Steal This Radio w/Mitchel Cohen

In this week’s show, Mitchel Cohen interviews Dr. Joel Kovel concerning Palestine and Israel, and Kovel’s firing by Bard College.

Music by
- Billy Bragg, “Bush-War Blues”
- Bob Dylan, “Highway 61 Revisited”
- Jefferson Airplane, “Volunteers”
- Simone White, “We Used to Stand so Tall”

Please checkout further information at http://www.codz.org (CODZ is “Committee for an Open Discussion of Zionism”)

Leading Critic of Israel and Zionism Fired by Bard College

February 20, 2009

From: The Committee for Open Discussion of Zionism (CODZ)
Contact: Dennis James: 718 622 2596
Email: info@codz.org
For further information: http://www.codz.org

Professor Joel Kovel has taught at Bard College for 21 years. He was awarded a Presidential appointment to the Alger Hiss Chair of Social Studies in 1988. In February 2009, Professor Kovel was notified that his contract would not be renewed.

Why?

In recent years Dr. Kovel has become a leading critic of Israel. His book “Overcoming Zionism: and numerous articles call for a One State solution to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. His termination is prejudicial and motivated neither by intellectual nor pedagogic considerations. Rather, as Professor Kovel’s attached statement and the chronology of events show, the refusal to renew his contract after two decades was a political decision stemming principally from differences between Kovel and the Bard administration on the issue of Zionism and Israel. The political nature of Kovel’s termination was manifest in the discussion of the faculty evaluation committee.

Bard’s move comes after the University of Michigan Press censored Kovel’s book from its list in 2007, capitulating to an attack campaign by Zionist groups. Public outcry forced UMP to restore the book to its list, but they subsequently terminated their distribution contract with Pluto Press, Kovel’s publisher.

The Committee for an Open Discussion of Zionism considers the Bard administration’s actions an assault on academic freedom and free speech. In response, we have launched a national campaign demanding Professor Kovel’s reinstatement. The college’s actions with regard to the termination of Professor Joel Kovel are deplorable. We call on all who care about civil liberties and the right to free expression to let your voices be heard.

Contacts for Bard Administration:

Leon Botstein
president@bard.edu
President of the College;
Leon Levy Professor in the Arts and Humanities
Office of the President
Bard College
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504

Dimitri Papadimitrou
papadimitrou@bard.edu
Executive Vice President
Bard College
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504

******************************
STATEMENT OF JOEL KOVEL REGARDING HIS TERMINATION BY BARD COLLEGE

INTRODUCTION

In January, 1988, I was appointed to the Alger Hiss Chair of Social Studies at Bard College. As this was a Presidential appointment outside the tenure system, I have served under a series of contracts. The last of these was half-time (one semester on, one off, with half salary and full benefits year-round), effective from July 1, 2004, to June 30, 2009. On February 7 I received a letter from Michèle Dominy, Dean of the College, informing me that my contract would not be renewed this July 1 and that I would be moved to emeritus status as of that day. She wrote that this decision was made by President Botstein, Executive Vice-President Papadimitriou and herself, in consultation with members of the Faculty Senate.

This document argues that this termination of service is prejudicial and motivated neither by intellectual nor pedagogic considerations, but by political values, principally stemming from differences between myself and the Bard administration on the issue of Zionism. There is of course much more to my years at Bard than this, including another controversial subject, my work on ecosocialism (The Enemy of Nature). However, the evidence shows a pattern of conflict over Zionism only too reminiscent of innumerable instances in this country in which critics of Israel have been made to pay, often with their careers, for speaking out. In this instance the process culminated in a deeply flawed evaluation process which was used to justify my termination from the faculty.

A BRIEF CHRONOLOGY

• 2002. This was the first year I spoke out nationally about Zionism. In October, my article, “Zionism’s Bad Conscience,” appeared in Tikkun. Three or four weeks later, I was called into President Leon Botstein’s office, to be told my Hiss Chair was being taken away. Botstein said that he had nothing to do with the decision, then gratuitously added that it had not been made because of what I had just published about Zionism, and hastened to tell me that his views were diametrically opposed to mine.

