Editor’s note: Below is a letter written by Phil Orenstein to UC Irvine administrators regarding UCI’s rejection of the Wallenberg Statue. It seeks to push back against and to expose the hostile anti-Semitic climate on the UCI campus. See Jamie Glazov’s Frontpage interview with Peter Lancz on “The Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign against Racism,” here.)
Dear Dean Lewis, President Yudof, and Chancellor Drake,
As a former college lecturer and current member of the National Conference on Jewish Affairs, I find it appalling and perplexing that University of California, Irvine would summarily reject, without explanation, the proposal for the erection of a commemorative Wallenberg statue on the University of California, Irvine campus (1). This would have served as an exemplary educational tool to teach the majority of the student body vastly unfamiliar with the heroic deeds of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who risked his life to save 100,000 Hungarian Jews from Nazi death camps (2).
Peter Lancz, son of Hungarian master sculptor, Paul Lancz who was saved by Wallenberg himself, had originally proposed to University of California president Mark Yudof that the statue be erected on the UC Irvine campus, which has in recent years become notorious for rampant anti-Semitic hate speech and obstruction of pro-Israel speakers. This stellar opportunity, funded through outside donors, has now been discarded, further tarnishing the reputation of UC Irvine.
During this centennial celebration year of Wallenberg’s birth, Peter Lancz is spearheading a nationwide effort to raise awareness and keep the memory of this true hero and savior alive, fulfilling his father’s dream of fighting bigotry and anti-Semitism on campus, which in his own words is “the cancer of the human soul.” The proposal was forwarded to UC Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake, and finally sent on to the Claire Trevor School of the Arts to be considered by the Public Art Program Council.
How ironic that a few days after the rejection letter, the Claire Trevor School of the Arts hosted a conference of rabid anti-Israel artists and filmmakers entitled “…and Europe will be stunned: The Jewish Renaissance Movement in Poland,” envisioning the return of over three million Jews to Poland (3). This is not an actual political movement, but an artistic project to demonize Israel by deconstructing Zionism as the malicious product of European propaganda, “at the price of bringing a disaster upon the people already inhabiting that land” in the words of one of the speakers. Now anti-Semitic hate speech is considered rational discourse and even merits an arts conference espousing, under the umbrella of institutionalized “academic freedom” the proposition that Israel has no right to exist.
But the Wallenberg rejection further exposes “the cancer of the human soul” long entrenched at UC Irvine. The arts conference was bland compared to the epidemic of virulent hate speech and anti-Semitic attacks on the UC Irvine campus, that Judea Pearl, father of Daniel Pearl, journalist murdered by Islamic terrorists, called the “proving grounds for a nationally orchestrated Israel-defamation campaign.” Throughout the school year and especially during “Israel Apartheid Week” extremist speakers call for terrorist attacks on Israel and jihad against the United States. Imam Amir-Abdel Malik-Ali, a notorious supporter of Hamas, Hezbollah and al-Qaeda, has spoken at UCI numerous times, calling for the destruction of the “apartheid state of Israel,” comparing Jews to Nazis, and going on long anti-Semitic tirades about the “disproportionate numbers of Jews, Zionist Jews, in the media, in finance and foreign policy.” He preached suicide bombing of Israel to a campus audience saying: “That ain’t suicide, that’s martyrdom.” This is pure incitement to violence against Jews and it has precipitated hostile attacks, rock throwing and desecration of a Holocaust memorial on campus (4).
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Shame on you California University , net of racist antisemites and despicable people. You are unable to understand the greatness of an hero as Raoul Wallenberg!
Instead of addressing the college it would be more effective and informative to the public by addressing individuals at the college who personally are responsible for this Antisemitism. Unmask them.
Why are you trying to bully a university into building a socialist realism statue commemorating the Holocaust if they DON'T WANT ONE? They didn't commission this tacky piece. It was proposed, and they don't want it. They didn't propose it. Now, they have to wear the scarlet letter of antisemitism until they accept this bad art about this obscure guy or face constant media harassment? Ridiculous!
socialist realism statue
Wow. I know about fun house mirrors, but I didn't know they made fun house prisms, too!
According to the sculptor's son:
My father always liked to compare his Wallenberg to a modern day, Michaelangelo’s ‘David’ sculpture in terms of the expressiveness and forcefulness of character evinced in its physiognomy.
That Michaelangelo…he was a sneaky pinko, huh?
Of course he would have liked to compare his sculptures to the works of Michaelangelo.
Instead of some more contemporary lefty artist, selected on a doctrinaire basis? Now, would a good socialist do such a thing? Heavenless forbid!
