Dealing With Disruption

"This is still a free country.
Some of you may not like it that way, but it still is!"
Governor Nelson Rockefeller responding to thunderous booing at the Republican National Convention in 1964.

During the next few years President Lyndon Johnson and officials of his administration could not speak at any college (except military academies) without being shouted down. Vice President Hubert Humphrey was interrupted by shouts of "Dump the Hump!" at almost every public speech in the 1968 presidential campaign. And recently neo-conservative speaker David Horowitz was interrupted and insulted while trying to speak on "Islamo-fascism" (1) at the University of Wisconsin -Milwaukee (UWM). According to Horowitz, the reception at UWM was the worst he had ever experienced.

About a week before the speech Horowitz had bought an advertisement in the UWM Post (a student newspaper) in which he lambasted the local chapter of the Muslim Student Association (MSA) as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, a jihadist group started in Egypt which also spawned Hamas. The MSA responded with a hand-out featuring a cartoon of Horowitz with a typically-Jewish hooked nose (not his real appearance) and wearing a Nazi-style armband labeled "H" in place of the swastika. It accused Horowitz of being a "rightwing hate monger" and "Judeofascist" . The screed urged readers to attend the Horowitz speech, facetiously promising that "Flaming crosses and Stars of David will be supplied to those who arrive early. Join the crusade!"

Since the audience had to pass through airport-style security checkpoints, flaming crosses were nowhere in sight. However, when the speaker entered the room, he was greeted with a chorus of boos among the applause and cheers. Several officers of UWM campus police were on hand, but apparently their orders were just to prevent violence and damage to university property.

After Horowitz was introduced by a leader of the UWM Conservative Union, which had invited him, he was left alone to deal with the raucous crowd. Despite his offer to answer questions after the talk, he was interrupted with catcalls and insults repeatedly. A microphone was provided for those who wished to ask questions, but most of those who used it merely berated and insulted the speaker. Eventually, several noisy young people were thrown out, but there always seemed to be plenty of protesters left.

In retrospect, this was a predictable travesty, especially in view of numerous hostile shouts during the Walid Shoebat speech on December 4, 2007, also sponsored by the Conservative Union. Then UWM Professor Shale Horowitz was put in charge of the question period, but he could not control the situation. (2)

Whenever a controversial speaker's appearance is made "free and open to the public", you can count on hostile people attending. The publication of the ad attacking MSA just a few days before the event was probably intended to spur publicity and attendance, and provoke a newsworthy confrontation. The MSA leadership could have ignored the whole thing, in which case the audience for Horowitz would have been about 25% smaller, and the event would have drawn far less attention. Although MSA is hostile to David Horowitz, the group is more than willing to play its assigned role in making the author/speaker more newsworthy and important than he would be otherwise. These confrontations help Horowitz generate more speaking gigs and command higher fees. The MSA was baited, and they gladly bit the bait!

The Conservative Union learned nothing from the Shoebat event. When a hostile audience is expected, the sponsoring group should not leave the speaker alone to contend with a raucous crowd. Rather, the group should designate a capable Program Manager to deal with disrupters while the speaker concentrates on delivering the speech. Ideally, the Program Manager should be someone with a commanding presence, with the power to eject anyone making trouble . Sheriff David Clarke would have been a perfect choice for this role, especially if he had a few deputies with him. Leaving the 69-year old Horowitz to deal with the problem on his own was the worst possible strategy.

It was obvious all along that providing a microphone for questions would simply give the disrupters a louder voice for their insults. When Nonie Darwish (3) spoke at Cardinal Stritch University in October, 2006, all questions had to submitted in writing to the Program Manager (me), who then read them to the invited speaker. There was only one interruption, and the man who caused it was promptly ejected.

I support the vigorous and lively exchange of ideas, especially on the college campus. I have personally attended many speeches by men that I did not agree with, including George Lincoln Rockwell, George Wallace, and Robert Welch. It is regrettable that some people think that their freedom of speech includes the freedom to stop others from hearing a message that they do not like.
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(1) "Islamo-fascism" is a kind of fascism in the same sense that a computer-mouse is a kind of mouse. Real fascism calls for utlimate allegiance to the State, not to one's religion. I prefer " jihadism."

(2)See the Glazerbeam of December 5, 2007.

(3) The daughter of an Egyptian terrorist, she converted to Christianity and now defends Israel in speeches and a book. Even though Stritch was a must more friendly venue for her message than UWM, the precautions taken against "hijacking the event" by protesters were justified

Shoebat: The Inside Story

Unless you have been in a coma for the past week, you know that former PLO-terrorist Walid Shoebat is scheduled to speak at UWM Tuesday evening, December 4, and his talk is to be sponsored by the Conservative Union of UWM. Now, here is the rest of the story.