• 2003. In January I published a second article in Tikkun, “Left-Anti-Semitism’ and the Special Status of Israel,” which argued for a One-State solution to the dilemmas posed by Zionism. A few weeks later, I received a phone call at home from Dean Dominy, who suggested, on behalf of Executive Vice-President Dimitri Papadimitriou, that perhaps it was time for me to retire from Bard. I declined. The result of this was an evaluation of my work and the inception, in 2004, of the current half-time contract as “Distinguished Professor.”

• 2006. I finished a draft of Overcoming Zionism. In January, while I was on a Fellowship in South Africa, President Botstein conducted a concert on campus of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, which he has directed since 2003. In a stunning departure from traditional concert practice, this began with the playing of the national anthems of the United States and Israel, after each of which the audience rose. Except for a handful of protestors, the event went unnoticed. I regarded it, however, as paradigmatic of the “special relationship” between the United States and Israel, one that has conduced to war in Iraq and massive human rights violations in Israel/Palestine. In December, I organized a public lecture at Bard (with Mazin Qumsiyeh) to call attention to this problem. Only one faculty person attended; the rest were students and community people; and the issue was never taken up on campus.

• 2007. “Overcoming Zionism” was now on the market, arguing for a One-State solution (and sharply criticizing, among others, Martin Peretz for a scurrilous op-ed piece against Rachel Corrie in the Los Angeles Times. Peretz is an official in AIPAC’s foreign policy think-tank, and at the time a Bard Trustee—though this latter fact was not pointed out in the book). In August, Overcoming Zionism was attacked by a watchdog Zionist group, StandWithUs/Michigan, which succeeded in pressuring the book’s United States distributor, the University of Michigan Press, to remove it from circulation. An extraordinary outpouring of support (650 letters to U of M) succeeded in reversing this frank episode of book-burning. I was disturbed, however, by the fact that, with the exception of two non-tenure track faculty, there was no support from Bard in response to this egregious violation of the speech rights of a professor. When I asked President Botstein in an email why this was so, he replied that he felt I was doing quite well at taking care of myself. This was irrelevant to the obligation of a college to protect its faculty from violation of their rights of free expression—all the more so, a college such as Bard with a carefully honed reputation as a bastion of academic freedom, and which indeed defines such freedom in its Faculty Handbook as a “right . . . to search for truth and understanding without interference and to disseminate his [sic] findings without intimidation.”

• 2008. Despite some reservations by the faculty, I was able to teach a course on Zionism. In my view, and that of most of the students, it was carried off successfully. Concurrently with this, another evaluation of my work at Bard was underway. Unlike previous evaluations, in 1996 and 2003, this was unenthusiastic. It was cited by Dean Dominy as instrumental in the decision to let me go.

IRREGULARITIES IN THE EVALUATION PROCESS

The evaluation committee included Professor Bruce Chilton, along with Professors Mark Lambert and Kyle Gann. Professor Chilton is a member of the Social Studies division, a distinguished theologian, and the campus’ Protestant chaplain. He is also active in Zionist circles, as chair of the Episcopal­Jewish Relations Committee in the Episcopal Diocese of New York, and a member of the Executive Committee of Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East. In this capacity he campaigns vigorously against Protestant efforts to promote divestment and sanctions against the State of Israel. Professor Chilton is particularly antagonistic to the Palestinian liberation theology movement, Sabeel, and its leader, Rev. Naim Ateek, also an Episcopal. This places him on the other side of the divide from myself, who attended a Sabeel Conference in Birmingham, MI, in October, 2008, as an invited speaker, where I met Rev. Ateek, and expressed admiration for his position. It should also be observed that Professor Chilton was active this past January in supporting Israeli aggression in Gaza. He may be heard on a national radio program on WABC, “Religion on the Line,” (January 11, 2009) arguing from the Doctrine of Just War and claiming that it is anti-Semitic to criticize Israel for human rights violations—this despite the fact that large numbers of Jews have been in the forefront of protesting Israeli crimes in Gaza.

Of course, Professor Chilton has the right to his opinion as an academic and a citizen. Nonetheless, the presence of such a voice on the committee whose conclusion was instrumental in the decision to remove me from the Bard faculty is highly dubious. Most definitely, Professor Chilton should have recused himself from this position. His failure to do so, combined with the fact that the decision as a whole was made in context of adversity between myself and the Bard administration, renders the process of my termination invalid as an instance of what the College’s Faculty Handbook calls a procedure “designed to evaluate each faculty member fairly and in good faith.”

