On 9/3/05 1:54 PM, "Stephen Vincent" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I think, David, it is what they do with the names. I am sure most of us have
> names - listed or not - of folks that we have some kind of fierce opposition
> about. But we don't go out to defame them, force them out of their jobs,
> etc. etc. These are definitely dirty pool players. Watch out for the cue
> coming from behind your head - or with somebody's fountain pen.
Quite. What's disturbing (or I find it so) is the swift movement to a
broader basis than a focus on academic Middle Eastern studies. As for how
these pressure groups work - Massad is quoted in the Times Higher Education
supplement -
http://www.thes.co.uk/current_edition/story.aspx?story_id=2019130
"Joseph Massad, assistant professor in modern Arab politics at Columbia
University, New York, is at the sharp end of the pro-Israeli groups' zero
tolerance approach. His bid for tenure is being opposed. He says: "The
Campus Watch website appears to be the first salvo in a much larger campaign
targeting US universities and especially academics doing work on the Middle
East who have critical views of the policies of the state of Israel and of
US Middle East policy. Since then, there have been more protracted
campaigns, the latest of which is one targeting me that is spearheaded by a
Boston-based Zionist group called the David Project and the right-wing
newspaper the New York Sun. The campaign has led a congressman to ask
Columbia to fire me." '
The argument, as you can find by checking their website, is simply that
anyone who disagrees with current US foreign policy supports terrorists. Not
much space for nuance there. And it has clout - one of its founders is the
notorious Daniel Pipes - and they're agitating for political change,
including legislation that would withdraw educational funding from any
suspect institutions. People named by Campus Watch have had their mail
spammed and death threats, aside from the threat of losing their means of
livelihood if they don't toe the line.
But all the same, poets getting in the crosshairs is spreading the net
considerably. I'm afraid I was shocked, although I shouldn't be.
All the best
A
Alison Croggon
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
|