Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Pro-Israel Forces Gathering Momentum to Remove Claudine Gay as Harvard President and Destroy Her Reputation, for Not Being Obviously Pro-Israel

Ken:

Are narratives not about framing?

States define to defeat.

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Harrow, Kenneth <harrow@msu.edu>
Sent: Monday, December 25, 2023 1:52:50 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Pro-Israel Forces Gathering Momentum to Remove Claudine Gay as Harvard President and Destroy Her Reputation, for Not Being Obviously Pro-Israel

 

Toyin, you wrote this about islam:

"Trying to explore why some Islamic countries and communities still have blasphemy laws, laws prescribing capital punishment, why Islamic terrorist groups have been highly visible, in contrast to the absence of such orientations in post-medieval Christianity, for example,  is a serious exploration in the development of world views, rather than an effort to describe Islam as generally violent."

I read today in the times about american puritanical "decent" people trying to get libraries to stop holding and circulating lbbtq books; in most american states, (unlike my own michigan, to its honor), capital punishment has not been banned. We still have the shame of guantanamo, still…a blight on ideals of justice. We struggle with a rightwing, as do europeans with neonazi and neofascist parties, also justified on idealizing either the nation or christianity. 

This simply to state that the division that marks islam between fundamentalists and modernists exists in the west as well—and seems to be turning in a worse direction for leftists like myself as we see the rise of rightwing authoritarian political parts in the states, in france, sweden, italy, germany…..

Ken

Kenneth Harrow

517 803 8839

Emeritus Professor of English, Michigan State University

Harrow@msu/edu

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From: Harrow, Kenneth <harrow@msu.edu>
Sent: Sunday, December 24, 2023 7:46:35 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Pro-Israel Forces Gathering Momentum to Remove Claudine Gay as Harvard President and Destroy Her Reputation, for Not Being Obviously Pro-Israel

 

Hi again toyin, two small points that i feel must be added.  It isn't that ackerman or rowan have louder voices than butler or chomsky or tikkun olam, it's that the major news outlets give them the headline space, and that's not because they are shouting louder, its because their money has voice, that it impacts the institutions to which they donated. That shouldn't be. Universities have to be independent of donors; harvard is infinitely rich, it doesn't need to kowtow to any donor.

Maybe penn was being hurt even before this event. 

But the press wants to sell its copy, and there are indeed agendas. The new york times carries many stories about the horrors inflicted on the palestinians, but also a great deal on the harm done on israelis by hamas—one might say a disproportionate share given than now 20,000 palestinians have died, most of whom are not combatants. That is a disgrace, a shame on us, a blight. On us and on a world that doesn't do more to insist on a ceasefire.

And in my mind, this strategy of hamas in holding hostages, as a blackmail pressure on israel, makes them complicit in the death. 

A pox on both their houses. They both place their insane policies, shored up by insane religious beliefs, above the lives of these thousands of innocent palestinians.

What kind of times do we live in, now these 80 years after world war two, to see wars of this sort, slaughtering of this sort? 

Ken

Kenneth Harrow

517 803 8839

Emeritus Professor of English, Michigan State University

Harrow@msu/edu

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovdepoju@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 24, 2023 4:57:31 PM
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Pro-Israel Forces Gathering Momentum to Remove Claudine Gay as Harvard President and Destroy Her Reputation, for Not Being Obviously Pro-Israel

 

Moses,

You are misinterpreting me.

I did not state Ackman speaks for US Jews generally.

I am stating that as one of the most vocal Jewish voices in this struggle, people are likely to associate these right wing Jews, their Jewish ethnicity and the struggle bcs the larger body of Jews do not demonstrate anything near the same level of advocacy in this struggle as people like Ackman are doing.

I'm not trying to sum up the views of US Jews.

I'm summing up what I expect will be the impression made by the efforts of people like Ackman compared to those of other Jews who think differently but who are not as active as people like him.

You describe me as obsessed with Ackman.

Are you following the struggle at Harvard?

Ackman is the primary figure in that struggle on account of his crying out that Gay's initial response to the Oct 7 attacks was inadequate, that Harvard should provide the names of the students who blamed Israel for Oct 7 so he and other CEOs would not employ them, was the one who argued that Gay is an affirmative action hire and tacked that to escalating the plagiarism allegations, his impact being such that the New York Times ran an extensive article on him in relation to this subject to which he responded in a loaded Twitter post, his posts on this subject being engaged with by many, including Elon Musk, conflicts various media have carried and analyzed.

In the ongoing discussion in various media about the rise of donor activism, and in some cases, of Jewish and right wing activism in relation to  academia, his efforts are recognized as strategic, catalyzing like minded people in his train.

Same goes for Marc Rowan in connection  with UPenn, who mobilized donors to donate no more than  1$ in protest against UPenn's handling of this crisis and after Macgill was ousted as UPenn President, he sent a list of considerations to the UPenn leadership on his concerns about how the university should be run, leading to grave concerns about non-academics trying to shape academia in their image.

