Re: The De Genova affair

["David Quarter" <davidquarter@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 I agree with Louis on this one. I think the issue is the right to
speak one's mind, free from harassment and from media (and other
thought police ) scrutiny. Comments like this are something the
"free press" ideologue love to turn into national issues. It's their
way of marginalizing dissent (and dissenters). And the fact that it
has already prompted the President of Columbia to release a
statement critical of the guy's remark suggests that it won't die
down soon -- and, as Louis pointed out, is likely to result in the
dude by canned by the university.

DOQ



> Since De Genova's statements could have been predicted to capture 100%
> of the attention given to the teach-in, knowingly giving him the
> opportunity to make them would have been a mistake, and saying nothing
> to disavow them would have been taken as endorsement of them. So I have
> to agree with Eric Foner on this one. As much as I sympathize with the
> analysis and sentiment behind what De Genova said, I think it is just
> plain idiotic to have said what he did if the teach-in was meant to help
> shift opinions about the war.
>
> How different is Foner's logic from Louis': "We have to isolate such
> opinions in the movement because they interfere with the deadly serious
> goals we have set for ourselves, namely the mass mobilization of the
> people of the world against imperialist war."
>
> Stuart
>
>