Battleground Sproul
Right-wing agitator David Horowitz sets the bait, a leftist group mobilizes, and the stage is set for a rowdy week on the Cal campus.
Perhaps more than anyone else in the world, David Horowitz — born ideologue, serial founder of organizations — confirms the old cliché that the extreme left isn't all that far from the extreme right. After all, in his twenties, Horowitz was a self-identified Marxist, a Black Panther ally, and editor of Berkeley leftist magazine Ramparts. Today he's a Los Angeles-based right-wing pundit best known for his rabble-rousing David Horowitz Freedom Center. Three decades ago, he agitated the conservative status quo; today, he gooses the left with equal enthusiasm. Much like local talk-radio propagandist Michael Savage, Horowitz shifted his politics 180 degrees. But his tactics didn't change that much.
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In addition to running FrontPage Magazine, his online publication, Horowitz spends his time fomenting his ideologies on university campuses, mainly through Freedom Center satellite groups Students for Academic Freedom and the Individual Rights Foundation. His latest liberal-baiting ploy, Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, runs October 22 to 26 on campuses throughout the nation, including his alma mater UC Berkeley.
The expression "Islamo-fascist" — a rhetorical staple of conservative pundits, Bush Administration operatives, and right-wing talk-radio — is itself highly divisive. Critics charge that it is inaccurate, and that it demeans Islam by improperly associating it with Europe's fascist movements. But Horowitz loves a controversy. The week — ostensibly a demonstration against the oppression of women in Islam — is largely, Horowitz admitted, about challenging leftist codes of "political correctness" that dominate university discourse. "I have to say that the left, which dominates the public square on campuses, is not liberal," he said in a phone interview. "It does not really want to hear all sides of the argument. The left holds teach-ins that are all one-sided. I think the students it hurts the most are left and liberal students, because the conservative kids have other sources."
Horowitz smells a conspiracy on the nation's campuses. "The left has all these political activists pretending to be professors at the universities, who help them," he argued. "A large section of the liberal-arts community are really just political operatives."
The inspiration for Horowitz's latest stunt involved a controversy at New York's Pace University last spring. Michael Abdurakhmanov, who ran the campus chapter of Jewish student group Hillel, tried to organize a campus screening of Obsession, a documentary subtitled "Radical Islam's War Against the West." Although they later backed down, Pace administrators initially tried to bar the screening at the behest of the Muslim Student Association, whose members said the film maligned Islam.
When Horowitz learned of this, he was incensed. Decrying the Muslim Student Association as "a creation of the Muslim brotherhood and Hamas," he proclaimed April 19 "Islamo-Fascist Awareness Day" and vowed to show Obsession on a hundred college campuses. The screenings, he said, actually took place at 96 colleges, 3 high schools, and 2 military bases, and the turnout was strong enough to warrant something bigger.
That something was Islamo-Facism Awareness Week, which Horowitz is bankrolling with private donations. But he's passed off the organizational duties to individual student groups, including the Berkeley College Republicans, who will oversee events at Cal. Planned activities include a keynote speaker yet to be announced, a movie screening, and a noon rally on Sproul Plaza.
Ross Lingenfelder, president of the student GOP group, made no bones about Horowitz's reputation as an agitator. "We're not representing him, we're representing an idea," he said. "I've never spoken with him, so I can't comment on his temperament. But in terms of the events we're presenting, I have complete and full confidence in them."
The planned activities have generated a stir among local activists. Over the past two weeks, the San Francisco chapter of a group called World Can't Wait — Drive Out the Bush Regime! sent out a spate of e-mails calling for resistance to "David Horowitz and his army of college Republicans."
On September 30, the organization held its first meeting at UC Berkeley's Dwinelle Hall in an attempt to counter the conservative rally. Roughly twenty people showed, including four high school students, Cal Students for Justice in Palestine member Yaman Salahi, a few people from San Francisco State University, a couple of UC Davis students, employees of Revolution Books, a few older drifters who didn't appear to have anything to do with the university, and Lingenfelder, who'd been dispatched as a envoy for the College Republicans.
The two-hour meeting yielded no definitive plans. Five facilitators sat in folding chairs up front, including Salahi. "We're trying to get people to start wearing orange, orange being the color that people wear in Guantanamo when they're being tortured," said one World Can't Wait facilitator.
Someone countered that orange won't work because it's also the color of the Israeli settlers and the Bourgeoisie Revolution in Europe. The debate shifted to performance art. Should the protesters make a scene to draw attention? Should they include Bush masks and chains akin to the ones used in a recent "Walk for Life" counter-protest? "The problem with chains is that the Bush administration will counter by pointing out how women are treated under Islamo-facism," someone said. Then again, chains tend to attract television cameras. When a World Can't Wait! Bush impersonator showed up at "Walk for Life" with a line of women chained behind him, everyone landed on Fox News, said one meeting attendee.