I still strove to make my future at Bard the subject of reasonable negotiation. However, my efforts in this direction were rudely denied by Dean Dominy’s curt and dismissive letter (at the urging, according to her, of Vice-President Papadimitriou), which plainly asserted that there was nothing to talk over and that I was being handed a fait accompli. In view of this I considered myself left with no other option than the release of this document.

ON THE RESPONSIBILITY OF INTELLECTUALS

Bard has effectively crafted for itself an image as a bastion of progressive thought. Its efforts were crowned with being anointed in 2005 by the Princeton Review as the second-most progressive college in the United States, the journal adding that Bard “puts the ‘liberal’ in ‘liberal arts.’” But “liberal” thought evidently has its limits; and my work against Zionism has encountered these.

A fundamental principle of mine is that the educator must criticize the injustices of the world, whether or not this involves him or her in conflict with the powers that be. The systematic failure of the academy to do so plays no small role in the perpetuation of injustice and state violence. In no sphere of political action does this principle apply more vigorously than with the question of Zionism; and in no country is this issue more strategically important than in the United States, given the fact that United States support is necessary for Israel’s behavior. The worse this behavior, the more strenuous must be the suppression of criticism. I take the view, then, that Israeli human rights abuses are deeply engrained in a culture of impunity granted chiefly, though not exclusively, in the United States—which culture arises from suppression of debate and open inquiry within those institutions, such as colleges, whose social role it is to enlighten the public. Therefore, if the world stands outraged at Israeli aggression in Gaza, it should also be outraged at institutions in the United States that grant Israel impunity. In my view, Bard College is one such institution. It has suppressed critical engagement with Israel and Zionism, and therefore has enabled abuses such as have occurred and are occurring in Gaza. This notion is of course, not just descriptive of a place like Bard. It is also the context within which the critic of such a place and the Zionist ideology it enables becomes marginalized, and then removed.

For further information: www.codz.org; Joel Kovel, “Overcoming Impunity,” The Link, Jan-March 2009 (www.ameu.org).

To write the Bard administration:

President Leon Botstein <president@bard.edu>
Executive Vice-President Dimitri Papadimitriou <papadimitrou@bard.edu>

Interview with ecology writer Derrick Jensen - Part 2.

Derrick has authored 12 books on teaching, writing, the ecological crisis, and the pending collapse of civilization as we know it.

We expand the theme to address the ecological crisis and the responsibilities of enviro-activists. Along the way, many fine stories by both Derrick Jensen and Mitchel Cohen, some of them even relevant to the issues at hand.

Derrick Jensen’s website is http://www.DerrickJensen.org

An interview with ecology writer Derrick Jensen - Part 1.

Derrick has authored 12 books on teaching, writing, the ecological crisis, and the pending collapse of civilization as we know it.

On this show, Mitchel Cohen, Sandy Griffin and Shaune Velazquez question Derrick about his great book, “Walking on Water: Reading, Writing and Revolution,” and about non-oppressive ways of teaching — in public schools and in prisons. Also, Mitchel reports on GroundHog Day in New York City — and the politically astute GroundHog that bit the Mayor!

On Steal This Radio #71, we expand the theme to address the ecological crisis and the responsibilities of enviro-activists. Along the way, many fine stories by both Derrick Jensen and Mitchel Cohen, some of them even relevant to the issues at hand.

Derrick Jensen’s website is http://www.DerrickJensen.org

This week on Steal This Radio, Michael Ratner — the president of the Center for Constitutional RIghts — discusses the meaning and limitations of President Obama’s Executive Orders to close Guantanamo and to end torture by the U.S.

Mitchel Cohen reviews some of the more absurd items to appear in newspapers around the world, and also appeals to all listeners to contact officials involved in Leonard Peltier’s continued incarceration. Leonard has been in jail for more than 30 years and was severely beaten a week ago. For more information, go to http://www.whoisleonardpeltier.info/ .

