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Harsh remarks on 9-11 victims is costing a professor his job in America
The National Public Radio (NPR)�s �Morning Edition� had a segment on a little known Professor by the name Ward Churchill who is scheduled to take part in a panel discussion at Hamilton College in upstate New York on February 3, 2005. But it does not seem like the professor is going to join the panel discussion because many students are protesting his stance on 9-11. Prof. Ward Churchill is professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is a prolific writer. Among his many books are Fantasies of the Master Race, Struggle for the Land, Indians Are Us?, Since the Predator Came, Draconian Measures: History of FBI Political Repression and A Little Matter of Genocide. Prof. Churchill�s latest foray into public policy controversy over 9-11 stems from his remarks that Sept. 11 terrorist attacks against America were justified and those who died in the World Trade Center were not innocent victims; this has ignited protests in an upstate New York college campus where he was scheduled to speak on February 3, 2005. Prof. Churchill�s view coincides somewhat with that of Prof. Noam Chomsky. Both hold the opinion that corporate America and the government policy towards Middle East and other Third World nations have contributed to 9-11 debacle. In an article entitled �Some People Push Back,� written after the bombings of the Twin Tower in New York City, Prof. Churchill asserted that the nearly 3,000 people killed at the World Trade Center worked for �the mighty engine of profit� but chose to ignore their role. In one place in the article the professor wrote: �True enough, they were civilians of a sort. But innocent? Gimme a break.� The above statement of Prof. Churchill did not seat well with many conservatives. They are the ones who are raising hell about the unpatriotic remark by the pedagogue. Administrators at Hamilton College initially defended the professor�s appearance but admitted that his views are considered �repugnant and disparaging� by many people. The school�s spokesperson Michael DeBraggio said, �Hamilton, like any institution committed to the free exchange of ideas, invites to its campus people of diverse opinions, often controversial.� In an earlier article Prof. Churchill described the World Trade Center victims as �little Eichmanns,� an allusion to Adolph Eichmann, who as a bereaucrat carried out Hitler�s plan to exterminate Europe�s Jews as World War II raged through Europe during 1939-1945. Some local politicians in Colorado were all upset hearing the remarks made by Prof. Churchill. �I think the professor's words are repugnant and plain looney,� said Colorado state Sen. Shawn Mitchell. This is the same Colorado legislator who last year pushed legislation to protect the political views of conservative college students. This is not the first time Prof. Churchill had a run in with the authorities. He was also at the center of controversy in Denver after protesting the city�s Columbus Day Parade because they believed it was degrading to American Indians. He and few other protestors were arrested while participating in that protest march. But he was acquitted recently from those charges. The Hamilton College, which is a small liberal arts institution has only 1,700 students, has become the center of debate regarding how much freedom one has to dissent. The conservatives say that Prof. Churchill has broken the limit by demeaning the victims of 9-11 terror attacks. On the other hand, quite a few people asserted that Prof. Churchill's comment falls under the rubric of free speech. Quite a few left-leaning intellectuals, professors, commentators, all have opined that corporate America because of their greed to make more money at the expense of cheap labor in the Third World has created this proble of economic disparity between the rich and poor nation. Some have also pointed out that globalization is the tool invented by the West to exploit the cheap labor in poor nations of the globe. The World Bank, IMF, and other similar organizations -- as per these critics -- have become the instrument of exploitation. Prof. Noam Chomsky had been writing on this theme for a number of years; therefore, he has many critics in corporate America. I decided to write on the controversy surrounding Prof. Churchill for several reasons. One, being, in this day of rising conservatism, whoever express views counter to American government�s policy is dubbed as unpatriotic or even enemy of America. Second, a segment of American society gets very uptight anytime someone harshly criticizes the Bush Administration. Third, a person�s right to dissent is at great risk in America. Americans are now used to go through physical search in airport or law enforcement agency could stop anyone all in the name of Patriotic Act. Many thinkers in America have opined that in post 9/11 days the civil rights of Americans have been greatly curtailed. If the pendulum is shifting towards more of government control because of Patriotic Act, then what would be the status of free speech, right to dissent, etc. Even some conservative commentators also have noticed that Patriotic Act may save lives here in American and make the nation less vulnerable to terrorists� attack, but the price we will pay is through the curtailment of civil rights. Going back to the original story of Prof. Ward Churchill, I just read in today�s (February 3, 2005) USAToday that the Hamilton College has cancelled the professor's appearance in the campus because of death threats against college officials and the controversial professor. Furthermore, the University of Colorado�s Board of Regents will meet today (February 3, 2005) to decide the firing of a tenured professor whose little-known essay after the September 11 attacks compared some victims to Nazis. Colorado�s governor, Bill Owens, called for the resignation of Prof. Churchill whose writing drew little attention until he was asked to participate in a discussion at the campus of Hamilton College in upstate New York. The professor resigned as chairperson of the university�s ethnic studies program but he refuses to quit his teaching position by saying that his words have been misconstrued. In summary, an American college professor has drawn flack from colleagues and members of the civil society for drawing an analogy between 9-11 victims at the Twin Tower and Nazis. If America believes in free speech, then the professor should not be fired because he merely expressed his opinion to dissent the mainstream opinion. ---------------------------- Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah is researcher in the field of genetics and protein chemistry in New Orleans, USA.
Responses:
More Responses: Reply from Ward Churchill: Recently I have noticed a thread which dicusses Prof.Ward Churchill's take on 9-11 and the campaign by Fox news and others to oust him from his academic position. Many of the participants in that thread displayed a rather touching ignorance of US imperialism. I'd suggest... [ Read Nalinaksha Bhattacharyya's message in forum]
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