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The attacks on Native professor, scholar and activist Ward Churchill continue from the right. While I can't say for sure where and why these attacks centered on an essay that Churchill penned over three years ago, it's curious to me why these attacks have come out of left field at this time.
I took some time to listen to Bill O'Reilly's nationally-syndicated radio show and he was doing what he does best--attacking those who he disagrees with and impugning their character and even sanity. He intimated that Churchill and others who don't run up and down Main Street waving a flag (or putting a magnetic yellow ribbon on their SUV) "hate America" and are "loons", even going so far as to make statements about Churchill's appearance.
As I wrote in an op ed that I hope to have published, these attacks are designed to discredit people like Churchill primarily because he is a direct threat to their failed, Eurocentric worldview. Rather than engage Churchill, it's easier to slander his reputation and discredit his scholarship.
This is also a free speech issue. It's a chilling example how those on the right can orchestrate a campaign that incites others to make threats and harass institutions like Hamilton College into having to cancel Churchill's appearance at their school.
I spent several hours sending emails, contacting the Colorado governor's office, as well as calling the president's office at Hamilton. I spoke to a very nice staff person, who told me that Hamilton has never experienced the level of vitriol and irrational outbursts that they've had to deal with the past few days. She told me that many at the school were distraught when the local police insisted that Churchill's appearance be cancelled because of death threats and other threats designed to intimidate and shut down free speech.
Progressives have got to formulate a plan to counter the rhetoric coming from the right, or there won't be any forums left for the dissemination of ideas that exist beyond the pale of right-wing orthodoxy.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
In support of free speech
I would encouage anyone who is concerned about free speech to take some time and contact both Bill Owens, Colorado governor, as well as the President of Hamilton College, Joan Hinde Stewart.
Churchill is being targeted by proponents of censorship on the right, led by fascist propagandists, such as Bill O'Reilly. Both Owens, by calling for Churchill's resignation as a tenured professor at the University of Colorado, and Hinde Stewart by cancellling a speaking engagement by Churchill at Hamilton College, are caving in to craven attempts at silencing an articulate and powerful voice of dissent from the public square.
Take some time to read The Empire Strikes Back, which will give you the background on the issue. Churchill is an unapologetic voice in opposition to the American Empire. Not surprisingly, in speaking to power, attempts are being made to silence his voice.
Contact info:
Governor Bill Owens, Colorado
email: governorowens@state.co.us
phone: (303)866-2471
fax: (303) 866-2003
President Joan Hinde Steward
email: none available
phone: (315) 859-4105
fax: not posted
Churchill is being targeted by proponents of censorship on the right, led by fascist propagandists, such as Bill O'Reilly. Both Owens, by calling for Churchill's resignation as a tenured professor at the University of Colorado, and Hinde Stewart by cancellling a speaking engagement by Churchill at Hamilton College, are caving in to craven attempts at silencing an articulate and powerful voice of dissent from the public square.
Take some time to read The Empire Strikes Back, which will give you the background on the issue. Churchill is an unapologetic voice in opposition to the American Empire. Not surprisingly, in speaking to power, attempts are being made to silence his voice.
Contact info:
Governor Bill Owens, Colorado
email: governorowens@state.co.us
phone: (303)866-2471
fax: (303) 866-2003
President Joan Hinde Steward
email: none available
phone: (315) 859-4105
fax: not posted
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
The Empire Strikes Back
It's ironic that a right-wing apologist and former Nixon speechwriter, can sit in judgement of of anyone. Yet, that's exactly what Pat Buchanan does, as a commentator on MSNBC. During a segment on Indian scholar Ward Churchill, about the controversy involving an essay that Churchill wrote back in 2002, Buchanan portrayed Churchill as un-American and joined the bloviating chorus line coming from the right-wing fascist choir, calling for his dismissal as a professor at the University of Colorado. It's shameful when an intellectual and principalled activist like Churchill (who also happens to be Native American and a member of AIM) isn't allowed to challenge any of the presuppositions concerning America and it's glorification of violence and the hypocrisy of its foreign policy. Here is a synopsis of the issue involving Churchill, followed by a press release from Churchill himself, with some additional links in order to present the issue fairly. Churchill is one of a handful of American writers and activists that should be essential reading for the dwindling troupe of truthseekers that are interested in an honest rendering of information about America and its foreign policy. Churchill's cogent and concise analysis cuts through so much of the bullshit that plagues America and keeps our country in the throes of imperialist propaganda.
