He's less iconic in person.

Last night, famous linguist and leftist intellectual Noam Chomsky spoke on “America and Israel-Palestine: Peace and War” at Barnard’s LeFrak Gymnasium. The line to get in was long, but Bwog’s radical correspondent Peter Sterne made it inside.

A full hour before Noam Chomsky was scheduled to begin speaking, the auditorium was already beginning to fill up, and by 5:40 pm, virtually every seat was taken. Attendees continued to stream in, but they were forced to stand on the sides or sit on the floor.

Professor Chomsky began by noting the distinction between “people” and “unpeople.” People, he said, were entitled to human dignity and human rights, while unpeople “look human but are considered unworthy of human rights.” Historically, unpeople have included indigenous peoples and “those the Constitution considered only 3/5ths of a person.” In the War on Terror, he proposes, “unpeople” now include non-Americans. He noted that even though many were critical of Obama’s decision to assassinate Anwar al-Awalki, an American citizen and alleged terrorist in Yemen, they didn’t mind when the United States killed non-Americans. Chomsky used this example to illustrate how Americans are considered people with certain rights that should be respected, while non-Americans are not.

The same, he argued, is true of Israelis (people) and Palestinians (unpeople) in both the U.S. and Israel. He pointed to an October 12th front-page New York Times article, “Deal With Hamas Will Free Israeli Held Since 2006” (the online version’s title is different), that was illustrated with a picture of Israeli women celebrating Gilad Shalit‘s release. In Chomsky’s view, the article focused on the impact of Shalit’s release on Israelis, while largely ignoring the individual Palestinian prisoners involved in the prisoner swap, because the Palestinians are considered “unpeople.”
Read more…

In case you were wondering why a large tent and tv screens have been set up on Hamilton Lawn, it’s for the Talk Israel initiative, “a program that fosters dialogue about the changing landscape of the Middle East by setting up tents in central areas on North American campuses.” They have lots of pizza and, last time Bwog walked by, were playing Balkan Beat Box.

Tensions in New York and on campus are high, as in addition to Ahmadinejad’s visit to the city, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas seeks official recognition of statehood at the UN Assembly this week. Seven people were arrested yesterday for blocking 1st Ave in protest. A few pro-Palestinian students have been gathered on a bench across from the tent since this morning.

The Columbia University Students for Justice in Palestine (CSJP) have set up a theatrical mock Israeli checkpoint on Low steps. The demonstration is part of Right to Education Week and is designed to raise awareness of the hardships faced by Palestinian students on their journeys to and from school.

“Israeli guards” are walking around with cardboard guns, interrogating and terrifying passersby, while blindfolded “Palestinians” crouch on the floor.

In response, Hillel groups Lionpac, Just Peace, Garin Lavi, and Tarbootnikim have set up camp at the Sundial, claiming that the CSJP refuses to enter into any sort of dialogue with them.

Hillel’s “It’s Complicated, Let’s Talk” flyer after the jump.”>

"Checkpoints aren't ideal, but for now they're necessary"

Hillel’s “It’s Complicated, Let’s Talk” flyer after the jump.

Read more…

Photo: http://www.ishmaelkhaldi.com/

Power-walking to catch the final hour of Ishmael Khaldi’s lecture on a “Bedouin’s Perspective,” Bwog MEALACtivism Correspondent Sarah Camiscoli had to check the Bwog Bucket List several times to confirm that the location was in fact just a classroom on the third floor of Milbank. In a small room and in front of a small crowd, the first Bedouin Israeli diplomat shared his provocative thoughts on Israeli Apartheid/Israel Peace Week.

Ishmael Khaldi, a Bedouin Muslim Israeli activist invited to speak by LionPAC, relayed his story of being born and raised in the village of Khawalid in the Western Galilee of Israel; receiving a Masters Degree in Political Science from Tel Aviv University; serving in the Israeli Defense Ministry; becoming the first Bedouin deputy consul of the State of Israel; working with the American Embassy; and advocating for Israel in San Francisco. While his accomplishments from “growing up as a shepherd [to] becoming an educated world traveler” are famously depicted on his website and other media sources, Khaldi spent most of his time and energy focusing on his close relationship with the Jewish community in Israel, his disgust with the lack of support for Israel in this “western nation,” and his desire to see more advocacy from those who support the existence and the political agenda of Israel.

