Indeed, an excellent article -- though Cole is much too generous to the
NYT by calling it a bastion of liberalism (that may have been, however,
mainly a rhetorical gesture.) The Massad case, the attacks on Ammiel
Alcalay & associated poets, and other similar rightwing Israli
lobby/pressure interferences -- "vigilante" is what comes to mind --
that go way beyond legally sanctioned lobbying efforts, are clearly
linked to, allowed and encouraged by the rightwing xtian "majority"
running this country (into the ground) now. Unhappily I was in Chicago
for readings and couldn't get back in time to go to Ammiel and Anne
Waldmann's teach-in at St.Matks last week, where those issues were no
doubt raised.
Pierre
for anybody in the Albany NY area: tonight WordFest at Firlefanz
Gallery on Friday, April 22, (jay)walk across the street to Justin's
for this event..
April 22 th, 2005 @ 10PM $3.50 cover
at Justin's
301 Lark Street Albany-NY
reservation: 518-436-7008
Trio Pamplemousse
George Muscatello: Guitar
Nicole Peyrafitte: Voice
Danny Whelchel: Percussions
Trio Pamplemousse investigates musical genres such as
Jazz standards & French cabaret, as well as contemporary poetry
On Apr 22, 2005, at 4:30 AM, Alison Croggon wrote:
> Excellent piece by Juan Cole on the persecution of Joseph Massad at
> Columbia
> an its disturbing implications -
>
> The new McCarthyism
> A witch hunt against a Columbia professor, and the New York Times'
> disgraceful support for it, represent the gravest threat to academic
> freedom
> in decades.
>
> - - - - - - - - - - - -
> By Juan Cole
>
> April 22, 2005 | A member of the U.S. Congress calls for an assistant
> professor at a major university to be summarily fired. The right-wing
> tabloid press runs a series of vicious attacks on him, often
> misquoting him
> and perpetuating previous misquotes. Opinion pieces attacking "tenured
> radicals" and questioning professors' patriotism use him as their
> centerpiece. All of these attacks are spurred by a propaganda film
> made by
> an advocacy group, in which anonymous accusations are made and the
> professor
> is not given an opportunity to respond to the allegations.
>
> It is not 1953, the Congress member is not Sen. Joseph McCarthy, and
> the
> professor is not being accused of being a communist. No, it is 2005,
> the
> Congress member is Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y., and the professor is
> being
> accused of being anti-Israel.
>
> http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2005/04/22/mccarthy/index.html
>
> (You just have to click a page and watch an ad to read it)
>
> All the best
>
> A
>
>
>
> Alison Croggon
>
> Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
> Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
> Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
>
>
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"Lyric poetry has to be exorbitant or not at all." -- Gottfried Benn
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For updates on readings, etc. check my current events page:
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Pierre Joris
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