It's Live on the HomePage Now: Too Radical for Harvard? Cornel West on Failed Fight for Tenure, Biden's First 50 Days and More Excerpt: "You know, my dear brother, I'm one of these free Black men that I don't put up with any kind of disrespect. And there's too much Harvard dishonesty, too much Harvard hypocrisy, in terms of mistreating too many Black folk at high levels."
Transcript This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González. As we continue to look at Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief package, which the House is voting to approve today, we’re joined by Harvard University professor Cornel West. We last spoke to him on January 21st, the day after Biden’s inauguration. We welcome you back to Democracy Now!, Professor West. I’m wondering if you can comment. This also is Biden’s first 50-day mark, with this, this landmark legislation. The significance of all of this? CORNEL WEST: Well, I think, on the domestic front, it’s a very positive development in terms of showing the power of government in helping working and poor people. The $15 minimum wage that we’ve got to still push through, Brother Bernie is right about that. But, generally speaking, it’s a positive orientation. We’ll see whether it transcends the very narrow neoliberal limits that so many of us have associated Biden with, to see whether he’s moving toward this more robust, FDR-like legislation. So, I am, in some ways, encouraged, certainly so with the ending of the — attempt to end the support of the Saudis, sending equipment to the Saudis in the Yemen war. I was very encouraged by that. Now, when it comes to a number of other imperial policies, in Africa, in Latin America, in the Middle East, West Bank and in Gaza and so forth, I’m not too encouraged at all by the Biden administration. But I want to keep track of the best as well as the worst in the Biden administration. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, Professor West, your own employment situation has been much in the news of late. You’re leaving Harvard again. The controversy this time, Harvard was not willing to grant you tenure — you, one of the most famous academics and philosophers and public intellectuals in the country. Could you talk about what specifically happened this time that has made you decide to leave Harvard and go back to Union Theological Seminary? CORNEL WEST: You know, my dear brother, I’m one of these free Black men that I don’t put up with any kind of disrespect. And there’s too much Harvard dishonesty, too much Harvard hypocrisy, in terms of mistreating too many Black folk at high levels. And I thought it would be different this second time, but I turned out — turned out that I was wrong, and so it was time to go again. Now, I do want to acknowledge the best of Harvard, though, brother. You’ve got Du Bois, Paul Sweezy, Helen Keller, Sister Amy Goodman, Rick Wolff. I mean, there’s a rich, rich legacy of Harvard, and I associated with the best. But the worst, of course, is Harvard’s commodified state tied to big money, tied to image, tied to reputation, and, in the end, just being of service to the empire and being of service to the ruling classes. So you’ve got the best and the worst of Harvard at work. And it’s time for me to go back to the great Union Theological Seminary. That’s my institutional home, my brother. I can stretch out and try to be a truth teller and bear witness, still learn and listen, but also be in the middle of the Big Apple. Nothing like it. AMY GOODMAN: You have suggested that, Professor West, that you believe some of the reasons that you were denied tenure were your support for Palestinian rights, as well as for Senator Bernie Sanders. Can you elaborate on both? CORNEL WEST: Well, I argued to myself it could either be age, but when I’m given the Gifford Lectures — it’s kind of the Nobel Prize version of philosophical lectures — so someone in Scotland feels that I still have something to say, so it couldn’t be age. It couldn’t be academics, because I’ve published 20-some books. I was a university professor at Harvard, university professor at Princeton. I got tenure at Yale 37 years ago. So, it’s a joke. It’s just ludicrous and ridiculous that they would be so hesitant to allow for a tenure process to go forward. So I figured it had to be political. And the most taboo issue on U.S. campuses these days, in many instances, has to do with the vicious Israeli occupation of precious Palestinians. It’s very difficult to have a respectful, robust conversation about that. And I am unequivocal in my solidarity with Palestinian brothers and sisters. And as you’ve heard me say on many times, you know, if there’s a Palestinian occupation of Jews, then I’m unequivocally in solidarity with Jews. I hate injustice. I hate occupation. I’m not in any way going to stop talking about the Palestinian plight and predicament. There was a brilliant, brilliant Jewish Israeli scholar who was denied a tenure position at Harvard