Prominent Pacifica Forum member Billy Rojas left the Forum on Friday in response to comments he considers “totally objectionable” by past speaker and member Jimmy Marr.
Rojas said although he is no longer a member, he would continue to attend meetings from time to time. He said two other members were considering leaving as well, but he declined to name them, saying he was the only member leaving at this time. Rojas does not like the direction the group is heading and is taking steps to stop it.
“I will do whatever I can to rain on their parade,” Rojas said.
The news comes after Rojas was slapped by Marr’s wife, Judy, at the Forum’s Feb. 12 meeting.
Rojas said Marr has performed a “coup” by taking care of Forum founder Orval Etter.
Etter, 94, does not have a car and is confined to a wheelchair. Marr takes care of him, and in return, Etter allows him to present at the Forum.
“As far as I’m concerned, the Forum has gone downhill. It looks like the Forum will not exist as I thought it would,” Rojas said.
Member and speaker Barry Sommer agreed with Rojas. He said Marr has successfully gained Etter’s favor to the detriment of the Pacifica Forum.
“The one who has Orval’s ear gets to present. He’s just getting too old,” Sommer said.
In addition to the content of Marr’s presentations, Sommer objects to how Marr is using the Forum as a platform.
“I don’t like that he’s representing an agenda. I think he’s trying to hijack the Forum,” Sommer said.
Marr was seen wheeling Etter out of Friday’s meeting and later could not be reached for comment.
University senior and protest leader Cimmeron Gillespie said Rojas’ walk-out was helpful to the protesters’ cause. He said he would like to see the Pacifica Forum choose to leave, rather than be forced off campus, and Rojas’ move might be a step in that direction.
The Forum took a much calmer turn Friday when protesters were fewer and much less vocal. Before the meeting, protesters decided to simply leave when they heard something offensive.
Gillespie said the protesters held a non-violent communication seminar before the protest to encourage less demonstrative protesting and incorporate more education.
While protesters said the subject matter of Friday’s meeting was not as offensive, Gillespie said they would still show up to more offensive meetings.
As for the actual meeting, protesting itself was much less vigorous than in previous meetings. As presenter Sommer began his opening statements, one protester stomped out, covering his ears, and two protesters interrupted Sommer and handed out papers reading “Hate Free Zone.”
Sommer’s lecture was entitled “Holocaust Industry,” and focused on aspects of the Holocaust Sommer believes to be exaggerated or untrue. Sommer said gas found in prison camps such as Auschwitz was used to prevent diseases such as typhus, not to kill Jews.
“Personally, I don’t think gas chambers existed at Auschwitz,” Sommer said.
At this statement, two protesters left the meeting.
Sommer also said the number of Jews killed is lower than the well-known figure of six million, and may be closer to four million.
He also said the Holocaust should not apply strictly to Jews, as many groups of people, including gays, gypsies, Poles and ethnic Germans were killed. The definition should be expanded to include those people groups, he said.
While Sommer questioned some of the facts of the Holocaust, he was clear in saying the Holocaust was a real event, and those who say it didn’t happen are being intellectually dishonest. He said he respected Holocaust revisionists, but not deniers.
“Those who absolutely deny the Holocaust have no place for me,” Sommer said.
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