KRISTALLNACHT 2017 BERKLEY STYLE

Guest Post by Ol’ Remus

A little rhyme of history

Kristallnacht 1938

Crystal Night was two days and nights of terror informally endorsed by Hitler, publicized by Goebbels, enabled by Gauleiters, carried out by paramilitary and civilians, and unopposed by law enforcement. They were, in this sense, spontaneous.

Milo Yiannopoulos, the not altogether wholesome but courageous Breitbart editor and political entrepreneur who styles himself as “Dangerous Faggot”, accepted an invitation from the Berkeley College Republicans to speak at the University of California at Berkeley on the evening of Wednesday, February 1st. This was to be the final venue of his book promotion. Here’s how it played out.

Dozens of UC Berkeley faculty signed a letter to Chancellor Dirks on January 3rd demanding Milo Yiannopoulos be prevented from speaking anywhere other than a reconvening of the Nuremberg Trials. They declared Mr. Yiannopoulos a racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, bigoted, cowardly, un-American, intolerant, transphobic, ignorant, misogynist, climate denying, bullying, prejudiced pond scum and probable cannibal.

Associate chancellor Nils Gilman replied with the official position of the administration saying, in effect, a publicly funded university is powerless to prevent even a thoroughly deplorable knuckle-dragging nationalist white supremacist disgusting Nazi literally Hitler from speaking, followed by a further exchange of verbose preening.

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Robert Cohen, an alumnus writing in the student newspaper Daily Californian on January 17th cautioned:

Free Speech Movement veterans and historians comment on Milo Yiannopoulos free speech controversy

[Excerpt]

His campus events are one long publicity stunt designed to present himself as a kind of hip, far right, youth folk hero — sort of Hitler Youth with cool sunglasses. “Look at me, I’m so rad, the PC police won’t let me speak on campus.” That’s his whole shtick in a nutshell, along with bigotry. Banning him just plays into his hands politically, which is one reason why we were glad to see the UC administration refuse to adopt such a ban…

The staff at the Daily Californian was having none of it however. Their editorial on January 17th scoffed at extending the protection of free speech and civil rights to the Berkeley College Republicans, reasoning thusly:

Berkeley College Republicans must not normalize hate speech

[Excerpts]

Milo Yiannopoulos, an editor for the far-right news website Breitbart, is a repulsive agitator, and inviting him to speak at UC Berkeley normalizes his brand of alt-right hate speech. While the First Amendment protects him, he intentionally baits marginalized voices so that he can bully them and exploit the angry backlash in front of his fans.

In inviting him, BCR demonstrates it is not a club dedicated to the preservation of free speech and open dialogue on campus. This is a club hiding behind the right of free speech as an excuse to legitimize — and even laugh at — hate speech and shirk responsibility for any resulting damage.

And thus it simmered until the 26th of January, when UC Berkeley Chancellor Dirks issued his statement:

UC Berkeley, Berkeley News – Chancellor’s message on campus appearance by Milo Yiannopoulos.

Public Affairs, UC Berkeley | January 26, 2017

Chancellor Nicholas Dirks sent the following message this afternoon to the campus community.

To the campus community:

[Excerpts]

Mr. Yiannopoulos is not the first of his ilk to speak at Berkeley and he will not be the last. In our view, Mr. Yiannopoulos is a troll and provocateur who uses odious behavior in part to “entertain,” but also to deflect any serious engagement with ideas. He has been widely and rightly condemned for engaging in hate speech directed at a wide range of groups and individuals, as well as for disparaging and ridiculing individual audience members, particularly members of the LGBTQ community…

Mr. Yiannopoulos’s opinions and behavior can elicit strong reactions and his attacks can be extremely hurtful and disturbing… we stand ready to provide resources and support to our community members who may be adversely affected by his words and actions on the stage.