The artwork remains butt-ugly and unsolicited.
Your opinion certainly fits that description.
I'm known for being self-aware.
Not by people here.
I'm not responsible for the ignorance of others. I leave that to folks like Robert Spencer.
It is manifestly obvious, you have your hands full with your own ignorance.
At least I am not thrusting my ugly bust at a university.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some find no beauty in rescuing thousands from butchery, provided those saved are "undesirable."
Whether or not the university accepts foisted artwork has no direct relation to the beauty of preventing genocide.
There's that weasel word, "direct."
Even if it is merely tangentally related, it in no way justifies trying to shame a university into hosting unwanted soviet realist art.
unwanted soviet realist art.
It's not often you see a straw man fishing for red herring.
OK, so what style do you say the sculpture is?
Lanczian.
That's impertinent. What distinguishes his style? Nothing. That he uses bronze? No. That it looks like the Human Torch on crack? No. So what?
Impertinent? Hardly. Merely representative of the level of effort worthy of your query. You want to apply a label because it suits your effort to defame, but denigrate others' use of labels when it does not serve your rhetorical needs. I'd describe your style as post-sentient hypocrite.
"Hypocrite?!" That's anti-semitic. Clearly you lifted that from the book of Matthew and Jesus' tirade against the Pharisees. Abraham Foxman has rightfully condemned this kind of jew-hating passion playing!
No need to cite literature more in-depth than "The Boy Who Cried Wolf."
Stop slandering Paul Wolfowitz and Wolf Blitzer!
Blitzer doesn't need my help with his own slandering. He's blitzes his credibility whenever he opens his mouth. It's something you and he have in common.
That's antisemitic! He was one of Yeshiva University's finest graduates.
No, he wasn't.
Pardon me. Hebrew University.
Pardon you for what? Reflexively asserting that a Jew must have gone to Yeshiva? Fine. You're pardoned.
How dare you pardon me? I am an enemy of Israel. You're antisemitic!
You said it, not me.
You refused to say it! You condoned me! That makes you an enemy of Israel.
About as accurate as your other bon mots.
Mmmmm! I love bon mots!
This is mani-
festly evident.
socialist realism? obscure guy? bad art? you think that this is a very clever way of trolling your Jew hating on this site, maturin? actually, you are more transparent than you're trying to be.
I always give 110%.
110% of 0 is 0
Thanks to Arab science, yes.
No, etymology fraction is from Latin meaning fracture.
Don't be fractious. I was referring to the concept of 0.
That would be the Indians, not Arabs.
Thank-you kentatwarter.
Typical of maturin and many other liberals who claim to be intelligent, but in fact are quite ignorant like Joyce Bayer (sp) George Clooney, etc.
Haven't you read Al-Khwarizmi's Compendious Book of Calculations?
maturin,
Who cares that Arabs did produce 900 years ago. What have they produced recently except violence. Besides, I am an English/Historian major.
Would you accept a similar "What have you done for me lately" approach towards Chinese, African and Greco-Roman achievements? As in "Who cares that Archimedes discovered the basics of hydrostatics?"
Recently, they've produced some damn fine music and literature. Rachid Taha and Naguib Mahfouz spring to mind. Many of them have become superb geologists and petrologists, for the obvious reasons.
You don't think an English/History major need be acquainted with the history of science?
You missed my point! The Chinese are rational actors who do not produce religious fanatics who go about murdering critics like Muslims do. Basically, the Chinese have learned that Communism does not work as their one child policy produced devastating results.
I do know some science and some science history, and enjoy Omni and Discover, but that was not the point.
You are a multiculturalist and simply do not realize that during certain period of time some civilizations are superior to others. They produce more, and have superior citizens to the rest of the world.
Currently, the West is superior, and I prefer Western Civilization to ME barbarity. If you prefer ME social norms, move there, otherwise quit apologizing for their violence mostly against helpless civilians.
Just as so many liberals and Marxists have learned, you will be targeted if Sharia comes into power, and know this is what most of the 1 billion Muslims want.
The Chinese are rational actors? If they have learned that communism doesn't work, why is the CCP their ruling party? And you speak of their one child policy in the past tense, though it is still in effect throughout the country.
What was not the point? That science has been a global endeavor, now more than ever?
What does it mean to be a superior citizen? How is the West superior to the rest of the world?
I think, as most everyone does, that there is virtually no chance of Sharia law ever becoming the norm in Western society. It requires an inordinate amount of fear and insecurity to believe otherwise.
