I
have been inactive for some time here on Savage Infidel. I spent the last six
months in the Kurdish region of Iraq where I was working in a preparatory
program at an English medium university, The American University of Iraq, Sulaimani. I obviously had to be
careful about blogging from there.
I
left Israel in October 2012 and I went to Iraq out of economic need and with a
heavy heart. The pay was good as were the conditions. It would be
temporary and I would be back in Israel soon. Little did I know how soon I would be back, driven out of town by
censorship and bigotry.
I
knew that living in a Muslim society would mean a certain amount of
self-censorship. I would not be able to discuss Islam critically, as much as I would like to. I
didn’t know, however, how deeply I would be censored by the administration of
the University for being an American patriot and ultimately a Jewish Israeli.
Before
classes began in the fall there were several social gathers for the faculty in
which the alcohol flowed and people expressed their opinions on a variety of
subjects including the war in Iraq.
I
expressed my uncompromising view that the war in Iraq was a good thing and
remains so. We were after all there teaching and making good money in an area made safe wholly due to America's efforts. The Americans who work
there, however, show no appreciation for this basic fact. I felt no need, likewise, to
hide my support for Israel in private social gathers that had nothing to do
with what I was contracted to do there.
Even
before starting to teach, I was brought to the office and talked to about a
"rather serious matter" and given a dressing down by Rosalind
Warfield-Brown, the director the Academic Preparatory Program, which in no way
trains students for academics. She told me not to be
"pro-American." In addition, I was too "jingoistic."
Furthermore, my politics and patriotism were "alienating" the other
American faculty. Be nice, smile
and be quiet was the message I got. Talk about the weather.
I
was naturally hurt, shocked and furious. I remained plagued with a sense of
paranoia the entire semester. I,
however, had little choice but to accept this absurd censorship and get on with
my work there.
I
tried to tell myself to stick it out, suck it up and rise above. I would make
it until May and take the money and run after the academic year. That
strategy worked until two weeks ago after returning from the semester break in
France and Israel.
Precisely
at the moment when I thought things would be okay and I would have a smooth semester, Rosalind told me not to wear
a gold Star of David I had bought in Israel. I was also told to
remove a map of Paris I had decorated my classroom with because there were Hebrew letters on it. A small
poster of announcing a talk by Melanie Phillips likewise “had to be removed” from
my wall.
I
then quit. Censoring my political views was one thing, as contradictory
as that concept is at a university. But asking someone to hide who they are, is
quite another. There is nothing wrong with being Jewish and I was hurt
and appalled by these demands.
Whether
Rosalind in a rabid, anti-Semitic bigot is not clear. But I certainly
experienced bigotry and singling out politically and religiously. Ironically,
this bigotry was not coming from the Muslim staff or students but from the Americans
who work there.
I
returned to Israel the next day and, though I face an uncertain future, I am
happy to be back.
One
learns a lot about oneself being abroad. Freedom of speech, as Geert Wilders
rightly points out, is our most precious freedom, from it all other freedoms
spring. I believed that before I went to Iraq but it rings truer now that
I am back in Israel and feel as if a cloak of iron has been lifted from
me. The American University of
Iraq, Sulaimani robs faculty and students of that freedom and does nothing to extend freedom and progress in Kurdistan.
The
insults, character assassinations, censorship and bigotry that I experienced
are nothing. I will be fine.
The
real tragedy lies in the wasted lives of American soldiers who thought they
were bringing freedom to Iraq only to have half-educated Americans censor
freedom and spit on their graves.
