawyer, my dismissal was ‘both a denial of substantive and procedural rights…and a contravention of the basic principles of natural justice.’ “
His “critical pedagogy” endeared him to students, focusing on learning, what education is supposed to be all about, preparing youths for adult life and careers.
Political activism led to Rancourt’s firing. His teaching methods had nothing to do with it.
Tactics unjustly used against him included covert actions, false pretense inquiries, a student spy, and professional reporters enlisted to produce transcripts of his academic and professional talks at other universities to use against him - a type hostile campaign police states employ.
Rock couldn’t fire someone of Rancourt’s stature on legitimate grounds. Fabricated ones were invented instead, violating legal, ethical and moral standards.
Rancourt called the campaign against him symptomatic of emerging fascism on campus, a disgraceful witch-hunt conducted against a distinguished professor - violating his legal and academic rights.
His union continues appealing his mistreatment in court, university officials going all-out to derail the legal process, using top Canadian law firms against him.
Dirty tricks are commonplace political tactics, in Western and other societies.
At the U of O and other universities, they’re used against distinguished academics like Rancourt, wanting them removed for diverging from the official narrative, standing for justice, against policies violating fundamental rule of law principles.
Rancourt deserves high praise, not persecution. Other distinguished academics and human rights activists support his struggle for justice.
A petition to current U of O president Jacques Fremont supporting him collected over 250 signatures so far, myself among them, seeking hundreds more to back his just cause.
Add your name to others seeking justice for Rancourt - to “cease and desist harassing him,” backing his claim for a “reasonable settlement” for the injustice he’s endured, supporting his campaign “to resume his professional work as an educator and scientist:”
I’m proud to stand in solidarity with a distinguished, honorable academic I greatly admire.
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