China is no long truly communist, now it is a capitalist dictatorship. It is changing its one child policy because of the disproportionate number of young men to women.
The point is that currently, the ME has produced nothing but terror. You made a false analogy between China and the ME.
Currently, the West has the superior civilization. Most civilian have food, shelter and sanitation. Our laws are passed by our representative government, not by whim of a dictator. Most of our poor are overweight from their lousy diets. Now, look at the poor in other lands.
Sharia Law is already being honored in the USA, which is a Constitutional violation.
Your insights on China are appreciated.
Whence the lousy diet of the Western poor?
Please cite where Sharia law is being honored in the USA.
The recent Judge Martin ruling in PA.
Why support an ethnic group who beheads, stones people, discriminates against gays, women and nonMuslims. Recently, a young man was stoned to death for wearing a western haircut.
Horrible. What was his name, where did this happen?
Large ethnic groups don't usually care if people outside the group support them or not. They run on their own inner fire. "Remove the plank from your own eye" is a wise principle.
Peruse the number of terrorist attacks against civilians and 99% stem from Muslims. It is you who is blind and cowardly.
maturin, read other news besides the lame stream media which reports nothing until it cannot be ignored. I knew about the 2005 Muslim riots in France weeks before it was reported in our media. I know this because I asked numerous teachers if they had heard about the riots and everyone of those asked said: "No."
Just to check, you don't remember the young man's name or where this occurred?
What is a terrorist attack?
What did you gain by knowing about the 2005 riots weeks before it was reported in US media?
maturin,
As long as you are civil, I will converse with you, so keep this civil.
The numerous ME stonings, beheadings, maimings, honor murders are not reported on our alphabet media, or liberal blogs, but thousands occur every year. Here is one link on the stoned boy, but there are many others with graphic images: http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/iraqi-teenag…
A terrorist attack is an attack by those not wearing uniforms and covertly or not covertly sponsored by a nation or state.
I learned that our media whitewashes, omits and uses duplicitous language when they do not like the facts of violence stemming from a minority or Muslim. Albeit, they love to report violence stemming from the West and make a huge deal of perhaps 3 white terrorist attacks or Israel defending herself. Read Honest Reporting for the facts about the libels and slanders regarding Israel.
Gad, that's horrible. Poor Iraq.
Covertly or not covertly? So, it's an attack without uniforms? How would you distinguish between a terrorist attack and a criminal attack?
How do we identify accuracy in the media? How do you distinguish between truth and a whitewash?
Terrorism often occurs in the forms of violence perpetrated against civilians for a political or religious ideology. It is a deliberate attempt to terrorize the general populations of a land. Think the Weather Underground, Mc Vey, al Qaeda, et al,
Criminal activity is usually for monetary gain, Al Capone, Bugsy Segal, et al.
Carefully read both side of the media and their attacks. For example Media Matters is attacking Fox; Mathews call people of faith cultists, Beck and others retaliate using facts, albeit but they too miss the target. My point is know both sides to understand what the facts are.
So terror attacks are violent attacks against civilians in the name of an ideology? Is that a fair definition?
What if there are more than two sides of an issue? How do you reach the facts of the matter?
Terrorists do not wear uniforms and usually attack target unarmed civilians of any age causing terror. That is, terrorists cannot win in open combat against hard targets, so they attack soft targets.
Arabs have lost in every war against tiny Israel and they are dishonored.
Read about the issue in depth before making a decision. You made a your decision about Israel without reading the proIsrael claims.
How do you claim to know how I reached my opinion on Israel on Palestine? Were you watching over my shoulder?
If someone suggests that Queen Elizabeth visit Israel this year(her 60th anniversary Jubilee), are they
trying to bully her into going to Israel?
Raoul Wallenberg is hero in every sense of the word. His legacy is one that should be taught in every school, everywhere, as an example to follow. The university system in California, in which I live and grew up, is tainted by the uber-Left, radical Progressive academia with its agenda to indoctriniate students into its way of thought. It is also pervasive in the grade school system, as well. That being said, I extremely doubt that Raoul Wallenberg will get the recognition and admiration he deserves for his actions that save so many lives. At least not in California.
The statue should have been built on the patio area next to the politically-correct Cross Cultural center, which the MSU have "requisitioned" for prayers, posters and hanging out.
