[Reader-list] A new Macarthyism...

[Monica Narula]

BLACKLISTING OF PROFESSORS (in the United States)

BACKGROUND

Over the past year, there has been an escalating  series of 
virulently anti-Islamic and anti-Arab statements made by mainstream 
clergy (Rev. Jerry Falwell, Rev. Pat Robertson, Rev. Franklin Graham 
, Rev. Jerry Vines, Rev. Robert Morey, etc.), columnists (e.g. Ann 
Coulter) political leaders (e.g. John Ashcroft, Rep. Chambliss of 
Georgia) and even the law enforcement officers sworn to protect 
American citizens (Dearborn Michigan, July 2002).  These bigoted 
statements have become more and more common.

Side by side with such expressions of prejudice there has been an 
increasing tendency to connect the religion of Islam with the 
criminal acts of individuals, and to connect any criticism of Israeli 
policies, U.S. foreign policy, or defense of Islam with 
anti-Americanism, bigotry,  or anti-Semitism.  Even the Harvard 
University President, Lawrence Summers,  in a September 17th speech 
equated criticism of Israel and a divestment campaign  with actual 
reprehensible examples of anti-Semitism.

The most recent development appears to be an organized effort to 
marginalize any scholars who may have questioned any of these 
policies (particularly Muslim, East Asian or Arab scholars and 
academics) and to intimidate them into silence.

This effort is focused on a website founded by Daniel Pipes, a 
promoter of anti-Arab and anti-Islamic prejudice who supports an 
extreme right-wing version of Zionism. Daniel Pipes and the 
organizations he is associated with (Middle East Forum and the 
Washington Institute for Near East Policy) are attempting to cast 
themselves as the "authentic" sources of information on the Middle 
East and Islam.

BLACKLISTING

The site, Campus Watch at www.campuswatch.org,  has begun with an 
initial "blacklist" of  8 professors and 14 universities that they 
consider biased and claim "fan the flames of disinformation, 
incitement and ignorance", and it proposes to maintain what it calls 
"dossiers" on professors and academic institutions deemed 
insufficiently pro-Israel, or too "soft" on Islam, and collect 
information from students regarding their professors' scholarly 
conclusions and political views. The dossiers themselves are flimsy 
and the conclusions drawn are from out of context quotes, innuendo 
and guilt by association.  The problem is that most of those incited 
to react by these materials will not read past the headlines.

The professors are:  M. Shahid Alam, Northeastern University; Juan 
Cole, University of Michigan; Hamid Dabashi, Columbia University; 
John Esposito, Georgetown University; Rashid Khalidi, University of 
Chicago; Joseph Massad, Columbia University; Ali Mazrui, State 
University of New York, Binghamton; Snehal Shingavi, University of 
California - Berkeley.

The reasons these professors need monitoring are varied, they may 
support the Palestinian cause, oppose war in the Middle East, support 
human rights, have expressed any criticism of Israel, or have 
defended Islam.  This somehow offends MEF and is seen as contrary to 
their stated purpose of "defending the interests of America."

It seems that the only reason that the list of professors is so short 
is because these have been singled out to be a test case or example 
to others.  If this tactic is successful, then it seems likely that 
others will be added and targeted in their turn. 

The "dossiers on institutions" section leads with numerous 
condemnations of Colorado College for inviting Palestinian activist 
Hanan Ashrawi to speak at a symposium. Also included are the 
University of North Carolina where freshmen were assigned readings 
from the Qur'an, and Harvard where a student delivered the 
commencement address originally entitled "My American Jihad."

This organized national campaign to silence academic criticism of 
Israel and to marginalize American Arabs and Muslims is incompatible 
with the cherished American values of free speech and inquiry. Such 
intellectual intimidation also serves to cut off avenues for 
exploring possibilities for peace.

