Yesterday, writer and activist David Horowitz spoke to a nearly empty MacMillan 117 about Islam, Islamofascism, the war on terror and lack of diversity of thought.
The Herald spoke with Horowitz after his lecture about his relationship with Brown, winning hearts and minds in the Middle East and Africa and his thoughts on Condoleezza Rice.
Herald: Why are you doing this lecture series?
Horowitz: It's a kind of counter-curriculum. ... There are only one or two conservatives on your entire faculty, which is a disgrace and it did not happen by accident. ... It's appropriate to bring any subject into a classroom, but only as long as you dissect it, not as a pretext for recruiting students to a political point of view.
You have a history of dialogue with the Brown community. What draws you to engage with Brown?
I was invited by the students. The Brown Daily Herald actually initiated my relationship with Brown by printing my article and being very brave. ...
(When I first printed that ad), the head of the College Democrats ... told the head of the College Republicans, who invited me, that there would be violence if I came.
So the College Republicans backed down, and it was not until three years later students that had been freshmen in the CRs at the time became its leaders.
They invited me to come (to) Brown and Ruth Simmons, to her credit, came to our speech, and that ensured that it would be civil. ...
She was very good. She said, "If I had been president, I would have invited David Horowitz to come to Brown." ... The diversity provost said they would invite me back but that never happened. That is my whole story with Brown.
Do you think that to fight this war on, as you call it, "Islamofascism" the United States should be doing more to win hearts and minds in the Middle East and north Africa?
I don't think you can do it just by being nice. ... Unfortunately, we're actually in a war and it's not so easy to win hearts and minds. ... America's been very generous.
You know, there have been more hate incidents in this country against Jews than against Muslims. ... Israel has done a lot for the Palestinians. They sent a lot of money to the refugees.
The State Department is currently considering sending diplomats to Iran. If you were advising Condoleezza Rice, would you support or oppose this?
I don't have any respect any more for Condoleezza Rice. She compared the terrorists of the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) to civil rights workers.
She's not my secretary of state. ... If they had a coherent strategy, would I rule out (the State Department having an office in Tehran)?
No. A smart policy has many elements to it. Talking is usually one of them.
Would you support removing passages from Leviticus which condemn homosexuals or condemn a person to death for working on Sundays?
Both Judaism and Christianity have developed a tradition where they can distance themselves from statements like that. ... Both of these religions have found a way of modernizing themselves. Islam hasn't.
How do you envision the ultimate conclusion of the war on terror?
I think it's going to last for generations. ... Iran has got to be democratized. ... Palestine represents the biggest problem because ... suicide bombers are national heroes there.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I'm sorry that I came to compete with the Red Sox.
