Today's Free Speech Hypocrites: Bill Ackman and Larry Summers

In the latest "free speech" hypocrisy, Bill Ackman and Larry Summers attack the Jewish historian appointed to head Harvard's antisemitism task force.

https://fstube.net/w/8QPv8NN13CYSYvY3qtDXiS

Trump’s Iowa Victory Marks Total Establishment Collapse

I've never been a Trump supporter, but I'm disgusted at how the establishment is trying to interfere with the democratic process in his case. In this video, independent liberal Glenn Greenwald discusses Trump's unprecedented blowout victory in the Iowa caucuses and the establishment's inability to digest it:

https://fstube.net/w/vkFQ5YMbzvWEexZdcXCHUC

If you don't like the manipulations of corporatists and the surveillance state, consider supporting independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. I don't agree with him on every issue, but he's a very consistent defender of free speech and civil liberties. I also believe he's unbought, and that his campaign represents the best opportunity in the immediate future to break the grip of the corrupt Duopoly.

Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine | Announcement statement of Palestinian solidarity chapter formation

"The movement for justice in Palestine has become crucial to the defense of academic freedom."

This appeared in yesterday's Daily Pennsylvanian:

"We write to announce the formation of Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine (PFJP), a collective of those who support the teaching and research mission of the University, including faculty, lecturers, staff, and graduate employees. We have constituted ourselves in solidarity with the ongoing and ever-urgent struggles of Palestinians resisting occupation, warfare, and displacement. 

"The Israeli occupation of Palestine is one of the great moral and political issues of our time. At this moment, Palestinian life in Gaza is in dire crisis; the sheer scale of destruction demands an ethical response from all educators and concerned citizens. University trustees and administrators, under extreme pressure from private donors and right-wing federal legislators, are now subjecting teachers and students who are members of different Palestine solidarity movements to surveillance and, in some cases, to criminalization. Thus, for educators, the movement for justice in Palestine has become crucial to the defense of academic freedom, the preservation of open expression, and the integrity of scholarly inquiry and research in our universities. PFJP insists on the necessity of shared campus governance, in which administrators work with faculty, students, and staff to reject Islamophobic, anti-Arab, antisemitic, and other racist attacks and harassment by organizations both on and off campus. 

"Most recently, President Liz Magill, in response to hostile and uninformed questions from partisan members of Congress, resigned from her position after having failed to deny that there had been calls for “the genocide of Jewish people” on our campus. Nowhere did this happen. Rather than reject, or correct, the deliberate misreading of key events and terms, the President then pledged to “clarify and evaluate” acceptable speech on our campus, which indicates that our Open Expression guidelines will be rewritten. PFJP will join AAUP-Penn to defend our rights to unfettered scholarly research, debate, and critical thought and expression. We will also defend the right of our colleagues and students to protest and advocate for the non-violent principles enunciated by the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI). 

"We condemn all acts of terror and genocide. We decry any and all antisemitic actions as we do all threats directed against Palestinian students, faculty, and staff on our campus. For this reason, we are troubled by the one-sided rhetoric used in official University statements (many of which have since been deleted from Penn’s website) about campus life in the wake of the crisis in Palestine/Israel. Rather than work with faculty who have expertise on these issues, administrators have issued statements decrying antisemitic acts on our campus while ignoring the harassment of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students. Further, the University has paid little attention to violent threats directed at colleagues who have expressed solidarity with Palestinian life. Instead, the University has publicly aligned itself with the Anti-Defamation League and with the controversial definition of antisemitism issued by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). The University has refused to condemn the racist hate speech directed against faculty, staff, and students who are calling for justice for Palestine and an end to the catastrophic killing of tens of thousands of civilians. Administrative actions and inaction have served to exacerbate tensions on campus and enable the targeted harassment of anti-Zionist voices. PFJP will work to counter such tensions, and to inform, to counsel, and to bridge campus divides. 

"We have witnessed the Penn administration deny permission to a progressive Jewish student group, Penn Chavurah, to screen a documentary film critical of Zionism, Israelism, made by two Jewish filmmakers. It is a testament to the strength and commitment of our students that they screened the film and conducted a long, civil discussion after the viewing. The refusal of official permission to screen the film led to the resignation of the faculty director of the Middle East Center, who had agreed to sponsor the event. In this and other instances, such as the five-week Freedom School sit-in, our students are shouldering the work that should be central to the educational mission of our university. PFJP supports such activities and will develop similar educational initiatives. 

"PFJP is also deeply concerned about the inequality that structures the Penn administration’s formation of two separate task forces, one to investigate antisemitism, the other to investigate “the interconnectedness of antisemitism and other forms of hate, including Islamophobia.” In its insistence on seeing antisemitism and Islamophobia as discrete types of racism, the former more worthy of investigation than the latter, the University administration has not only ignored the long history that regards them as intertwined but has also further entrenched a false dichotomy between religions. In addition, this dichotomy ignores discrimination against Palestinians, Arabs, and other allies who are neither Muslim nor Jewish. More so, in numerous public statements, the University administration has inappropriately conflated opposition to Zionism with antisemitism. This is a scholarly and political error, and PFJP will work to counter its effects, especially in the context of suppressing speech and dissent during a time of war, mass killing, and displacement. 

