hiver - Historical Revisionism by Vrij Historisch Onderzoek

——————————————————————> Conseils de révisions / hiver winter 2007
empower Holocaust deniers generally.
Why does the Tehran conference have ominous significance Because Duke, who managed to
get 43 percent of the vote in his unsuccessful 1990 U.S. Senate campaign from Louisiana, will now be
able to tell students at colleges in heartland America with a straight face that his contention that there
were never any gas chambers has international academic and institutional support. And because the
noxious views emanating from the podium in Tehran are hardly unique.
Prof. Deborah Lipstadt has long maintained that while we should never engage Holocaust
deniers in debate, we must nevertheless expose them at every opportunity. The Tehran conference is
not just another gathering of skinheads in some obscure beer cellar; it is a government-sponsored
effort to evoke and manipulate the darkest, most heinous impulses in society.
Every single one of us, from the president of the United States on down, must repudiate this
inexorable obscenity publicly, unambiguously and in person.
The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles.com 12 dec. 2006
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.phpid=17003
http://www.mcall.com/news/opinion/anotherview/all-right_col-ajan02,0,256813.storycoll=all-newsopinionanotherview-hed
TAINTED
University meets with professor about Tehran trip
ANTIGONISH, N.S. [Canada] — A Nova Scotia professor who has faced criticism from his
university and colleagues for attending an Iranian conference that cast doubt on the Holocaust
lashed out against the school Friday for failing to defend his academic freedom.
Shiraz Dossa, a political science professor at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S.,
raised the ire of the university after presenting a paper at the conference earlier this month.
Mr. Dossa, who has insisted he's not a Holocaust denier, used the forum to talk about how
the Holocaust plays into the so-called war on terror.
In a statement e-mailed to other faculty members Friday — his first public comments since
returning from Iran — Mr. Dossa said the conference was relevant to his ongoing work.
"The conference was unfortunately tainted by the presence of a small number of Holocaust
deniers, but I feel it is a mistake to boycott any academic conference because of the presence of
participants whose views one finds repugnant," the statement said.
"It is more appropriate to participate and confront and challenge repugnant views directly....
The hallmark of a truly great university is that it will protect its academic staff from attempts to
silence them or to suppress their work."
Added Mr. Dossa: "I would like to express my disappointment in my university for its failure
to defend my academic freedom."
The university was quick to distance itself from Mr. Dossa and the conference, and has cast
doubts on the tenured professor's future. President Sean Riley released a statement expressing his
"shock and regret" before Mr. Dossa had even returned to Canada.
On Friday, Mr. Dossa met with the school's vice-president academic for the second time to
discuss what happened.
Later in the afternoon, Mr. Riley continued to condemn the conference.
"We are not challenging the freedom of faculty members at our university or other
universities to have free inquiry," Mr. Riley said in an interview from Antigonish.
"It's still quite understandable and highly appropriate to take a firm stand of disassociating
(the university) with a conference that had elements that are repugnant."
Mr. Riley wouldn't speculate about what, if anything, the university would do with Mr. Dossa,
but said no decisions would be made until after the holidays.
He noted that guests at the conference included a list of controversial figures. Among them
were Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who addressed
the event and predicted Israel will one day be "wiped out."
Mr. Dossa has also faced criticism from his fellow professors, 105 of whom have signed a
public letter stating they are "profoundly embarrassed" by Mr. Dossa's trip to Iran.
Michael Steinitz, a physics professor who helped spearhead the letter, said Mr. Dossa
exercised poor judgment by attending the conference, which reflects poorly on the entire school.
"He lent our credibility to something that is morally reprehensible," said Mr. Steinitz.
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