DESMOND TUTU SILENCED

by Margaret Kimberley, Black Report Agenda























Freedom of speech - except when it comes to Israel. That's the reality on many of America's campuses and throughout the corporate media. The lockdown of discussion of all things that might reflect negatively on the Jewish State is far more pervasive in the United States than in Israel, itself. Even revered human rights figures such as former South African archbishop Desmond Tutu have no rights to freedom of speech if their words arouse the ire of the Israel lobby. Former president Jimmy Carter can't hype his book if it causes "hurt" to those who think Israel is a sacred subject, but vile hate speech directed against any other group is kosher on the campus.

"Perhaps more sinister is why is there no outcry in the United States about the Israeli siege in the West Bank? You see the harrowing images of what suicide bombers have done, something we all condemn, but we see no scenes of what the tanks are doing to Palestinian homes and people." - Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 2002

Aside from the Bushite assaults on civil liberties, there is another dangerous threat to free speech in this country. That threat falls on anyone who dares to criticize the Israeli government or America's foreign policy towards Israel. Simply put, there is no right to free speech where discussion of Israel is concerned. Critics of Israel are censored and silenced, regardless of prior reputation or professional standing.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu won the Nobel Peace prize in 1986 for his efforts to peacefully end apartheid in his South African homeland. He served for many years as Archbishop of Cape Town and is one of the most highly respected Christian clergyman in the world. Tutu recently returned from a fact finding mission to Darfur that also included Jimmy Carter.

None of the accolades, honors, or awards bestowed on Tutu over the years were enough to protect him from the power of the pro-Israeli lobby. Tutu was invited to speak at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. The event, scheduled to take place in the spring of 2008, was sponsored by a youth group dedicated to practicing non-violence.

What followed has now become all too familiar. The university president, Father Dennis Dease, withdrew the invitation after a local organization, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, protested. The JCRC said that Jews were "hurt" about Tutu's comments on Israel. Father Dennis Dease, the university president, uses this claimed hurt as his reason for canceling the speech.

The JCRC and Father Dease falsely claim that in a 2002 speech Tutu compared Israel to Hitler's Germany. That assertion is a lie. Tutu said no such thing. He did point out that powerful nations can fall. "The apartheid government was very powerful, but today it no longer exists. Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Pinochet, Milosovic, and Idi Amin were all powerful, but in the end they bit the dust."

The meaning of Tutu's words are clear to anyone who is interested in honest intellectual debate. The Israeli lobby has no such interest. Their goal is to silence Israel's critics. They may deny tenure to academics such as Norman Finkelstein, or make certain that Stephen Walt, John Mearsheimer and Jimmy Carter are all denied venues to speak or promote their books. The cowardly acquiescence by the University of St. Thomas was obviously due to direct political pressure and fear of future repercussions.

DePaul University behaved in a similar manner when they were lobbied to deny tenure to Norman Finkelstein. It didn't matter that Norman Finkelstein is himself Jewish, and the son of holocaust survivors. He is an outspoken critic of the Israeli government and of efforts to use past Jewish suffering to gain political and economic advantage, which he documents in his ground breaking book The Holocaust Industry. He described his situation and presciently that of Tutu with the University of St. Thomas:

". . . the university found itself forced to choose between ‘a long-term catastrophe and a short-term catastrophe' - the short-term catastrophe being the publicity about his case, the long-term catastrophe ‘having me on this faculty for another 20 years, and every time I open my mouth or say something about Israeli policy, the hysteria starting up again, and they see their money disappear.' "

Because of the fear of disappearing money and political support that every university needs, Jewish "hurt" supersedes everyone else's.

The University of St. Thomas has no problem inviting speakers who openly express beliefs that hurt other groups. The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II was certainly hurtful to them. Yet after writing a hate filled screed, In Defense of Internment, right wing propagandist Michelle Malkin spoke at the University of St. Thomas. The hurt of white supremacist hate speech wasn't an issue with Father Dease or other university officials.

Archbishop Tutu should directly address this assault on his reputation. He should not only refute the lies told about him but he should also force the university to respond. They think they are off the hook because the event will be held at another school in St. Paul. Tutu should make it clear that moving him across town will not silence him. His voice is respected and it is sorely needed. The influence of one group will do even more damage to this country and to the world if it is not confronted.

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