Ahmadinejad Speaks to Thousands at Columbia

POSTED BY Raleigh-Elizabeth Smith, 24 September 2007

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke to a packed auditorium of Columbia students and faculty Monday, addressing his position on the Holocaust, the future of Palestine, the perpetuation of the Iranian nuclear program, and homosexuality in his country. While the audience spilled by the thousands into the grassy campus square, Columbia President Lee Bollinger refuted the visiting leader’s statements of friendship with Israel, imprisonment of academics and journalists, and very grasp on the tenants afforded by the First Amendment.

After days of politicized outrage at the university’s decision to invite the Ahmadinejad to speak at the school, Bollinger told the crowd that the scope of free speech and academic debate demanded this kind of conversation. “This is the right thing to do,” he said. “Indeed, it is required by the ideals of free speech, the American university, and Columbia itself.” Peppering Ahmadinejad with questions in prelude, he made equally clear his disdain. “Frankly,” Bollinger said, “I considerably doubt that you will have the intellectual courage to answer these questions.”

And in some cases, he was right. Ahmadinejad’s response varied between preaching and polemic, aschewing what he described as an “unfriendly” welcome by Bollinger and calling the university president’s preface an “insult to information and the knowledge of the audience here.” Appropriately, his response was received with a mixture of disgust and applause by the diverse student body.

Responding to a question from John H. Coatsworth, acting dean of Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, Ahmadinejad addressed his view of the Holocaust and his role in the future of Palestine. “You know quite well that Palestine is an old wound, as old as 60 years,” Ahmadinejad said. “For 60 years, these people are displaced. For 60 years, these people are being killed. For 60 years, women and children are being killed by houses, bombed, breaking over their heads.”

He also called for a continuation of research into the Holocaust, a tragedy he has long denied. At the start of the discussion, Bollinger warned the guest, “when you come to a place like this, this makes you look simply ridiculous.” But Ahmadinejad dropped his standard refrain and instead argued that the two-day summit he held for those who deny the Holocaust is an example of academic investigation. “Given the Holocaust is a present reality,” he said, “why is there not significant research to approach the topic from different perspectives?”

He elaborated on peace in the Middle East, arguing that by relinquishing land to Israel, the Palestinian people are being held responsible for Nazi reparations. “Why are they paying for it even though they had nothing to do with it?,” he asked. “Why should innocent people pay the price of refugees? Is asking questions about this a crime? Isn’t this what you call freedom.” At that, the audience erupted in cheer, elucidating the old lines of heated political tension between the pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups on campus.

Ahmadinejad also reiterated what he claims is his country’s nonviolent nuclear program. “Our nuclear program first and foremost operates within the framework of law,” he said, noting that Iran is a longtime member of the IAEA. “All member states have the right to peaceful nuclear technology. That’s an explicit statement by law. No exceptions.” He then accused the Bush administration of hypocrisy. “If you are creating and testing the fifth generation nuclear bombs, what position does that put you in to question our peaceful use?”

But the Columbia community refused to let the Iranian leader have his say without due cross-examination. Coatsworth resorted to asking him to repeat his answers with a yes or no statement and reiterated Bollinger’s concerns about the treatment of women and homosexuals, many of whom face execution in a state where over 200 death penalties have already been carried out this year alone. Asked about this capital punishment, Ahmadinejad replied shocked. “In Iran we do not have homosexuals like in your country,” he told the crowd, dead-pan. “In Iran we do not have this phenomenon. I don’t know who’s told you that we have it.”

While students spilled out of the south lawn onto the steps of the library and rooms throughout campus for a televised version of the speech, more than four thousand protestors filled the sidewalks, crowding 116th to closure between Broadway and Riverside. But mingled within the hordes of people bearing signs citing Iranian cruelties were event supporters. “I get protesting him,” said one student, “but not protesting the event. Whatever he’s here for, we’re here to learn something. And the first step of that is engaging in an honest discussion, or at least trying to.”