"We refuse the false premise — and red herring — that the conflict is principally religious in nature (Jewish, Muslim, or non-Muslim), although religious and cultural differences undoubtedly play a critical role. Rather, the issues remain largely political (a matter of state violence, colonialism, anti-Palestinian racism, and genocide). Critiques of state policy and militarism, U.S., Israeli, or otherwise are not only valid but also imperative in this moment of humanitarian crisis. 

"PFJP pledges to join and support the work of Palestinian solidarity groups at Penn, in Philadelphia, and across the nation. We welcome the formation of the Penn Alumni for Palestine (PA4P), a collective of Penn graduates committed to supporting free speech on Penn’s campus and protecting students, faculty, and staff who are advocating for freedom and justice for Palestine. We applaud and support their campaign denouncing the recent “delegation” of Penn faculty’s visit to Israel. We join them in their urgent call to the Penn administration to clarify the nature of the delegation and its affiliation with the University. PFJP is committed to working in solidarity and close collaboration with PA4P’s efforts to advocate for Palestinian voices and those in solidarity with Palestinians on Penn’s campus and to demand broader, more informed, and equitable perspectives on Palestine. 

"Together, we call on all Penn faculty to uphold academic responsibility in their actions and decisions. We call on this administration or any future administration and the Board of Trustees to uphold the principles of academic freedom for all in our community. In the absence of institutional support, we will work to ensure the safety of all members of our campus community who stand in solidarity with movements for Palestinian justice. We will advocate for colleagues who fear discriminatory actions when they exercise their right to open expression as they speak for justice in Palestine. In doing so, we will renew our community and strengthen our commitment to the exchange of ideas and scholarship, which we understand to be the foundation of the University."

Penn Faculty for Justice in Palestine is a collective of faculty and teaching staff that has formed as part of a growing campus movement of over 80 Palestinian solidarity chapters nationally. Their email is pennfjp@proton.me. 

Without Free Speech, Today Is Just a Monday

A message from FIRE for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday:

Today, the vast majority of Americans agree with Martin Luther King Jr. that we should be judged not by the color of our skin but by the content of our character. So it’s easy to forget just how radical King’s ideas were in his time.

Unpopular ideas are often hated, as are the people who voice them. In 1966, Americans were nearly twice as likely to have a negative opinion of King. But many ideas deemed radical in the past become common sense in the future.

Free speech is the engine of that change. As King said in his famous "Mountaintop" speech:



King’s activism was a catalyst for significant shifts in American society — none of which would have happened without his First Amendment right to speak or the American people’s right to listen. That’s why, no matter what we might think of someone’s ideas today, we must defend the right to express them.

Today, FIRE continues to defend the rights of college professors to teach King’s words. But creating a culture of free speech takes more than legal advocacy. It takes tolerance for other views, intellectual humility, and principles over partisanship. 
 

If you don't support free speech for all, you don't support free speech at all.

Sadly, one response to King’s speech was violence, and it was an act of violence that claimed his life. This is a stark reminder of how transgressive his message was to many and the dangers of not respecting the right of others to express themselves. But those who sought to silence King only amplified his ideas, proving that they couldn’t combat his message of unity and equal rights with a better one.

In honor of King’s legacy, we salute free speech: the tool of radicals everywhere, and the right that makes change possible.

FIRE

Remembering David Bowie

 

 

 

“I saw David many times [..] and it was always great.”

Today would be rock star David Bowie’s 77th birthday, and Philadelphia will be holding a week-long celebration. What follows is one fan’s remembrance of him.

 

“Journalist Michael Kaplan interviewed former teenage groupie Lori Mattix, also known as Lori Maddox or Lori Lightning, for Thrillist about her relationship with David Bowie and other rock stars. She told him:

 

“'What I remember most about the E Club was Bowie. I met him when he was doing the Spiders from Mars tour. I had not yet turned 15 and he wanted to take me to his hotel room. I was still a virgin and terrified. He had hair the color of carrots, no eyebrows, and the whitest skin imaginable. I grabbed on to [DJ and club co-owner] Rodney Bingenheimer and said I was with him. So we all just hung out and talked. I had probably kissed boys by that point, but I wasn’t ready for David Bowie. Next time Bowie was in town, though, maybe five months later, I got a call at home from his bodyguard, a huge black guy named Stuey. He told me that David wanted to take me to dinner.

 

“'Obviously, I had no homework that night. Fuck homework. I wasn't spending a lot of time at school anyway. I said that I would like to go but that I wanted to bring my friend Sable. She was dying to fuck Bowie. I figured that she would sleep with him while I got to hang out and have fun. At the time, Sable and her sister Coral were both dating Iggy Pop, spending time at the home of Tony DeFries [then-manager of David Bowie and Iggy] up in Laurel Canyon. People there were so high all the time − Quaaludes, heroin, whatever. In the limo ride to the Rainbow, Sable said, If you touch David, I will kill you. I didn't think she was kidding.

