The Liber18 Response

As I’ve mentioned before, this afternoon was Liber18. I had been working with a major Jewish organization (which shall remain nameless) to put together a counter-program for most of the week. Not surprisingly, they fell through, and all that could be done was a protest. So we arrived on location at Noon, and stay for a little over two hours, leaving when our numbers became too thin, and people had stopped coming in to the event.

And I can safely say that this it was the most disappointing protest I’ve ever been a part of. Those who showed up did a great thing, and stood up against sickening anti-Semitism and bias pro-Palestinian deception. And I cannot thank them enough for having done this, as it shows that there are students who take notice of what is going on, and aren’t okay with it. Several dozen people were expected, and we had less than half a dozen people there.

What I want to know is where the leaders of the Jewish groups on campus were. The two Jewish frats, whose membership totals 35, had two brothers between them (and, for that matter, they were part of the same fraternity). The leadership of the Jewish Students group was nowhere to be found, in spite of having the information. Jews who are active with Hillel weren’t there either. Frankly, most of the people whose job it is to be there were. And yet, school with more than 400 Jewish undergraduates and many more Jewish graduate students, in a city with a solid Jewish population, we couldn’t even find a half dozen Jews. What does that say about the current level of apathy?

This wasn’t a purely Jewish issue either. It was about spreading dishonest information about the Middle East in general, speaking out against established American regional policy, and raising money for a group with shady connections. There should have been a range of students who were offended by the dishonest methods of promotion, the distortion of truth for political gain, and the exploitation of shock images to pander to the emotions of the ill-informed. Yet ever single protester was a Jew.

The choice on campus shouldn’t be between unabashed liberalism and apathy. What gives?

(And yes, getting ready for this event (which was planned as being far bigger) is what has impacted posting volume over the past several days. Once Thanksgiving hits, I should be back to making at least one entry a day.)

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