AK Press Author, Ward Churchill, Under Attack
After finding himself at the center of a media firestorm--and receiving a barrage of death threats--AK Press author, Ward Churchill, has stepped down from his position as Chair of the Ethnic Studies Department at the University of Colorado. Not satisfied with this, Colorado Governor Bill Owens is demanding that Ward resign his position as a tenured professor as well.The controversy is based on an essay Ward wrote soon after 9-11, which he later expanded into an AK Press book, On the Justice of Roosting Chickens: Reflections on the Consequences of U.S. Imperial Arrogance and Criminality. Conservative protestors used the essay to force Hamilton College in New York to cancel a speaking engagement Ward had scheduled there. The mainstream media (including Bill O'Reilly and Fox News) has picked up the story, distorting and misrepresenting the facts, as usual. AK Press wishes to voice our support for Ward in this struggle--in terms of both his well-researched analysis of factors that contributed to the 9-11 attacks and his right to express that analysis in public without having his life and livelihood threatened. Below, we've provided some links to articles describing the controversy, followed by the press release Ward issued. We also recommend that you read On the Justice of Roosting Chickens yourself, rather than relying on the media's version on it. Individuals can order it here:
Churchill's statement to the press:
January 31, 2005
In the last few days there has been widespread and grossly inaccurate media coverage concerning my analysis of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, coverage that has resulted in defamation of my character and threats against my life. What I actually said has been lost, indeed turned into the opposite of itself, and I hope the following facts will be reported at least to the same extent that the fabrications have been.
* The piece circulating on the internet was developed into a book, On the Justice of Roosting Chickens. Most of the book is a detailed chronology of U.S. military interventions since 1776 and U.S. violations of international law since World War II. My point is that we cannot allow the U.S. government, acting in our name, to engage in massive violations of international law and fundamental human rights and not expect to reap the consequences. (BTW, none of these points were addressed by Buchanan or either of the two right-wing blowhards that he had on as guests)
* I am not a "defender"of the September 11 attacks, but simply pointing out that if U.S. foreign policy results in massive death and destruction abroad, we cannot feign innocence when some of that destruction is returned. I have never said that people "should" engage in armed attacks on the United States, but that such attacks are a natural and unavoidable consequence of unlawful U.S. policy. As Martin Luther King, quoting Robert F. Kennedy, said, "Those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable."
* This is not to say that I advocate violence; as a U.S. soldier in Vietnam (interestingly, Churchill actually served a tour of duty in Vietnam, unlike most of the chickenhawks that make up the current administration, and includes Buchanan himself) I witnessed and participated in more violence than I ever wish to see. What I am saying is that if we want an end to violence, especially that perpetrated against civilians, we must take the responsibility for halting the slaughter perpetrated by the United States around the world. My feelings are reflected in Dr. King's April 1967 Riverside speech, where, when asked about the wave of urban rebellions in U.S. cities, he said, "I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed . . . without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today - my own government."
* In 1996 Madeleine Albright, then Ambassador to the UN and soon to be U.S. Secretary of State, did not dispute that 500,000 Iraqi children had died as a result of economic sanctions, but stated on national television that "we" had decided it was "worth the cost." I mourn the victims of the September 11 attacks, just as I mourn the deaths of those Iraqi children, the more than 3 million people killed in the war in Indochina, those who died in the U.S. invasions of Grenada, Panama and elsewhere in Central America, the victims of the transatlantic slave trade, and the indigenous peoples still subjected to genocidal policies. If we respond with callous disregard to the deaths of others, we can only expect equal callousness to American deaths.
* Finally, I have never characterized all the September 11 victims as "Nazis." What I said was that the "technocrats of empire" working in the World Trade Center were the equivalent of "little Eichmanns." Adolf Eichmann was not charged with direct killing but with ensuring the smooth running of the infrastructure that enabled the Nazi genocide. Similarly, German industrialists were legitimately targeted by the Allies.
* It is not disputed that the Pentagon was a military target, or that a CIA office was situated in the World Trade Center. Following the logic by which U.S. Defense Department spokespersons have consistently sought to justify target selection in places like Baghdad, this placement of an element of the American "command and control infrastructure" in an ostensibly civilian facility converted the Trade Center itself into a "legitimate" target. Again following U.S. military doctrine, as announced in briefing after briefing, those who did not work for the CIA but were nonetheless killed in the attack amounted to no more than "collateral damage." If the U.S. public is prepared to accept these "standards" when the are routinely applied to other people, they should be not be surprised when the same standards are applied to them.
* It should be emphasized that I applied the "little Eichmanns" characterization only to those described as "technicians." Thus, it was obviously not directed to the children, janitors, food service workers, firemen and random passers-by killed in the 9-1-1 attack. According to Pentagon logic, were simply part of the collateral damage. Ugly? Yes. Hurtful? Yes. And that's my point. It's no less ugly, painful or dehumanizing a description when applied to Iraqis, Palestinians, or anyone else. If we ourselves do not want to be treated in this fashion, we must refuse to allow others to be similarly devalued and dehumanized in our name.
