Joe Kaufman, a pro-genocide, pro-fascist idiot, speaks at UCLA, 10/25.
Some of the speakers for IFAW are rather polished and slick in their presentations. Kaufman is not one of them. His speech was rambling, and his methodology is equal parts propagandist and conspiracy theorist. He is extraordinarily selective in which facts he focuses on, and uses the most tenuous of connections as "proof" of sweeping indictments (which almost assuredly are arrived at prior to any investigation).
He is thorough-going national chauvinist, making it very clear he cares nothing about the lives of people outside of the US (and Israel). It was difficult to pay attention to most of his talk. It wasn't until the end that he really got rolling.
The organizers were quite adamant that no comments would be allowed during the Q&A. This was in marked contrast to the forum on Tuesday at UCLA organized by the National Project to Defend Dissent and Critical Thinking where anyone was allowed to speak their mind and there was actual discussion and engagement with ideas.
Kaufman's speech, like all the events at UCLA, was met by a wide range of protesters. Buttons made from the Defend Critical Thinking's anti-IFAW logo were visible throughout in the audience. The audience of a 100 or so was evenly split b/t supporters and protesters, as were the questions during the Q&A.
Some of the highlights:
In a show of what an independent thinker he is, he criticized the US attack on Iraq. He said the problem was that there was only one "shock and awe." Instead, there should have been numerous "shock and awes," he said, so that any resistance was quickly and completely destroyed. In other words, the problem with Bush is that he is insufficiently genocidal.
Civilian courts shouldn't be used for anyone accused of supporting terrorism. They should be tried in military courts because otherwise "they wouldn't get convicted." The question for Kaufman is therefore - since you've already decided they're guilty, why try them? Why not just shoot them? You should be proud that you're a fascist.
He effusively praised David Horowitz and frontpagemagazine.com. In the Q&A, he was asked if he agreed with DH that Blacks should be grateful for slavery, that there is no discrimination or racism in the US and that any problems Black people have is due to their own character flaws. Or if he agreed with other writers for frontpagemagazine who say that the Emancipation Proclamation should be repealed and that the tens of thousands who protested at Jena were "Black racists." And if he doesn't agree, would he be willing to call Horowitz a racist? Kaufman responded by saying that the great thing about frontpagemagazine is that it has a "variety of viewpoints," (yes, he actually said that.) He didn't agree with the statements, he said, but refused to call Horowitz a racist.
Like all rabid national chauvinists in the US, history began on 9/11. He gave no indication of knowing about, say, 1953 when the US overthrew the parliamentary government of Iran and put in its place the vicious dictatorship of the Shah. Or 1965, when the US overthrew the government of Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country in the world, with a CIA-orchestrated bloodbath which killed more than a million people in a few months (incidentally using what were then called "Islamic Fascist Youth groups" to carry out much of the carnage). Or any of the other times the US has assassinated leaders, destroyed governments and democratic institutions, supported dictatorships, trained torturers, etc., in Arab and Muslim countries - and all long before 9/11. To call his presentation one-sided would be an understatement.
Kaufman used ironic air quotes to help him rewrite history and current events. The US is not occupying Iraq - it is "occupying" Iraq. Similarly, Israel is "occupying" the (ahem) Occupied Territories. It is only the dreaded "political correctness" that insists on using such terms.
He briefly mentioned some history, the British "colonization" (see above) of the Middle East early on in the 20th Century. This was only brought up to make the argument that the fanatic Muslim ideal of a unified caliphate was disrupted by the British carving of the region into separate states, and this motivates their hatred. I wonder how Kaufman would feel if say, Iranians "colonized" the US and carved it up into little countries they could control and play against one another.
According to Kaufman, Israeli state terrorism doesn't exist. Never has. Only muslims are terrorists, evidently.
He repeated the lie that Iraq had something to do with 9/11, and suggested that the legendary WMD's were actually destroyed during the "shock and awe."
The slogan on Kaufman's website (Americans Against Hate?!) is "Free speech is only as good as if we're alive to use it!"
As the headline noted "a pro-genocide, pro-fascist idiot."
Actions at UCLA
---Monday, October 22:
An ad from defendcriticalthinking.org will run in the Daily Bruin, declaring that students, profs, and staff will not let this campaign go unchallenged, and announcing Tuesday's forum. Wear Black in solidarity with the victims of police brutality and repression; come out to the patio between Rolfe and Royce around 6 p.m. tonight--as the Bruin Republicans show "Path to 9/11," we show the human toll of the war of terror on the people here: "Police Murders...ICE Raids...Jena...Prisons Packed With Youth: Enough is Enough!"
---Tuesday, October 23:
Defendcriticalthinking.org holds a forum from 1-4 p.m. in Bunche Hall (room 6275--the History Conference Room), featuring UCLA profs Peter McLaren, Juan Gomez Quinones, Alan Jones (Pitzer College) and author/journalist Larry Everest, with others to be announced later.
World Can't Wait (worldcantwait.org) will run the ad "Who Is The Real Nuclear Threat?" in the Daily Bruin (which can be seen on the World Can't Wait website), and will announce the forum to be held that afternoon in Bunche, entitled "Why We Need to Expose and Oppose David Horowitz and Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week."
---Wednesday, October 24:
Speak-out one hour before Nonie Darwish\'s speech, with plans as of now for people to gather in front of Haines Hall at 6 p.m. Call on people to wear orange jumpsuits, bandanas, armbands, etc, and to bring forward a striking political challenge to Darwish's call to wage a culture war with Islam, declare dissenters to be treasonous, and to launch an attack on Iran.
