Posted on 03/28/2003 9:31:55 AM PST by Anamensis
Teach-In, Turn On, Walk Out
The ins and outs of the antiwar movement.
n the spring of 1968, antiwar activists protesting American military action in Indochina besieged Columbia University's historic Low Library, the massive, Romanesque space designed by McKim, Mead, and White which houses the offices of university administrators. Thirty-five years later, Low Library still contains the offices of university administrators. But today, antiwar activists are welcomed inside.
Such was the case on Wednesday night, when hundreds of Columbia students braved long lines and rain for a chance to witness a faculty-led "teach-in" on the Iraq crisis. I was one of them. And judging from the monolithically antiwar attitude of the speakers — and the uproarious applause that greeted criticism of the war and of the Bush administration — I was a pro-war minority of one.
The teach-in, organized by the Columbia Anti-War Coalition in conjunction with leading faculty members (among them historians Eric Foner and Alan Brinkley and law professor Patricia Williams), included over 20 presentations from faculty members on topics including international law, humanitarian aid, and the reconstruction of Iraq.
While some presentations — notably those of political scientist Gary Sick and historian Charles Armstrong — took a dispassionate, scholarly attitude toward the events in the Middle East and elsewhere, most of the lecturers simply argued that George W. Bush, not Saddam Hussein, poses the greatest threat to world peace and security...(snip)
At times, the scene resembled a sporting event. Thunderous applause and whistles greeted anthropology professor Nicholas De Genova's sick desire that "a million Mogadishus" be visited on U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq. And then there's Roger Normand, an adjunct professor at Columbia's School for International and Public Affairs and director of the lefty Center for Economic and Social Rights. Normand took the podium to yell, "Let's see if we can make some noise in this auditorium," and began a call-and-response, "We Will Rock You"-style chant with the capacity crowd.
It became clear over the course of the six-hour teach-in that antiwar activists and intellectuals care little, if at all, about Iraq. There were few direct references to Saddam Hussein. What the antiwar professors do care about is the Bush administration. "A coup d'etat brought us to this path," said Todd Gitlin, professor of journalism and author of Letters to a Young Activist. "Our most cogent obligation is to assure that George W. Bush is not in office in 2005." ...(snip)...
"I live under an unelected government," said Bruce Robbins, a professor of English and Comparative Literature. In Robbins's view, apparently, not all wars are equally evil: "I fantasize," he said, "about being liberated by a European invasion."
I bet he does. -Anamensis
Comparisons of the Bush administration with Nazi Germany and other totalitarian, imperialist powers were also common. "We must talk in order to remind the tyrants who have ignored the consent of the governed," said Barbara Fields, a professor of history. "Our leaders have given the finger to the millions who have demonstrated against the war." Professor Normand quoted Nuremberg prosecutor Robert L. Jackson, essentially equating Donald Rumsfeld with Hermann Goering. And political scientist Jack Snyder found room in his speech to compare the Bush administration with, in chronological order, Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm, Hitler, and Tojo.
But what may have been most interesting about the teach-in was what the speakers persistently ignored. Not a single speaker mentioned the fact that a majority of the American public supports military action in Iraq. Only one speaker mentioned that the president obtained congressional authorization to use military force last year. And not a single professor answered, or even acknowledged, the question of whether Saddam Hussein would constitute a threat against innocents in the Middle East, the United States, and elsewhere were he to obtain nuclear weapons or provide weapons of mass destruction to terrorist proxies. Professor Robbins even claimed that "There is no threat [from Iraq] to prevent."
— Matthew Continetti is a student at Columbia University.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
That would be Senator Joseph McCarthy. That Eugene fella ... he wasn't so much right as he was left.
Probably because nobody at Columbia actually teaches anyone anything. They indoctrinate.
“We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid" - Benjamin Franklin
Mr. De Genova: may the next terrorist attack be in your presence. May the anthrax spores find a home in your lungs. May your body be covered in pox. May you have to choose between flames and thousand foot fall. And may all the pains of hell be your eternal reward.
From a proud father of an American soldier.
5-O-Duce is on the Loose!!
(I'll email the bastard when I get home.)
The school directory lists the following e-mail as the school president.
"bollinger@columbia.edu"
I've already sent him my comments.
Hmmm... this reminds me of one of the neo-nazi sites I looked in on the other day. The owner was fantasizing about a "white homeland in America", peopled by "loyal Europeans".
The fifth column is here, they are fighting for Saddam and Osama and Chirac, and they will have to be dealt with.
United States, Statutes at Large, Washington, D.C., 1918, Vol. XL, pp 553 ff. A portion of the amendment to Section 3 of the Espionage Act of June 15, 1917. SECTION 3. Whoever, when the United States is at war, shall willfully make or convey false reports or false statements with intent to interfere with the operation or success of the military or naval forces of the United States, or to promote the success of its enemies, or shall willfully make or convey false reports, or false statements, . . . or incite insubordination, disloyalty, mutiny, or refusal of duty, in the military or naval forces of the United States, or shall willfully obstruct . . . the recruiting or enlistment service of the United States, or . . . shall willfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of government of the United States, or the Constitution of the United States, or the military or naval forces of the United States . . . or shall willfully display the flag of any foreign enemy, or shall willfully . . . urge, incite, or advocate any curtailment of production . . . or advocate, teach, defend, or suggest the doing of any of the acts or things in this section enumerated and whoever shall by word or act support or favor the cause of any country with which the United States is at war or by word or act oppose the cause of the United States therein, shall be punished by a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both....
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