Looking clean-cut in his wire-rimmed glasses and polo shirt, Lingenfelder wasn't exactly undercover, but he didn't announce his affiliation either. "I didn't recognize anyone there except Yaman," Lingenfelder said, adding that he was "pleasantly surprised and thankful" that Salahi refrained from ratting him out. "I thought it was courteous of him."
Lingenfelder assured that any trepidation he had coming into the meeting evaporated pretty quickly. "I thought it didn't accomplish much, which is good for us," he said.
Salahi got wind of Horowitz' plans after receiving a forwarded Freedom Center e-mail. The Cal student blamed the unproductive meeting on a lack of campus representation. He said the World Can't Wait activists, whose ties to UC Berkeley are tenuous at best, wanted to come in and impose their own plan of attack. "I didn't think they had the right approach," Salahi said, but added that he thinks their intentions were honorable.
His biggest fear is that the counter-protesters' antics will muddy their message and score a victory for Horowitz. "If the protesters disrupt the events or prevent them from going forward, coverage and commentary would revolve around whether or not the Republicans students' free speech rights were violated," Salahi assured.
Indeed, a free speech debate is precisely what Horowitz wants. "The way the political battle is fought is the way the left fights everything," he said. "The left is gonna claim that we're attacking Muslims. If you disagree with someone on the left, you're a racist, you're a sexist, you're a homophobe, or you're an Islamo-phobe. The left always likes to get you in that pigeonhole."
To Salahi, Horowitz' repeated lip service to academic freedom is simply a way of dissembling his real intentions. "When they talk about 'academic freedom' they're really talking about intimidating academics with anti-imperialist views out of the university," he said. Citing Horowitz' most recent book, The Professors, Salahi concluded that the author is, in fact, doing everything he can to undermine critical thinking on campus: "You really wonder why he's come up with the list of the 101 'most dangerous professors in the United States' if he's so concerned about academic freedom."
Horowitz gets a kick out of this sort of debate, and does everything in his power to perpetuate it. "I know that drives the left crazy — to hear 'academic freedom' and 'David Horowitz' in the same sentence," the former Berkeley leftist said, barely able to suppress a giggle.
Editor's Note: Comments are not edited or fact-checked by the East Bay Express.
I like the way you wrote the entire article, focusing in detail on David Horowitz's political background, calling his proposals "stunts" and so forth, yet conveniently gloss over the background of his opponents, "World Can't Wait - Drive Out the Bush Regime." As anybody who follows Bay Area politics knows, World Can't Wait is a radical Maoist cult, the most extreme far-left of the communist movement. They're also completely off their rockers. I've met and talked with several of them over the last few years, and I have never met a single sane WCW member. The description of their Dwinelle meeting was pretty accurate, though: they always make grandiose announcements about this or that "direct action" or planning session or whatever, which inevitably fizzle when nobody new shows up -- only the same tired hacks. And as for "stunts" -- World Can't Wait is nothing but one big stunt. The author's bias is leaking through, disparaging Horowitz's action but granting credence to his opponents' actions. David Horowitz really does have these people's number, and his characterizations of his opponents are usually spot-on. Lastly, your analysis of "Islamo-fascism" is way off target: the term was coined in 1990 (11 years before Bush #2 even took office) by a left-wing journalist, and referred to the tendency of Muslim governments to inevitably assume a fascist structure. And that theory has proven to be correct over and over. The term has acquired a new meaning more recently, referring now to the repressive and totalitarian nature of Islamic extremism -- again, a notion which has proven accurate. Horowitz is actually understating the case about the Marxist full-nelson on academia; just about every single liberal arts department in every university in the country is 100% dominated by postmodern/deconstructionist/Marxist theory. If there are any conservative professors, they keep their heads down and their mouths shut. The debate should be about whether or not you want Marxist indoctrination in schools to continue, not whether or not it's already been happening -- a fact that is pretty much self-evident. The sight of the few remaining Cal liberal arts students is now pitiable, parroting their professors' radical lingo and imagining themselves to be original and relevant. I've always wondered how people can be smart enough to get into Cal, yet dumb enough to be bamboozled by washed-up old revolutionaries into endlessly re-enacting the same old failed strategies of the Red Old Days.
