Ward Churchill-David Horowitz 'debate' series- April 6

I never got around to typing out my critique of Churchill's style at the annual anarchist book fair last weekend. The jist of it is that he could benefit by getting an out-of-work agreeable San Francisco real estate agent or Gap or Footlocker salesman who present his argument. Because it is 'anarchist' rather than a political philosophy like Leninism or constitutionalists referring to the godlike vision of the founding fathers, it is okay to separate the personality from the idea.
It could be worthwhile to take the positive philosophy approach advocated by Shellenberger and Nordhaus for making climate change and environmentalism politics more engaging http://adbusters.org/blogs/Big_Ideas_The_Death_of_Environmentalism.html

There are many signs that the 'indigenism' idea of Churchill could be warmly accepted by a large sector of society, but he was interpreting some audience questions as attacks. For instance, after the 2004 election, tons of people were asking "hey, why does out local region have to live under this president due to the Diebold equipment used 3000mi away in Florida and Ohio where they don't share our culture or speak with the same accent or have the same interests. Maybe we should secede". This wasn't a marginal or crazy viewpoint. Take that sentiment and move forward.
He also was not addressing the diverse learning styles of the audience, like teachers are supposed to, and was using abstract language without giving enough concrete examples. Everyone else has not taken ethnic studies courses, and might be operating with a vocabulary where 'race', 'ethnicity' and 'nationality' are taken as synonyms, and 'nation' and 'state' are synonyms. He drew a distinction between nations and states, but then didn't concretely clarify with specific examples how to proceed from this, even though his long indigenism essay which is on the web somewhere actually makes a lot of sense. For instance, he does advocate that nations should be able to control land with a borderlike construction. But why doesn't he realize that so many people automatically assume that he's advocating for people to be kicked out back to europe etc. in an ethnic cleansing approach. He should anticipate this from his audience and clarify that he doesn't advocate race based delineations of 'nations', and that this idea really is closer to traditional local control, and could reflect the 'bioregions' ideas that many others talk about. For instance, in Oregon and Washington, a large fraction of people on the east side of the cascades mutter about the different culture on the western side wanting to impose laws on them, and people in Seattle and Portland complain about the tax outflow to maintain eastern infrastructure etc. And why should people on either side have to pay taxes to support intervention in Iraq or for the ATF to arrest their marijuana dispensary clerks.
I'll stop rambling here
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David Horowitz vs. Ward Churchill: YAF Sponsors Academia's Royal Rumble

By: Jason Mattera
Posted 03/21/06
12:47 PM





Embattled Professor Ward Churchill has agreed to engage bestselling author and sought after speaker David Horowitz in a series of formal debates organized by Young America's Foundation and Students for Academic Freedom. The series of debates will kick off at George Washington University in Washington D.C. on April 6 in the Continental Ballroom with the other campus locations yet to be announced.

Churchill gained infamy for referring to the victims of September 11th as "little Eichmanns." Horowitz gained notoriety for his long-standing commitment to protecting the academic rights of students. He recently authored The Professors (which can be purchased here), an exposé of 101 radical professors representing leftist bias present in higher education today.

The wait is over. Horowitz will give Churchill an intellectual whuppin' for all to see.

Mr. Mattera is the spokesman for Young America's Foundation. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduated summa cum laude from Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I.