Thursday we had Norman Finkelstein speaking at McMaster. A little bird tells me there were serious efforts to intervene with the powers that be, both on and off campus, to prevent the talk from actually happening. Al-hamdulillah those efforts were unsuccessful and the audience was edified by a compelling talk from a very articulate man of principle. The event was organized by MMPJ and SPHR, who are both to be congratulated on a courageous event, well-organized, and well-managed. They did us proud al-hamdulillah. In particular, there was a gaffe at some point where they tried to show a documentary from youtube that highlights some of Finkelstein’s views. They got the wrong video, and wound up showing a propaganda video produced by some of his “intellectual” foes painting him as a holocaust denier. The moderator, Prof. Graham McQueen from McMaster, reacted well and promptly to put things in perspective, then our sister Sabah, the president of MMPJ, took the podium and eloquently put the matter to rest. (One member of the audience saw fit to bring up the matter in the Q&A and Finkelstein was able to use the opportunity to expose some of the tactics of the afore-mentioned foes :D ).
We gave Professor Finkelstein the heartiest applause when in the course of his discussion he remarked that he happened to be familiar with the realities of life on American campuses in general through first hand experience since he had “for reasons I am not particularly proud of taught at a number” of said campuses. Obviously, this self-deprecatingly humorous remark was a reference to the fact that part of the price he’s had to pay was the lack of a secure long-term academic appointment :) .
We also gave him a well-deserved standing ovation at the end of the talk. If you have never heard of Norman Finkelstein I strongly suggest you at least look at his book, “The Holocaust Industry” (he has four other books). If you have a club for political activism/education on your campus I strongly suggest you brave whatever resistance you face and get this man invited to your campus. If our experience is any indication, it’ll be worth it.
I was most impressed with Finkelstein’s command over the audience. Loved the dissenter-first approach. We stuck around to ask him some questions after his lecture–very poised, humble and committed. Only if the Muslims were that way!
cool…i actually have heard about the book but never got a chance to read it….maybe i’ll look into it over the spring break! :D :D