It is also clear that any reasonable person could have foreseen 
(particularly in the current political climate) that this McCarthyite 
tactic of listing individuals in cyberspace could provoke extremists 
to respond inappropriately. Expression in cyberspace includes a far 
greater speed of communication and a capacity to convey messages to a 
far wider audience. This has been the case and has already generated 
email spamming, hostile or threatening phone calls, internet identity 
theft, and harassment of the professors named. In some cases the 
targeted professors' email communications have been rendered 
inoperable.

Academic freedom in universities is essential. Free speech is not 
simply an aspect of academic freedom to be weighed against other 
possibilities, it is the precondition for academic freedom. 
Professors and students must be able to exercise their legal rights 
as citizens, and to express opinions whether or not they agree with 
the majority. Academic expression of ideas may inspire vigorous 
debate on social, economic, and political issues that arouse strong 
passions. This debate of ideas is critical. However, when rather than 
debate ideas, we instead attempt to tarnish the reputation of the 
individual expressing the ideas that can only be seen as an attempt 
to coerce silence or acquiescence.

The Campus Watch Site of the Middle East Forum states that it is 
"dedicated to defending the interests of America", however such 
activities can only harm the interests of America.
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This complete statement is on the website of The American Muslim at 
www.theamericanmuslim.org  It is the first article in the "current 
issues" section.  Please, go to the site and leave a comment if you 
have any additional information, or to give us any feedback at all.

RESOURCES

Campus Watch self description www.campus-watch.org/about.php

Wall Street Journal  "Pro-Israel Web Site to Monitor Views of U.S. 
Academia" by Daniel Golden, 9-18-02 
http://www.stlimc.org/front.php3?article_id=3425&group=webcast

Counterpunch:
"Smear Mongers" by Paul de Rooij, 9-24-02 www.counterpunch.org/rooij0924.html
"Web Warfare Comes to America" by Lawrence Davidson 9-23-02 
www.counterpunch.org/davidson0922.html
"The Vigilante Thought Police" by Will Youmans 9-23-02 
www.counterpunch.org/youmans0922.html

Electronic Intifida Media Watch "Middle East McCarthyism", Nigel 
Parry and Ali Abunimah 9-25-02
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article714.shtml

Pipes and Kramers views of Muslims in the U.S. and in academia:
L.A. Times, "It Matters What Kind of Islam Prevails" by Daniel Pipes 
7-22-99 www.danielpipes.org/article/313
National Review Online, "Bin Laden Is A Fundamentalist" by Danield 
Pipes 10-22-01 
www.natioinalreview.com/comment/comment-pipes102201.shtml
Middle East Quarterly Spring 2002 "Jihad 101" by Martin Kramer 
www.meforum.org/article/160
New York Post 6-25-02 "Extremists on Campus", Daniel Pipes and 
Jonathan Schanzer www.meforum.org/article/pipes/424
New York Post 9-17-02 "The War on Campus" by Daniel Pipes 
www.danielpipes.org/article/465

Interview with Rashid Khalidi http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article718.shtml

"Who Is Daniel Pipes?", CAIR www.cair-net.org/misc/people/daniel_pipes.html

Israel Lobby Watch http://electronicintifada.net/v2/israellobbywatch.shtml

Professors Ask to Join Daniel Pipes' "Blacklist", by Tamar Lewin, 
9-27-02, New York Times, 
www.nytimes.com/2002/09/27/education/27coll.html

Trio of Bay Area Universities Monitored for anti-Semitism, by Carrie 
Sturrock, 9-21-02, Contra Costa Times, 
www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/4121173.htm

Paranoia at Harvard, by Eileen McNamara, 9-22-02 Boston Globe Online, 
www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/265/metro/Paranoia_at_HarvardP.shtml

Harvard Chief's Comments Criticized, by Theo Emery, Associated Press, 
www.beliefnet.com/story/113/story_11349.html
-- 
Monica Narula
Sarai:The New Media Initiative
29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 054
www.sarai.net