* The bottom line of my argument is that the best and perhaps only way to prevent 9-1-1-style attacks on the U.S. is for American citizens to compel their government to comply with the rule of law. The lesson of Nuremberg is that this is not only our right, but our obligation. To the extent we shirk this responsibility, we, like the "Good Germans" of the 1930s and '40s, are complicit in its actions and have no legitimate basis for complaint when we suffer the consequences. This, of course, includes me, personally, as well as my family, no less than anyone else.
* These points are clearly stated and documented in my book, On the Justice of Roosting Chickens, which recently won Honorary Mention for the Gustavus Myer Human Rights Award. for best writing on human rights. Some people will, of course, disagree with my analysis, but it presents questions that must be addressed in academic and public debate if we are to find a real solution to the violence that pervades today's world. The gross distortions of what I actually said can only be viewed as an attempt to distract the public from the real issues at hand and to further stifle freedom of speech and academic debate in this country.
Ward Churchill
Boulder, Colorado
January 31, 2005
Additional links on the issue:
Rocky Mountain News #1
Rocky Mountain News #2
Denver Channel 7 News
AK Press Author, Ward Churchill, Under Attack
After finding himself at the center of a media firestorm--and receiving a barrage of death threats--AK Press author, Ward Churchill, has stepped down from his position as Chair of the Ethnic Studies Department at the University of Colorado. Not satisfied with this, Colorado Governor Bill Owens is demanding that Ward resign his position as a tenured professor as well.The controversy is based on an essay Ward wrote soon after 9-11, which he later expanded into an AK Press book, On the Justice of Roosting Chickens: Reflections on the Consequences of U.S. Imperial Arrogance and Criminality. Conservative protestors used the essay to force Hamilton College in New York to cancel a speaking engagement Ward had scheduled there. The mainstream media (including Bill O'Reilly and Fox News) has picked up the story, distorting and misrepresenting the facts, as usual. AK Press wishes to voice our support for Ward in this struggle--in terms of both his well-researched analysis of factors that contributed to the 9-11 attacks and his right to express that analysis in public without having his life and livelihood threatened. Below, we've provided some links to articles describing the controversy, followed by the press release Ward issued. We also recommend that you read On the Justice of Roosting Chickens yourself, rather than relying on the media's version on it. Individuals can order it here:
Churchill's statement to the press:
January 31, 2005
In the last few days there has been widespread and grossly inaccurate media coverage concerning my analysis of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, coverage that has resulted in defamation of my character and threats against my life. What I actually said has been lost, indeed turned into the opposite of itself, and I hope the following facts will be reported at least to the same extent that the fabrications have been.
* The piece circulating on the internet was developed into a book, On the Justice of Roosting Chickens. Most of the book is a detailed chronology of U.S. military interventions since 1776 and U.S. violations of international law since World War II. My point is that we cannot allow the U.S. government, acting in our name, to engage in massive violations of international law and fundamental human rights and not expect to reap the consequences. (BTW, none of these points were addressed by Buchanan or either of the two right-wing blowhards that he had on as guests)
* I am not a "defender"of the September 11 attacks, but simply pointing out that if U.S. foreign policy results in massive death and destruction abroad, we cannot feign innocence when some of that destruction is returned. I have never said that people "should" engage in armed attacks on the United States, but that such attacks are a natural and unavoidable consequence of unlawful U.S. policy. As Martin Luther King, quoting Robert F. Kennedy, said, "Those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable."
* This is not to say that I advocate violence; as a U.S. soldier in Vietnam (interestingly, Churchill actually served a tour of duty in Vietnam, unlike most of the chickenhawks that make up the current administration, and includes Buchanan himself) I witnessed and participated in more violence than I ever wish to see. What I am saying is that if we want an end to violence, especially that perpetrated against civilians, we must take the responsibility for halting the slaughter perpetrated by the United States around the world. My feelings are reflected in Dr. King's April 1967 Riverside speech, where, when asked about the wave of urban rebellions in U.S. cities, he said, "I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed . . . without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today - my own government."
* In 1996 Madeleine Albright, then Ambassador to the UN and soon to be U.S. Secretary of State, did not dispute that 500,000 Iraqi children had died as a result of economic sanctions, but stated on national television that "we" had decided it was "worth the cost." I mourn the victims of the September 11 attacks, just as I mourn the deaths of those Iraqi children, the more than 3 million people killed in the war in Indochina, those who died in the U.S. invasions of Grenada, Panama and elsewhere in Central America, the victims of the transatlantic slave trade, and the indigenous peoples still subjected to genocidal policies. If we respond with callous disregard to the deaths of others, we can only expect equal callousness to American deaths.
