<< First a group of LBO participants proclaimed the rights of Nazis to take to
the streets unmolested, to speak, to teach, and to hold tenured
professorships. They addressed their scathing attacks not against the Nazis,
but toward those -- myself included -- who have chosen to support the demands
of and to participate in the mass anti-Nazi movement (such as SOS Rascisme's
mobilizations against Professor Robert Faurisson in France, anti-KKK actions
throughout the United States, and so forth).
>>
At the risk of rekindling this debate, this misrepresents those of us who maintain the ACLU civil libertarian position I do. We don't think Nazis should be able to take to the streets unmolested. We hope for, and many of us participate in, anti-fascist and anti-racist counterdemonstartions when they do take to the streets. In addition to beinga long time ACLU member, I am an equally long-time Anti-Racist Action member. And I was in the CWP. My comrades were murdered by the Nazis and the Klan on national television. I think, now, that it was unwise, even if it might have been morally justified, to defend ourselves against the murderous attacks by armed force--it made us look crazy,a nd who kj\nows, maybe we were--but I think it was and remains both morally right and practically necessary to make sure the fascists know they are not welcome.
All that is different from calling in the cops to shut them up just for talking and to make their speech a crime. You don't have to be Einstein to see the difference. As Brandeis said, in the ordinary course of events, the remedy for speech is more speech, not the cops.
As for tenure, the whole point of it is to protect people with ideas that would get them fired. I agree, of course, that Faurrison and his ilk shouldn't have gotten tenure. (Though he _was_ fired, wasn't he?) The place to catch the Faurrisons of the world is before tenure. The ones you don't catch, you write off to mistakes and the cost of whatever academic freedom there is. But you also don't have to be Einstein to see who's gonna get fired if you start firing tenured people because their ideas are unacceptable to those strong and organized enough to mount a campaign. I was fired--denied tenure--because I was too red for the Ohio State philosophy dept. So I've been there.
--jks