Feb 21, 2008
Controversy draws more people to Greenwich Library talk
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Last week’s speaker at Greenwich Library drew more than 300 attendees but only in part because of the topic.
After controversy surrounding the scheduling, canceling and rescheduling of a talk by Alison Weir, founder of If Americans Knew, many came — some out of curiosity, some out of anger and others for support.
Based in Portland, Ore., If Americans Knew provides information on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ms. Weir said the group and her presentation aim to provide audiences with information audiences may not necessarily get from mainstream media. The talk, titled “Israel-Palestine: Beyond the Headlines,” was scheduled by Greenwich resident Jon McGillion, who asked for the space and brought Ms. Weir in to talk. The library did not arrange Ms. Weir’s talk. It lends out its meeting rooms for anyone who would like to assemble or bring in a speaker.
An advertisement for the presentation in the
Greenwich Time on Friday, Feb. 8, generated a lot of buzz abou the talk. Then, on Saturday, Feb. 9, Roberta Denning, president of the Board of Trustees of Greenwich Library, pulled Ms. Weir’s presentation, citing phone calls against the presentation because of the controversy surrounding the topic. Mario Gonzalez, executive director of the library, said the library received a “considerable number of complaints” that went through to the library and the town.
Letters to this paper from those objecting to the talk said Ms. Weir is “ill-informed” and “unsuitable to present legitimate views on the subject.”
“I challenge Ms. Weir to furnish the ‘U.S. intelligence reports’ she offers as evidence, which, as any student of the Middle East modern history knows, is otherwise,” said a letter from Steven Stein of Greenwich.
Another letter writer called If Americans Knew a “scurrilous group.”
The library has a sensitivity clause in its Meeting Facility Policy, which allows it to cancel talks that are disruptive to providing service to the community. However, Mr. Gonzalez said, the library has never received complaints about a speaker so the clause has not come into play. After making the decision to cancel the talk, Mr. Gonzalez said, the board consulted an independent legal counsel, Michael Shea, a Day Pitney attorney based in Hartford, who said canceling the talk might be in violation of Ms. Weir’s first amendment rights because the space is a public space supported by the town.
The media attention ultimately drew more attendees to the talk than were expected. When Mr. McGillion originally signed the official paperwork at the library on Feb. 1, Ms. Weir was scheduled to speak in the smaller auditorium that seats about 80 people. After the talk gained exposure through the local media, Mr. Gonzalez said, they decided to move it to the Cole Auditorium, which seats about 368.
The mood surrounding the talk remained heated as Ms. Weir delivered her presentation Thursday night and Saturday morning.
Ms. Weir and If Americans Knew focuses discussions on injustices Palestinians have seen throughout the conflict with Isarael, a perspective Ms. Weir said is not often addressed in mainstream media. The first part of the presentation includes charts and figures to give the audience what she says is a better picture of the suffering both sides of the conflict have seen. She also discusses and shows images from her personal experience during travels to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
About 15 to 20 people were “vocally pro-Israel,” Ms. Weir said, adding that those comments “dominated the question-and-answer time.”
Though some people did begin shouting and interrupting again on Saturday, Ms. Weir said, one man stood up and said, “I’m a Jew and I want to hear what she has to say.”
Despite the controversy surrounding her talk, Ms. Weir said she walked away with a positive feeling that she had brought something to the table that needed to be said.
More than that, the debate left Ms. Weir with a positive view of Greenwich in the end. She said she was excited about the number of people who spoke out in favor of freedom of speech.
As letter writer Frank Farricker wrote this week, “Greenwich Library should be the center of learning, discussion, debate and culture. It should be an ardent defender of our First Amendment rights as a community — as books and libraries have unfortunately been the first target for suppression by those who oppose the freedoms we value.”
For the full text of letters on this topic, see this week's print edition of the
Greenwich Post.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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