American Intellectuals Support Czech Resistance Against U.S. Military Base
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Below is a summary version of an open letter presented to the Czech ambassador to the UN Martin Palouš on November 16, 2007, organized by the New York–based Campaign for Peace and Democracy.
'Against US Military Bases in the Czech Republic'
We declare our solidarity with the November 17, 2007, demonstrations by the "No Bases Initiative" in the Czech Republic against the Czech government's plans to host the radar for a US anti-missile system.
Czech demonstrators chose November 17 because, they say, this date "has come to symbolize the overthrow of the undemocratic regime in the former Czechoslovakia and the return of representative democracy." They believe resistance to new foreign military bases is the most fitting commemoration of that anniversary.
Polls have shown that a significant majority of Czechs oppose the anti-missile system. Nor will it enhance security. As Czech activists say, the system "will lead to new dangers and insecurities. Although it is described as 'defensive,' in reality it will allow the United States to attack other countries without fear of retaliation. It will also put 'host' countries on the front line in future US wars."
Russian officials have already warned that if the United States proceeds with the system Russia will suspend participation in a treaty limiting conventional forces in Europe and direct its missiles toward Europe. This is an unjustified reaction, endangering innocent populations, but it is part of the crazy logic of superpower confrontation that the US anti-missile system will exacerbate.
The US government claims that the planned radar installation in the Czech Republic is designed to respond to an Iranian missile threat. But there is no credible evidence that such a threat exists today. And far from protecting against such a threat in the future, the anti-missile system and other nuclear escalations will only create even stronger inducements for Iran to seek nuclear weapons.
The United States can best reduce the danger of nuclear warfare by taking major steps toward disarmament. This would powerfully discourage other countries from developing their own nuclear weapons. We are inspired by Czechs who resist steps toward a new cold war. We join them in seeking to build an international movement for peace, democracy, and social justice.
Joanne Landy, Thomas Harrison, Stephen R. Shalom, Jesse Lemisch statement initiators
Stanley Aronowitz, Noam Chomsky, Joshua Cohen, Ariel Dorfman, Daniel Ellsberg, Richard Falk, Akbar Ganji, Doug Ireland, Chalmers Johnson, Naomi Klein, John Leonard, Katha Pollitt, Gloria Steinem, Meredith Tax, Immanuel Wallerstein, Cornel West, Howard Zinn and more than six hundred others
The full text and list of signers »
Source (American): The New York Review of Books, Volume 55, Number 2 · February 14, 2008
The list of signers includes among other personalities dozens of professors from the United States, Canada, Great Britain or Japan. These are academics in "social sciences" (history, political science, sociology, economics) as well as in "natural sciences" (physics, medicine, architecture) and reprezentants of various university's workplaces, including the most prestigious ones (Yale, Princeton, Stanford University, John Hopkins University etc.).
Ervand Abrahamian, Professor
Electa Arenal, Professor (emerita), New York
Stanley Aronowitz, Distinguished Professor of Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center
Rosalyn Baxandall, Distinguished Teaching Professor, SUNY Old Westbury
Mel Bienenfeld, Professor
Eileen Boris, Hull Professor of Women's Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
Stephen Eric Bronner, Professor of Political Science, Rutgers University
Morton K. Brussel, Professor emeritus of Physics
Patricia Chilton, Professor, Lancaster, UK
Noam Chomsky, Professor, Massachussets Institute of Technology
Zeljko Cipris, Professor, University of the Pacific
Joshua Cohen, Stanford University, Boston Review
Sheila Collins, Professor, William Paterson University
Arif Dirlik, Professor, Eugene, OR
Manuela Dobos, Associate Professor of History, retired, New York City, N.Y.
