Agustin Blazquez with the collaboration of Jaums Sutton.
NewsMax.com, Friday, May 17, 2002.
The U.S. and the forces of freedom and democracy won the Cold War over the
dark forces of totalitarian communism, but they are losing the cultural war on
unexpected fronts.
The University of California at Berkeley is offering a course titled "The
Politics and Poetics of Palestinian Resistance," taught by Snehal Shingavi.
According to the article "A Safe Harbor for Hate," published on
May 13 at www.Salon.com, author Rory Miller
says that Shingavi is "in fact, the spokesman or leader of many different
left-wing causes and extremist groups."
Shingavi's "base of operations is as the Berkeley leader of the
International Socialist Organization (ISO)." This organization "advocates
violent revolution in the United States."
Miller also says that since the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, the American
public has been "increasingly aware of the oppressive presence of the
academic left."
This academic leftist war is being waged against the American people from
the ivory towers of the educational centers in the U.S. These institutions are
being subverted by an unruly group of unrepentant and intolerant Marxist
professors who are resisting the reality that their political philosophy has
been a failure in the practice everywhere in our world and has caused the deaths
of 100 million people.
In spite of the facts, these professors, who are in a self-preserving
entrenchment in academic circles in the U.S., have become a mighty roadblock of
the diversity of ideas and opinions and are imposing their monolithic dogma upon
a new generation of Americans.
This Marxist dogma is the opposite of what the Founding Fathers had in mind
for the people of the United States when they gave us the Constitution and our
Constitutional Republic. It is precisely because of the Constitution that this
country became the best and most prosperous country in modern history. It is
freedom, not tyranny, that made it all possible.
These professors, however, are guided by a perverted form of
anti-Americanism. It is evident when you study their double standard and realize
that their preferences are for political systems that stifle freedom and
democracy while oppressing and enslaving the people.
An example of this political intolerance and discrimination is the case of
Juan J. López, a professor with Cuban-American roots. His background
makes López, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Latin American
Studies Department of Political Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago
(UIC) knowledgeable about the reality of the Castro regime in Cuba.
But the reality in his book contradicts what the academic circles want to
teach the new generation. Therefore, once he was up for tenure in April, a
witch-hunt was organized against him. The reason was that he wrote a book - that
he was required to write.
His manuscript portrays the Castro regime as it is, which is not in the
interest of these academics. A vote was held and the recommendation was to deny
him tenure at UIC.
One of the persons voting against professor López was the head of the
Political Science Department, Professor Lynn Ragsdale. She had just started in
her position, coming from the University of Arizona. And her appointment had
been strongly opposed by about half of the faculty members in the department at
UIC.
Ironically, professor López had been one of her supporters in the
process of hiring her. He thinks that once she saw the way the wind was blowing
in the department regarding his tenure, and possibly after consulting with the
dean, she decided to go against him.
Although Ragsdale told him that she had read his book about Cuba before
making her decision, he does not think she did. And when he asked her what she
had found wrong with the book, she mentioned the same criticism that an external
reviewer had made in his/her letter.
The criticism that Ragsdale mentioned shows a grossly inaccurate portrayal
of his arguments. Professor López thinks it quite possible that some of
the book reviewers disliked his political positions and contrived attacks on his
scholarship to undermine his tenure case.
The final decision was in the hands of Chancellor Sylvia Manning. And that
was the cliffhanger where my previous article published by NewsMax about López's
case ended in March 2002. (See: Victim of Academia's Double Standard.)
On May 15, I received a note from professor López with the final
verdict of Chancellor Manning. According to professor López, she
disregarded the massive evidence in his favor and decided to go along with the
Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Stanley Fish, and the others
who wanted to fire him from the university.
Professor López appealed to Chancellor Manning with an extensive
letter including a lot of supporting documentation attesting to the excellent
quality of his book on Cuba. Other professors who read his book sent letters of
support for him and his academic work. But to no avail. Chancellor Manning
ignored all the letters in his favor.
The decision also saves the university the extreme embarrassment of being
associated with a book that is unfavorable to Castro and the left wing. Once it
is published, however, their scheme may just backfire and provide free notoriety
for this book that is so good it got a professor fired.
Professor López says, "Our enemies are implacable."
Indeed, he is right. While they open their doors to radical socialists and
communists, the doors are closed to the defenders of freedom and democracy. And
our individual freedoms in America will eventually be a casualty of this
academic intolerance, manipulation of information and censorship.
© 2002 ABIP
Anybody wishing to express his or her opinions to the university, contact:
Chancellor Sylvia Manning Office of the Chancellor 2833 University
Hall (M/C 102) The University of Illinois at Chicago 601 S. Morgan
Street Chicago, IL 60607 Phone: (312) 413-3350 Fax: (312)
413-3393 E-mail: Manning@uic.edu
Agustin Blazquez is producer/director of the documentaries "Covering
Cuba," Covering Cuba 2: The New Generation," and the upcoming Covering
Cuba 3: Elian," and author with Carlos Wotzkow of the book "Covering
and Discovering." |