This past weekend Ohio State hosted the third annual Conference of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement.
I’ll be honest, I don’t support either side in the Israel-Palestine conflict. It is obvious that the current leaders on both sides have no aspirations for peace. Murder is murder, whether it’s being committed by a Palestinian blowing up a cafe, or Ariel Sharon ordering the bombing of an apartment building.
What bothers me about this conference is the pro-Israel protesters. Most of them were not from Columbus. These types of protesters are known as outside agitators.
Large groups of people were bussed in – many from New York – to make local opposition to the conference appear greater than it was. I, for one, won’t be fooled.
Don’t be duped by the numbers of protesters reported. A vast majority of them were not from Columbus and do not represent the views of Ohioans or Ohio State students.
If you need any proof, just look at the story that ran in Monday’s edition of The Lantern.
One of the most vocal protesters was a rabbi who came from the Bronx, N.Y. This same rabbi showed up at last year’s conference at the University of Michigan. If this was such an awful, Jew-hating event, where were the Columbus rabbis?
Look at the signs the protesters were carrying. Many of them said “Columbus, Ohio Stands With Israel.” It seems odd that people from Columbus would feel the need to remind people that they are from Columbus at a protest in Columbus.
In some of the pictures that weren’t published in The Lantern, signs with the Web site www.protestwarrior.com are seen. Apparently, this Web site provided many signs for the protests.
Either the protesters didn’t care, or they didn’t bother to check out the Web site whose signs they were using.
Protestwarrior.com is a rabid right-wing site with a truly despicable message. The site claims to provide people with “ammo that strikes at the intellectual solar plexus of the left.” It also said of this weekend’s conference, “The Jew haters are mobilizing for an orgy of Israel hatred.” Nice.
The site contains links to such prestigious media outlets as Rush Limbaugh, the Drudge Report, Fox News and the Free Republic.
I’m not arguing protestwarrior.com doesn’t have the right to argue their message. Their speech is protected as much as anything else in this country. Besides, that site was one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a long time.
I do have a problem with protesters who are trying to make a legitimate point accepting and using signs from this site. They will never gain support for their cause as long as they allow extreme right-wing propaganda to infiltrate their message.
Protest and civil disobedience are beautiful things. They have the power to affect great change in public policy.
But pay no mind to the message of the protesters from last weekend. They showed up in numbers, but they are not the voice of the community. They represent a fringe radical movement aimed at distorting information to push their agenda.
Erik Johns is a senior in journalism. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