just two years ago, and most believe it was political. Most believe it was political. Sister Lorgia [García Peña] was just denied. And I think that was, in part, political. So, people argue, “Well, you’re just grabbing for straws.” No, no, no. I detect a pattern at Harvard in terms of not being open to voices that are fundamentally committed to dealing with the plight and predicament of precious Palestinians. And I’m not going to be caught in that [inaudible] — JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And speaking of that pattern, you were quoted in — Cornel, you were quoted in Truthout as saying, “If you subtract the number of Black people in the Department of African and African American Studies at Harvard and only include Black folk in other departments, Harvard looks like the National Hockey League.” Could you explain? CORNEL WEST: Yes, that’s true. That’s true. A few ink spots against a backdrop of whiteness, just like Silicon Valley and just like Wall Street. All these professional managerial sites at the highest level of the empire still are very much lily white. Now, what you have is, at Harvard, you have a significant number of Black folk at the highest level of administration, the deans, but it hasn’t translated into increase of faculty. And it hasn’t translated, most importantly, in terms of making sure that the students seeking truth and concerned about issues of justice are able to gain access to professors who are raising these kinds of issues. This has to do with the ethnic studies program. It has to do with courses in history, the great Walter Johnson and the others trying to provide some frameworks in order to come to terms with these injustices, be it predatory capitalism or be it white supremacy or male supremacy or imperialism around the world or whatever. Those issues are very difficult to get at the center of a discourse. And this is true not just at Harvard, but at other places, as well. But I think it’s especially Harvard. I mean, Harvard now, I think, suffers from a kind of self-idolatry, that it needs to be critical of itself in order to grow. And again, if you can be in contact with the best of its past, then it’s got a chance. But if it just remains well adjusted to the status quo, generating careerist and opportunist students rather than critically oriented students who have a heart and soul, concerned about suffering here and around the world — then Harvard has a chance. So, I’m not giving up on Harvard, but I am making my way to New York. I only got one life to live, and I don’t have time for Harvard’s pettiness, no doubt about that. No, no, no, no. AMY GOODMAN: You have a lot of people coming out in your support. I wanted to talk about the noted UCLA professor Robin Kelley, who wrote the piece “Why Cornel West’s Tenure Fight Matters.” And he says, “Harvard has a problem with outspoken, principled faculty who take public positions that question university policy, challenge authority, or might ruffle the feathers of big donors. And when the faculty in question are scholars of color, their odds of getting through the tenure process are slim to none.” He particularly references García Peña, one of the first of Harvard’s appointments to specialize in ethnic studies, who was denied tenure in 2019. Can you talk about the significance of this? And, of course, you have the Harvard Black Law Students Association writing to the administration, “Harvard’s refusal to consider Dr. West for tenure continues a consistent pattern of practice that undermines and devalues the scholarship of Black professors and professors of color. … In 1992 Derrick Bell, the preeminent scholar on critical race theory and the first Black man to receive tenure at Harvard Law School (“HLS”), left HLS in protest of its refusal to hire a Black woman and the lack of diversity within the faculty. For seven years, the university denied the Latino Law Review the right to use the Harvard name. In 2019, the University refused to grant tenure to Professor Lorgia García Peña, a decision that undermined cross-organizational efforts on campus for an Ethnic Studies program. … The refusal to consider Dr. West for tenure raises concerns about the future treatment of Black academics and academics of color in a tenure process that already lacks transparency.” A lot there, Professor West, but your response? CORNEL WEST: No, but my dear Brother Robin D.G. Kelley, though, he’s one of the great intellectuals in American life. It was one of the greatest tributes that I’ve ever received, really, because what he did, as you know, he published his letter that he wrote to the committee. So he went beyond the confidentiality of it — took tremendous courage to do that, you see? — and let the world know what he said. And you’re reading from that particular letter, so, I mean, this brother, he loves me in a deep way. But I’ve got unbelievable support across the board, from the Harvard students, Harvard faculty — oh my god, my dear Brother Ron