 

"'We sat at this corner table in a private room. Stuey rolled enormous blunts. John Lennon and Yoko Ono stopped by to say hello. We were drinking cocktails and looking at menus when some crazy guy dove over the table and said to David, You flaming fucking faggot. Kill Bowie! Next thing you know, Stuey's got the guy pinned down and we're being escorted out a side door and back into the limo. Danny's Song was playing on the radio and Sable started singing to David: We ain't got honey, but I'm so in love with your money... He laughed so hard. He thought it was hilarious. We got to the Beverly Hilton and all went up to Bowie's enormous suite. I found myself more and more fascinated by him. He was beautiful and clever and poised. I was incredibly turned on. Bowie excused himself and left us in this big living room with white shag carpeting and floor-to-ceiling windows. Stuey brought out Champagne and hash.

 

"'We were getting stoned when, all of a sudden, the bedroom door opens and there is Bowie in this fucking beautiful red and orange and yellow kimono. He focused his famously two-colored eyes on me and said, Lori, darling, can you come with me? Sable looked like she wanted to murder me. He walked me through his bedroom and into the bathroom, where he dropped his kimono. He got into the tub, already filled with water, and asked me to wash him. Of course I did. Then he escorted me into the bedroom, gently took off my clothes, and de-virginized me.

 

"'Two hours later, I went to check on Sable. She was all fucked up in the living room, walking around, fogging up windows and writing, I want to fuck David. I told him what she was doing and that I felt so bad. Bowie said, Well, darling, bring her in. That night I lost my virginity and had my first threesome. The next morning, there was banging on the door and it was fucking [Bowie's wife] Angie. I was terrified of her. David said not to worry about it. They were already at the point where they had separate rooms. She probably knew he'd be in there with girls... or boys. He was totally bisexual. I saw David many times after that, for the next 10 years, and it was always great.’

 

“Kaplan: 'Still, you were a 15-year-old kid and he was an adult man with a lot of experience, and power, and drugs. You don’t see any problem with that now?'

 

“'I was an innocent girl, but the way it happened was so beautiful. I remember him looking like God and having me over a table. Who wouldn't want to lose their virginity to David Bowie?'

 

“Kaplan: 'But did it ever feel like there was something unusual about it?’

 

“’No. You need to understand that my life has never been normal. I have always been special. I always felt like the universe was taking care of me. [...]'

 

“Kaplan: 'Still, a lot of people would have a hard time with an underage girl having sex with rock stars.'

 

“'But you need to understand that I didn't think of myself as underage. I was a model. I was in love. That time of my life was so much fun. It was a period in which everything seemed possible. There was no AIDS and the potential consequences seemed to be light. Nobody was afraid of winding up on YouTube or TMZ. Now people are terrified. You can't even walk out your door without being photographed. It has become a different world. [...]

“'For me, now, I'm in the fashion business and look back very fondly on those years. I was really special. I knew it the night after I lost my virginity to David Bowie, when I went to see his concert at Long Beach Arena. It was still the Spiders from Mars tour, and, literally, the night that he became a star. But he had the spotlight shined on Lee Childers [Bowie's publicist], Sable, and I, sitting in the audience. That's when he thanked me for being there. Who cares what people said about me? I feel like I was very present. I saw the greatest music ever. I got to hang out with some of the most amazing, most beautiful, most charismatic men in the world. I went to concerts in limos with police escorts. Am I going to regret this? No.'”

 

Source: Source: Michael Kaplan: “I Lost My Virginity to David Bowie: Confessions of a '70s Groupie.” Thrillist, 11 March 2015

 

Excerpted in Positive Memories by T. Rivas, available for free download from uryourstory.

Standing Together Gets Started on New Academic Year

The Israeli peace and justice group Standing Together is jumping into action on its campus organizing now that the academic year has belatedly started. They sent out this message about it:

Happy New Year! The start of 2024 marks the opening of the academic year in universities and colleges in Israel - finally!
 

The academic year was supposed to begin in October but was delayed until this week due to the high number of students who were drafted into the reserves. For many people in Israel, university is the first place that Jews and Palestinians meet each other. This means that the campus is a great opportunity to build new partnerships with one another, and it can also be a hotbed for racism and discrimination against Palestinian students. Since the war broke out, there have been several cases of racism, discrimination, and violence on campus against Palestinian students. Despite the academic year being postponed, Standing Together’s student chapters have been working hard to organize and mobilize students across fourteen academic institutions towards solidarity and partnership on campus in the wake of increased hostility. 

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Our mission over the past few years is to grow progressive politics on campus, mobilizing students around a range of social justice issues. So far we have seen a lot of growth, and this coming year we plan to expand our reach even further. In addition to campaigns for improving student dorm conditions, access to public transportation, and participation in student unions, next week the Tel Aviv University student chapter will be the first to organize a sit-in demonstration against racism and discrimination on campus. Student chapters across the country have also been hanging signs around campus promoting Arab-Jewish solidarity.    These are incredibly difficult times for everyone, and our ability to foster solidarity in shared spaces is crucial in order to advance peace, equality, and social justice in Israel.

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