Some of Khaldi’s most poignant moments came as he spoke about the expectation for “Western countries to sympathize with [Israel’s] right to exist” and the fact that there “is something rotten here, and it is very bothering.” Khaldi, who worked with students in San Francisco to show them “who Israel is” by setting them up with internships in Silicon Valley and sending them on trips to to the country, expressed his discontent at seeing “only 20% of Jewish students who are active and against [anti-Israel activism]” like this week’s Apartheid Wall. Referring to those students who took the initiative to build the wall, Khaldi said, “If they have responsibility, tell them to go to Harlem. What is the difference? Go to Riverdale. Can we have Riverdale Apartheid Week?” Read more…

- Photo by JCD

Jonesing for a good Gaza protest? About 20 members of the Columbia Palestine Forum are out on Low Steps for several hours today, calling for divestment from Israel and other non-contentious ideas. Those looking for more background can check out the LectureHop of last night’s teach-in.

If nothing else, they’d appreciate the audience – when Bwog stopped by, listener numbers were rather low (and included at least several Hillel board members, who probably were not there in support). 

- JCD

Graphic used by Adalah New York speakers

Bwog’s Liz Naiden squeezed into Hamilton 517 early for the Columbia Palestine Forum.

Eager throngs crowded closer to the door and looked longingly into a small Hamilton classroom where the Columbia Palestine Forum was about to commence (Columbia Palestine Forum being both the name of the event and the group that sponsored it). Quick background: the group demands (among other items) that Columbia issue a declaration of support for academic freedom in Palestine, “condemn the destructive actions of the Israeli state,” and hold “an open forum detailing its investments in companies and corporations actively involved in or profiting from the Israeli occupation, to begin a conversation University-wide conversation about divestment.” 

The four-professor panel (Gil Andijar, Bruce Robbins, Brinkley Messick, and Mahmood Mamdani) mainly addressed issues of academic freedom, how universities are involved in governmental and military policy, and the application of the term “apartheid” to the situation in Israel and Palestine. Anidjar opened with a discussion about the relationship between boycotting and freedom, ultimately agreeing with the US government�s view that boycotting is a legitimate way to promote and exercise freedom. Read more…

The Columbia Palestine Forum, a group of Columbians supporting “the rights of Palestinians to education and self-determination,” launched today. The Forum is joining the ranks of similar organizations at University of Rochester, NYU (we know all about that one), Hampshire and various universities across the United Kingdom in demanding, among other things, that Columbia release a statement defending the “academic freedoms of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.” 

In its mission of intent, the Forum also demands that the University disclose its budget, have an open forum for dealing with its corporations and investments, partner with a Palestinian university in order to provide academic aid, grant a certain number of scholarships to allow Palestinian students to attend Columbia, and explicitly support the right for the self-determination and education of Palestinians. If these sound similar to the Take Back NYU! demands, that’s because they are.

The forum is holding a teach-in on Wednesday evening at 7 in Hamilton 516, featuring some of your favorite outspoken professors: Bruce Robbins, Mahmood Mamdani, Gil Anidjar, Brinkley Messick, speaking about the University’s responsibility in terms of Palestinian support and academic freedom.

- ECS

Bwog returned to the sundial for its second lunch of activism in two days. The speakout began promptly at 12:00 PM activist time (aka “12:13″).  A wan student (to the accompaniment of a bongo drum, vital in any event requiring “atmosphere”) listed the names and ages of the victims of conflict. He was surrounded by pairs of shoes – a setup clearly designed to commemorate the thousands of men, women and children who’ve lost their lives in Gaza.

Among the guest speakers was Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies, who gave a rousing damnation of the general state of world affairs, asserting that the war was “made possible by the US’s tax dollars,” and also on the soapbox were slightly less vocal but nonetheless sincere representatives of the various student organizations (“I’m really nervous,” practically mumbled one of them). Yet excepting the occasional flyer-thrusting and poster-hoisting that was involved, the event maintained its solemn disposition.

Yet the solemnity eventually gave way to mulling about. Busy non-participants shuffled their way through the middle of the crowd. Two participants seemed more concerned with talking about their law school applications than the event at hand. Then someone thrust a flag into their hands and they perked up, renewed with idealistic zeal.  Read more…

The violence in Gaza sparks tense but ultimately peaceful peace rallies.  Everyone wants to converse, but nobody has yet.

Campo is to decamp to the space between Furnald and the Journalism Building.

But until then, you can decamp to our very own nearly-on-campus Greenmarket for produce.  Even though it’s winter.

And, of course, everyone’s still excited and awed by our most notable Columbian who’s working, oh, somewhere else for a while.

Looking for a little activism to go with your lunch next Monday or Tuesday? A group claiming the name “The Columbia Community Stands With Gaza” has announced a series of pro-Gaza events to take place next week.