Sullivan, Stephanie Robinson and Davíd Carrasco and Walter Johnson. I mean, I’ve had unbelievable support across the board. And it’s a beautiful thing. But it can’t be focused on me. We’ve got to open the doors to the younger generation. That’s the key. And when they get in there, they shouldn’t sell their souls. But when they get in there, they ought to be truth tellers. When they get in there, they ought to be seekers of conditions under which poor and working people can live lives of decency and dignity. That is the key. So, in a way, now we’ve got to shift away from me and really focus on keeping the pressure on the Harvard administration. And this is true for colleges and universities across the board, because everywhere you go in a university, Black folk being disrespected, Black folk being devalued, Black folk being overworked, Black folk being undercut and so forth, undermined. And it’s ridiculous, really. It really is. And when I think about where I am now in my own calling, in my own vocation, it’s just downright pathetic that I even have to worry about this mess. You know what I mean? JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, Cornel, I wanted to ask you — in terms of this issue of the systemic problem that this and other attacks on the African American community represent, we had a huge high tide of mass protests across the nation. There were commitments by local governments, police departments, foundations. Everyone said, after the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, things are going to change. But now we’re in the winter of discontent here. And all of a sudden, all that fire of the summer and the early fall has gone out of the movement. Talk about what’s happening right now in terms of the country addressing these systemic problems. CORNEL WEST: No, my dear Brother Juan, that’s a wonderful question. Oh man, you begin to see just how superficial their rhetoric actually is. Very little execution, very little follow-through. You have a Black Lives Matter moment for a while where people are in the streets. Corporate America, university America acts as if it’s going to undergo this fundamental transformation and change. They bring in a few Black folk at the top. Next thing you know, we’re right back to business as usual, routinizing all of the built-in forms of holding Black folk at arm’s length. And this is especially so when it comes to our precious Black poor and working-class folk, who hardly ever get in on any of the benefits. Usually it’s a cooptation of Black folk at the top. And so, that’s why we have to keep the pressure. But we can’t in any way be seduced by the superficial rhetoric. We have to make sure that there’s content. We have to make sure that there’s substance in terms of following through with high-quality figures, gaining access to positions of power and being able to try to push this quest for veritas, this quest for truth. And the condition of all truth for human beings is to allow suffering to speak. I don’t care whose suffering it is — Africa, Latin America, Middle East, Roxbury, Harlem, poor white brothers in Appalachia, Dalits, Roma in Europe, Muslims in China. We have to have that kind of universal embrace, even as we function within these universities. These universities are just context, but our calling cuts much deeper. And that’s why Union Theological Seminary means so much to me, because in that context I can be the full, free Black man, the Jesus-loving, free Black man, fundamentally committed to focusing on the oppressed around the world. AMY GOODMAN: Finally, wasn’t it you, Professor West, that told the story of President Obama, being next to him at some event and him saying, “Please, give me a break. Lay off a little bit”? So, that was during the Obama-Biden years. Now this is the Biden-Harris years. And I’m wondering where you feel the most pressure needs to be brought, as you see it shaping up, as we talk today in the midst of the Derek Chauvin jury selection, the passage of the George Floyd Police Accountability Act. Your thoughts? CORNEL WEST: I think the two major issues we’ve got to zero in on are poverty and the empowerment of workers, especially empowerment of trade union movement, and militarism around the world, in all various parts of the world. And that militarism also is connected to that $3.8 billion that goes to the state of Israel, that still subordinates too many of precious Palestinian brothers and sisters, their suffering rendered invisible. And I’m very worried about the secretary of state and Biden in the words that I hear in that regard. But those two fronts, it seems to me, Sister Amy, the militarism abroad and the poverty, hitting poverty head on. This is why the uplifting of precious children of all colors out of poverty is a very positive thing. But we’ve got to empower their parents, workers, trade union movement. We’ve got to hit those head on. Now, of course, we’ve got police brutality, and you got vicious white supremacy, too, but