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Friday, March 18, 2016

Censorship and University Life under threat



Censorship worries many of us but in a world of prejudice it would be easy to simply ban uncomfortable speech.  In a recent report it was revealed that there has been a 61% rise in antisemitism in the British capital city and that a majority of French Jews are now considering emigrating.  France is no longer a safe place to live if you are Jewish. According to that same report over 40 percent of EU citizens hold antisemitic views.  In the United States, 75% of Jewish students have experienced antisemitism in their college.

It would be so easy to flee from faith.  It is not nearly as easy to fight prejudice and the antisemites who in the interest of free speech celebrate their passionate engagement by renouncing their opponent’s freedoms.  Jewish Uncle Toms are particularly enthusiastic about proscribing their coreligionists constitutional rights.  Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Association is being curtailed across the Western World so that fascism may impose its views on us all.

The Soviet Union collapsed under the weight of its own contradictions and lies. Communist China had to adopt a market economy to forestall collapse and even then in order to catch up economically with the West it has had to impose hard labor on large numbers of its own people.  North Korea is an abomination that can only survive through infusions of Chinese cash and the liberal use of concentration camps to keep its terrorized citizenry from rebelling against its military tyranny.  Venezuela, once viewed as the model for South American leadership and enlightened rule could only survive under its radical left wing charismatic leadership through its suppression of the opposition.  Massive food bribes at election time were with-held from anyone suspected of wanting to vote the wrong way.  So the Progressive left (and the term is interchangeable with ‘radical’) understands that it has to control the narrative and suppress any opposition in order to have a realistic chance of maintaining power.

The radical left is bereft of honesty because its own survival always takes precedence over the truth. In its desperation for self-validation it resembles a religion, and like any faith in the early stages of its’ mythological creation it is bought at the expense of a blood sacrifice. In this new religion, the radical left continues to demand and is incapable of letting go of that blood sacrifice.  Its antisemitic origins have blinded it to its bigotry. The original sin of the ‘progressive’ left’s intellectual, antisemitic birth has been espoused by far too many guardians of its ideological purity. It is an easy narrative, familiar to the general population and therefore, an easy key to opening the minds of its more receptive potential converts. 

Its political theology makes its easier to understand just how little distance separates Islamic State and other fundamentalist fascist organizations from the so called progressive left.  Those who gravitate towards these racist demagogues are only comfortable with a non-nuanced approach to life. They need simplicity as validation of their own identity.  As a consequence of this approach they are able to renounce human rights to any, save a selective few, as a vehicle for defining who is a friend and who, an enemy.  In this way they can ignore the stench of their cohort’s often genocidal ideology. 

I read an interesting article in Ynet news about Hillel.  This is primarily, an American and Jewish university club.   Its aim is to “engage Jewish students in religious, cultural, artistic, and community-service activities” (Wikipedia). As the survey referred to in the first paragraph proves, clearly antisemitism on campus exists.  Hillel, crucially, exists to provide a safe-haven and a familiar home for people who need it.  But there is a new fascist conspiracy to undermine and ultimately, to obliterate free speech and it is called “Open Hillel.”

Open Hillel is an initiative that claims to allow for more open criticism of Israel and Zionism.  In reality it is one more fascist instrument of control through which any criticism of anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist organizations is first rebuked and then by denying Jews the rights that their opponents demand, prohibited.  By undermining Jewish rights and creating a hostile environment for Jewish association the Muslim and anti-Semitic Left are trying to muzzle Jews on campus.  By working to censor the visual Jewish presence on campus, fascism defines truth and controls narrative.  

As Ben-Dror Yemini said in the following article:


“On many campuses in the US, there are many groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Islamic associations, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), and many others. They have a lot of power. They act, sometimes with violence, against Israelis coming onto campuses. Sometimes it's just because they're Israeli, regardless of their opinions. This phenomenon is called a boycott. The members of these groups, most of whom support the BDS Movement, are the ones behind a campaign to silence other opinions. So an interesting thing is happening here - in order to strengthen "openness" and "inclusion," we seek to open the door to those who use violence against openness.

Facing all of these groups, on some of the campuses, there is one group - only one - Hillel, which is trying to give Jewish students one space - just one - that would be clean of anti-Semitic, anti-Zionist and anti-Israeli propaganda. The three are not always the same thing. In recent years, differences between them have eroded. And now, there are those who seek to take away even this small space, so the exact same anti-Israeli opinions are voiced again - those already voiced over and over again everywhere else.”

Yemini also points out that activists and lecturers refuse to sanction opposition opinions, they silence any pro-Jewish or pro-Israel voices that even try to attend their events and they intimidate anyone who attempts to stand up to them.

For ‘boycott’ we should understand that this means physical censorship, intimidation and denial of a (pro-Jewish) right to free speech and association.  Visualize wife-beaters and proponents of choice demanding as their familial, cultural or democratic right, the right to abuse women; as well as unfettered access to the Women’s refuge.  Picture the pedophile who asserts the right to be given a role in looking after children.  Imagine radical right wingers seeking control of Democrat facilities at election time (USA) or permanent control of Labor Party and Trade Union’s communications media (UK).  No amount of dissimulation can conceal the rhetoric and sophistry that is meant to shut down debate in a secure environment.  That right to a secure environment is the purpose our universities serve.  It is under threat if you are the wrong kind of Jew.

These organizations represent the modern face of fascism.  They are against free speech; they are completely closed to any opinion that is at variance with their own opinion.  Intimidation and violence are what they use if the legal stuff fails.  They are truly, worthy successors to 1930’s, 1940’s (and 1950’s) bigotry and if they are not defeated outright they will return us to a similar age of darkness and despair.

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