Comment by Anonymous - October 10, 2007 @ 09:48 PM
Our author had it right back in 1987 but nobody would publish him until now. We finally did. SAN FRANCISCO – THE PALESTINE CONSPIRACY, a genre spy-thriller by Robert Spirko, is now in its second printing and was fourth on the best-seller list at Atlasbooks, Inc., a national book distributor. Ingram Books is the worldwide distributor. Spirko, a financial and geo-political analyst who has given his advice to the National Security Council, turned his attention to the Middle East in 1987, after discovering several common elements related to the Middle East question. He wrote down his analysis, and when he was finished, he not only had a solution to the quagmire, he had a story to tell. THE PALESTINE CONSPIRACY foreshadowed the Persian Gulf War by three years, and the resultant Iraq War followed by the Sept. 11 attack. Spirko states, "The chief threat in the region I see right now is the threat to Saudi Arabia by Iran and Al Qaeda. If Al Qaeda were to overthrow the present royal family in Saudi Arabia, cutting off the oil supply to western nations including Japan and China, it would bring down entire world economies. France and Germany would be begging us to go to war to retake those oil wells. It would be World War III." “If such a scenario were to occur,” he reiterates, “France and the European economies would collapse in a matter of weeks.” “Another looming concern is Iran which wants to develop nuclear weapons to couple with their Shahab 4, 5 & 6 missiles on the drawing boards which have a range to hit London, Israel, all of Europe, southern Russia and the United States. Also, the Iranian government has said it initially had 300 centrifuges to enrich uranium to weapons grade material. They have increased that to 3,000. They will soon increase that again to 10,000 centrifuges,” Spirko says. “They have the additional capacity to add another 20,000 centrifuges in mass production techniques that will enable them to produce at least seven nuclear bombs in about a year. Where did they get these centrifuges?” Spirko answers that question by stating an Arab proverb, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” “Simply put,” Spirko explains, “they probably got them from Saddam Hussein before the Iraq War started and were probably smuggled out of Iraq and into Iran just like he did his air force of 600 Soviet fighter planes. In other words, he gave them to his former enemy rather than let them be destroyed on the ground.” “Why would he have done any differently with the 30,000 centrifuges he supposedly had on a decentralized basis inside Iraq before the war?” Spirko asks. “Isn’t it strange that Iran could come up with a nuclear weapons program in about six months to a year when it took the United States six years under the Manhattan Project with 5,000 of the world’s most brilliant scientists like Robert Oppenheimer, Niels Bohr, Seaborg, Einstein, Fermi, and others working on it?” Another point Spirko makes on the Mideast is that, “It is time for the Israelis and Palestinians to return to the Camp David Peace Talks or some other place, resume where they left off and "freeze in place" the already-agreed-upon negotiating points,” Spirko says. "And, it's all related to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict which I said back in 1987 was the crux of my book. It always has been, and always will be until it's settled,” Spirko says. “That linkage is exactly what Osama Bin Laden stated in a taped message aired the weekend before the election in November of 2004. Whether you believe him or not is beside the point. That's what's he told us, and we'd better take that into account." The novel is a mass market paperback produced by Olive Grove Publishers, and can be purchased at area bookstores through Ingram Book Group, New Leaf Distribution, and Baker and Taylor, priced at $14.99, ISBN 0-9752508-0-9. THE PALESTINE CONSPIRACY can also be ordered on the web at www.atlasbooks.com, or email orders from: order@bookmasters.com, or from Barnes & Nobles, Border's, Dalton's, efollett.com & Follett bookstores at colleges and universities, WaldenBooks, Amazon.com, Walmart.com, Target.com and other popular retail bookstores. Or, readers and store managers can call 1-800-BOOKLOG, or 800-247-6553 direct, to order. -30- SAN FRANCISCO - When it comes to spy novels and Middle East intrigue, after 16 spell-binding years, the gripping story behind the Middle East quagmire - its issues of nuclear weapons and the quest for a Palestinian State - is finally being told in a ground-breaking new book entitled, THE PALESTINE CONSPIRACY. Author Robert Spirko created the work in such a way that every reader in the world would understand all the intricate issues in the Middle East and how close the region actually came to the brink of nuclear Armageddon. THE PALESTINE CONSPIRACY, a genre spy-thriller by Robert Spirko, was fourth on the best-seller list at Atlasbooks, Inc., a national book distributor. Ingram Books is the worldwide distributor. Mr. Spirko has a unique way of holding the reader in his grasp as the plot of THE PALESTINE CONSPIRACY unfolds. He literally takes you from your armchair and immerses you into the lifestyle of the Bedouin, the Israeli, the PLO and the mindset of the Middle-Easterner. THE PALESTINE CONSPIRACY is not just another spy-novel; it is the quintessential spy-thriller because it forces the reader to understand how both sides "think" and why that thinking ultimately led to repeated wars in the Middle East. Spirko, a financial and geo-political analyst, turned his attention to the Middle East in 1987, after discovering several common