These developments are unprecedented in US academic history and like all many catalytic developments, are driven by individuals who are able to mobilize others to their cause.

Ackman and Rowan are at the centre of this catalytic process.

I find your claims about my views on Islam odd. I have shared on this group an essay of mine on the lofty mysticism of Ibn Arabi, one of the greatest of Muslim thinkers. 

I have also shared here an article of mine on the mystical possibilities of the hijab,a photo essay spanning various Muslim communities across the world.

 In my review of Falola's co-edited  book on Islam published in this group,  I referenced the absence in that book, of Islamic mysticism, one of the most accessible aspects of Islam as well as the absence of any stand alone discussion of Islamic terrorism, in spite of the visibility of such groups as Boko Haram and Al Shabab in Africa.

 In the light of this scope of engagements of mine with Islam, I wonder how you came by the motion that I see Islam as largely violent.

 I have discussed violence in Islam, in relation to violence in the sister religions of Christianity and Judaism and argued that the continued incidence of a higher degree of examples of inhuman violence in Islam, of fatwas in Islam, such as that against Rushdie, of blasphemy laws which could carry a death sentence, examples that have vicariously occured in different Islamic communities even into recent years, and argued that such orientations may be related to the difference between Islamic and Christian history in terms of the erosion of fundamentalism and state power in Christianity as different from Islam.

I have also pointed to differences between levels of interreligious harmony in Southern Nigerian Islam as opposed to Northern Nigerian Islam, although such observations need to be revisited in relation to the recent Ilorin crisis 

Trying to explore why some Islamic countries and communities still have blasphemy laws, laws prescribing capital punishment, why Islamic terrorist groups have been highly visible, in contrast to the absence of such orientations in post-medieval Christianity, for example,  is a serious exploration in the development of world views, rather than an effort to describe Islam as generally violent.

I also discussed identity politics in relation to he Fulani militia crisis in Nigeria.

My argument was that terrorism by Fulani militia, in collaboration with violent Fulani herdsmen, was enabled by the govt of Muhammadu Buhari, a Fulani man, further driven by Miyetti Allah Fulani Sociocultural Organization, led by Nigeria's most elite Fulani and that most Fulani in Nigeria were careful to keep silent or equivocate about the massacres  carried out by these groups emerging from the larger Fulani group and who gave a bad name to Fulani generally.

Fulani militia terrorism and terrorism by violent Fulani herdsmen  has been deeply Intertwined with identity politics, hence they reigned almost supreme for much of Buhari's tenure.

You did not reference my views on terrorism by Fulani militia and violent Fulani herdsmen, but I'm referencing them here to help clarify my efforts at understanding various kinds of intersection between main groups, subgroups and their enfolding socio-political contexts.

Thanks

Toyin 

On Sun, Dec 24, 2023, 9:24 PM Moses Ochonu <meochonu@gmail.com> wrote:

I think the problem with your broad brush approach is that it ignores an important fact: the vast majority of US Jews are liberals and progressives and are either critical of or apathetic to Zionism and the state of Israel. To what extent the October 7 Hamas attack has changed that remains to be demonstrated.

You are elevating the US Jewish right wing, a numerically insignificant section of US Jewry, to stand in for all US Jews, the majority of whom do not subscribe to the right wing Jews' position.

In the past you similarly generalized the violent extremism of some Muslims to entire Muslim communities and to the religion, so at least you're consistent and balanced in substituting the part for the whole and insisting that vocal community and faith minorities speak for the majority.

In the case of your obsession with Ackman and other rich and visible US Jews, your logic seems to be that the richest, most visible and vocal members of a community speak for that community.

That's a rather elitist way of looking at or explaining events and issues.

By that logic, we should take what Dangote, Elumelu, Abdulsamad, Otedola, Adenuga, Ovia, Eze, Danjuma, etc do and say as stand-ins for what Nigerians believe.

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 24, 2023, at 11:25 AM, Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovdepoju@gmail.com> wrote:



Thanks Ken.

I think I've posted news on this group of US Jews demonstrating for a cease fire in Palestine. 

In the academic wing of this struggle being fought over US academia, how audible are their voices?

Without such loud audibility, contrasted with the shouting-from-the-rooftops approach of Ackman, Rowan and others, what images are more likely to fix themselves in the public mind about this fight?  

Thanks for the insightful circling the wagons image.

Thanks

Toyin 

On Sun, Dec 24, 2023, 5:55 PM Harrow, Kenneth <harrow@msu.edu> wrote:

Hi toyin, you are right that we hear more about jewish fears, in the u.s., in europe, and in israel, than about jewish condemnations of the attacks  on palestinians. Ackerman has the headlines. But you can find jewish oppositional voices by looking at Tikkun Olum sites, or J Street, or JVP—Jewish Voices for Peace. I am sure there are many more, and you can find them if you search them out.

