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In this mailing:
by Daniel Mael
• March 26, 2015 at 5:00 am
Banning
such events, speakers and displays is not the answer. It is a stance not
only intellectually bankrupt, but one that solidifies a dangerous
precedent: the intolerance of free speech.
Removing
dissent -- however morally intended -- is intrinsically antithetical to
education, especially at a university.
The
greatest problem with the current lot of anti-Israel voices is not that
they are "offensive" or "mean;" it is that what they
say contains outright lies and falsehoods.
However
malicious or misguided, the speech and conduct of those who oppose Israel
--who cannot or will not see the difference between an open, tolerant
democracy and repressive, authoritarian governments -- should be refuted,
not suppressed.
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UC-Berkeley Professor Hatem Bazian addresses an
anti-Israel rally on July 20, 2014, appearing in front of a man
carrying a sign saying, "We captured Israeli soldiers in
Gaza". (Image source: YouTube video screenshot)
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In 1902, the Russian Jewish author and early Zionist leader, Ze'ev
Jabotinsky (1880-1940) responded to a fellow journalist's effort to label
Zionism as "historically retrograde", "politically
reactionary" and "unworkable". "Defame it if you
must!" he wrote. "The dream is greater than its slanderers. It
need not fear their calumny." [1]
In 2015, the pro-Israel campus movement, through its collective
attempt to combat anti-Israel forces, risks failing to uphold
Jabotinsky's proclamation.
Supporting Israel is now labelled an act of "racism" by
some professors and certain campus organizations, such as Students for
Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). Opposing
Israel, however, is not considered the actual act of racism that it more
likely is.
by Burak Bekdil
• March 26, 2015 at 4:00 am
Turkey's
Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, is probably the world's first ever
politician demanding votes to end his own rule.
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Burak Bekdil writes that in order to help Turkey's
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) expand his executive powers,
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is probably the world's first ever
politician demanding votes to end his own rule. (Image sources: World
Economic Forum; CFR video screeenshot)
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In a speech in parliament on Jan. 28, Turkey's main opposition
leader, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, addressed Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu:
"You are not the prime minister. You are [a "photo-op"]
kid seated on the prime minister's chair."
The weird situation Davutoglu has found himself in is the product of
his boss and predecessor, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Last summer, as election season approached, then Prime Minister
Erdogan and President Davutoglu tightened their grip on the internet. The
duo deliberately limited their citizens' access to social media and to
popular and informative websites. They also increased the government's
power over the courts and the power of the MIT (Turkish intelligence
Agency) to spy on people. None of this stopped the AKP from winning at
the polls.
Shortly after Erdogan won the presidential election in August, he
nominated Davutoglu to be his successor as party chairman and prime
minister.
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