* Finally, I have never characterized all the September 11 victims as "Nazis." What I said was that the "technocrats of empire" working in the World Trade Center were the equivalent of "little Eichmanns." Adolf Eichmann was not charged with direct killing but with ensuring the smooth running of the infrastructure that enabled the Nazi genocide. Similarly, German industrialists were legitimately targeted by the Allies.
* It is not disputed that the Pentagon was a military target, or that a CIA office was situated in the World Trade Center. Following the logic by which U.S. Defense Department spokespersons have consistently sought to justify target selection in places like Baghdad, this placement of an element of the American "command and control infrastructure" in an ostensibly civilian facility converted the Trade Center itself into a "legitimate" target. Again following U.S. military doctrine, as announced in briefing after briefing, those who did not work for the CIA but were nonetheless killed in the attack amounted to no more than "collateral damage." If the U.S. public is prepared to accept these "standards" when the are routinely applied to other people, they should be not be surprised when the same standards are applied to them.
* It should be emphasized that I applied the "little Eichmanns" characterization only to those described as "technicians." Thus, it was obviously not directed to the children, janitors, food service workers, firemen and random passers-by killed in the 9-1-1 attack. According to Pentagon logic, were simply part of the collateral damage. Ugly? Yes. Hurtful? Yes. And that's my point. It's no less ugly, painful or dehumanizing a description when applied to Iraqis, Palestinians, or anyone else. If we ourselves do not want to be treated in this fashion, we must refuse to allow others to be similarly devalued and dehumanized in our name.
* The bottom line of my argument is that the best and perhaps only way to prevent 9-1-1-style attacks on the U.S. is for American citizens to compel their government to comply with the rule of law. The lesson of Nuremberg is that this is not only our right, but our obligation. To the extent we shirk this responsibility, we, like the "Good Germans" of the 1930s and '40s, are complicit in its actions and have no legitimate basis for complaint when we suffer the consequences. This, of course, includes me, personally, as well as my family, no less than anyone else.
* These points are clearly stated and documented in my book, On the Justice of Roosting Chickens, which recently won Honorary Mention for the Gustavus Myer Human Rights Award. for best writing on human rights. Some people will, of course, disagree with my analysis, but it presents questions that must be addressed in academic and public debate if we are to find a real solution to the violence that pervades today's world. The gross distortions of what I actually said can only be viewed as an attempt to distract the public from the real issues at hand and to further stifle freedom of speech and academic debate in this country.
Ward Churchill
Boulder, Colorado
January 31, 2005
Additional links on the issue:
Rocky Mountain News #1
Rocky Mountain News #2
Denver Channel 7 News
Come down from your Ivy tower
Yale has Skull and Bones and Columbia has animal torture. I guess an Ivy League education 'ain't all it's cracked up to be.
There seems to be a direct correlation between privilege and inability to empathize with others pain and suffering. Since most of these sadistic bastards end up being our rulers, maybe that's why the U.S. is so messed up after all.
There seems to be a direct correlation between privilege and inability to empathize with others pain and suffering. Since most of these sadistic bastards end up being our rulers, maybe that's why the U.S. is so messed up after all.
Your own personal culinary guru
Have you ever wished you had a chef at your disposal to help you with those pesky cooking questions? Maybe you can’t get that pie crust to flake, or your wiener schnitzel just doesn’t taste like it did back in Bavaria. From apple coring to crème brulee, let Chef Dunn answer your cooking questions.
Do you have a stew that’s missing an ingredient, let the Chef help you fill in that missing piece to your pot simmering puzzle.
Chef Dunn brings over a decade of cooking experience at Portland’s finer dining establishments. For those of you from away, Portland may have the best restaurants of any small city in America. Word on the street is that Portland has as many restaurants per capita as world class dining metropolis, San Francisco. I don’t know what that says about Portland, but it does tell you of the Chef’s abilities to help you with your cooking quandaries.
But wait! Not only can he cook, but he can get that website up and running for you, solve your software dilemnas and offer you his take on the state of the working class in America.
Visit him at BlahBlahBlah and release the culinary muse trapped inside you!
Do you have a stew that’s missing an ingredient, let the Chef help you fill in that missing piece to your pot simmering puzzle.
Chef Dunn brings over a decade of cooking experience at Portland’s finer dining establishments. For those of you from away, Portland may have the best restaurants of any small city in America. Word on the street is that Portland has as many restaurants per capita as world class dining metropolis, San Francisco. I don’t know what that says about Portland, but it does tell you of the Chef’s abilities to help you with your cooking quandaries.
But wait! Not only can he cook, but he can get that website up and running for you, solve your software dilemnas and offer you his take on the state of the working class in America.
Visit him at BlahBlahBlah and release the culinary muse trapped inside you!
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