MCCARTHYISM ALIVE AND WELL IN NH
New Hampshire State Senator Burt Cohen thought that putting up a plaque honoring the Abraham Lincoln Brigade would provide a history lesson about Americans who volunteered to fight fascism in the Spanish Civil War. He did not foresee that the gesture would instruct about another kind of history–McCarthyism. When it was announced that the bronze plaque would be hung in the Statehouse at a ceremony on Lincoln’s Birthday, the archreactionary Manchester Union Leader rallied Granite State granite heads. The Republican leadership in the legislature ordered the plaque removed. When Cohen, along with an ALB vet, relatives of another vet and supporters of the plaque went ahead with the dedication ceremony in the legislative office building on Lincoln’s Birthday, an angrily buzzing swarm of Republican legislators descended. One addressed “Comrade Cohen”; another told a reporter, “Thank God for Franco–he saved us in Spain.” When a plaque supporter stalked out saying, “McCarthyism is alive in this hall and in this state,” an onlooker yelled, “Goodbye, Communist.” The following week a legislative committee voted to ban the plaque from all state property, although it said another one might someday be displayed. Senator Cohen vowed to go ahead with a redesign. As for the insidious commie plaque, it now reposes in a Statehouse vault. Said Cohen (who has written for this magazine), “I thought the cold war was over.”
SPEAK & BE ARRESTED
C. Clark Kissinger, head of Mumia Abu-Jamal support activities at Refuse & Resist!, was sentenced to ninety days last December for violating his probation (see David Lindorff, “Mumia and Free Speech,” December 18, 2000). The violation? Traveling to speak at a Mumia rally. He was scheduled for release on March 5, but supporters worry he may be in for more harassment, such as demands for names of contributors. A larger issue is the chilling message his imprisonment sent to dissidents in this country. An open letter championing Kissinger, signed by Terry Bisson, Kurt Vonnegut, Alice Walker, Norman Mailer, Grace Paley, Barbara Kingsolver, Adrienne Rich and others sums up: “It is not polite, sanctioned, or permitted speech that the First Amendment is intended to protect. It is political dissent–and dissidents.” For a copy of the letter and more information call (212) 571-0962; [email protected].
BUSHISMS OF THE WEEK
Asked after his meeting with Tony Blair what he and the British Prime Minister had in common, George W. Bush replied: “We have both got great wives. We are both dads, and proudly so. That’s our most important responsibility, being loving dads.” Advocating his education reform package: “You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.”