We have also clearly communicated to the BCR [Berkeley College Republicans] that we regard Yiannopoulos’s act as at odds with the values of this campus. We have emphasized to them that with their autonomy and independence comes a moral responsibility for the consequences of their words, actions, events and invitations – and those of their guest. We have made sure they are aware of how Yiannopoulos has conducted himself at prior events at other universities, and we have explained that his rhetoric is likely to be deeply upsetting and perceived as threatening by some of their fellow students and members of our campus community. Our student groups enjoy the right to invite whomever they wish to speak on campus, but we urge them to consider whether exercising that right in a manner that might unleash harmful attacks on fellow students and other members of the community is consistent with their own and with our community’s values…

Nothing we have done to plan for this event should be mistaken as an endorsement of Yiannopoulos’s views or tactics. Indeed, we are saddened that anyone would use degrading stunts or verbal assaults on marginalized members of our society to promote a political platform…

I would quote my colleague, UC Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman, who recently wrote, “Universities support free speech and condemn censorship for two reasons — to ensure that positive, helpful, illuminating messages can circulate widely, and to expose hateful or dangerous ideas that, if never engaged or rebutted, would gain traction in the darker corners of our society. Hate speech is like mold: Its enemies are bright light and fresh air.” This admonition may be more important in our current political moment than ever…

Nicholas Dirks
Chancellor

It’s worth noting Chancellor Dirk announced his resignation in 2016 after a corruption investigation found egregious misuse of university funds . He also used funds for a bizarre escape hatch in his office for quick escape from protestors. Mr. Dirk remains at his post while UC Berkeley seeks a replacement.

On January 31st, the day before Mr. Yiannopoulos’s speech, the Berkeley Against Trump Coalition published their mission statement, to wit: “kick Yiannopoulous and his hateful bile off our campus”. From the student newspaper Daily Californian:

Berkeley students should organize protest against Milo Yiannopoulos

[Excerpts]

The Berkeley Against Trump coalition, previously known as the Berkeley J20 coalition, invites all solidarity-minded students and other members of the campus community to protest with us against far-right agitator Milo Yiannopoulos on Feb. 1. We will gather at 5 p.m at Sproul and show our unwillingness to allow our campus to be used to spread Yiannopoulous’s vile bigotry …

The university administration’s refusal to cancel Yiannopoulos’s event is irrelevant — the campus belongs to the students, staff and faculty who run it, and in our numbers we will demonstrate exactly how we will run it…

The far-right is getting organized against us — we must get organized against them. The first step is coming out en masse to kick Yiannopoulous and his hateful bile off our campus.

On the same day, perhaps coincidentally, Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, Hillary Clinton’s running mate, specifically endorsed “street activism” on MSNBC:

What we’ve got to do is fight in Congress, fight in the courts, fight in the streets, fight online, fight at the ballot box, and now there’s the momentum to be able to do this. And we’re not afraid of the popular outcry, we’re energized by it and that’s going to help us do our job and do it better.

When Mr. Yiannopoulos arrived at about 6 p.m., an on-campus riot with BLM-grade criminal assaults was in progress. The UCPD, having effectively stood down, cancelled the event for ‘safety reasons’. It’s alleged there was a substantial presence of faculty among the perps, perhaps a factor in the hands-off policy.

UC Berkeley, Berkeley News – Milo Yiannopoulos event canceled after violence erupts

Gateway Pundit – Violent Leftists Chase and Beat Man Unconscious at Berkeley Riots [includes video]

SFGate – UC Berkeley cancels Milo Yiannopoulos event amid violent protest

Aside from a couple of arrests the police did not interfere, nor is there evidence of an investigation into criminal violations despite overt planning on social media, open action on the streets and the advanced state of facial recognition technology. This may change, there are rumors of FBI involvement.

Shortly after the event was called off, Mr. Yiannopoulos said:

I have been evacuated from the UC Berkeley campus after violent left-wing protestors tore down barricades lit fires, threw rocks and Roman candles at the windows and breached the ground floor of the building. My team and I are safe. But the event has been cancelled. I’ll let you know more when the facts become clear. One thing we do know for sure: the Left is absolutely terrified of free speech and will do literally anything to shut it down.

Having achieved their stated goal—shutting down the event—the mob then surged into the city of Berkeley and went Full Ferguson, again without serious inconvenience by law enforcement. It appears there was another, unstated goal. Those who committed acts of violence and property destruction were promptly called “outsiders” on the basis of no public evidence whatever. Such speedy certainty suggests insider knowledge, perhaps prior knowledge.

Actual “outsiders” in student mobs, meaning “no affiliation to the campus”, are rare. They ask us to imagine a sudden and sizable influx of random opportunists where there was no evident gain. “Outsiders” are more often the most inside of insiders, on call for criminal thug work . On call by who? Perhaps by those who can offer credible assurance of noninterference by law enforcement.

