Letter to the Editor
By Daily Bruin Staff
March 5, 2007 10:06 p.m.
Controversial debate is not anti-American
Contrary to David Lazar’s assertions (“Your money funds terror,” Feb. 27), guests at the UCLA Social Justice Speaker Series are not terrorists.
Over the past quarter, the USAC general representative office has been fortunate enough to have invited nearly a dozen fantastic speakers to our campus, each of whom has brought interesting perspectives on a host of relevant topics.
Speakers have addressed issues ranging from sweatshop conditions in Los Angeles and the history of police brutality to the potential abuses of the Patriot Act and the current status of the Iraq War.
The only thing all these speakers had in common was a commitment to social justice and a willingness to share their experiences with an eager audience.
What exactly was “anti-American” about these people?
None of these people ever conspired to destroy anything or murder anyone.
On the contrary, they were all invited in light of their courage to stand up against unnecessary violence and aggression, whether from Islamic fundamentalists or American bombs.
In fact, the only thing we can label anti-American in all of this is Lazar’s attempt to stifle criticism of his own political leanings.
As students at a prestigious university, we’re lucky to be exposed to a variety of viewpoints and ideologies and can challenge ourselves to think critically about our surroundings. That is precisely what the Social Justice Speaker Series was designed to do.
But Lazar would like to stop campus exposure to anything that doesn’t fit into his right-wing ideology.
The censorship of controversial political dialogue is far more anti-American than an anti-war speaker or a garment-worker organizer.
Using ridiculous buzzwords like “terrorists” only cheapens honest campus dialogue and slants the issue in a misleading and uninformed direction.
We all benefit when the campus is exposed to dialogue and debate from all sides of the political spectrum.
Don’t let anyone scare you into thinking otherwise.
Samer Araabi
Fourth-year, business economics and political science
USAC general representative
