(Jewish Group) Alleged antisemitic activist speaks on campus, raising questions about free speech

[Behind the Aegis]

French-Algerian “decolonial advocate” and author Houria Bouteldja visited Yale to deliver a April 6 talk as part of the Decolonizing Europe Lecture Series.

Bouteldja’s invitation was met with backlash from community members who accused the activist of bigotry, bringing up comments they interpreted as homophobic and antisemitic. In conversations with the News, students expressed issue not only with her invitation, but also with her lecture taking place during the night of the second seder of Passover, meaning that Jewish students observing the holiday were unable to attend.

“Often, on this campus, I feel like my voice and perspective as a Jewish person is ignored, or not taken seriously,” Emily Zenner ’24 told the News. “By scheduling such a controversial guest, and one especially worrying to many Jewish people, during a Jewish holiday, it feels to me as if Yale, once again, completely ignored us.”

In a April 3 tweet from the non-profit watchdog organization StopAntisemitism, the group decried Yale’s invitation of Bouteldja, labeling her “an atrocious antisemite and homophobe.” The tweet, which was viewed over 100,000 times, also condemned numerous past statements from the invited guest on topics ranging from Zionism and Israel to interracial relationships.

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"Alleged", my ass! An anti-Semite and a homophobe, and yet venerated by a certain population that is not right-leaning. Shame!

[Beastly Boy]

1. I often hear phrases like "decolonialism" and "normalizing the language of resistance" being used to

lend legitimacy to sexism, racism and antisemitism which is hiding behind them. These labels appear to be carefully constructed to appeal to the liberal left, who have been historically sympathetic to the struggles of the third world. Yet, behind the thin facade of what turns out to be meaningless slogans, the emerging rhetoric is more reminiscent of the right-wing intolerance and religious zealotry than it does the aspirations of liberal democracy. Remarkably, some left wing leaders, people of presumably considerable intelligence, don't seem willing to get past the headers and the slogans and critically examine the content being pushed behind them.

Still, I must defend Yale's decision to invite Bouteldja to campus. It is a right and an obligation for an institution of higher learning to allow controversial subject to be openly debated. In the case of Bouteldja, not only were the students and faculty of Yale able to hear from her and discover for themselves all of the self-contradictory and bigoted statements in her narrative, her presence there shone a bright light on some of the methods of spreading antisemitism which may otherwise remain on the fringes and barely noticed.