that’s kind of a given. We’ve been talking about that, as well. But, for me, they all go hand in hand, those three — white supremacy, the predatory capitalism, and the empowerment of poor and working people, especially tied to the best of the trade union movement, and the militarism around the world, the imperial militarism of the United States around the world. AMY GOODMAN: Dr. Cornel West, we want to thank you for being with us, former professor of the practice of public philosophy at Harvard University, recently announced his departure from Harvard. In July, Dr. West will be joining the Union Theological Seminary as the Dietrich Bonhoeffer chair, teaching courses on philosophy of religion and African American critical thought, among others, author of many books, including Race Matters and Black Prophetic Fire. His new podcast, The Tight Rope. Next up, Rutgers University, the largest state university system in New Jersey, divests from fossil fuels. Bill McKibben will join us. |
Merrick Garland speaks during his attorney general confirmation hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill on Feb. 22. (photo: Demetrius Freeman/Getty)
Merrick Garland Confirmed as Attorney General 5 Years After Thwarted Supreme Court Bid
Carrie Johnson, NPR
Johnson writes: "A new chapter of Merrick Garland's long career in the law has opened after the Senate voted to pave the way for him to serve as attorney general."
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Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri, facing, hugs her mother, Muna Tareh-Sahouri, after being found not-guilty. (photo: Kelsey Kremer/AP)
Iowa Reporter Found Not Guilty of Criminal Charges Over Her Coverage of Black Lives Matter Protests
Clarissa-Jan Lim, BuzzFeed News
Lim writes: "A jury found an Iowa newspaper reporter not guilty of criminal charges over her coverage of Black Lives Matter protests last year in an unusual case that civil rights groups and advocates had widely condemned as an attack on press freedom."
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Migrants demanded clearer immigration policies from the Biden administration during a protest at the San Ysidro port of entry on the Mexican border last week. (photo: Guillermo Arias/Getty)
Undoing Trump-Era Policies Is Not Enough to Transform the Immigration System
Guadalupe Chavez, NACLA
Chavez writes: "In March 1, 2020 President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador held a virtual summit to discuss pressing issues key to the U.S.-Mexico bilateral relationship, among them migration."
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The GBSD nuclear missile would replace the Minuteman III, pictured, but questions have been raised about its viability in the event of a conflict with Russia. (photo: Clayton Wear/Getty)
ALSO SEE: 'Cold War-Era Weapon': $100bn US Plan to
Build New Nuclear Missile Sparks Concern
Federation of American Scientists | Problems With Pentagon's Plans to Build an Arsenal of Nuclear ICBMs
Federation of American Scientists
he Pentagon is currently planning to replace its current arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) with a brand-new missile force, known as the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent, or GBSD.
The GBSD program consists of a like-for-like replacement of all 400 Minuteman III missiles that are currently deployed across Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Wyoming, and will also include a full set of test-launch missiles, as well as upgrades to the launch facilities, launch control centers, and other supporting infrastructure. The GBSD program will keep ICBMs in the United States’ nuclear arsenal until 2075, and is estimated to cost approximately $100 billion (in Then Year dollars) in acquisition fees and $264 billion (in Then Year dollars) throughout its life-cycle.
However, critics of the GBSD program––which include a chorus of former military commanders and Secretaries of Defense, top civilian officials, current congressional committee chairs, subject matter experts, and grassroots groups––are noting a growing number of concerns over the program’s increasing costs, tight schedule, and lack of 21st century national security relevance. Many argue that the GBSD’s price tag is too high amid a plethora of other budgetary pressures. Many also say that alternative deterrence options are available at a much lower cost, such as life-extending the current Minuteman III ICBM force.
Despite these concerns, the GBSD program has been accelerated in recent years, apparently in an effort to lock in the system before the arrival of a new administration. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that there has not been a serious consideration of what role these Cold War-era weapons are supposed to play in a post-Cold War deterrence environment. Attempts in Congress to scrutinize the program have been shot down, usually with the lobbying help of the major GBSD contractors.
