[Peace-discuss] co-sponsorship troubles

[C. G. Estabrook]

The ADL long ago became a PR organization for the Israeli government,
regularly smearing anyone who criticizes the brutality of the occupation,
etc.  Some of their activities -- and their cooperation with the apartheid
government of South Africa -- were revealed in the West Coast police
scandal of a few years ago.  (I wrote about it a year or so ago and will
pull out the column if I have a chance.)

I wouldn't take the ADL at all seriously here.  We should co-sponsor in
solidarity with the MSA, making it clear as always that co-sponsorship
doesn't imply blanket agreement before the fact of everything said -- but
then it never does.  Regards, Carl

  ==============================================================
  C. G. Estabrook, Ph.D., Visiting Scholar
  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [MC-190]
  109 Observatory, 901 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana IL 61801 USA
  office: 217.244.4105 mobile: 217.369.5471 home: 217.359.9466   
  <www.carlforcongress.org>
  ===============================================================


On Sun, 19 Jan 2003, Ricky Baldwin wrote:

> Folks,
> 
> At the last meeting, we agreed to postpone endorsing a
> talk by Bill Baker until we could find out more.  I
> admit I thought we were being overly cautious, but
> when I started poking around, I was troubled by what I
> found.  At one stage of thesearch, Ithought there was
> nothing to worry about, but judge for yourself...
> 
> The Anti-Defamation League has accused Bill Baker of
> anti-Semitism, according to the Orange County Weekly. 
> The article says Baker was briefly chairman of the
> Populist Party, an extreme rightwing organization
> founded by the Liberty Lobby – a neo-Nazi group that
> published “The Spotlight” for years.  (They promote
> Holocaust denial, Jewish conspiracy theories and sell
> KKK shirts, etc.)  And it claims the ADL has evidence
> of anti-Jewish speeches Baker allegedly made at a
> meeting of the Christian Patriot Defense League.  The
> article also claims Protestant minister Robert
> Schuller severed tied with Baker when this connection
> was revealed.
> 
> I could find no response from Baker to the charges,
> except in the same article, where Baker is quoted as
> admitting that he was chairman of the Populist Party,
> but that he had not known it was a racist group and
> quit when he found out.  Another neo-Nazi publication,
> The Nationalist News, says Baker quit in a power
> struggle and refers to Baker as an “honorable man.” 
> The article accuses several others of being Jewish
> double-agents, but it makes no reference to
> ideological differences with Baker.  The ADL’s website
> does not mention Baker.
> 
> The Unification Church, founded by Sun Myung Moon,
> also promotes Baker’s work, but I found no evidence
> that their admiration is reciprocated.  A few sites
> opposed to Israeli or Indian foreign policies speak
> highly of Baker’s work, but I found little information
> we could use in any of these.  Reviews of Baker’s
> books are scarce and, as far as I could tell,
> superficial.
> 
> I did ask Roaa if she had anything more definitive,
> but she had only recently learned of the allegations
> herself.  So unless somebody else finds something I
> think we’re left with a judgment call: either (1) the
> entire story is fabricated, including Baker’s
> statement, and there is another Bill Baker who is
> anti-Semitic; or (2) Baker is a racist and we cannot
> endorse his talk (supplying our info to the Muslim
> Student Assoc.).  There is, of course, a third option:
> we aren’t sure, but we’re afraid of the allegations –
> but that doesn’t sound like AWARE.
> 
> Hope this helps.
> 
> Ricky
> 
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