On Apr 24, 2009, at 9:35 AM, Carrol Cox wrote:
> There is no way I can read the text in most blogs except by copying it
> into a Word file and changing the font. When one expands font size
> on a
> blog, the text runs off the screen, which makes careful reading almost
> impossible.
>
> Could you put a little of this information on the list?
Sure. I just tried enlarging the type with my browser, and the lines turn over properly, rather than running off the screen.
The site organized by some of Robinson's students is at:
Doug
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Robinson follow-up
A follow-up to yesterday’s post about the war on William Robinson. Robinson said on my radio show yesterday that the ADL’s Abe Foxman came to Santa Barbara to organize a meeting of sympathetic profs to encourage the university to go after Robinson. This is clearly an attempt by a very well-financed organization (the ADL’s budget is some $50 million a year) to restrict political speech and academic freedom.
Some of the comments here and on Facebook suggest that somehow Robinson “crossed a line” by likening Israeli behavior in Gaza to the Nazis. On the show, Robinson said that he drew a comparison between the siege of Warsaw and the siege of Gaza—sealing off both areas created a desperate situation of disease and famine. This is undeniably true, though it might make some people uncomfortable to hear this.
I shouldn’t have to say this, because it does involve a ritual of deference to imperial power, but such is hegemony. I’ve always been very careful to draw a distinction between anti-Zionism and anti- Semitism. I’ve been very critical of some of the awful stuff that goes out over WBAI’s airwaves, and did a long interview with my friend Joel Schalit on the anti-Semitism behind many left critiques of Israel). I have some cred in this area. Robinson’s critique has nothing to do with anti-Semitism, and everything to do with a critique of brutality.
I’ll be posting the show to my radio archive later today.
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The war on William Robinson
For daring to draw similarities between Israeli behavior in Gaza and the Nazis, the ADL and the rest of the gang of intellectual policemen are at war with William Robinson, a sociology prof at UCSB. I met Robinson at a conference in Amsterdam in 2002 and interviewed him for my radio show; the archived version is here. While I have some differences with him on the issue of “globalization,” he’s a serious scholar and a likable guy, and he deserves support. Here’s an article from Inside Higher Ed on the case. And site organized by some of Robinson’s students in his support. Sign the petition and send a letter to the pig administration!