As a result, key decisions during the most crucial years of GBSD have been made without being able to access the full scope of information and analysis about the program.
To that end––and with generous support from Ploughshares Fund––the Federation of American Scientists has initiated an external review of the GBSD program, in addition to reviewing the fundamental role of ICBMs in US nuclear strategy. This project aims to put together a comprehensive, unclassified picture of the GBSD, while challenging many assumptions about the history, purpose, and utility of ICBMs. We hope it will be a useful resource for Congress, the incoming Biden administration, and the public.
Saudi women's rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul. (photo: AP)
Loujain al-Hathloul: Saudi Activist 'Loses Appeal Against Sentence'
BBC News
The Saudi women's rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul has lost an appeal against her sentence, her family says.
s Hathloul was released on probation last month after almost three years in prison, but she is subject to a five-year travel ban and other restrictions.
On Wednesday, her sister said a court had upheld her sentence for violating a counter-terrorism law.
Ms Hathloul has insisted she committed no crime and vowed to bring to justice officials she accuses of torturing her.
The 31-year-old was instrumental in the campaign to allow women to drive in Saudi Arabia.
She was detained in May 2018, just weeks before the ban was lifted, along with about a dozen other female activists as part of an apparent crackdown on dissent overseen by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
For the first three months, she was held incommunicado, without access to her family and lawyer.
Human rights organisations later reported accusations that interrogators had tortured her and at least three other women during that time, including with electronic shocks and whippings, and had sexually harassed them. The Saudi government has denied she was mistreated.
Last December, a terrorism tribunal found Ms Hathloul guilty of "inciting change to the basic ruling regime" and "serving a foreign agenda inside the kingdom by using the internet with the objective of damaging public order".
Saudi officials said the charges were related to Ms Hathloul's contacts with foreign diplomats, media, and activist groups. But UN human rights experts described the charges as "spurious".
While the judge suspended part of her prison sentence of five years and eight months, paving the way for her release, he warned that the suspension would be annulled if she committed any crimes within the next three years. He also banned her from leaving Saudi Arabia for five years.
At the first appeal hearing last week, Ms Hathloul was asked by the judge whether she wished to show repentance, according to her brother Walid.
"She replied that she had proven in all her defences that she had not committed any crime based on local and international laws. So, on what basis would she present her repentance?" he wrote on Twitter.
Before Wednesday's hearing, Ms Hathloul made her first public comments since she was detained, telling people gathered outside the court: "Let's hope that the sentence has been changed or modified a little bit."
But her sister Lina later tweeted: "UPDATE: The judges confirmed the first sentencing of @LoujainHathloul, which means SA confirms considering the UK, the EU, and the Netherlands 'terrorist entities' and contacting them a 'terrorist act'. #FreeLoujain."
There was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities.
Biak Island, in Papua province, Indonesia, has been offered to Elon Musk as a site for a SpaceX launchpad. (photo: Alamy)
Indonesia Offers Elon Musk Island for SpaceX Launchpad, but Residents Say It Would Devastate the Ecology
Rory James, Guardian UK
James writes:
Biak island residents say SpaceX launchpad would devastate island’s ecology and displace people from their homes
apuans whose island has been offered up as a potential launch site for Elon Musk’s SpaceX project have told the billionaire Tesla chief his company is not welcome on their land, and its presence would devastate their island’s ecosystem and drive people from their homes.
Musk was offered use of part of the small island of Biak in Papua by Indonesian president Joko Widodo in December.
An Indonesian government representative told the Guardian this week the planned spaceport was being developed in consultation with the Papuan government and local communities, and that Biak’s development as a “Space Island” would “bring positive economic impacts” for islanders.
But Papuans on Biak are fiercely opposed, arguing a space launchpad will drive deforestation, increase Indonesian military presence, and threaten their future on the island. A tribal chief on the island, Manfun Sroyer, said he feared Papuans will be forced from their homes.
