By Brian Carnell

Tuesday, July 22, 2003

The New York Times ran a profile of left wing activists Charlotte Kates the other day. Kates is a law student at Rutgers and, according to the Times, one of the main organizers behind the Third North American Student Conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement which will take place in October 2003 at Rutgers.

Kates has a very odd set of beliefs. On the one hand, in an article published at Counter Punch last year, she bemoaned what she saw as a lack of tolerance for differing political views at American universities,

The university is envisioned as and expected to be an environment of open debate, innovative ideas, incisive questioning and analysis. Of course, it is also supposed to be an environment of tolerance of difference. However, what we are witnessing in much of the discussion of "tension on campus" is not a concern about tolerance but rather a demand for silence and an utter lack of any toleration of viewpoints critical of Israel. We are told that open debate is negative, dangerous and harmful; that political ideas make others uncomfortable or unsafe. Criticism of a government strongly linked to the US government is rephrased as dangerous, anti-Semitic and intolerant -creating an environment where many truly are afraid to share their concerns about Israeli oppression of Palestinians.

But according to the New York Times, Kates has a great admiration for movements that were not very concerned with tolerance of dissenting views,

A poster on the wall reads: "Long Live the Proletarian Feminism of the Heroic Red Women Fighters of Peru." Without a moment's hesitation, she said her favorite book is "The State and Revolution" by Lenin.

The Times notes that Kates lost her job shortly after a New York Post article appeared about her and the upcoming conference,

The day after being featured in an article in The New York Post this month with the headline "Rutgers gets `F' For Putting Anti-Semitism 101 on the Schedule," she lost her summer job as a customer service representative for an electronics company in Teaneck.

"They told me it was because they were doing financial restructuring," she said, her signature red kaffiyeh draped around her shoulders, "but I have my doubts."

The Times forgets to point out that the Post quoted her as saying she supports the Palestinian use of suicide bombs against Israeli civilians,

Organizer Charlotte Kates told me peaceful resistance is the fest's guiding principle. Yet she noted that she, as well as the sponsoring organization, the New Jersey Solidarity Movement - an offshoot of International Solidarity - supports Palestinian homicide bombers.

"Palestinian resistance in all its forms has been a very powerful tool of justice," said Kates, 23, a Rutgers law student. "All forms, from armed struggle to mass protest."

A story circulated by MidEastWeb.Org includes quotes from an e-mail from Kates specifically about the use of suicide bomb attacks on civilians,

In response to an e-mail query, Ms Charlotte Kates of New Jersey Solidarity explained that this support extends to suicide bombing, "We support Palestinians' right to resist occupation and oppression, and do not feel that it is our place as a solidarity movement to dictate tactics of resistance to the Palestinian people," she wrote. Ms Kates does not see anything wrong with suicide bombing. She states, "Why is there something particularly horrible about "suicide bombing" - except for the extreme dedication conveyed in the resistance fighter's willingness to use his or her own body to fight? Very seldom is there seen to be something uniquely horrible about fighter planes dropping massive bombs on entire cities, when the pilot flies home unscathed."

Which kind of begs the question as to why she's upset at people trying to block her conference based on charges of anti-Semitism. Surely that tactic, regardless of whether it is right or wrong, is several orders of magnitude less objectionable than advocating in favor of terrorist attacks that intentionally target civilians.

Sources:

Law student with a history of taking left turns. Chris Hedges, The New York Times, July 18, 2003.

Rutgers University Hosts ISM-Affiliated Group that supports suicide bombing. Independent Media Review Analysis, June 15, 2003.

"Tension on Campus": A Call to Silence. Charlotte Kates, CounterPunch, December 4, 2002.

by CHARLOTTE KATES

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