You Can't Make Mistakes.

I had the pleasure of seeing Dr. Norman Finkelstein speak for the first time ever in Egypt last night at the American University in Cairo. It was not well-publicized. Indeed, it was not publicized at all. I found out by word of mouth that he was speaking in the evening seconds before I would have stepped onto the bus to leave the university. I’m glad that I didn’t. It was also worth being trapped on the campus later that evening when the talk was over, since it finished after the last bus for the evening had left.

I won’t go into detail. If you look Finkelstein up on the web, you can figure out pretty quickly what he is all about. He is good. He is rigorous. And he is not well-liked, simply because he doesn’t pander to the mass-opinion-dominated discourse on Israel. I like him. You should read his books before you judge, though. You may not like him. What I saw was a very thoughtful talk delivered to a group of mostly university-age students, and he didn’t even pander to them. He was brought here by the al-Quds club at AUC, which is a pro-Palestinian student group. They have had a rough go of it until recently as they were never really able to bring anyone in or generate funds until after the January revolution in Egypt.

I’ll give a few highlights and observations. Finkelstein is a pretty big deal, primarily because of the controversy he generates. There were, however, some very conspicuous absences in the crowd. There were very few faculty members present. The president of the university, Lisa Anderson, was not there, nor the provost, Medhat Haroun. It is interesting to note that my department chair, Nelly Hanna attended. She gleefully informed me of the event, along with my advisor. One member of the English and Comparative Literature department as well. That was about all I saw. It is interesting to note that Anderson was—about one year ago, when she was provost—not only in attendance at a talk given by Seif al-Islam al-Qaddafi (son of Moamar al-Qaddafi), but sat on stage with him and moderated the question and answer. She was joined in this by David Arnold, then president of the university.

I bring this up only to note that the relatively quality of the talks delivered by Seif al-Islam and Finkelstein was categorically different. Seif al-Islam delivered a bizarre, incoherent, circularly argued discussion, the thesis of which is that Libya has the most democratic system in the world. I’m not joking. He used twisted logic and anecdotal evidence. He also was plainly just saying meaningless words at points.

Finkelstein argued last night on that same stage that what happened in Gaza in 2008 was not a war, but a massacre. He argued that Gaza, the West bank and East Jerusalem are occupied Palestinian territories. He also argued that the Israel has engaged in retaliation with undue and excessive force, particularly last may against humanitarian groups on the Mavi Marmara. All of this he argued using international treaty and criminal tribunal law.

The most interesting bit of his talk for me came toward the end. He referred to the US President Barack Obama’s upcoming Middle East reprise speech slated for later this week. He said that the best thing that anyone can do is turn off their TVs and radios and iPods and just don’t bother listening to another minute of drivel from that “endlessly sermonizing American president.” And he was right. It will just be a load of boring hemming and hawing, the same as all the other boring hemming and hawing that comes out of Washington these days.

I will likely follow Dr. Finkelstein’s advice on this point. I have tended not to listen to much of what comes out of Obama’s mouth these days. There is no point as it is usually the same load of bull that always comes out. I would encourage my friends here in Egypt to do the same. Don’t listen the the US anymore. You’ll only hear a message that was prerecorded ten years ago in preparation for a decade-long war in the Middle East meant to bolster the American economy. Read a book instead and think about what needs to be done next.