“This spaceport will cost us our traditional hunting grounds, damaging the nature our way of life depends on. But, if we protest, we’ll be arrested immediately.”
Russia’s space agency, Roscosmos, also aims to develop a large rocket launch site on Biak island by 2024.
“In 2002, Russians wanted our land for satellite launches. We protested and many were arrested and interrogated… now they’ve brought it back, and this harassment and intimidation is still going on,” Manfun Sroyer said.
Biak is part of Papua province, where a secessionist campaign has run for decades against Indonesian rule. Biak’s eastern coast faces the Pacific ocean, and its location, one degree below the equator, is ideal for launching low-orbit satellites for communications, with less fuel needed to reach orbit. Its proximity to reserves of natural resources also makes it a prime candidate for a launch site.
Musk plans to launch 12,000 satellites by 2026 to provide cheap high-speed internet through internet service Starlink. A SpaceX test rocket exploded on the landing pad this month after landing, the third successive failure.
West Papua’s vast natural resources include copper and nickel, two of the most important metals for rockets as well as the long-range batteries used in Tesla’s electric vehicles (EV).
Widodo also aims to lure Tesla to Indonesia, promoting its nickel deposits, to make it south-east Asia’s second-largest producer of EVs. If successful, Tesla and SpaceX operations could further accelerate resource extraction in Papua and West Papua.
Musk told Indonesian officials in July Tesla would offer a “giant contract for a long period of time if you mine nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way”.
But Papuans and environmental experts fear a launch site will further damage the island’s delicate ecosystem.
“It’s a tiny island,” Benny Wenda the exiled leader of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) and interim president told the Guardian. “It’s already destroying ecosystems and threatening the survival of the people of Biak. They just want to live simply, without this destruction coming to the island.”
The Raja Ampat Islands in West Papua hold significant nickel deposits, and a coalition of Indonesian environmental non-government organisations, JATAM, has argued expanded mining there will escalate deforestation, pollute a proposed Unesco marine world heritage site, and endanger the health of local people.
The Grasberg mine on Papua’s mainland is the world’s second largest copper mine. Increased production there is likely to add to the 80m tonnes of mining waste it dumps into surrounding rivers each year, worsening environmental damage.
In July 1998, Biak island was the site of one of the worst massacres in the history of Indonesia’s occupation of West Papua, when scores of civilians were tortured and killed and their bodies dumped at sea, allegedly by Indonesian security forces, after activists had raised the West Papua Morning Star flag.
Biak elder Tineke Rumkabu, a survivor of that violence, said she wanted to tell Musk his space project was not welcome on her people’s island.
“As a South African you understand apartheid, the killing of black people. If you bring your business here you are directly sponsoring Indonesia’s genocide against Papuans.”
Biak is also strategically important to the Indonesian military, where it has built naval, troop and air bases that serve as a jumping off point for aircraft and troop deployments.
A spokesperson for the Indonesian government told the Guardian the Indonesian National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) had consulted extensively with the Papua provincial government on the spaceport plan for Biak.
“The Papua provincial government considers that the building of the spaceport in Biak will make the Biak Numfor District a hub and bring positive economic impacts for the regional government and the local community. The Indonesian parliament also sees that the building of Biak Island as a ‘Space Island’ will bring multiplier effect to the surrounding community.”
LAPAN will continue to consult intensively with local communities as the spaceport plan is developed, the government said.
SpaceX did not respond to questions from the Guardian.
Formerly the Netherlands New Guinea, Papua was invaded, and then annexed by Jakarta in 1963.
Indonesia formalised its control over the province in 1969 under the UN-supervised, but undemocratic and coercive, Act of Free Choice. Jakarta regards Papua and West Papua as indivisible parts of the unitary state of Indonesia.
Papuans – Melanesians who are ethnically and culturally similar to the people of PNG, Solomon Islands, and Fiji – have consistently resisted Indonesian rule, and waged a long-running campaign for independence that has cost an estimated 100,000 lives.