On the other hand, as you pointed out earlier, war destroys so much. It generates fear, and with fear people circle their wagons, instead of shining their lights out into space. I've read that israelis are circling their wagons, and in their "existential" fears, won't much hear our criticisms. Communities that are circled wagons can still argue within themselves what should be done. I feel confident that is the case, even in gaza where destruction is raining down on the people. But we won't hear much beyond the cries until the bombing stops and peace is restored. That is a first order of business.

The hostages are the biggest obstacle to that moment of peace, as far as israelis are concerned. It is hard to see how real peace talks can get going under these two conditions: hostages being held, and israelis imposing violence. 

Ken

Kenneth Harrow

517 803 8839

Emeritus Professor of English, Michigan State University

Harrow@msu/edu

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From: 'Emeagwali, Gloria (History)' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 23, 2023 1:22:43 AM
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Pro-Israel Forces Gathering Momentum to Remove Claudine Gay as Harvard President and Destroy Her Reputation, for Not Being Obviously Pro-Israel

 

"It won't bode well for Black image and reputation that the first Black person to be 

Harvard President is ousted by Congress on claims of proven allegations of plagiarism."

Adepoju

...... but this is perhaps why she was hired in the first place. Harvard must have heard

 the complaints of plagiarism but  proceeded to hire her, knowing  that eventually  

fingers would be pointed at her,  the first Black Harvard President. They could then say

 that they tried to diversify but the Black candidate was weak -  with the pretense that

 there were no other  candidates to choose from. The Daily Mail

claims that there are 40  new allegations of plagiarism. This is really the perfect storm for the

 Israel lobby. If I were in her position I would resign and live to fight another day.

When you are hired for a job in the US academy, find out why they really hired you. 

Who did they want to exclude? What's up their sleeve? Are they looking for a puppet? 

Are they setting you up? Of course it takes time to find  out, and

by then you may have ended up in someone's  jollof rice. If you are really the best

 candidate for the job, though, congratulations to you-  but watch your back.

It ain't over.

Professor Gloria Emeagwali
History Department, Central Connecticut State University
www.africahistory.net

http://web.ccsu.edu/afstudy/archive.html

Chief Editor- "Africa Update"

www.vimeo.com/gloriaemeagwali

Gloria Emeagwali's Documentaries

2014 Distinguished Research Excellence Award in African Studies

 University of Texas at Austin

2019   Distinguished Africanist Award                   

New York African Studies Association

Founding Co -Chair. Sengbe Pieh AMISTAD Committee

Founding Coordinator, African Studies, CCSU

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovdepoju@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2023 7:54 AM
To: usaafricadialogue <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Pro-Israel Forces Gathering Momentum to Remove Claudine Gay as Harvard President and Destroy Her Reputation, for Not Being Obviously Pro-Israel

 

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That is the beginning and end of the anti-semitism and plagiarism allegations, whatever the inherent value those allegations could have.

The wording of the congressional committee's statement of purpose in investigating Gay suggests they have already found her guilty and want to finish the hatchet job started by pro-Israel Jewish financier Bill Ackman which did not succeed in unseating Gay in spite of the efforts of Congresswoman Stefanik.

These forces have not finished with Gay, a US academic observed a few days ago, even though Harvard had cleared her.

What happens next?

An ugly battle that will get uglier in the coming weeks.

It will be great if Gay does not resign in spite of any pressure so the battle can be fought to the bloody end.

What is the ultimate outcome of this conflict,  whichever side wins- Harvard and Gay or the pro-Israel forces represented particularly by militant pro-Israel US Jews such as Ackman and the US govt which is backing Israel's genocidal onslaught in Gaza?

If the pro-Israel forces win, US academia is in even bigger trouble than it is now and it's high though not unblemished reputation for independence will be significantly eroded, given Harvard's position as the most prestigious US academic institution.

It won't bode well for Black image and reputation that the first Black person to be Harvard President is ousted by Congress on claims of proven allegations of plagiarism.

Black leadership have already declared support for Gay with one such referring to Ackman's anti-Gay campaign as white supremacist.

What will happen to the Jewish image in the US?

They will get more power but at an unwise price bcs the level of intimidation and witch hunting being invoked in trying to make the US academy bend to to their will, in the face of the widespread global abhorrence of what Israel is doing in  Gaza, might ignite the very anti-semitism they are weaponizing in a hubristic effort to shape US Institutions in their image.

What will happen to Joe Biden 's Presidency, who is already being called Genocide Joe on account of his empowerment of the Israeli genocide?

Everything should be done to discourage Congress from going down this unsavoury road.

The end does not seem to be good.

But they have already raised a battle cry and their intended victim is in their rifle sights.

Should Harvard fight back?

How can they?

Who will shout about the witch-hunt being perpetrated in the name of a genocide being carried out with the help of the US govt in a country far from  the US?

Gay and Harvard have struggled to maintain balance between competing interests in this conflict but the aggressors refuse to be mollified. For them, it's all or nothing.

Thanks

Toyin

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