At the June, 2007, meeting of the Executive Committee of the Advocates for Israel of Milwaukee (AIM), the Vice President for Educational Outreach Ivan M Lang proposed that AIM sponsor a speech by Walid Shoebat sometime in the Fall of 2007. The Exec Committee voted to pledge $1,000 toward the cost of the project, with the balance needed to raised from donors. Lang, the project manager, had asked UWM Hillel to host the event, but Hillel declined. He said he would continue to seek a UWM student group to co-sponsor the event, so it could be held on campus.

AIM, which had been founded as the Pro-Israel Person Chavura of Congregation Shalom by Bob Breslauer, had sponsored a talk on October 29, 2006, by Nonie Darwish at Cardinal Stritch University. Darwish was the daughter of an Arab terrorist, who had become a supporter of Israel. Her speech drew a crowd of nearly 300, mostly Jewish. Although her speech was not confrontational at all, she had been interrupted once and the man responsible was easily escorted out of the room.

Although Cardinal Stritch would have been available for the Shoebat speech, Ivan Lang wanted it at UWM in order to present a pro-Israel message to a public university student body, which is exposed to far more anti-Israel rhetoric. Since UWM has a sizable Arab (and other Muslim ) student enrollment, the prospect of a hostile response was evident from the start.

Meanwhile, tension within AIM was brewing between Lang and Breslauer. One bone of contention was the By-Law, authored by Breslauer, that gave him as Founder of AIM a lifetime seat on the Executive Committee . At the September 6, 2007, meeting of the group, Lang moved to eliminate this provision. After heated discussion, the motion was defeated by a vote of 14 to 9, including absentee ballots. (Since it was a By-Law change, two-thirds of those voting, 15 votes, would have been required for adoption). Ivan Lang resigned from AIM at the close of the meeting. Secretary Nancy Weiss-McQuide, who had seconded the proposed By-Law change, resigned shortly thereafter.

On November 5 Ivan Lang and Nancy Weiss-McQuide organized a new group entitled Committee for Truth and Justice (CTJ) at Congregation Anshe Sfard Kehillat Torah. The new group would co-sponsor the Shoebat speech with the UWM Conservative Union (CU) on the campus.

Four days later Lang, McQuide, Conservative Union leader A J Piwarun and I (President of AIM) met at the Alterra Cafe to organize the Shoebat appearance, which had been scheduled for December 4 in the Wisconsin Room of the UWM Student Union. Piwarun told us that UWM would charge about $500 for the room and set-up. Shoebat would charge $5,000 for the speech, and we budgeted about $1,500 for publicity and other expenses. I noted that AIM had authorized $1,000 for Shoebat, but that vote was based upon AIM being in charge of the event. To pay the same amount for a co-sponsorship would require another vote. I promised to do what I could to gain approval.

At the November 11 AIM meeting I offered a substitute Project Format for the Shoebat event, naming myself as manager and making AIM a co-sponsor, along with CU and CTJ. AIM Chief Financial Officer Arthur Friedman led the opposition to the project, citing both security concerns and the partnership with CU, which has ties to the Republican Party. Friedman was concerned that AIM would jeopardize its status as a 501(c)3 (charitable) organization. The substitute Project was approved by a vote of 5 to 3.

Within two weeks, the UWM Muslim Student Association (MSA) demanded that UWM cancel the event because Shoebat might incite listeners to harm Muslim students. This demand is a classic case of "prior restraint" on the freedom of speech, which would breach the First Amendment. WTMJ radio talk-show host Charles Sykes devoted about an hour of his November 27 show to denouncing the MSA position, and expressing fear that UWM officials would cave in to it. He asked rhetorically if liberals would demand free speech for Shoebat. I called in and told him that I was a liberal and president of one of the sponsoring organizations! Sykes cut me off .

Although UWM officials did not cave in the MSA demand and cancel Shoebat, they demanded that the CU put up $2,500 for additional security personnel. Since only $500 had been budgeted for the venue, CU was about $2,000 short. I called Chancellor Carlos Santiago to request that he overrule the decision, but was told he was in a meeting. I then asked for the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, and was shunted off to her assistant, who told me the Vice Chancellor supported the fee hike. Meanwhile, Piwarun had persuaded Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke (1) to provide security for the speech at no charge.

According to the November 30 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Clarke contacted Santiago about providing security,and apparently got through to him. By that time, the Chancellor had already decided to forego the $2,000 increase in the cost of the venue. Neither this article, nor the previous article on November 28, mentioned either of the co-sponsoring groups: AIM and CTJ. To the general public, the Jews are not parties to this dispute.

Perhaps it is best that, to the people of Milwaukee, it is the Conservative Union, not Advocates for Israel of Milwaukee, that is behind the Shoebat event. The message is that terrorism threatens America, not just Israel. Amen!

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(1) Although a conservative, he was elected twice on the Democratic ticket. He was appointed Sheriff by Republican Governor Scott McCallum to fill a vacancy.