EDITOR'S NOTE
Rothschild, Matthew
EDITOR'S NOTE I Matthew Rothschild Internal Affairs Above my computer at work, I have a book propped up for inspiration. That book is Representations of the Intellectual by Edward Said, who joins...
...We got killed in the first game...
...And, of course, it covers Erwin's life at this magazine, including his role in the legendary H-bomb case, his opposition to the Persian Gulf war...
...In return...
...But Jimmy slugged out single after single...
...I like Said's book in part because it gives me permission to be a crank...
...Arafat has been detaining human-rights activists and critics, his police forces have tortured these political prisoners behind bars, and several have died while in custody...
...The book also accurately conveys Erwin's unflagging commitment to civil liberties and nonviolence, and his uncanny ability to analyze the political scene...
...This is serious business for him: He spent two weeks in the batting cage before coming up here...
...There...
...Said is not the only victim of Arafat's repression...
...so that dissatisfaction bordering on dyspepsia, a kind of curmudgeonly disagreeable-ness...
...the editor of In These Times, traded four of his best players to us for nothing in return (no George Steinbren-ner, he) did we manage to squeak by in the second game...
...It is always easy and popular for intellectuals to fall into modes of vindication and self-righteousness that blind them to the evil done in the name of their own ethnic or national community," he writes...
...But it's come to pass...
...19-6...
...This is what he said last time around: "Those folks who earnestly believe Bill Clinton is by far the better road are going to be betrayed...
...He criticized Yasir Arafat's eagerness to sign the peace accords that were heavily tilted against the Palestinians...
...Arafat has now banned Said's writings in the West Bank...
...and his subsequent role as a national leftwing spokesman on the MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour...
...Neither could I, for that matter...
...In outspoken language, he's been warning of Arafat's increasing authoritarianism over the last few years...
...The whole point is to be embarrassing, contrary, even unpleasant...
...It was a beautiful day in Madison on August 10 when the team from the socialist weekly In These Times drove up from Chicago for the fourteenth annual leftwing picnic-and-softball fest...
...Elsewhere, he adds: "Least of all should an intellectual be there to make his or her audiences feel good...
...government in the Middle East by making peace with Israel...
...And while it's a painful irony that Said is banned in his own homeland, for him it is a badge of honor...
...I also admire Said for transcending nationalism, even the nationalism of his beloved Palestinian cause...
...Only after Jimmy We-instein...
...can become not only a style of thought, but also a new, if temporary, habitation...
...The personal cost be damned...
...I feel better...
...Iused to kid my predecessor, Erwin Knoll, that Bill Lueders would be his Boswell...
...I've had people say to me, 'First we get Clinton elected, and then we push him to the left.' With what...
...Bill Lueders has done an excellent job of capturing Erwin's spirit, which lingers in this office...
...But you would not be surprised by Arafat's actions if you'd been reading Edward Said...
...That book is Representations of the Intellectual by Edward Said, who joins our editorial advisory board this month, along with other new members Barbara Ehrenreich, Martin Espada, Jane Slaughter, and Urvashi Vaid...
...That outspokenness has now gotten Said into trouble...
...Said writes, should "be happy with the idea of unhappiness...
...And he criticized Arafat's administration of the West Bank and Gaza, denouncing him for corruptness and for brutality, for acting as an Israeli gendarme, for selling Palestinians short...
...Said refuses to do that...
...Never solidarity before criticism," he writes...
...You might not have heard much about this because Arafat is now an official good guy...
...He serves the interests of the U.S...
...It gives a fascinating account of Erwin's childhood in Vienna, his family's escape from the Nazis, his early days as a courageous college newspaperman, his stint at The Washington Post, and his work as a White House correspondent during Lyndon Johnson's Presidency...
...Salim Muwakkil, who looked like he couldn't pass a steroid test, nevertheless was barely able to lift the ball out of the infield...
...In this election season, it is refreshing to hear again Erwin's withering comments about the Democrats...
...The intellectual...
...What's the lever that's going to push him to the left when he's in office if he can't be pushed to the left now, when he needs our votes...
...Gaza, and East Jerusalem...
...Now that's not t'air...
...Bill Lueders, who was an intern here at The Progressive in 1984 and is the news editor of the local weekly Isthmus, has written a detailed, loving biography entitled An Enemy of the State: The Life of Erwin Knoll...
Vol. 60 • October 1996 • No. 10