And, we hear a terrific speech on Israel and Gaza by Chris Hedges, former NY Times Mid-East reporter. The speech was part of a symposium in NYC sponsored a few weeks ago by Revolution Books, at the NY Center for Ethical Culture.

Music:
- The Beatles, “Across the Universe”
- Judy Collins, “Thirsty Boots” (written by Eric Anderson)
- Peter, Paul & Mary, “Blowin’ in the Wind” (written by Bob Dylan)
- Jolie Rickman, “Beholden, Peace Lovin’ Nation”

Opening Theme:
- Mario Savio, Berkeley Free Speech Movement, 1964
- Jefferson Airplane, “Volunteers”

ABOUT LEONARD PELTIER

The below letter to the Bureau of Prisons was written on January
24 by Michael Kuzma. Please consider writing letters of concern to
the BOP as well!

—–
January 24, 2009

TO:
Mr. Harley G. Lappin, Director
Bureau of Prisons
320 First Street, N. W.
Washington, D. C. 20534

Re: Leonard Peltier, #89637-132

Dear Director Lappin:

I represent Mr. Leonard Peltier, #89637-132, who is currently
incarcerated at USP Canaan.

Mr. Peltier was recently transferred to USP Canaan from USP
Lewisburg. It is my understanding that Mr. Peltier was brutally
attacked on or about January 13, 2009. Mr. Peltier suffered a
possible concussion, the middle finger on his left hand may be
broken or is badly injured, he has a large bump near his right
wrist, the right side of his rib cage and chest are in a pain,
the right side of his chest is bruised as is his left knee, and he
is now having headaches, which Mr. Peltier believes are a direct
result of the January 13, 2009 beating.

It is clear that Mr. Peltier is in grave danger at USP Canaan.
By letters dated November 29, 2008 and December 15, 2008, I requested
that Mr. Peltier be transferred to the Turtle Mountain reservation
or, in the alternative, he be sent to Sandstone FCI or Oxford FCI.
As I noted in my letter of December 15, 2008, on August 20, 2008
Mr. Peltier sought to be transferred to Sandstone FCI or Oxford FCI.
A copy of the “Inmate Request to Staff” form dated August 20, 2008
that Mr. Peltier submitted to Case Manager Rothermel is once again
enclosed for your information.

Please advise me of what steps, if any, you have taken to ensure
Mr. Peltier’s safety. More specifically, I would like to know
what you have done to make sure that he is not attacked again in
the future. Also, has Mr. Peltier received appropriate medical
treatment for his injuries? If not, it is imperative that he sees
health care professionals without any further delay so that his
injuries may be properly treated.

I look forward to hearing from you shortly.

Thank you.

Yours truly,
Michael Kuzma, Esq.

Enclosures

cc: Mr. Henry J. Sadowski, Regional Counsel

–
Free All Political Prisoners!
nycjericho@gmail.com • www.jerichony.org
–

FROM CYNTHIA MCKINNEY
Today, I sent this message to the President:

“Mr. President, Justice delayed is justice denied. Leonard Peltier’s family report that he has been brutally beaten while in custody. Peltier should be released. He has become a global symbol of injustice and prison abuse. Imprisoned in the late 1970s, Peltier has never been given a fair trial. Yet he has been a model prisoner. In April he wrote: “Given the choice of lying down to die or standing up to live, we chose to live.” Let Peltier live. Please free Leonard Peltier now.”

It’s easy to send a message to President Obama to help him deliver on the hope and change he promised. Now is the time for us to act.

Unfortunately, the President has already signed an order allowing the continued bombing of Pakistan and his promised Afghanistan surge is underway. What that means for all of us is more war.

If we are to have true and lasting peace, it should be clear by now that we won’t get it by confining our electoral choices to only the ones presented to us in sophisticated, highly managed public relations campaigns. True and lasting peace will come only with justice. Freeing our political prisoners, including Peltier, Mumia, Sundiata, Mutulu, Imam El-Amin, our Puerto Rican political prisoners, and so many more is but a down payment on the path of justice and reconciliation that our country so sorely needs.

