Speaking of the Gazette, yesterday’s editorial about antisemitism on campus is highly worth a look. It argues that UQÀM was right to allow Gideon Kouts’s scheduled speech to go ahead, but that should not lull us into a false sense of security. Hatred is alive and well on campuses, even when disguised as something else – or when very thinly disguised, as was the case at Concordia on September 9th.
UQÀM officials would doubtless protest – without question truthfully – that they haven’t an anti-Semitic bone in their bodies. And yet they evidently failed to discern the larger pattern: Kouts, after all, is not the only prominent Israeli recently prevented from speaking at a Montreal (read: Canadian) university. In September, glass-smashing thugs silenced former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Concordia.
Apologists quickly absolved the pro-Palestinian hooligans responsible for the window breaking. Blame, they argued, belonged to Mr. Netanyahu for being so controversial. Concordia, they maintained, was at fault for letting such a controversial politician speak. No violent controversy would have occurred, they insisted, had the university foreseen the security risk inherent in Mr. Netanyahu’s appearance.
Mob violence, in other words, wasn’t the fault of the violent mob. Responsibility, rather, was placed on those who saw no reason for a mob or violence. Windows were smashed because the university failed to install glass strong enough to resist pounding fists.
Sounds an awful lot like Jaggi Singh’s arguments, doesn’t it?
Jack, if I had it I’d publish it.
I would like to read the actual text of G. K. speach at UQAM.
After 9 days nobody cares to publish it. Maybe you will have the wisdom to require publishing it in the media.