Rahmun's Speech

To the Editors of The Crimson:

Accurate and unbiased reporting, particularly in regard to matters about which people have passionate concern, is the journalist's highest responsibility. We believe that in several important ways the Crimson's coverage of the visit of Hassan Abdul Rahman to the Harvard campus last week reflected an abdication of that responsibility.

In particular, the organizers of the event were upset by the article by Judith Bernstein, and by the style of conduct adopted by Ms. Bernstein in its preparation. One might begin with questioning the "logic" of identifying the newsworthy aspect as having been the demonstration by Zionist students rather than the event which provoked it. And without quibbling over numerous minor inaccuracies in the article, let me say simply that in my conversation with Ms. Bernstein several days prior to Mr. Abdul Rahman's talk I had painstakingly listed for her the eight student organizations co-sponsoring the event, and provided her with the names of responsible officers for some of them. One would expect that a statement of interest by such a broad and diverse coalition of student organizations in hearing the views of the Palestinian Liberation Organization would merit some discussion in a conscientiously investigated article. Indeed, Ms. Bernstein had been sufficiently conscientious to gather the information--but somehow the momentum of that conscientiousness didn't carry forward into the article, where, on the contrary, sponsorship was attributed to only one of the eight co-sponsors (the Third World Coalition at the Law School). It is difficult not to see this as either sheer incompetence or considerable dishonesty and bias, none of which are particularly healthy traits for a journalist.

In fact, the line of questioning Ms. Bernstein pursued with me seemed clearly aimed at eliciting information that would permit her to imply that the base of support for the event had been narrow, and the work of a few individuals. Thus her reference to me as the "chief organizer" or the event--not an appellation I had used myself, nor one based on reasonable inference given the information evident in her conversations with other member of the Third World Coalition, with whom she argued over substantive matters of Middle East politics, berating them in the process for their decisions to support the event.

Another serious deficiency in her article was her failure to distinguish clearly between representations made on behalf of the Harvard Arab Student Society on the one hand and the co-sponsors on the other--the distinctions which Arab Student Society spokespeople made scrupulously, out of an obligates to the organizations and to the public to represent honestly the diversity of views within the coalition of co-sponsors. Since the considerably better subsequent article in The Crimson recognized the existence of this diversity but still got its content wrong, let me reproduce part of the text of our statement read to a Tuesday press conference, and re-it-crated almost verbatim in our evening introduction of Mr. Abdul Rahman, speaking of the reasons for the later's invitation.

"This represents no statement of approval or disapproval of the aims and methods of the PLO, about which the respective organizations have differing views. But it does represent our firm affirmation of the right of representatives of the PLO to engage in direct dialogue with the American public, and to represent its aspirations and policies in its own terms. We also strongly defend the right of the American public to learn about an issue which has the potential to touch the lives of all Americans in an atmosphere of respect and rational discussion."

"Speaking for the moment on behalf of the Harvard Arab Student Society, the support of our organization for Mr. Abdul Rahman's presence at Harvard reflects the overwhelming sentiment of all Arab peoples, as well as the official position of the Arab states, which fully uphold the rights of the Palestinian people to national self-determination, including full independence and sovereignty within the territory of Palestine, and which recognizes the status of the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people."

The Crimson's honest attempt to correct the inaccuracies of Ms. Bernstein's article fells short in two ways. First, as the underlined portions of the text above show, no organization, including the Harvard Arab Student Society, ventured any views about the "tactics" of the PLO in any public statement to the press. Second, although it is technically accurate that the other groups "did not endorse the PLO's aims and tactics" (as your article reports), it is also true that they did not not endorse them, but merely that in this instance too no opinion whatsoever was advanced. In fact, some of the co-sponsors support precisely that which the Arab Student Society had supported, namely, the right of the Palestinian people to nationhood, and the right to be represented by the PLO, but were simply expressing no position at that time.

We trust the integrity of The Crimson to insure that next time the Palestinian perspective is represented at Harvard, the reporting will more nearly approach the Crimson's own standards of neutrality and accuracy.

Please note that the organizations listed here are not co-signatories of this letter, but did co-sponsor the event in question. The Third World Coalition (HLS), Harvard Lawyers Guild (Steering Committely, International Student Society (Ed School), Committee (Public Health), Women of the Third World (HUD), Black Students Association (College), William J. Seymour Society (College), Harvard Arab Student Society (GSAS). George K. Disharat   President, Harvard Arab Student Society