[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Protest Banning of Lerner From Anti-War Rally

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Robert et al.-- Here's a take on this matter that seems about right to
me; it's from Alex Cockburn, editor of CounterPunch.  Regards, Carl]


Michael Lerner: Should He Speak?

CounterPunch's inbox is suddenly clogged with e-traffic about Michael
Lerner being banned from speaking at the San Francisco rally. We got one
list of protesting signatories studded with notables and miscreants, like
Eric Alterman who normally spends his time deriding the antiwar protests,
just like Marc Cooper, who clearly sees a "Let Lerner Speak" campaign as a
good way of smearing ANSWER and NION (Not in Our Name).

My initial reaction was to say to Jeffrey St Clair that any move to keep
Lerner from pouring out his usual freshets of idiocy is sound by
definition, but on mature consideration I counsel the organizers of the
San Francisco rally to slot Lerner in at some point in the proceedings

I'm quite prepared to believe that Lerner, a relentless self-promoter, has
managed to piss off everybody with egocentric posturing and unity-wrecking
maneuvers, and maybe his plan from the start has been to engineer a
situation in which he can howl that Jew-haters have laid him low. But let
the guy speak anyway. Mostly people don't listen to speeches, and if you
suddenly hear Lerner's voice disturbing the harmony of the great
convergence, move into a drumming circle and blot the guy out.

Every now and again Lerner writes to CounterPunch asking for our support
when he'd been attacked by the neocons. Tikkun has published some good
stuff such as reports by Tanya Rinehart, one the best reporters and
commentators in Israel. He's a flake, but on Israel, considering the
mostly awful spectrum of opinion here, he's often been constructive. Look
at other American-Jewish publications and you'll see what I mean. For a
good exchange which excitingly revealed Lerner's distinct limitations I
refer you to his debate with Salman abu-Sitta on the right of Palestinian
return...

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