There's an excellent pro-West article on this in the June issue of Vanity Fair of all places. (Once upon a time, it might have appeared in Lingua Franca.) I wish the writer would have mentioned the incident where Summers signed off on a World Bank memo that argued some poor country somewhere was ripe for polluting.
Looks to me like Summers just wanted to push West out, albeit with plausible deniability. He's an intelligent guy after all. But after this episode, I really hate Summers and respect West much more. Within the larger picture, it's an instance of the left vs. the center right. (West campaigned for Bradley and Nader). Another recent example would be the Chicago congressional primary which Rahm Emannuel won. (I read that the bigwigs in the AFL-CIO supported him because he's more of insider.) In both instance, charges of anti-semitism were hurled by the center-right at the left.
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CB: Yes.
In the case of West/Summers, the first claim is by the left against the center-right for racism. Summers' assault on West's work was racist . Then the center-right tries to cover its racism by diverting discussion to "anti-semitism" . This is a specific expression of the Reaganite New Racist core doctrine of "reverse discrimination".
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Naomi Klein pointed the way toward an apropriate response: denounce anti-semitism where and when you see it, but also don't let them change the subject.
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CB: Exactly. Get back to the main subject: Summers' or Israeli racism.
"Anti-Semitism" is a diversionary tactic. Summers is in power. The Israeli regime is in power. They are not in an oppressed groups vis-a-vis West or the Palestinians. A necessary condition of a charge of anti-Semitism or racism is that it comes from an oppressed and powerless group. It is an inapposite usage with respect to Summers or Israel.
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You must continue to harp on the subject the slanderers want to steer the conversation away from. Other examples include, the Oscar campaign against Beautiful Mind - - a shitty movie anyway - and Sharon's declaration that he was defending "the Jewish people." This suggests that if you're against Sharon, you are anti-semitic. (Personally, I might just purchase some copies of that childrens story about the little boy who cried wolf and start sending them out to those who need a reminder. Also, I'm thinking about declaring jihad on the credit card companies (who failed to pass bankruptcy "reform" thanks to the abortion issue, btw). Any suggestions on books to read on the subject?
Oh, and here's a couple of great snippets from the Vanity Fair article:
"At West's and Summers's second meeting, after their rift became public, an apologetic Summers tried to make amends by saying he'd looked at Richard Posner's new book, _Public Intellectuals: A Study of Decline_, and been impressed to see that West's academic citations - the number of references other scholars have made to his writings - more than double Summers's own."
"Many academic stars, able to write their own ticket, become semi- mythical figures, scarcely glimpsed by the students. But West is the opposite. He lingers in the classroom and posts unheard-of office hours: two P.M. to nine P.M. "He does more teaching - I'm sure of it - than any other University Professor," says Anthony Appiah. West's Introduction to Afro-American Studies is the second largst course on campus (roughly 75 percent of those enrolled are not black). Registration was so high the fall of 2001 - nearly 600 students - that no lecture hall on campus could hold them all. "Thank God the Catholic parish put us in the basement, where they had about 700 seats," says West."
Peter