To comrad maturin:__The Motherland of "socialist realism" – Soviet Russia – arrested and eventually killed "an obscure guy" Raoul Wallenberg for helping the Jews. Descendants of staff members of Soviet Secret Police (aka Che Ka, GPU, NKVD, KGB and FCS) are spread all over the world and appear even on conservative blogs, like this one. Institutional anti-Semitism in Russia is so deeply entrenched, that they support muslim governments dispite their own troubles with muslims (in Chechnya, Center Asia and others) just because the muslim governments are against the State of Israel and also, are enemies of USA.__Shame on UC system for aligning themself not only with swarn enemies of Jews and Americans!
And yet, the statue looks like a gaudy piece of bad soviet art. And sure, there is institutional anti-semitism in Russia but there also swindlers like Khodorkofsky who try to make off with the entire national infrastructure in his pocket. Do you really claim that the NKVD is lurking this website and supporting Muslims? That's far fetched. If so, whom? All of these wild theories aside, why should a university be forced to accept and display an unsolicited piece of bad art?
With rhetoric like this, one takes away the observation that the preferred form of neo-Nazi sculpture, is the straw man.
Pre hoc ergo post hoc fallacy.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc
Pope hocks post helicopter rock.
It is no worse than most of the following on this link: https://www.google.com/search?q=modern+statues&am…
Art is in the eye of the beholder. I dislike cubism, others love it.
The point is, that this statue is a tribute to a courageous man who saved Jews, and the UCI campus suffering from a pandemic of antiSemitism.
Courageous people abound in history. How do we determine which of them get statues and where those statues are placed?
I agree that the statue of Raoul Wallenberg should be put in the UCI campus. I also think that Mr. Wallenberg's story should be better known. This man was given honorary U.S. citizenship. Few people have been so honored by such a thing. Of course,his fate remains a mystery. What is known is that the Russians arrested him. Nobody knows what happened to him afterward. It's sad that people like maturin20 doesn't care to learn more about this courageous man. But to this clown and those like him,they don't see Jews as people. They see them as insects to be squashed. Maybe maturin20 should look this guy up. Who knows? This guy might develop a heart.
I agree that Mr. Wallenberg's story should be better known, although I don't think he did us a great favor by saving Tom Lantos. Apparently the twenty-odd memorials to his name are not enough though, and universities need to be approached and have his bust foisted on them or else suffer the rage of The Lobby.
I doubt it!! His strident anti-Semitism won't allow it!! I think his heart is smaller than the Grinch's.
Microcardiac dysfunction is nothing to laugh at, you star-bellied freak.
Nice to see uber-Lefties remain consistent. I see the conversation, at least on your side, has now de-evolved into name-calling. Typical.
And topical. Like analgesic cream.
The treatment of Blacks and color people in North America was and remains shameful. This being said, slavery was long before and is still today practiced by Muslims. Why is there no anger towards the Muslims who continue to kill women and blacks? Why the women of the left remain dead-silent?
Despite all the complains from the left and other fanatical morons, the US is the most advanced country in the whole world in term of social engineering. Shame on those people who think that the grass is greener in their land. They are fanatical ignorant and should go back for a reality check.
There is a lot of work to do, and fanatics are the enemies.
There is fear that causes a huge stench in the liberal community, along with the fact that many do not practice proper hygiene.
Frankly, just as the Southpark producers, they fear for their lives because the police do nothing about Muslim death threats. Spence, Geller, Darwish, et al, all are often threatened, and our police do nothing.
This man saved peolple from being murdered. The problem is that Jew hatred is being taught in colleges and universities to people who are our future leaders. If their words are turned into actions their will be violence committed against Jews and people that come to their defense.
How can anyone oppose honoring Wallenberg? How can blacks be unmoved by the history of slavery among Muslims? Why are feminists anti-Israel? Why are gays anti-Israel? It can't be explained. It has to be a miracle–a negative miracle.
There IS a God, and He's an embittered anti-Semite. He is hardening the hearts of the world against the Jews. http://www.jochnowitz.net/Essays/AfterTheBinding….
UCI administrators just do not care and if it is offensive to Jewish sensitivities well to bad they control
and Obama won. The day of honoring honorable people may be over, today it is honoring the most
despicable and dishonorable people imaginable and they are the heros of the left. If it was a bust of
Mao or Lennin it would have been done in a NY second…………………………William
Che is probably next up for the honor in California. You know, the guy who murdered or ordered the murder of thousands of people!!
Yes Ken they probably will and the Castro brothers and possibly if allowed install their tombs
there under…………………………………William
Egypt’s influential Maspero Youth Union – a Coptic Christian youth organization – has announced it is to demonstrate against a recent spat of rulings that have jailed Christians in the country for allegedly “insulting” Islam and illegal construction of churches.
Read more: http://www.maghrebchristians.com/2012/03/12/copti…
Youssef