Whose Afraid of Norman Finkelstein?

American academic and critic of Israeli policies towards the Palestinians, Dr. Norman Finkelstein, is due to speak at Mohawk College in Hamilton on Saturday. The college has requested $1,500 for security on top of other fees paid, putting the event in jeopardy. For more information, click here.

In response, Edward C. Corrigan, a lawyer specializing in citizenship and immigration law and immigration and refugee protection, has written an open letter to Mohawk College:

I have read with great dismay that some individuals are creating obstacles in an attempt to deny Dr. Norman Finkelstein the right to speak at Mohawk College in Hamilton, Ont. There is some irony that a college named after one of the indigenous communities of Canada is now attempting to suppress a talk about the indigenous inhabitants of Palestine.

Dr. Finkelstein's academic accomplishments are well recognized by the international academic community. Dr. Finkelstein's style is unique, the social justice and human rights issues he is dealing with are critically important and an entire society's survival is at stake.

The action of Mohawk College does not directly deal with the outrageous attacks made by Zionists on Dr. Finkelstein and their many other opponents, and the specious allegations of anti-Semitism and of being "self-hating Jews" for supporting the Palestinian cause. I submit that Mohawk College is hiding an anti-activist mentality, a refusal to address a major social justice issue and violation of human rights and racism against Palestinians and Arabs and Muslims in general. It is also an attack on people who associate with Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims.

Please note that I have previously won a complaint filed against a similar attempt to prevent the pro-Palestinian perspective from being heard in an academic setting. See my 1987 article linked to here, entitled "The Palestinian Question at the University: The Case of Western Ontario."

This denial of Dr. Finkelstein's unfettered right to speak is an attack on the right of individuals to support the Palestinians, and to criticize Israel and question the political ideology of Zionism. This denial is also a thinly disguised attack on academic freedom and freedom of speech. The campaign against Dr. Finkelstein and the many other supporters of human rights for Palestinians is a calculated attack on academic freedom and is part of an ongoing campaign against pro-Palestinian academics, activists and politicians in the United States, Canada and elsewhere in western society.

Read more here

The lecture was eventually moved to a local church 

See Norman Finkelstein deal with Crocodile Tears