The “Alternative Media” and academia
“There has to be a limit”
Once upon a time, Columbia University was a good school. Things change. Sometimes for the better, sometimes not.*
In 2001, I had the great honour and privilege of meeting Dr. Edward Said. It was at a 2-day conference about Palestine, in the UK. Needless to say, Said was the “star guest” of the conference.
By then, he was quite sick with leukaemia, and it was clearly visible that he wasn’t well. But we didn’t know he was sick, let alone with something as severe as leukaemia. Everyone at the conference wanted to have a minute of Professor Said’s time, but he kept them as far away as possible, didn’t want to talk to anyone. He was quite arrogant to the participants at the conference, knowing they wanted to talk to him, but wouldn’t let them. If he saw someone approaching, he would just walk away. I would like to think he did that because he was so frail, but in truth, I think he did that because he was so very, very disgusted, tired of, and fed up with the hypocrisy of his academic colleagues in Europe and America, who supported Israel, and vehemently so. He had had enough of them.
For some reason, Dr. Said took to me. I was one of the few people at the conference he did talk to. At first he was very cold to me, like he was to everyone, but slowly, gradually, he warmed up to me, and eventually, he didn’t walk away when I approached, and let me talk to him. They were short talks though, as he didn’t have the physical energy to stand and talk for long. I think he sensed that I was quite worried about him, and would help keep people away, which I did, as I was pitching in with the hosting of the conference guests, so I was able to redirect them away from Said, quite easily. It was during my short talks with Said, that it slowly dawned on me why he was being so aloof to the other participants, what he really thought of them, how he looked down on them. Quite honestly, I don’t blame him.
Said died 21 years ago, in 2003, and his great work lives on. All that Said had written about and talked about, is now, 21 years later, being talked about on all the alternative media channels as if this is something new. How many people in the alternative world, have recently come out declaring, “I no longer support Israel.” Really??!! With academics like Edward Said, and many others, screaming from all the rooftops about what the Israelis were doing, you decided, you support the Israelis? Why?? Because you spent a great two months in a kibbutz on stolen Palestinian land, singing, laughing, eating and drinking with the settler colonialists who hosted you?? Really??!! I’m flabbergasted.
I have to say, I really understand Said’s disgust and disdain. I feel today, how he must have felt back then. Too often, I cannot stomach alternative news channels, thinking, yeah, it’s great that you’re saying all this now, but you’re in your 50s and 60s, you really should know better by now, you really should have been saying all this two or three decades ago. Now it’s too little too late. Had you had the courage to seek and find the truth earlier, perhaps the world would be a better place now. Perhaps the genocide in Gaza, would not be taking place now. Perhaps. Perhaps. Perhaps. If only. If only. If only.
Sadly, even with all the new “alternative news” channels, we, the people of the world, still do not do enough to make our world a better place.
Anyone wanting to know about Palestine, should read Edward Said’s books and watch his talks, many of which have been uploaded on YouTube. Apart from being a great intellectual, and a professor at Columbia University, Said was also an activist, a rare combination, sadly.
It would behove academics to become activists, to get out of their ivory towers and engage with the public, rather than just with each other, because knowledge is useless if you don’t use it. It’s like having a sharp knife in your kitchen drawer that you never use. Why have it then?
We, the people of the world, already have all the knowledge we need to improve things, we just don’t use that knowledge. People who have alternative news channels should be using their platform not only to disseminate information, but also to offer solutions. We now live in an age where it is BLATANTLY CLEAR, what is going on between the Israelis and the Palestinians. So why are we STILL here???
Said was only 67 years old when he died, had he still been alive today, he would be 88 years old. I wonder what he would say, about all his colleagues in the alternative media and what they are saying about current affairs? Would he say, “Welcome to the club, mate, you sure took your sweet time getting here, but better late than never” or would he say, “Are you effing kidding me??!! NOW you support Palestine??!!!”
Prof. Said talking about Palestine
*I’m referring here to the fact that Columbia University now has two warmongers teaching the poor students enrolled there: Hillary We-came-we-saw-he-died Rodham Clinton, and since last week, Victoria Fuck-the-EU Nuland. Another warmonger associated with Columbia University, is Madeleine We-think-the-price-is-worth-it Albright, who did her PhD at CU.
Namasté.
