In Defense of Academic Freedom (University of Chicago, 2007-10-12)

Hey all,

This is a conference that was held in support of Norman Finkelstein when he was denied tenure at De Paul university (Chicago) in early 2007 for his opinions (in private, not in teaching, nota bene) about the Israel-Palestine conflict. It features nine speakers (see below for list) and a question and answer period.


This conference is a unique gathering of people with different, sometimes opposing opinions. On one hand, among the nine academics there are "hard-leftists like Noam Chomsky" (quoting Alan Dershowitz), while on the other hand some of the participants are in favour of Israel's current policies and have publicly criticized Finkelstein for his "anti-semitic" views. All of which only makes it an even more amazing display of academic solidarity.


Presentations of the speakers are found here:
http://www.academicfreedomchicago.org/
(The files can all be found here if you prefer to view them streaming.)

List of speakers:
01 - Tariq Ali, Editor of the New Left Review and Verso Books
02 - Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor & Professor of Linguistics (Emeritus), MIT
03 - Dr. Akeel Bilgrami, Johnsonian Professor of Philosophy and Director of The Heyman Center, Columbia
04 -Tony Judt, University Professor and Director of the Remarque Institute, New York University
05 - John Mearsheimer, R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago
(06 - Question and Answer period)
07 - Evan Lorendo, Academic Freedom Committee, DePaul University
08 - Mehrene Larudee, International Studies Program, DePaul University
09 - Neve Gordon, Professor, Department of Politics and Government, Ben-Gurion University
10 - Norman Finkelstein, author and historian

For viewing the files, I recommend KMPlayer (or VLC):
http://kmplayer.en.softonic.com/


Enjoy

// luft