–

FROM LEONARD PELTIER’S SISTER
http://phillyimc.org/en/leonard-peltier-beaten-canaan-federal-penitentiary-pennsylvania

Dear LP Supporters

I am so OUTRAGED! My brother Leonard was severely beaten upon his arrival at the Canaan Federal Penitentiary. When he went into population after his transfer, some inmates assaulted him. The severity of his injuries is that he suffered numerous blows to his head and body, receiving a large bump on his head, possibly a concussion, and numerous bruises. Also, one of his fingers is swollen and discolored and he has pain in his chest and ribcage. There was blood everywhere from his injuries.

We feel that prison authorities at the prompting of the FBI orchestrated this attack and thus, we are greatly concerned about his safety. It may be that the attackers, whom Leonard did not even know, were offered reduced sentences for carrying out this heinous assault. Since Leonard is up for parole soon, this could be a conspiracy to discredit a model prisoner.

He was placed in solitary confinement and only given one meal, this is generally done when you won’t name your attackers; incidentally being only given one meal seriously jeopardizes his health because of his diabetes. Prison officials refuse to release any info to the family, but they need to hear from his supporters to protect his safety, as does President Obama. His attorneys are trying to get calls into him now.

This attack on LP comes on the heels of the FBI’s recent letter, prompting this attack by FBI supporters as an attempt to discredit LP as a model prisoner. Anyone who has been in the prison system knows well that if you refuse to name your attackers or file charges against them, then you lose your status as a victim and/or given points against your possible parole and labeled as a perpetrator.

It is not uncommon, in fact is quite common for the government to use Indian against Indian and they still operate under the old adage “it takes an Indian to catch an Indian.” In 1978, they made an attempt to assassinate him through another Indian man who was also at Marion prison with LP. But Standing Deer chose to reveal the plot to him instead of taking his life in exchange FOR A CHANCE AT FREEDOM. When Standing Deer was released in 2001, he joined the former Leonard Peltier Defense Committee as a board member. He also began to speak on Leonard’s behalf until his murder six years ago today. Prior to his murder, Standing Deer confided with close friends and associates that the same man who visited him in Marion to assassinate Peltier, had came to Houston, TX and told him that he had better stay away from Peltier and anything to do with him.

We are aware that currently, the FBI is actively seeking support for his continued imprisonment of Leonard Peltier and also also seeking support from Native People. So please be aware, and keep Leonard in your prayers. The FBI is apparently afraid of the impact we are having. If they will set him up to blemish his record just before a parole hearing, what will they do when it looks like his freedom will become a reality? We need to make sure that nothing happens to him again!

Please write the President, send it priority or registered mail. Email to Change.gov or email President Obama. Call your congressional representatives and write letters, not email, to them. Do what you can to get the word out to insure that LP is receiving adequate medical attention for his injuries.

I am asking you, supporters of Leonard and advocates of justice at this time to help. I don’t know what else to do. Please Help!

Thank you
Betty Peltier-Solano
Executive Coordinator
Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee

Also call and request Leonard be treated with dignity and respect.
Canaan Federal Prison
570-488-8000

If you call the prison on Leonard’s behalf you will need this register #:
LEONARD PELTIER # 89637-132

Pursuant to Betty Ann Peltier Solano’s letter about her brother,
let the Bureau of Prisons know that the public will hold them
accountable for the safety and well being of Leonard Peltier.

Warden Ronnie R. Holt
USP-Canaan
3057 Easton Turnpike
Waymart, PA 18472
Phone: 570-488-8000
Fax: 570-488-8130
E-mail address: CAA/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV

D. Scott Dodrill, Director
Northeast Regional Office
Federal Bureau of Prisons
2nd & Chesnut Streets., 7th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Phone: 215-521-7301
E-mail: NERO/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV

Harley G. Lappin, Director
Bureau of Prisons
U.S. Department of Justice
320 First Street, NW, Room 654
Washington, DC 20534
Phone: 202-307-3250
Fax: 202-514-6878

Ask President Obama to investigate this incident:

The Honorable Barack H. Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

This week, we reflect on the inauguration of
President Barack Obama and feature music from
independent anti-war artists who’ve sent us
they’re music to play over the air. Please send
in your songs to Mitchel Cohen <mitchelcohen@mindspring.com>  .