The events include a protest, a speak out, and a series of candlelight vigils (three types of events often called the “Activist Trinity”). The protest and speak out will start at noon on Monday on Low Plaza and Tuesday at the sundial, respectively, while the vigils will be held at sundial in the early evening throughout the week. For the protest, the announcement encourages students to make different kinds of posters, giving examples like “Columbia Students Stand with Gaza,” “Jewish Students Stand with Gaza,” “People of Color Stand with Gaza,” and “Queers Stand with Gaza.” Though there just may be a pattern in those examples, Bwog recommends against “White People Stand With Gaza” or “Ewoks Stand With Gaza.”

And since Columbia is known for its rational discussion of all things Palestinian and Israeli, we’re confident this’ll go just as swimmingly. Absolutely confident.

UPDATE: Bwog has been informed that the Monday protest coincides with a “Rally of Solidarity and Peace for Israel,” taking place at the same time on Monday at the sundial. Organizers tell Bwog that that the rally was scheduled before the “Columbia Community Stands With Gaza” events were announced.  Should be fun.

Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning Arab-Israeli journalist and correspondent for the Jerusalem Post, delivered a presentation last night to a crowd of a little less than 50 students in Lerner Cinema. On a lecture tour sponsored by Hasbara Fellowships, Abu Toameh had also recently spoken at other colleges in the northeast including UPenn, Harvard, and Brown. Here, he was sponsored by LionPac, the Pro-Israel Progressives, and the Republicans.

Playfully identifying himself as an Israeli-Arab-Muslim-Palestinian living in Jerusalem, Abu Toameh described his long career as a journalist, which interestingly began at a newspaper sponsored by the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). During his studies at Hebrew University, he decided to leave the PLO-sponsored papers and become a “real journalist” by joining the international and Israeli media. His feelings on the issue were quite clear, as he spent the first half of his presentation sharply criticizing the restrictions on media in the Palestinian Authority, citing both the direct lack of free press as well as poor security for journalists. Stating that foreign journalists face no restrictions while working inside Israel, he celebrated his freedom at the Jerusalem Post to write, he said, whatever he wants. Read more…

On Friday, lecture hopper extraordinaire Josh Mathew took the walk down to St. Mary‘s Episcopal church in Harlem to hear two scholars duke it out on the question of Israel and Palestine.

After making my way past the numerous activists handing out fliers condemning the war in Iraq and the U.S.’s conceivable Iranian escapades, I grabbed a seat in one of the old wooden pews of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church on 126th in Harlem.

After recognizing a few familiar faces amongst this unusual congregation, I saw sitting up at the altar Dr. Joseph Massad, Associate Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia University, and his cospeaker Dr. Tanya Reinhart, Professor of Linguistics at Tel Aviv University and the University of Utrecht.

Massad and Reinhart’s co-lecture “Channeling Israeli Apartheid” capped off Israel Apartheid Week’s series of lectures, which focused on topics like divestment, marriage laws, and the media.

Although Massad’s lecture began with an acknowledgment of Israel’s “substantive and psychological” desire for peace, he soon added that Israel has simply requested that the world recognize its “right to be a racist state.” Followed by a round of laughter, the phrase became the central rhetorical device of Massad’s speech, serving as the semi-sarcastic tagline to many of his sentences. Massad criticized all existing solutions proposed to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as having accepted Israel’s racist nature, racist laws, and system of apartheid. For example, after the 1993 Oslo Accords, the late President of the Palestinian National Authority Yasser Arafat recognized Israel’s “need to be a racist,” and following Arafat’s death, his successor Mahmoud Abbas has also been persuaded to recognize this “right to be racist.” In his conclusion, Massad, rejecting the proposed two-state plan, and recommended a “decolonized, binational state” as the only acceptable solution. Read more…

This being the sixth anniversary of the Al-Aqsa intifada, a bunch of Palestinian sympathizers have gathered on the sundial, wearing kaffiyehs and angrily puffing on cigarettes.

Socialists, Palestinian nationals, and Mealac majors/TA’s are all in full force.

Also, overhead, the sweet sounds of political/cultural hatred:

“Your prime minister is a war criminal!”

“You’re a fucking racist!”

After the jump, some blurry photos.

Read more…

Subscribers to the listserv of the Columbia Student Solidarity Network (a liberal umbrella group rejuvenated in the wake of this February’s Ashcroft visit) were treated yesterday to two oddly contrasting invitations. One, forwarded by College Dems president Mike Nadler, exhorts readers to sign a pro-Israel petition that Hillel will send to Kofi Annan. Another promotes an “emergency forum” this Saturday to address Israel’s “barbaric campaign of destruction against the Palestinian and Lebanese people,” endorsed by (among others) the International Socialist Organization.

Bwog holds out the sincere hope that at least some of these people are friends with each other.