If there are any other old-timers out there besides myself, especially CAL alumni, who remember the glory years of the Free Speech Movement and the non-violent Civil Rights Movement, I hope you will speak up and add your thoughts to this conversation!
It will take on special significance if CAL graduates, especially those old enough to remember the Free Speech Movement, defend the rights of individuals to speak even if their views do not appear to fit in with the intellectual atmosphere of CAL Berkeley . . .
At the risk of being mistaken for a Republican (heaven forbid!) I feel it’s time to speak out against the protests at CAL on the first day of February aimed at preventing the appearance of Milo Yiannopoulus. Granted, he’s considered an ultra-conservative whose views do not sit well with many of the liberal-progressive students attending CAL.
However, protesting students must also remember that they are part of a much larger student body. There were many others–Republicans, the curious, the interested–who did wish to hear Mr. Yiannopoulus speak. He was invited by the campus club of Republicans and all protocols were followed in extending him an invitation so far as is known.
Despite the anger of the assembled crowd, he had a right to speak under the First Amendment. True, the same amendment gives people the right to assemble and to protest peacefully, but it does not give anyone the right to engage in random violence. Such conduct becomes criminal when it destroys property through acts of vandalism and the setting of fires.
While it may be true that the ultra-conservative nature of his views helped create the tensions that led to the outbreak of violence, Milo Yiannopoulus is himself not legally or morally responsible for the vandalism or the fires. The violent demonstrators only succeeded in giving CAL a black eye.
They could not have made worse choices had they been hired as agent provocateurs by the other side to smear and undermine the protest, for that was the sum effect of their thoughtless actions.
BLACK-MASKED
I understand that CAL students originally organized a peaceful protest which was later taken over by off-campus, black-masked activists who always intended to go on a destructive rampage. Those who committed these acts are the ones to be held responsible; they should be arrested and prosecuted, not those students who engaged in peaceful protest.
It is not fair to paint all demonstrators with the same brush, especially when the difference between peaceful protestors and black-masked rioters was so extreme.
Nevertheless, that does not let the peaceful group of students off the moral hook entirely, either.
As a former student at CAL (1965-69) I remember well the Free Speech Movement years. There were protests, marches, and student strikes aplenty in those days.
Nearly all activists, including my friends and myself, committed fully to peaceful non-violent protest as the only philosophy worth embracing: the same philosophy so eloquently expressed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
THE DISCIPLINE OF PROTEST
The question remains, what can we learn today from such principles?
Students who wish to protest peacefully Milo’s appearance need to separate physically from the would-be rioters; if need be, they should leave campus as soon as the unlawful violence begins.
They should not let themselves (or the university) become associated with such riotous property-destroying actions committed by a small breakaway group of off-campus trouble-makers.
If a peaceful protest cannot be held without disruption from these anti-social anarchist types, then the peaceful protest should be moved away or rescheduled for another day and time.
MAKING AMENDS
CAL students who believe in peaceful protest and freedom of speech must consider taking one additional step: denouncing the violent demonstrators and dissociating themselves from their actions in every conceivable way.
We who love Berkeley best must fulfill our moral obligation to defend the historic role of the campus in protecting freedom of speech for everyone!
Moreover, today’s liberal CAL students should consider inviting Milo Yiannopoulus back to campus, allowing him to speak, and help protect him from possible violence.
It may be difficult for students opposed to Milo’s right-wing beliefs to grasp that there is a higher principle involved here: the right of freedom of speech itself. This right must be extended to everyone, including persons with whom we disagree—especially those with whom we disagree.
The First Amendment sanctifies freedom of speech—as well as peaceful protest–but it certainly does not condone criminal misconduct masquerading as free speech.
Students and alumni who love the Berkeley campus, now is the time to speak up!