At 5 p.m. on the 1st of February, just as the riot was getting into motion on campus, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin announced his moral duty to protect the mob from the citizenry:

Using speech to silence marginalized communities and promote bigotry is unacceptable. Hate speech isn’t welcome in our community.

His police took the hint. They remember Baltimore.

Then, three hours later:

Violence and destruction is not the answer.

Actually, violence and destruction are the answer, if we rely on results.

After a day’s reflection the mayor added:

I consider much of what Mr. Yiannopoulos says to be hateful. But I regret and apologize for the white national label.

Non sequitur much?

Newsweek reveled in it. This is from Alexander Nazaryan’s article, Milo Yiannopoulos Gets Schooled at Berkeley, posted in the small hours of the morning after the riot:

He appeared to have miscalculated the ferocity of the resistance he’d face. Berkeley was to be the last stop on the Dangerous Faggot tour, in which Yiannopoulos, an editor at the white-nationalist website Breitbart, goes through all the far-right complaints and nostrums one might find at a Trump rally, only delivered in a British accent. Protesters made sure that didn’t happen at Berkeley.

On Thursday the 2nd of February, the day after the riot, Chancellor Dirks said he was shocked to learn pesky “outsiders” had disrupted a respectful Jeffersonian exercise in peaceful dissent and sullied the university’s reputation for open inquiry and inclusiveness. Again from the student newspaper Daily Californian, and without evident irony:

“The violence last night was an attack on the fundamental values of the university, which stands for and helps to maintain and nurture open inquiry and an inclusive civil society, the bedrock of a genuinely democratic nation,” said Chancellor Nicholas Dirks in a campuswide email statement Thursday.

Comments from readers reveal they’re puzzled by his claim UC Berkeley has values, fundamental or otherwise, and remain unmoved.

Were Mr. Dirks sincere he would re-invite Mr. Yiannopoulos to speak and provide credible protection from “outsiders” rather than be satisfied with tsk tsking the outcome. As it is, UC Berkeley has it both ways. Mr. Yiannopoulos has been prevented from speaking, and the university can strike a righteous pose about unforeseeable acts of malicious strangers. Sweet. But bogus. As John Sexton at Hot Air points out:

The “peaceful” protesters and the black bloc have a symbiotic relationship. The black bloc benefits by having a large mass of protesters from which to launch their attacks and then quickly retreat to anonymity. For them the mass of protesters is a shield. Meanwhile, the “peaceful” protesters benefit because marching and chanting doesn’t have the same immediate impact as breaking windows and beating people in the street.

Oathkeepers has infiltrated organizations like The Berkeley Against Trump Coalition and has this to say about the “outsiders” they deploy:

The anarchists are by far the most dangerous of these groups. They are organized like militias. They actively train and practice their operations. They have discipline and zero tolerance for weakness. They have a number of former military personnel providing expertise to enhance security, logistics and martial arts capabilities. The majority are physical fit, military age males. They are primarily white with few minority members. Their leadership tends to be either former military, a proven leader from the occupy movement or a highly educated alpha-male.

Naweed Tahmas of the Berkeley College Republicans, who helped organize the event, said this in an interview with The College Fix:

Some have claimed the protest was orchestrated not by students, but by outside left-wing organizers. Tahmas disagrees. “It was a combination of both [students and protesters],” he said. “To suggest students played no role in the protests in preposterous. There is footage of even the so-called ‘non-violent’ protesters cheering the violent actions of the other protesters. There were meetings on campus organizing the protests that alluded to the planned use of violent tactics.”

In summary, there was no chance Mr. Yiannopoulos’s audience would hear him speak. Prior restraint having been denied under protest, contemporal restraint was deployed. The who and how of “kicking Yiannopoulous and his hateful bile off our campus” was the subtext of the fine-sounding written exchanges within UC Berkeley. Violence came to be assumed. The rest was pre-justification and wink-wink permission for the presupposed outcome. To reiterate:

Our student groups enjoy the right to invite whomever they wish to speak on campus, but we urge them to consider whether exercising that right in a manner that might unleash harmful attacks on fellow students and other members of the community is consistent with their own and with our community’s values …

“Harmful attacks on fellow students and other members of the community” is exactly what happened. The Berkeley College Republicans can’t say they weren’t warned, if cryptically.