Martin Duberman, Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus, CUNY
Thomas Dublin, Professor, State University of New York at Binghamton
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Professor Emeritus
Robert Eliasr, Professor, University of San Francisco
Norman Epstein, Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering, University of B.C., Vancouver, Canada
Chris Evans, Professor, Nottingham, UK
Gertrude Ezorsky, Professor emerita CUNY, NEW POLITICS
Richard Falk, Milbank Professor, International Law, Princeton University (emeritus)
Cathey Falvo, M.D., President, Physicians for Social Responsibility/NYC
Samuel Farber, Professor Emeritus, Political Science Brooklyn College of CUNY
Mansour Farhang, Professor, Bennington College
Alan Feigenberg, Professor of Architecture, The City College of New York
Gordon N. Fleming, Professor Emeritus of Physics
Nancy Fraser, Professor of Philosophy and Politics, New School for Social Research
Nanette Funk, Professor, New York
Jill Godmilow, Professor, University of Notre Dame
Marthe R. Gold, Professor of Community Health, CUNY Medical School
Linda Gordon, Florence Kelley Professor of History, NYU
Jean Grossholtz, Professor Emeritus, Mount Holyoke College
A. Tom Grunfeld, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor, Empire State College/SUNY
Robin E. Hahnel, Professor, American University
Richard Halpern, Professor of English, John Hopkins University
Joan Hoff, Professor
Alan F. Hofmann, Professor Emeritus of Medicine
Nancy Holmstrom, Professor of Philosophy, Rutgers U – Newark
Edel Janik, Professor (retired)
Chalmers Johnson, Emeritus Professor
Temma Kaplan, Professor of History, Rutgers University
Sigmund Karterud, Professor
Assaf Kfoury, Professor, Boston University
Gary Kinsman, University Professor, Sociology Department, Laurentian University
J. Morgan Kousser, Professor of History and Social Science, Caltech
Kelly Kraemer, Associate Professor, College of St. Benedict/St. John's University
Scott Laderman, Assistant Professor of History, University of Minnesota, Duluth
Vinay Lal, Associate Professor of History, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Lauren Langman, Professor, Loyola University
Jane L. Lehr, Assistant Professor, Ethnic Studies, California Polytechnic State University
Jesse Lemisch, Professor Emeritus of History, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY
Robert E. Lerner, Professor
Nelson Lichtenstein, Professor of History, UC Santa Barbara
Robert J. Lipkin, Law Professor
Abby Lippman, Professor, Montreal, Quebec
Catherine Lutz, Professor, Providence, RI, USA
Gavin MacFadyen, Professor, City University, London, UK
John MacKay, Professor, Yale
Ravi Malhotra, Law Professor, Sponsor, New Politics
Farhad Mansouri, Professor, Washington D.C. University
Peter Marcuse, Professor, Columbia University
Peter L. McLaren, UCLA
Ian McMahan, Professor Emeritus, Brooklyn College, CUNY
Mark Crispin Miller, Professor, New York University
Timothy Mitchell, Professor, NYU
Val M. Moghadam, Professor of Sociology and Women's Studies, Purdue University
Ted Morgan, Professor, Political Science – Lehigh University
Tracy Mott, Associate Professor of Economics, University of Denver
Rom n Mungu a Huato, University Professor
Michael Munk, retired Professor, Portland
Martin Oppenheimer, emeritus Professor of Sociology, Rutgers University
David Ost, Professor, Hobart & Wm. Smith Colleges
Subra Pendyala, Professor of Physics, Fredonia
Stephan Peter, Professor of Political Science, ARCC
Yakov M. Rabkin, Professor, University of Montreal
Peter Rachleff, Professor of History, Macalester College
Rush Rehm, Professor, Stanford University
Fred M. Reinman, retired Professor
Ira Mikless Robinson, Retired Emeritus Professor, Urban Planning, Victoria, BC
Leonard S. Rodberg, Professor and Chair of Urban Studies, Queens College/CUNY
Gordon Rogoff, Professor, Yale University
Richard Roman, Professor (retired), Toronto, Canada
James Roth, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Regis University
John Sanbonmatsu, Assistant Professor, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Mark Schafer, translater/artist/professor, Boston, MA USA
Carl E. Schorske, Emeritus Professor of History, Princeton University
Evalyn F. Segal, Professor Emerita, Philadelphia
Maynard Seider, Professor of Sociology, Mass. College of Liberal Arts
Robert Shaffer, Associate Professor of History, Shippensburg University
Billy G. Smith, Professor, Bozeman, Montana
Stephen Steinberg, Professor, Queens College, CUNY
Gerry Sussman, Professor, Portland State University
Patrick Suzeau, Professor
Terao Terumi, Professor Emeritus at Nagoya Inst. Of Technology, Ooze, Japan
David Vine, Assistant Professor, American University
Immanuel Wallerstein, Senior Research Scholar, Yale University
Jacqueline H. Wasilewski, Professor, Tokyo
Charles Webel, Professor
Lois Weiner, Professor, New Jersey City University
Naomi Weisstein, Professor Emerita of Psychology/Neuroscience, State University of New York at Buffalo
Judith Wittner, Professor of Sociology, Loyola University
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