Dear Friends—
Some of you have already generously supported my claim that Bard College has wrongfully terminated my contract under cover of financial exigency. Others may be acquainting themselves with this for the first time. But this is about much more than the mistreatment of one professor. We all need to take stock of the larger significance of this case and act accordingly.
And so I am writing to ask you to help the Committee for Open Discussion of Zionism (CODZ), so that it can help us all in the great struggle against the forces that would stifle the debate on Zionism.
The so-called “Israel lobbies” police our national debate on Zionism and work to silence or at least tame it. Their goal is to give Israel the impunity necessary to carry out its Zionist mission of eliminating all that is non-Jewish from historical Palestine. Lately the ferocity of the struggle has grown, given the ever-worsening behavior of Israel (as in Gaza) and the growing anti-Zionist movement that contests this. The recent battle to unseat Charles Freeman from the Chair of the National Intelligence council is a powerful example at the highest levels of the State—but so are efforts to suppress or get rid of academics, like myself, who insist on raising the level of debate to uncomfortable levels.
It is easy to show a connection between the two examples: it comes under the name of Martin Peretz. Peretz, publisher of The New Republic and a high official in AIPAC’s foreign policy apparatus, was a leader of the campaign to bring down Freeman. But he is also a Trustee of Bard College, and someone I criticized in my book, Overcoming Zionism, because of a despicable article he wrote attacking Rachel Corrie, murdered by a US-supplied bulldozer in Gaza, March 16, 2003. Conscience compelled me to bring Peretz’s defamation of this martyr before the public, as an example of how the Lobby enforces Israel’s impunity. Given the vindictiveness of the Lobby, I knew that this meant big trouble ahead for me at Bard—as indeed has been the case. But no good will come from the misery of the Middle East unless people stand up and speak out against the crimes of Zionism.
This is where the Committee for Open Discussion of Zionism comes in. Originally founded after Overcoming Zionism was banned by its distributor, the University of Michigan Press, in 2007, CODZ has the prime function of fostering an open dialogue on this great issue of the day. With the recent intensification of struggle, the demand for our work has grown, and opportunities abound to enhance our contribution. We need to grow our data-base, improve outreach, plan events, and bring together key constituencies, especially on campuses, where our hope is to help build a national student movement. Above all, we want to develop our function to enable and protect those people who are experiencing the suppression of their rights of open speech about Zionism, by connecting them with others and making help available to them.
The first essential task is to bring aboard a part-time staff-person to carry out these tasks, and it is for this that we are primarily asking for financial assistance at present. Please give what you can afford, using our PayPal account. On the right hand side of this website (www.codz.org) there is a Pay Pal button called “Donate.” If you would like to send in your contribution by check instead and it is under $250, you can mail it to: Committee for Open Discussion of Zionism, Church St. Station, P.O. Box 3158, N.Y. N.Y. 10008-3158. However, contributions of over $250 are tax-deductible and have to be handled separately, by making out a check to the “Institute for Media Analysis,” marking it “For CODZ,” and sending it to 143 West 4th Street, NY, NY 10012.
Thank you in advance for your financial support. These are dark times, but also exciting ones. The balance of forces is changing rapidly. We believe this is a struggle that can be won, and that the whole world will be better for it.
With all best wishes,
Joel Kovel
For the Committee for Open Discussion of Zionism