Freedom Rider: Desmond Tutu Silenced
by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret
Kimberley
"Perhaps more sinister is why is there no outcry in the
United States about the
Israeli siege in the West Bank? You see the harrowing
images of what suicide bombers have done, something we all condemn, but we see
no scenes of what the tanks are doing to Palestinian homes and people." - Archbishop
Desmond Tutu, 2002
Aside from the Bushite assaults on civil
liberties, there is another dangerous threat to free speech in this country.
That threat falls on anyone who dares to criticize the Israeli government or
America's foreign policy towards Israel. Simply put, there is no right to free
speech where discussion of Israel is concerned. Critics of Israel are censored
and silenced, regardless of prior reputation or professional standing.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu won the Nobel Peace prize in 1986
for his efforts to peacefully end apartheid in his South African homeland. He
served for many years as Archbishop of Cape Town and is one of the most highly
respected Christian clergyman in the world. Tutu recently returned from a fact
finding mission to Darfur that also included Jimmy Carter.
"There is
no right to free speech where discussion of Israel is concerned."
None of the accolades, honors, or awards
bestowed on Tutu over the years were enough to protect him from the power of
the pro-Israeli lobby. Tutu was invited to speak at the University of St.
Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. The event, scheduled to take place in the spring
of 2008, was sponsored by a youth group dedicated to practicing non-violence.
What followed has now become all too familiar.
The university president, Father Dennis Dease, withdrew the invitation after a
local organization, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the
Dakotas, protested. The JCRC said that Jews were "hurt" about Tutu's comments
on Israel. Father Dennis Dease, the university president, uses this
claimed hurt as his reason for canceling
the speech.
The JCRC and Father Dease falsely claim that in
a 2002 speech Tutu compared Israel to Hitler's Germany. That assertion is a
lie. Tutu said no such thing. He did point out that powerful nations can fall.
"The apartheid government was very powerful, but today it no longer
exists. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Pinochet, Milosovic, and Idi Amin were all
powerful, but in the end they bit the dust."
The meaning of Tutu's words are clear to anyone who is
interested in honest intellectual debate. The Israeli lobby has no such
interest. Their goal is to silence Israel's critics. They may deny tenure to
academics such as Norman Finkelstein, or make certain that Stephen Walt, John
Mearsheimer and Jimmy Carter are all denied venues to speak or promote their
books. The cowardly acquiescence by the University of St. Thomas was obviously
due to direct political pressure and fear of future repercussions.
"The
Israeli lobby's goal is to silence Israel's critics."
DePaul University behaved in a similar manner
when they were lobbied to deny tenure to Norman Finkelstein. It didn't matter
that Norman Finkelstein is himself Jewish, and the son of holocaust survivors.
He is an outspoken critic of the Israeli government and of efforts to use past
Jewish suffering to gain political and economic advantage, which he documents
in his ground breaking book The Holocaust Industry.
He described his situation and presciently that of Tutu with the University of
St. Thomas:
". . . the university
found itself forced to choose between âa long-term catastrophe and a short-term
catastrophe' - the short-term catastrophe being the publicity about his case,
the long-term catastrophe âhaving me on this faculty for another 20 years, and
every time I open my mouth or say something about Israeli policy, the hysteria
starting up again, and they see their money disappear.' "
"The hurt
of white supremacist hate speech wasn't an issue."
Because of the fear of disappearing money and
political support that every university needs, Jewish "hurt" supersedes
everyone else's.
The University of St. Thomas has no problem
inviting speakers who openly express beliefs that hurt other groups. The
internment of Japanese Americans during World War II was certainly hurtful to
them. Yet after writing a hate filled screed, In Defense of Internment,
right wing propagandist Michelle Malkin
spoke at the University of St. Thomas. The hurt of white supremacist hate
speech wasn't an issue with Father Dease or other university officials.
Archbishop Tutu should directly address this
assault on his reputation. He should not only refute the lies told about him
but he should also force the university to respond. They think they are off the
hook because the event will be held at another school in St. Paul. Tutu should
make it clear that moving him across town will not silence him. His voice is
respected and it is sorely needed. The influence of one group will do even more
damage to this country and to the world if it is not confronted.
Margaret Kimberley's
Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BAR. Ms. Kimberley lives in New York
City, and can be reached via e-Mail at
Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgandaReport.Com. Ms. Kimberley' maintains an
edifying and frequently updated blog at freedomrider.blogspot.com. More of her work
is also available at her Black Agenda Report archive
page.
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