Re: Julio Pino...

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

> Louis,
>
> I'm a journalism student over at Kent State University. I recently had the
> displeasure of listening to some irresponsible lectures and reading some
> rather disturbing extremist literature authored by Julio Pino, a former
> member of the Marxism mailing list. I was able to find a reference to his
> distasteful departure at
> http://www.mail-archive.com/marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/msg11975.html. I'm
> currently writing an article on why he should be dismissed from Kent State
> and was hoping you'd be able to offer some insight into that departure
> and/or anything else that may be of use.
>
> Thanks for you time,
> Justin Heiser

Justin, Julio Pino was obviously joking. He has about as much power to
declare a 'fatwa' against me as I have to walk on water.

I would strongly urge you to stop trying to get professors fired. This
alarming tendency seems related to the Patriot Act and the general
crackdown on dissent in the USA. Since Julio has been an open defender of
Islamic radicalism, there is no doubt that many people would like to see
him silenced. This would be a huge mistake. It is extremely important that
young people like yourself be exposed to ideas that you don't necessarily
agree with. When leftwing radicals were driven out of the academy in the
1950s, it left a terrible gap in the same way that the blacklist made
Hollywood a less interesting place.

As far as "extremist literature" is concerned, I can only say that we need
as much of it as we can get in these days. If by this you mean literature
that goes to the heart of the crisis of American society. I see that you
are an avid conservative from your article on:

http://theezine.net/articles/59/New-Conservative-News-Site.html

I myself was a conservative back in 1960. As a member of the Young
Americans for Freedom, I backed Barry Goldwater's candidacy. As soon as I
got to college in 1961, I became a liberal because conservatism began to
strike me as hostile to civil rights. Six years later I became a socialist
after seeing the US military begin to devastate a poor peasant country that
was simply seeking the right to determine its own destiny.

Now you are free to develop your own ideology. College is the ideal place
for such development. I would only hope that you restrain your appetite for
putting a gag on dissident views. That was typical of Nazi Germany and
Stalin's Russia, as you may or may not be aware. With so much criticism of
American society, there is one native tradition that both of us should be
able to agree on and that is free speech.

All the best,


Louis Proyect, Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org


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