Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
In support of Ward Churchill
Thank you, Mickey for posting this...and thanks to Professor Churchill for saying it in the first place. Free speech has become a rare treasure these days.
Posted by rosemarie jackowski on from 02/01 at 07:19 PMI too support Ward! His voice must be heard and understood!
Thanks Mick!Peace,
DavePosted by Dave on from Kentucky 02/04 at 09:25 AMMr. Churchill has been, and will continue to be, a beacon of hope in a world thick with corporate/militarist bullshit propaganda. Beyond supporting his right to free speech, I support exactly what he said in his essay. If we continue to turn our faces away from the madness inflicted in our name, if we do not own up to our complicity in the capitalist/imperialist genocidal agenda of the West, then we deserve to be compared with common criminals such as Nazis. Churchill hit a key issue, and hammered hard on our consciences. He needs to be applauded for that, not censured. Peace.
Posted by Smilin' Bill on from Detroit 02/04 at 10:26 AMThe current inquisition aimed at Ward Churchill reminds me of the words of Martin Niemoeller:
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me--
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
(http://tinyurl.com/8ibb)Those on both sides of the political aisle who work as surrogates for the System by joining the State’s army arrayed against Ward Churchill should be ashamed and excoriated.
They are apparently offended and outraged by freedom of speech and expression.
I’m infinitely more offended and outraged by the death, destruction, crimes, and theft, the “United States”—an empire unto itself—has wrought at home and abroad.
Ward Churchill speaks to this incongruity and brutality with uncompromising, unflinching rhetoric.
For that I thank him.
That doesn’t mean I don’t have disagreements with or ambivalence about some of his thinking but disagreements and ambivalence do not legitimize persecution. Neither does inflammatory rhetoric.
I find much of his heart and mind on the subject of nine-eleven to be more or less consistent with my own.
Such things seem to me inevitable and in accordance with a kind of sociocultural, sociopolitical physics known as Blowback.
Ward Churchill says some things which many of us think and feel but will not say in public or share with friends. We know the potential costs of speaking one’s mind and revealing one’s heart.
The inquisition in full bloom against Ward Churchill, Shahid Alam (http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn02052005.html), and others (http://kurtnimmo.com/blog/index.php?p=536) can not only happen to professors, personalities, celebrities, intellectuals, provocateurs, activists, etc.—it can happen to each and every one of us regardless of our relative position to power and those-in-the-know.
As America travels pell-mell down the theocratic fascist path this sobering reality is made clearer with each passing day.
The threats are real and we are all potential targets. We must protect and support our individual and collective rights to dissent and disagree to the best of our abilities.
Don’t let any of this stop you from enjoying that great capitalist pastime in which blue collar athletes with their white collar salaries and union protections play ball with a pig-skin made out of cow leather in an ugly and devolved commercial spectacle known as the super brawl.
The winner will be world champion after all.
[Postscript: In another post on this site I wrote that I “play with words” to maintain sanity and make sense of the insanity around me. In light of the inquisition of Ward Churchill and others I apologize for that comment. “Playing with words” obviously has had and continues to have grave consequences. Sad but true. Words are serious business.]
Posted by David Emanuel on from Yonkers, NY 02/06 at 05:11 PMI read your rant about Winston Churchill. The poison gas to which he referred was tear gas, but you’re too lazy and self-impressed to have done the simple research to know that. If you can’t understand the difference between a hate-filled semi-literate idiot like Ward Chuchill (a fake indian and liar denounced by AIM), and Winston Churchill, who was necessary to defeating Hitler, you are a moron.
BTW, anyone who agrees with the “Eichmanns” comment made by Ward Churchill is a worthless human being. He, and you, have the right to say it and keep your jobs, no question, but decent human beings know when you do that you are slime.
Posted by Michael on from 02/06 at 05:57 PMMy “rant” will appear here tomorrow...later in the day after my weekly PBU post.
As for my new fan, Michael, he is ignoring the simple reality that Winston is directly responsible the slaughter of roughly 100,000 civilians (at Dresden alone) while Ward merely stated an unpopular opinion.
As for Sir Winnie being needed to defeat Hitler, I suggest Michael check out my first book which puts the rest the “Good War” myth.
Michael, your opinions are welcome on this site but it would really help if you refrained from personal attacks.
Btw, any sources for your tear gas comment?
Posted by Mickey Z. on from 02/06 at 06:09 PM“I do not agree that the dog in a manger has the final right to the manger even though he may have lain there for a very long time. I do not admit that right. I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place.”
~Winston Churchill (1937)
(http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/MIC307A.html)Posted by David Emanuel on from Yonkers, NY 02/06 at 06:33 PM
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