elements related to the Middle East question. In working for peace, and after several frustrating years, he put down his analysis in writing and when he was finished, he not only had a solution to the quagmire, he had a story to tell. But, nobody was listening. Today, all that has changed, thanks to Olive Grove Publishers who decided to give his book a chance. When the Palestinian question came to a festering crisis in 1990, he had already predicted several of the actual events before they occurred. For instance, Spirko predicted the Intifada and Persian Gulf War, missing the actual invasion date of Kuwait by only one week. He did this through spectacular supposition, analysis and prediction based on what he was "seeing" in the region. When Spirko typed his manuscript, he set the work to fiction, about what he thought might occur soon in the Middle East involving weapons of mass destruction, nuclear proliferation, the Palestinian uprising before it occurred, and how the Palestinian question begged to be answered, little did he realize that every event he described in the book would eventually transpire. His story of what was really happening behind the scenes in the Middle East is truly astounding and remarkable, and his contribution to the Camp David Peace Talks in 2000, formulated a solution to the Jerusalem question. When the BBC got wind of it, they termed it "as nothing short of brilliant" - Jerusalem becoming the simultaneous capitals of both Israel and Palestine in congruous or concentric zones. Spirko originally copyrighted his book on October 20, 1987, in the U. S. Library of Congress where intelligence agencies reviewed his work. Today, finally, somebody is listening. Spirko feels that both sides must return to the Camp David Peace Talks and resume where they left off and "freeze in place" the already-agreed-upon negotiating points. “It's like a marriage where both spouses storm away mad in an argument. They don't divorce and then try to resume their relationship, they come back together, settle their differences, and resume their marriage. It must be the same for the Middle East Peace talks," Spirko says. The story begins in Beirut, Lebanon, once a great financial capital of the Middle East, which lay in ruin, having been systematically blasted to rubble during 20 years of inexhaustible civil war and siege by Israel, the PLO, Hamas, Hezbollah and Lebanese factions. Soon, the quest for a Palestinian State would be framed by these events; namely, the invasion of Kuwait by a neighboring rogue state, Iraq, with Saddam Hussein's goal of seeking nuclear parity with Israel. In Mr. Spirko's story, Rick Waite, a forgotten UPI correspondent, and Adrienne Waters, a Pulitzer Prize journalist from the London Times, meet-up in Beirut with a PLO operative named Ahmed, who discovers a secret intelligence memo about a secret plan to destroy Israel. In the ensuing chase to find the answer to this secret communiqué and what it means, a deadly race against time begins as the unlikely trio tries to halt the launch of a secret weapon from a hidden PLO base camp in the Syrian Desert. U. S. and British intelligence operatives have their own agenda, and attempt to stop whatever is going on to save the entire region from a nuclear holocaust. Spirko weaves a tale of chilling duplicity and thrilling action, as the characters evade and devise a method to announce the discovery of nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles to the rest of the world - all while United Nations' delegates bicker endlessly. An executive at BookMasters, Inc., says, "The book is absolutely stunning in the manner in which Mr. Spirko, tells his tale. He is truly a master as an analyst, and it's totally unlike anything else we've ever read in a spy-thriller. It keeps you turning pages and won't let you quit - until the very end. And, what an ending it is! If you crave twisting plots, thrilling spy-action and intriguing characters, then this is the book for you." Spirko, whose own background includes a stint in the U. S. Air Force and has given his advice to the National Security Council in Washington, D. C., has a degree in journalism and knows first-hand about the newsroom and what it takes to be an intelligence field agent. His knowledge of the trade makes the story real, daunting, and strikingly similar to "The Year of Living Dangerously." "THE PALESTINE CONSPIRACY drips with reality," quips a book reviewer from Olive Grove Publishers. "If books were rated by Siskel & Roeper, it would be given a two-thumbs up." Not since, Casablanca, do characters as earthy as Rick Waite, or as beautifully mysterious as London Times reporter, Adrienne Waters, or as desperate as PLO operative, Ahmed, bring fresh characters to a story that will be remembered by readers for a long time. The novel is a mass market paperback produced by Olive Grove Publishers, and can be purchased at area bookstores through Ingram Book Group, New Leaf Distribution, and Baker and Taylor, priced at $14.99, ISBN 0-9752508-0-9. THE PALESTINE CONSPIRACY can also be ordered on the web at www.atlasbooks.com, or email orders from: order@bookmasters.com, or from Barnes & Nobles, Border's, Dalton's, efollett.com & Follett bookstores at colleges and universities, WaldenBooks, Amazon.com, Walmart.com, Target.com and other popular retail bookstores. Or, readers and store managers can call 1-800-BOOKLOG, or 800-247-6553 direct, to order. For readers who want to know what was really going on in the Middle East prior to the Persian Gulf War, Sept. 11th, and Iraq War, THE PALESTINE CONSPIRACY, is a must read. -30-
Comment by Anonymous - October 10, 2007 @ 02:20 PM