Friday, November 02, 2007

DU instructor in Al-Ahram: Denver Columbus Day protest good sign for Palestinians

The Egyptian government-controlled newspaper ran the piece, by Bassem Ahmed Hassan, last week:
For more than a decade now, thousands of people in Denver, Colorado, have been spending the first weekend of October in the streets both celebrating and protesting. This year was no exception. Crowds from different national and ethnic backgrounds came out to participate in the Four Directions March; a celebration organised by the Transform Columbus Day Alliance (TCDA), an umbrella group of grassroots organisations that envision a world freed of Columbus's legacy. Afterwards they took to the streets to protest and block the "Convoy of Conquest", the name they use to label the Columbus Day Parade, and demand a change of the name of this official holiday. As usual, scores of protesters were arrested for violating the legally sanctioned "right" of the parade organisers to "honour their hero".
Or for loitering. Something like that. The "legal sanction" they were violating, of course, was the First Amendment. Hassan goes on to make the Glenn Morris argument that Palestinians are the Indians of the Middle East. Read whole thing, for its mendacity (not to mention its non sequiturs and sheer bad writing) is breathtaking.

Update: Nothing on Hassan at DU except that he seems to have completed a dissertation there. He's not listed among staff and faculty.

No comments: