I had intended simply to note that I’ll be attending an international jazz journalism conference next week at Columbia University (details here). But I need to point out the sheer oddity of this event following on the heels of a highly controversial visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
I support Columbia’s decision to host Ahmadinejad, a Holocaust denier pledged to Israel’s destruction whose government is one of the world’s major human-rights abusers. As an institution of higher learning, Columbia is right to hear from one of the most significant world leaders of the present moment. The danger is that while Ahmadinejad holds crackpot views, he is a superb rhetorician, highly skilled at turning questions around and projecting a smug superiority in the face of tough grilling. Rigorous follow-up discussion about the things he says is vital.
The timing is interesting for another reason. Columbia Professor Joseph Massad, who was embroiled in the recent “Columbia Unbecoming” controversy for allegedly mistreating students with pro-Israel views, is stirring interest again with his new book, Desiring Arabs (U. of Chicago Press). Massad argues that an entity he calls “the Gay International” is imposing a colonialist gay rights agenda on the Middle East. The definitive takedown has already been written, by Brian Whitaker of the Guardian.
I did not support the bellicose pro-Israel activist campaign against Massad, led, you can be sure, by the some of the very same people protesting Ahmadinejad as I type these words. But that doesn’t mean Massad isn’t deserving of harsh criticism, and not just for his unusual antigay arguments. In the recent all-out shooting war between Hamas and Fatah, Massad has voiced uncritical support of Hamas, and for this has been lambasted by who? Abe Foxman? CAMERA? The American Jewish Committee? No, Hussein Ibish of the American Task Force on Palestine. It’s an eye-opening read.
Talking about jazz next week at Columbia could well be anticlimactic, although gauging the mood on campus should be interesting. And with a conference title like “Jazz in the Global Imagination: Music, Journalism and Culture,” politics will almost certainly spill onto the agenda.
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