Deceits of learning

An occasional column dedicated to absurdity, corruption and other peccadilloes in institutions of higher education.

The recent appointment of Tony Blair to a position at Yale University, where he will be teaching “issues of faith and globalization”, is the ultimate slap in the face for those of us who have laboured hard to achieve distinction in our chosen academic field, but who don’t happen to have the distinction of having shaken hands – or prayed – with Bush or of having lied our way into an illegal, immoral and unwinnable war. One cannot separate the Blair appointment from the fact that George Bush father and son are both alumni of the university. The appointment tells us all we need to know about how highly Yale University values truthfulness.

Yale’s president Richard Levin, has said: "The appointment of Mr. Blair provides a tremendous opportunity for our students and our community” (The Guardian, 7 March 2008). Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he? Still, maybe the appointment does present a great opportunity for the students at Yale. I hope they will avail themselves of the opportunity to put a few searching questions to their new prof, such as the following:

• Where are Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, about which we heard so much before the invasion of Iraq in 2003?
• After the failure to find WMDs following the invasion, the justification of the invasion was changed from the alleged threat of Saddam’s WMDs to the need to establish democracy. Is this change due to incompetence, forgetfulness, criminal intent or a combination of all or any of the above?
• How does Blair reconcile his history of warmongering with his profession of a faith whose founder did not retaliate against His enemies, but healed them (Mark 14:47; Luke 22:50); taught His disciples that if someone struck them they should not retaliate but instead offer the other cheek (Matthew 5:39; Luke 6:29); commanded His disciples: “Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you” (Luke 6:27; cf. Matthew 5:44); renounced any ambitions of earthly power (Luke 4:8); and, after He had risen from the dead, did not take revenge on those who crucified Him, but instead forgave them in advance (Luke 23:34)?
• How does Blair reconcile his insistence on law and order at home (anti-social behaviour orders, curbs on the right to demonstrate, greater video surveillance, increased powers to detain suspects) with his breaches of international law:
• invading and occupying a country which posed no threat to the UK;
• giving the go-ahead for a new generation of Trident nuclear submarines, even though the UK is committed under the 1970 Non Proliferation Treaty to pursue negotiations “in good faith” leading to nuclear disarmament (http://storage.paxchristi.net/DIS40E06.pdf)?

No doubt Yale University will do its level best to ensure that only those students who are “on message” and do not constitute a “terrorist threat” (i.e. are too docile to heckle or persist in asking awkward questions) are selected to take part in the seminar. No doubt Taser-wielding guards will be standing by, just in case… Nevertheless I do hope there are one or two students who are clever and resourceful enough to slip through the net and will be in a position to call Blair to account in a way that the British Parliament, the British mainstream press and television have failed to do. That is, if they can be heard above the din of protest that I hope will be pouring through the windows of the seminar room from the courtyard outside.

Here is a list of resources which I can recommend to Blair’s prospective students, including a lot of stuff you won’t find in the mainstream press. The more you can equip yourselves with specific quotes, dates, facts, figures etc., the better you can answer back when and if Blair attempts to silence you or fob you off:

For a general overview:

http://www.stopwar.org.uk

http://www.counterpunch.org/

http://www.zmag.org

http://www.antiwar.com/

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

http://www.progressiveaustin.org/iraq_war.htm

If you don’t read anything else, do read:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org

which exposes the fraudulent basis for the decision to go to war with Iraq, as revealed in the infamous “Downing Street memo”, in which a Downing Street foreign policy aide admitted that “the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy [of going to war in Iraq]”.

See especially:

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/downloads/blairimpeachment.pdf

“A Case to Answer”, a detailed catalogue of the Blair’s “High Crimes and

Misdemeanours in relation to the invasion of Iraq”.

The grounds for impeaching Bush or Cheney are laid out in:

http://www.impeachbush.org/site/PageServer

and

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/cheney

Was the war in Iraq legal? See:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/16/iraq.iraq

Are you a Christian and are you interested in exploring issues relating to war, peace and the Christian faith? Is Christian faith ever compatible with war, violence or the use of force, and if so, when? Is there such a thing as a “just” war? Here is a useful resource that will help you to work through these questions:

http://www.incommunion.org/

And here is another Christian-based peace organisation:

http://www.paxchristi.net/

6 April 2008