Carter at Brandeis
With Jimmy Carter at Brandeis yesterday and Alan Dershowitz continuing his tantrum, I thought a lot of Carter’s critics, annoyed they weren’t allowed inside to challenge the former president personally, would be massed outside. Maybe the cold weather kept most of them home, because at least half the crowd of maybe 40 people were there to thank Carter for his book.
I did get there late — a wrong turn didn’t help — but news reports give the same low numbers. By the time I got there, the Boston chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, the group I travelled to the West Bank with in October, had been out in the cold for some time supporting Carter’s efforts to focus attention on Israel’s Occupation policies.
Jonathan Demme — the filmmaker working on a documentary about responses to Carter’s book, who Brandeis also refused to let inside — was also still there, reaching the end of interviews with JVPers outside in the darkening cold.
Demme interviewed the anti-Carter side, too. I’ve been told the guy in the cap is Charles Jacobs, head of the David Project I mentioned yesterday that’s trying to keep the new Boston mosque from opening.
For the hour or so I was there, things were pretty good-natured, with some debate between pro- and anti- forces, most of it milder in tone than I’ve seen in the past. Veterans for Peace, AntiwarLeague.com, and others added to the mix of signs and advocates.
The Dhimmi Jimmy sign is an accusation that Carter is subservient to Islamic interests. That seems to be the right-wing bloggers’ favorite insult.
Last evening, at a benefit for ICAHD (Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions), someone who had gone to Cambridge earlier in the day where Carter was signing books at the Harvard Coop reported large numbers of people were walking out of the store with piles of books to give to friends and relatives. That seems positive to me. Despite my posting last week pointing out Carter’s refusal to criticize Israel’s internal democratic failures, his book does raise issues in a way others with less public clout have little chance of matching.
January 25th, 2007 at 5:48 am
Glad to read that you find at least some aspects of Carter’s work worthwhile. Also glad you got to the debate. But did you go inside? YOu don’t mention anything said so I’m wondering whether maybe you couldn’t get in or didn’t want to go in?
All this controversy seems to be doing wonders for the book. It’s now #25 at Amazon.
January 25th, 2007 at 10:34 am
No, they kept the event closed to the public. Only people with Brandeis University identification were allowed inside. I would have gone in if they’d let us.
I haven’t been able to find a list of all 15 pre-screened questions Carter was asked. The ones I have seen were critical, though more polite than if people could have attacked him directly. I didn’t see any questions asking him about Israel’s internal democracy, though I’m still looking for a complete transcript.