Your article on the Pacifica Forum (“Comment on Emerald Web site brings attention to Pacifica Forum,” ODE Apr. 28) gave Orville Etter another opportunity to falsely drape himself in the cloak of free speech. Etter often states that the invitation to self-admitted anti-Semite and racist Valdas Anelauskas was simply a test of tolerance, and that many Forum members find his views offensive. What Etter fails to acknowledge or explain is that the Forum subjected itself to this test not once, or twice, but eight times! From May through November of 2006 Anelauskas was invited to give a series of lectures, ostensibly on Zionism, which were then posted on the Pacifica Forum web site. Amidst the ramble about how Jews are set to control the world are such gems as “after many years of my experience and research I came to conclusion [sic] that among the Jews, for some reason, there is a much larger percentage of bad people than among others.” (cited from the May 12, 2006 lecture “Zionism and Russia – Lecture 1” on the Pacifica Web site). Somehow Etter, George Beres and their cronies were not satisfied with this test of free speech, but felt compelled to repeat it over and over again. Whether it’s indulging a local anti-Semite while claiming innocence or bringing in Holocaust-denying ringers from out of town, the leadership of the Pacifica Forum has a consistent pattern of demonizing Jews, whether directly or through exaggerated focus on and criticism of Israel. I, like many in the campus and broader community, am a supporter of free speech and a responsible critic of some of Israel’s policies, but Etter and Anelauskas are beyond the pale of responsible free speech. Bigots are bigots, despite their protestations and claims of victimization.
Shaul Cohen
Co-Director, Peace Studies Program