Shahid Alam compared the 9/11 hijackers to the Founding Fathers, sent a fiendishly anti-Semitic reply to an emailer who complained, and for good measure, falsely accused Jihad Watch and LGF of subjecting him to "orchestrated attacks--many of them death threats." Then he had the temerity to complain about his academic freedom being threatened, even though MESA Nostra has made sure that people with his views dominate Middle East Studies departments all over the country.
What does he get for all this? An award. From WND, with thanks to all who sent in reports of this:
A university professor who wrote an article equating the 9-11 suicide-hijackers with American colonists who fought the British has been given an award for speaking out on controversial issues.M. Shahid Alam, professor of economics at Northeastern University, was honored by the National Lawyers Guild with their Free Speech Award on Thursday.
In his article, Alam wrote: "On September 11, 2001, nineteen Arab hijackers too demonstrated their willingness to die - and to kill - for their dream. They died so that their people might live, free and in dignity."...
Announcing the award, the leftist National Lawyers Guild noted Alam has been heavily criticized by commentors such as Bill O'Reilly of Fox News and scholar Daniel Pipes, director of the think tank Middle East Forum and a presidential appointee to the board of the United States Institute of Peace.
Guild member Bin Ahmad, a third-year law student at Northeastern, said Pipes "goes on national television and calls Dr. Alam a 'radical Muslim' and a 'bomb thrower' with 'venom towards America."
"These are outrageous allegations based on a selective and distorted reading of Dr. Alam's writings," she said. "Additionally, Dr. Alam has been the target of physical threats and harassment after excerpts from one of his recent essays were posted on websites of known, extreme right-wing organizations."...
Jonathon Foglia, another Northeastern student-member of the Guild said Alam deserves the Free Speech Award because his work epitomizes the type of thought and expression the First Amendment protects.
"Dr. Alam is a man of profound scholarship and enviable bravery," Foglia said. "His work is clearly core political speech. Anytime self-professed 'patriots' threaten and intimidate individuals on the basis of published words, we must all rally to the defense of the First Amendment and people such as Dr. Alam."
The National Lawyers Guild recently defended New York lawyer Lynne Stewart, a member, on charges she helped a radical Egyptian sheik Omar Abdel Rahman pass secret messages to his followers urging terrorist attacks.
Stewart, 65, was convicted Feb. 10.
Just more evidence that the old communist infrastructure in America is being taken over by Islamists. The Lawyers Guild is a notorious communist front organization.
Like Hugh said yesterday, it is curious that in Islamic countries the old communists are the main opposition to Islam, whereas in the west, the old communists make common cause with them.
You could in theory give an award for free speech to the Devil arguing that even he deserves liberties but there are more deserving people in this world.
Maybe this award could be called a more accurate name according to the nature of its current recipient:
"The cold, ruthless bastard award"
Stalin and Lenin would be envious.
Ah yes. Now are you Americans going to tell us Europeans just how much braver and more virile you are and better equipped to resist dhimmitude? This is the kind of news I hear more often your side of the Pond than ours.
What is more 'right wing' than the Islamic fascism these nineteen heroic 'freedom fighters' and mass murderers died to promote? And what is more 'left wing' than the antithesis of that fascism?
And prof. Alam is a champion of freedom and the 'left wing'?
The world is standing on its head. What utter nonsense.
Ah yes. Now are you Americans going to tell us Europeans just how much braver and more virile you are and better equipped to resist dhimmitude? This is the kind of news I hear more often your side of the Pond than ours.
Posted by: Paolo at February 19, 2005 09:22 AM
Well, no Paolo, we uncultured, unsophisticated, ignorant, capitalist Americans would never dream of criticizing our European superiors. How presumptuous and arrogant do you think we are?!
This situation really isn't a good example of dhimmitude. The organization that gave the award to this muslim scumbag is not exactly a highly respected, mainstream American institution, just a group of communist sympathizers with minimal clout.
The forces of darkness had a little celebration to honor one of their own. Big deal.
A more fitting award would be a one way airline
ticket to Pakistan. Most any Islamic cesspool should
be fine for a piece of garbage like him.
Paolo, the Lawyer's Guild is the sort of organization that in America is fringe, but in Europe sits in chanceries and the EU headquarters. Because we treat the Lawyer's Guild as a semi-pariah organization, Europeans think we Americans are primitive and uncaring.
Since Lynne Stewart (whom a liberal lawyer I know once called "that silly woman") was mentioned, I have a comment on KJ's thread on a previous post.
The difference between Lynne Stewart and James Baker, Stewart provided cover for Sheikh Abdurrahman to communicate with his followers through the supposed interpreter. It turned out she was there blabbing strings of nonsense (no, I do not think legalese is ipso facto nonsense) while the real conversation was going on between the Sheikh and the interpreter. Having translated for lawyers myself (albeit Chinese rather than Arabic), the rule of the game is that the translator facilitates communication between the lawyer and his client or the witness and the court. Period. Stewart was thus doing something not in the purview of legitimate lawyer-client dealings. Baker, on the other hand, is simply doing the lawyer and client thing--and, since the government of Sa'udi Arabia has been called into court in the US of A, it's allowed a lawyer just like anyone else (I was about to say any other two-bit hoodlum). Now, if we can get the grand mufti of Mecca and Prince Turki into flaming orange jumpsuits and Club Fed accommodations Stateside, and Mr. Baker pulls a Stewartesque shenanigan for them, I'll be the first to call for his head on a platter--and I used to work for the guy. My guess, though, is that if Baker loses the case, he won't do what Stewart did.
Still, I do think Lynne Stewart would look great in flaming orange.