The US prides itself on its First Amendment right to freedom of speech and expression. There have been bizarre examples of the protection that has afforded, say, writers or movie makers.
Fast forward to Desmond Tutu. Radical or subversive or likely to disturb the peace? Tutu, as a Nobel Prize winner, and man of the cloth with impeccable credentials, has stood for seeking peace and justice for all mankind. Be startled, then, to read, on MuzzleWatch, how that ever-growing insidious Israel Lobby has seen to it that the Archbishop be denied speaking at a University in America:
"Rumors have been circulating for some time that Archbishop Desmond Tutu was banned by the University of St Thomas in Minnesota because of statements he made that some consider anti-Semitic. Now it’s official: winning the Nobel Peace Prize doesn’t protect you from charges of anti-Semitism if you criticize Israeli human rights violations. Neither, apparently, does being one of the most compelling voices for social justice in the world today, or even getting an honorary degree from and giving the commencement address at Brandeis.
Minneapolis/St.Paul’s City Pages just reported that members of the St Thomas Justice and Peace Studies program were thrilled when Bishop Tutu agreed to speak at the University– but administrators did a scientific survey of the Jews of Minneapolis, which included querying exactly one spokesperson for Minnesota’s Jewish Community Relations Council and several rabbis who taught in a University program– and concluded that Tutu is bad for the Jews and should therefore be barred from campus."
Fast forward to Desmond Tutu. Radical or subversive or likely to disturb the peace? Tutu, as a Nobel Prize winner, and man of the cloth with impeccable credentials, has stood for seeking peace and justice for all mankind. Be startled, then, to read, on MuzzleWatch, how that ever-growing insidious Israel Lobby has seen to it that the Archbishop be denied speaking at a University in America:
"Rumors have been circulating for some time that Archbishop Desmond Tutu was banned by the University of St Thomas in Minnesota because of statements he made that some consider anti-Semitic. Now it’s official: winning the Nobel Peace Prize doesn’t protect you from charges of anti-Semitism if you criticize Israeli human rights violations. Neither, apparently, does being one of the most compelling voices for social justice in the world today, or even getting an honorary degree from and giving the commencement address at Brandeis.
Minneapolis/St.Paul’s City Pages just reported that members of the St Thomas Justice and Peace Studies program were thrilled when Bishop Tutu agreed to speak at the University– but administrators did a scientific survey of the Jews of Minneapolis, which included querying exactly one spokesperson for Minnesota’s Jewish Community Relations Council and several rabbis who taught in a University program– and concluded that Tutu is bad for the Jews and should therefore be barred from campus."
Comments
That's exactly the way the apartheid regime in South Africa saw Desmond Tutu. Of course comparing that to the way the Jewish religious right in the US sees him is "antisemitism".