To the Editors of the Crimson:
An interesting twist in ideologies took place Tuesday night. The Conservative Club brought South African Vice Consul Duke Kent-Brown to Harvard to voice an alternative view that might otherwise not have been heard on campus. But Kent-Brown's speech was disrupted by campus protesters on a cue from a members of the Southern African Solidarity Committee who stood up in the middle of Kent-Brown's speech and announced that he was collecting money for the ANC. As soon as this announcement was made, protesters swarmed in from all sides and attempted not only to disrupt Kent-Brown's speech and blockade him, but to physically assault him as well. Kent-Brown was effectively deprived of his freedom of speech and freedom of movement on the basis of his political beliefs. So I would like to remind last night's protesters that freedom of speech and movement was created to protect precisely those who might otherwise not be heard. These protesters call themselves liberals and protest in the name of freedom. Freedom of what?
If freedom of speech is considered a liberal principle, than it appears that the Conservative Club is embracing a liberal ideology in its desire to allow Kent-Brown to speak, while campus leftists, lost in all of their self-righteousness, appear to be embracing an almost racist ideology--an ideology that discriminates against and denies basic human rights to a man based on his status as a white South African.
The Conservative Club finds racist ideology repugnant and is ashamed of the actions taken by last night's protesters.
Assault of a police officer is a felony in this country, but even this fact did not deter the protesters from attempting to attack police officers at Kent-Brown's speech. The protesters have made it clear that they have no qualms about employing terrorist activities to accomplish their goals. They believe in a "holier than thou" philosophy in which their ends justify their means. And in adopting this stance, they are in effect challenging the Constitution of the United States of America. Indeed they have a right to do this, but they do not have a right to employ violence in the process. But it is not surprising that they consider themselves above the law--after all, it is they who emphatically support the ANC, one of the most violent terrorist organizations on the globe.
We believe that these protesters are a disgrace to the liberal principles which they profess to hold. We recommend that those who engaged in Tuesday night's protest be removed from this university as just punishment for their unlawful and outrageous behavior and as an example to those who condone violence and infringement on freedom and infringement on freedom of speech at Harvard. Marci Bobis '88 President, Harvard-Radcliffe Conservative Club
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