In original witch-hunts in history, there were no witches in the sense that there wasn't a single person in possession of satanic powers that witch hunters attributed to witches.
In contrast, in modern witch-hunts, for instance one hunting down members of the Communist Party, some of the targets of attacks were indeed "innocent" in the sense that they were not and had never been members of the Communist Party nor were they Communists in any other sense, but the majority of targets were indeed Communists in belief or membership or both, who were not "innocent" in the eyes of the witch hunters. We are not taking about "innocence" by the standard defined by Communists themselves or their sympathizers or the standard of criminal justice; we are talking about "innocence" as defined by witch-hunters and their vocal and silent supporters.
If you don't oppose attacks on those who are really "guilty" -- e.g., really being Communists in belief or membership or both -- in the sense defined by witch-hunters, you are not putting up any effective opposition to witch-hunts. Witch-hunters would agree with you: "Yes, let's fire only the really 'guilty' and spare the 'innocent.' We'll hold hearings and investigations."
The only way we can fight witch-hunters is to refuse to go along with their definitions of "guilt" and "innocence" and repel their attacks wholesale.
>Let's see where we are in a year. I'm perfectly willing to eat this
>crow if Churchill proves to be the Lexington and Concord of a
>genuine academic witch-hunt, and I certainly won't sit around and do
>nothing if and when one really starts. I'd hope those who disagree
>with me will have the same willingness to dine on crow.
You make it sound as if Ward Churchill were the first person under attack from the Right. Among the recent targets are <a href="http://www.aaup.org/newsroom/press/2003/amSF.htm">Sami Al-Arian</a>, <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi/4/747">Hamid Dabashi</a>, <a href="http://www.historiansagainstwar.org/freedom/genova.html">Nicholas</a> <a href="http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i32/32a05601.htm">De Genova</a>, <a href="http://chronicle.com/free/v51/i03/03a00801.htm">Tariq Ramadan</a>, and <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3282.shtml">Joseph Massad</a>, just to name a few.
It is Sami Al-Arian <http://www.freesamialarian.com/home.htm> who has so far suffered the worst fate among individual targets:
<blockquote>Jan. 14, 2005
Commemorating Dr. Sami Al-Arian's Birthday
The statement below will be read a Jan. 14 press conference, following a pre-trial hearing in the case of Dr. Sami Al-Arian:
From the family of Dr. Sami Al-Arian:
Today our father, Dr. Sami Al-Arian will spend his 47th birthday in a solitary confinement prison cell at Coleman Federal Penitentiary. Almost two years since his unjust arrest, our father has not yet been tried and continues to suffer under the most atrocious and inhumane conditions of confinement.
Since his arrest on February 20, 2003, our father has been kept in isolation, away from his family, friends, and supporters.
<http://www.freesamialarian.com/pressreleases/press75b></blockquote> -- Yoshie
* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> * Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/> * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * OSU-GESO: <http://www.osu-geso.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>