---Thursday, October 25:
Expose the real fascists who stoke up hatred for Muslims and declare the Muslim Student Association at UCLA to be a terrorist front on campus. Call
them out on the aims of their attack, and rally others to oppose repression on campus. The Bruin Republicans are bringing Joe Kaufman to
campus, to speak in Moore Hall from 7-9 p.m. on Thursday night. This must not and will not go unopposed!
---Friday, October 26:
Orange Friday---Declare It Now! Wear your resistance and mobilize the campus to march against the war in downtown LA on Saturday, October 27th.
Also, anti-fascist film showings are in the works for the residence halls and main campus. To get prepared for the week, hold showing of your own.
Some ideas: Cabaret, The White Rose, and Swing Kids (best of the bunch in relation to IFAW--you might want to rent from Vidiots in Santa Monica)
Also, anti-fascist film showings are in the works for the residence halls and main campus. To get prepared for the week, hold showing of your own. Some ideas: Cabaret, The White Rose, and Swing Kids (best of the bunch in relation to IFAW--you might want to rent from Vidiots in Santa Monica)
Resist IFAW! UCLA--Fascist-Free Zone!
FORUM: “Why we need to expose and oppose David Horowitz and Islamo-Facism Awareness Week.”
Tues, October 23, 1-4 pm
6275 Bunche Hall
With: Peter McClaren, Juan Gomez-Quinones, Larry Everest, Alan Jones & others TBA - plus a videotaped message from Noam Chomsky on the threat to academic freedom today.
Contact resist.ifaw@yahoo.com for info on other activities opposing IFAW at UCLA and elsewhere in the LA area.
IFAW Report from LA
LA chapter decided to concentrate efforts for IFAW on the UCLA campus
because 30 of its professors have been named by Horowitz in his book about
the 101 most dangerous professors in America. Campus republicans have been
active in reporting and/or harassing professors for teaching a “liberal”
point of view, considered treasonous and anti-American by the Horowitz
crew. UCLA has been a focused target of the fascist agenda promoted by
Horowitz.
We studied the defendcriticalthinking.org website and frontpagemag.com, to
be as prepared as possible.
We approached getting the WCW word out in several ways. Because of WCW
teach-ins, forums, and tabling there over the past two years, we had
gotten to know some students who were interested in WCW and had been
involved with some of our events and activities. We also are familiar with
some professors who have signed the Call, or have been responsive to our
efforts in the past, so we were able to do some phone banking and let them
know about IFAW and our plans to confront Horowitz politically. We also
phoned some students off of our Coachella lists. We contacted the notable
“dirty thirty” as well (thirty of the 101 professors on Horowitz list are
at UCLA). We called adults who stay connected with our chapter, but don’t
work regularly with us. This did not bring out large groups to work on
campus, but it did bring some people out at different times during the
week to help for periods of time.
Because we had already collected much of the information on where to find
professors on campus, newer folks were able to get to work meeting
professors or staffing our literature table. Working as part of a
coalition was effective. Lead crews composed of WCW and
defendcriticalthinking coalition members got out to hook up with student
organizations, and visit professors during office hours with literature
and information about what we planned to do and how they could get
involved: 1. Allow us to make announcements in their classrooms and hand
out literature 2. assist us in getting a hall. 3.making contributions to
support our efforts.
Professors were mostly glad we are doing this. There was some hesitance
around confrontation, maybe we should ignore the fascists and they will go
away. Further discussions have evoked contributions and more willingness
to support. Two professors, MacLaren and Quinones, both ‘dirty thirty”,
agreed to be speakers at a forum on campus Tuesday (see below).
The WCW ad "Who is the Real Nuclear Threat?" was accepted for publishing
in the campus paper Bruin on Tuesday, announcing the forum. The Defend
Critical Thinking ad about IFAW and announcing forum was published in
Bruin today.
Student groups who have stepped forward and are working with us are the
Bruin Fems, and the AAP (an Arab group). MSA (Muslim Student Assoc) has
changed its position from laying low to developing green t-shirts they
are giving out to people who support them. They are struggling with how
(or if) to stand against a mock stoning of a woman that they are sure the
Bruin Republicans are planning. The coalition has suggested women in
bloody hospital gowns holding hangars would be great but this hasn’t been
decided yet.
Younger people are also communicating with us through facebook. One
organizer has said that through facebook conversations and the one on one
conversations with students on campus, that he believes there are hundreds
of students who want to stand against this.
We have not cracked this wide open, but the openings are becoming visible.
Area-Wide Planning Meeting to Resist IFAW @ UCLA
UCLA
When: Sunday, October 14
Where: Kerkhoff Patio (Outside of Kerkhoff Coffee Shop)
When: 2pm
Resist IFAW: resist.ifaw@yahoo.com
David Horowitz\' \"Islamo Fascism Awareness Week\" (IFAW) is happening
on over 100 college campuses across the country openly designed to gain
support for the “war on terror†and to intimidate and silence its
opponents...and it\'s coming to UCLA on October 22-26.
We cannot ignore them and wish that they\'ll go away -- their highly
paid well-publicized speakers, their hounding of progressive professors,
and their harassment of women’s centers and Muslim student
organizations will continue if we ignore them. Their monopolization of the
discourse—and their manipulation of the language—will continue if left
unchallenged. Their thug-like intimidation will continue if they\'re not
taken seriously. They will keep driving out Professors (like Ward
Churchill and Prof. Finkelstein) from academia if we ignore them.
We need to confront them and expose them with the truth.
Students, Faculty, Staff from campuses through out the area are invited
to a planning meeting to resist IFAW and confront them with the truth
and facts.