We also hear from a few already-established
artists, including 3 songs by Phil Ochs — one of
which is a demo-tape that Phil made back in the early 1970s. Here’s the line-up

- Bryan & Marcy, “American Zero”
- Joel Landy, “Running Out of Time”
- Jay Ottaway, “Yes We Can!”
- Nina Simone, “I Wish I Knew How it Feels to Be Free”
- John Lennon, “Gimme Some Truth”
- Andy McFarland, “Damn War”
- Simone White, “We Used to Stand So Tall”
- Phil Ochs, “I Ain’t a-Marchin’ Anymore”
- Phil Ochs, “Cross My Heart” – demo version
- Chris Ottaway, “Earl Song”
- Seize the Day, “United States”
- Robert Ross Band, “What are we Fighting for?”
- Phil Ochs, “One More Parade”
- Brent McMullen, “Desert Soldier”
- Sweet Honey in the Rock, “Wanting Memories”

Steal This Radio, in conjunction with
NYTalkRadio.net, is thinking about setting up a
LIVE cabaret one Saturday afternoon every few
months. Independent musicians, storytellers,
poets would come down to the studio in Tribeca,
Manhattan, and do one or two pieces LIVE over the
air. If you are interested in performing, helping
put this event together, or advertising, please
contact MitchelCohen@mindspring.com.  Thanx!

*** Celebrate the 80th Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
We listen to the full, unabridged speech by Dr. King: “Why I Oppose the War”

also:

- A New Year’s message from Lori Berenson

- The truth about the Somali Pirates, many of whom are actually fighting to prevent nuclear and toxic waste from being dumped in their waters!, and

- Mitchel Cohen’s thoughts on Israel’s bombardment of Gaza

Music by:
Stevie Wonder
Patti Smith
Jefferson Airplane

If you miss hearing this show live, you can hear it podcast after Tuesday, 24/7 at:
http://tribecaradio.net/wpradioblog/podcasts/stealthisradio/

Just click on the arrow (triangle) under the blurb, sit back and listen to Show  #67 — or, any of the other terrific editions of Steal This Radio, all listed and archived right there.

AND, please add comments!
Just click on the silly-named “No Comments” and say your piece!

This week’s show: The Uprising in Greece, with professor Costas Panayotakis and French legislator Olivier Beaubillard, AND

The assassination of Michael Connell, Karl Rove’s elections “fixer”

Don’t miss this show, only over the magic of the internet! Friday, at 11 a.m.

Marxist economist Richard Wolff explores the underpinnings of the
crisis the capitalist system is facing today.

Tune in to STEAL THIS RADIO, hosted by Mitchel Cohen and broadcast
only over the internet at http://NYTalkRadio.net (Click on “Listen
Live”) on Friday, December 19th at 11 am, and repeated Tuesday,
December 23rd at 8 pm.

After that, the show will be archived (podcast) at
http://tribecaradio.net/wpradioblog/podcasts/stealthisradio/, where
you can hear all 65 shows of Steal This Radio for the last 1-1/2
years any time you’d like. (Be sure to listen to the previous two
shows as well. On #63, The IndyPendent’s Arun Gupta fills in for
Mitchel and picks up on similar themes; and in #64, Mitchel Cohen
discusses the workers’ takeover of a factory in Chicago, the uprising
in Greece, and excoriates Obama’s pick to head his Economic Council,
Lawrence Summers.

Rick Wolff explains that real wages have not increased in the U.S. in
almost 40 years, and that the capitalist class offered easy credit to
compensate for that, which was a key factor in leading to the current
crash. You can also read one of Prof. Wolff’s recent articles online
at http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/wolff260908.html .

Music (yes, these all are apropos, if in non-linear ways):
Kurt Cobain & Nirvana: “All Apologies”
Courtney Love, “Gutless”
Joni Mitchell, “Raised on Robbery
Lauryn Hill, “Lost Ones”

and our regular intro:
Mario Savio, at Berkeley 1964
Jefferson Airplane, “Volunteers”

Mitch Cohen hosts Steal This Radio. This week he discusses various issues related to politics and the environment.

Arun Gupta fills in for Mitch Cohen and his first interview is with Nicholas Powers, they talk about the India-Pakistan crisis, particularly Western perceptions of the threat of nuclear conflict. The second interview is Max Wolff, an economist. They have a freewheeling discussion about the economy.